Bible Study: Genesis 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning
Let’s share any Prayer Requests and Praises Reports.
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Let’s pray
Background
Background
Title: Genesis
The English title...
Genesis...
Comes from the Greek translation of the Septuagint (LXX) and means “origins”...
The Hebrew title is derived from the Bible’s very first word...
They are the Hebrew translation of “in the beginning.”
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Author: Moses
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament ascribe this composition to Moses...
This makes a lot of sense given his educational background...
Remember Moses was raised in the household of Pharaoh meaning he had the best education the world could offer at the time...
Additionally, there is no compelling reason that has been brought forth to challenge Moses’ authorship.
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Date: 1445-1405 BC
Genesis was written after the Exodus (1445 BC)...
But before Moses’ death (1405 BC).
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Genre: Historical Narrative
It covers more time than the remaining books of the Bible combined.
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Additional Information:
Part of Torah or Pentateuch...
First five books of the Bible:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
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Text: Genesis 1:1-5
Text: Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
God creating heaven and earth is understood as being:
Recent, as in thousands and not millions of years ago...
And Ex Nihilo, which is Latin for “out of nothing”.
For example see what it says in John 1:3:
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
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The creation account happens over the course of 6 consecutive 24 hour periods called “days”...
This is further distinguished as such by this phrase...
“The evening and the morning.”
So, Scripture does not support a creation date earlier than about 10,000 years ago.
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After giving the setting in verses 1 & 2 Moses describes the six workdays throughout verses 3–31 and finally ends with the seventh day, God’s Sabbath, in Chapter 2, verses 1–3.
The focus of the rest of Genesis 1 beginning at verse 3 is mainly on God bringing things into existence by his word and ordering the created things.
God finally gives authority to human beings, as his vice-regents, to govern all these living creatures.
Genesis 1 establishes a hierarchy of authority.
Humanity is divinely commissioned to govern other creatures on God’s behalf, the ultimate purpose being that the whole earth should become the temple of God, the place of his presence, and should display his glory.
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The phrase “In the beginning” in verse 1 makes it clear that God exists eternally...
And before the beginning of the universe in time and space...
And as Psalm 90:2 confirms:
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
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The Hebrew word for “God” is “Elohim” and it is the first subject of both Genesis and the whole Bible...
The word “God” is also plural to denote our Lord’s majesty...
And a reference to the Trinity (we will see another strong reference to the Trinity in verse 26).
Yet the verb “create” is singular, indicating that God is thought of as one being.
So, there is no other god and the one true God is truth and the basis for all sound knowledge.
This also shows us that God is personal and He both speaks and acts.
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The word “created” in ancient Hebrew is used here of God’s unique creative activity which He alone can do without preexisting material.
Not even the darkness exists apart from God’s creative word.
For example look at what it says in Isaiah 45:7:
7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.
The phrase “the heavens and the earth” regards all of God’s creation which includes all 6 consecutive days of creation.
So, Genesis makes it clear that God is the Creator of all things.
The effect of the opening words of the Bible is to establish that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, sovereign power, and majesty, is the Creator of all things that exist.
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The term “formless and void” in verse 2 means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures”.
God would quickly (in 6 days) decorate His initial creation.
The term “deep” refers to the earth’s water-covered surface before the dry land emerged.
The phrase “Spirit of God” is a reference to the Holy Spirit...
So, the Trinity participated in all of creation.
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In verse 3 we see that God created physical light...
The Bible also says that God is light in a moral and spiritual sense.
By God’s design, the physical aspects of creation can serve as vehicles for developing themes about God and his salvation.
For example, Look at what it says in John 8:12:
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Additionally, in verse 3 we see the phrase “God said”...
So, God effortlessly spoke light into existence...
That is how powerful our God is.
Please note that the sun and moon were created later on the fourth day...
So, here, God was the provider of light and will in eternity future be the source of light as it says in Revelation 21:23:
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
What we are seeing is that although creation is not part of God’s being...
All creation is utterly dependent on God for its existence...
For He creates and sustains all that is by the power of His own being.
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In verse 4 we see that God declares His creation of light as being “good”.
This means light was “good” for the purposes it was intended to serve.
In fact. brought within God’s constraints...
Even the darkness and watery deep are now “good” and serve God’s benevolent purposes.
Overall we are seeing that creation bears witness to God’s handiwork as Psalm 19:1–6 says:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
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In verse 4 and 5 we also see that God separated things and named them which is an important part of the creation process...
Separating and naming were acts of dominion and served as a pattern later on for man, who would also name a portion of God’s creation over which God gave him dominion...
Additionally, God’s establishment of boundaries that separate creation into different parts...
Distinguishing one thing from another.
These God-established boundaries are important for the ordering of the world.
Without them the world is in chaos and our God is not a God of chaos.
What is true here of the material environment is equally true as regards the moral order that God establishes.
God also shows He is ruler of the cosmos when He is naming its spheres.
By His creative commands and designations...
God gives existence and meaning to everything according to His eternal counsel...
