Created for Relationship
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Text: Genesis 2:4–25
Text: Genesis 2:4–25
Big Idea: God created humanity for fellowship with Himself and with others.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Introduction:
Genesis 1 showed us the power of God —
God speaking worlds into existence.
“God, having completed His work of creation, rests, as if to say, ‘This is the destiny of those who are My people; to rest as I rest, to rest in Me.’” (Boice)
Genesis 2 now shows us the heart of God —
God forming a man with His hands…
Genesis 1 answers:
👉 Who made the world?
Genesis 2 answers:
👉 Why were we made?
Not just to exist.
Not just to work.
Not just to rule.
But to live in relationship —
with God
and with one another.
I. MAN WAS FORMED BY GOD PERSONALLY (vv. 4–7)
I. MAN WAS FORMED BY GOD PERSONALLY (vv. 4–7)
Up to this point in the story, Moses has used only one designation for God, the name Elohim. And he has used it with studied care some thirty-five times (five times seven, the number of perfection). Elohim is the appropriate word for the majestic portrayal of God as Creator of the universe, signifying omnipotent deity.
The thirty-five repeated use of this name is metered praise for the perfect creation of the perfect Creator.
But now at 2:4 (where chapter 2 should actually begin), the name for God switches to Yahweh-Elohim, “the LORD God” as our translations have it. Yahweh-Elohim is the dominant name from here to the end of chapter 4
Verse 7 says:
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
In Genesis 1, God spoke creation into being.
In Genesis 2, God forms man.
The term “formed” indicates that the act of creation was by careful design
The word is the word used of a potter shaping clay.
God did not speak Adam into existence.
He shaped him. This verse conveys divine intentionality.
This shows:
care
intention
intimacy
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.
7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
You were not mass-produced.
You were hand-crafted.
When God created man He made him out of the most basic elements, the dust of the ground. There is nothing “spectacular” in what man is made of, only in the way those basic things are organized.
When the Bible uses dust in a figurative or symbolic sense, it means something of little worth, associated with lowliness and humility.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes, And to make them inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And he hath set the world upon them.
2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
In the Bible, dust isn’t evil and it isn’t nothing; but it is next to nothing.
And God did not just give man a body —
He gave him His breath.
The word for breath in Hebrew is ruach — the word imitates the very sound of breath — is the same word for Spirit, as is the case in both ancient Greek (pneuma) and Latin (spiritus). God created man by putting His breath, His Spirit, within him.
“The implication, readily seen by any Hebrew reader, [is] that man was specially created by God’s breathing some of His own breath into him.” (Boice)
Breathed is warmly personal, with the face-to-face intimacy of a kiss and the significance that this was an act of giving as well as making; and self-giving at that
Life is not just biological.
It is spiritual.
You are not an accident.
You exist because God personally willed your life.
II. MAN WAS PLACED IN GOD’S PROVISION (vv. 8–15)
II. MAN WAS PLACED IN GOD’S PROVISION (vv. 8–15)
Verse 8:
“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
God positioned Adam in Eden: “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed” (v. 8). The designation “in Eden, in the east” is from the perspective of Moses, in the Sinai. So the garden was most probably in the area of Mesopotamia in modern Iraq. Eden, then, would be a geographical area in which the garden was placed. Eden itself was not the garden.
Verses 10–14 contain a digression about the garden that seems very clear in what it says but is nearly impossible to make any sense of. What is clear according to verse 10 is that a river rose from a subterranean source, perhaps as already described—“a mist [or river] was going up from the land” (v. 6).
Eden’s abundant river then watered the garden and flowed out and then separated into the headwaters of four rivers: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates.
Here is the insoluble problem: While the Tigris and Euphrates are identifiable with rivers today, the Pishon and Gihon are totally unknown.
The exact location of the garden is unknown to us today…
Responsible guessers place it in Mesopotamia near the head of the Persian Gulf. But it was so long ago, we cannot be sure. We must allow for topographical change like what might have come from the great flood.
The common Hebrew meaning of Eden is “delight,” and “the sound play of ‘Eden’ suggests even by its name that the garden was luxuriant.”
Verse 15 says:
“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
Work existed before sin.
Labor existed before the Fall.
“The ideal state of sinless man is not one of indolence without responsibility. Work and duty belong to the perfect state.” - H.C. Leupold
Work was part of relationship —
serving God
within God’s provision.
A retired man living in a city got tired of seeing an ugly vacant lot as he took his daily walk, so he asked the owner for permission