For God Himself there are no mysteries, and all creation has coherence and meaning within His will...
For people, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the all-wise God as it says in Proverbs 1:7:
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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Verse 5 makes it clear that this all happened on the first day of creation...
God established the pattern of creation in 7 days which constituted a complete week.
“Day” cannot mean an age, but only a 24-hour day, as seen by the Jews who considered a day from sunset to sunset.
Further evidence that the day being referred to here is 24-hours comes from the fact that when the word “day” is paired with numerical adjectives in Hebrew it always refers to a 24 hour period...
Additionally, such a cycle of light and dark means that the earth was rotating on its axis, so that there was a source of light on one side of the earth, though the sun was not yet created.
So, any theory that the day being used here is referring to an age is highly unlikely and this theory only started happening after the rise of ideas like evolution that claimed that the earth was millions of years old.
Text: Genesis 1:6-8
Text: Genesis 1:6-8
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
In verse 6 we see that as light was separated from darkness, so waters are separated to form an expanse by God.
The “expanse” mentioned in our passage is the portion of God’s creation named “heavens”...
That is the area that we as humans see when he looked up at the atmosphere.
So, this is describing the sky in terms of how it appears from the earth...
Here it also separates rain clouds from rivers and seas.
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In verse 7 the phrase “under the expanse” refers to subterranean reservoirs...
The phrase “above the expanse” refers to a canopy of water vapor which acted to make the earth like a hothouse, provided uniform temperature, inhibited mass air movements, caused mist to fall, and filtered out ultraviolet rays, thus extending life.
Text: Genesis 1:9-13
Text: Genesis 1:9-13
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
In verses 9 & 10 we find that two further regions are organized by God...
The dry land forming Earth...
And the waters forming Seas.
This was caused by a tremendous, cataclysmic upheaval of the earth’s surface, and the rising and sinking of the land, which caused the waters to plunge into the low places, forming the seas, the continents and islands, the rivers and lakes.
These are the last objects to be specifically named by God.
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God then instructs the earth to bring forth vegetation in verses 11 & 12.
While the creation of vegetation may seem out of place on day 3...
It anticipates what God will later say in verses 29 & 30 concerning food for both humanity and other creatures.
The creation of distinctive locations in days 1–3, along with vegetation, prepares for the filling of these in days 4–6.
The phrase “after their kind” in these verses shows how God set in motion a providential process whereby the vegetable kingdom could reproduce through seeds which would maintain each one’s unique characteristics.
The same phrase is used to describe the perpetuating reproduction of animals within their created species and indicates that evolution, which proposes reproduction across species lines, is a false explanation of origins.
Text: Genesis 1:14-19
Text: Genesis 1:14-19
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
For the first 3 days of creation there had been light in the day as though there were a sun, and lesser light at night as though there were the moon and stars.
God could have left it that way, but did not.
He created the “lights, sun, moon, and stars,” not for light, but to serve as markers for signs, seasons, days, and years.
The phrase “signs” in verse 14 includes weather, testimony to God, divine judgment, and navigation.
The term “seasons” relates to the earth’s movement in relation to the sun and moon that determines the seasons and the calendar.
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The immense universe that God created is mentioned here only in a brief phrase, almost as if it were an afterthought.
The focus of Genesis 1 is on the earth...
The focus of the rest of the Bible is on man as the pinnacle of God’s creation and the object of his great salvation.
Text: Genesis 1:20-23
Text: Genesis 1:20-23
20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
Having previously described the creation of the waters and the expanse of the heavens, this section focuses on how they are filled with appropriate creatures of different kinds.
As reproductive organisms, they are blessed by God so that they may be fruitful and fill their respective regions.
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The “living creatures” in verse 20 refers to these creatures, including the extraordinarily large ones, included all sorts of fish and mammals, even dinosaurs which in Job was called a “Behemoth.”
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The term “great sea creatures” in verse 21 in various contexts can denote large serpents, dragons, or crocodiles, as well as whales or sharks.
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In verse 22 the word “blessed” is the first occurrence of the word “bless” in all of Scripture.
God’s admonition to “be fruitful and multiply” was the substance of the blessing.
So, we see the process of filling the earth is not achieved immediately.
Text: Genesis 1:24-31
Text: Genesis 1:24-31
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
This is by far the longest section given over to a particular day, indicating that day 6 is the peak of interest for this passage.
The final region to be filled is the dry land, or Earth.
Here a significant distinction is drawn between all the living creatures that are created to live on the dry land, and human beings.
Whereas verses 24–25 deal with the “living creatures” that the earth is to bring forth...
Verses 26–30 concentrate on the special status assigned to humans.
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In verses 24–25 the phrase “livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth” are terms for groups of the land-dwelling animals into three broad categories:
“Livestock” are the domesticatable animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, and perhaps camels and horses
The “creeping things” are rats and mice, lizards, spiders
And the “beasts of the earth” are larger game and predatory animals like gazelles, lions, and dinosaurs.
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In verse 26 the terms “Us” and “Our” is the first clear indication of the triunity of God.
The very name of God, Elohim, is a plural form of El and hinted at the Trinity but this reference is even greater.
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The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation.
The fact that man was created in God’s image is crucial to understanding the rest of Scripture.
This defined man’s unique relation to God.
Man is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes.
In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion.
In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless before the Fall of Man.
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By making people in His image, God grants to them authority to rule over the earth as His vice-regents.
This is reinforced by the references to exercising dominion over all other creatures.
While God intends people to rule as He would rule, Adam and Eve betray God by failing to exercise authority over the serpent.
While humanity thereafter retains their God-given capacity to rule, they no longer do so as God’s vice-regents.
The violent behavior of people in the early chapters of Genesis is testimony to their misguided use of power.
Only in Jesus Christ do we first encounter one who rules as God’s true vice-regent, the one who also restores vice-regency to His people.
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The Reformation Study Bible has this short article titled, “Human Beings Created in the Image of God” that I would like to share as it is very helpful of our study of this topic:
“In art, the making of images is an exercise of beauty. Painting, sculpture, and the like are often imitative. Through our craft we depict objects drawn from real life.
The ultimate artist is God. When He fashioned the universe, He left His own mark upon it in such a way that the heavens declare His glory and the firmament shows forth His handiwork.
When God made the creatures that filled the earth and the sea, He created one creature to be uniquely made in His own image. Genesis 1:26–27 declares:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
That the Bible says we are created in the image and likeness of God has led some to conclude that there is a difference between being in the image and being in the likeness of God. But the structure of the biblical language indicates that image and likeness refer to the same thing. We are the [images] of God, creatures made with a unique capacity to mirror and reflect the character of God.
Being made in the image of God is usually understood to point to the sense in which we are like God. Though He is the Creator and we are creatures, and though God transcends us in being, power, and glory, nevertheless there is some sense in which we are like Him. There is some analogy between God and us. God is an intelligent and moral being. We are also moral agents equipped with a mind, a heart, and a will. These faculties make it possible for us to mirror God’s holiness, which was our original vocation.
The term man, when used in such Scripture passages as “God created man in His own image”, means “humankind.” Both male and female of the human species are made in the image of God. Part of the image includes mankind’s call to rule the earth, to have dominion over it. We are called to dress, fill, and keep the earth as God’s vice-regents. Here we are called to reflect the character of God’s righteous rule over the universe. He never ravages or exploits what He rules, but rather reigns in justice and kindness.
In the fall of mankind, something ghastly happened. The image of God was severely tarnished. Our ability to mirror His holiness has been greatly affected so that now the mirror is fogged.
The Fall, however, did not destroy our humanity. Though our ability to reflect God’s holiness was lost in the Fall, we are still human. We still have a mind, a heart, and a will. We still bear the mark of our Creator upon ourselves. The restoration of the fullness of the image of God in human beings is accomplished by Christ. He is, as the author of Hebrews declares, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”
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In verse 27 it should be noted that “male and female” are the only two genders created by God regardless of what our society thinks...
And both male and female equally shared God’s image and together exercised dominion over creation...
They were by divine design physically diverse in order to accomplish God’s mandate to multiply and neither one could reproduce offspring without the other.
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In verse 28 this second blessing involved reproduction and dominion.
This motif recurs throughout Genesis in association with divine blessing and serves as the basis of the biblical view that raising faithful children is a part of God’s creation plan for mankind.
God’s creation plan is that the whole earth should be populated by those who know him and who serve wisely as his vice-regents or representatives.
God, having just created the universe, created His representative (rule over) and representation (image and likeness).
Man would fill the earth and oversee its operation.
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“Subdue” does not suggest a wild and unruly condition for the creation because God Himself pronounced it “good.”
Rather, it speaks of a productive ordering of the earth and its inhabitants to yield its riches and accomplish God’s purposes.
Or in other words here the idea is that the man and woman are to make the earth’s resources beneficial for themselves, which implies that they would investigate and develop the earth’s resources to make them useful for human beings generally.
This command provides a foundation for wise scientific and technological development...
The evil uses to which people have put their dominion come as a result of Genesis 3.
As God’s representatives, human beings are to rule over every living thing on the earth.
These commands are not, however, a mandate to exploit the earth and its creatures to satisfy human greed, for the fact that Adam and Eve were “in the image of God” implies God’s expectation that human beings will use the earth wisely and govern it with the same sense of responsibility and care that God has toward the whole of his creation.
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In verse 29 we see that prior to the curse, both mankind and beasts were vegetarians.
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In verse 31 please note the term “very good”...
Having previously affirmed on six occasions that particular aspects of creation are “good”...
God now states, after the creation of the man and the woman...
That everything he has made is very good.
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While many things do not appear to be good about the present-day world...
This was not so at the beginning.
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Genesis goes on to explain why things have changed...
Indicating that no blame should be attributed to God.
Everything He created was very good...
It answers to God’s purposes and expresses his own overflowing goodness.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Please join me one more time in prayer.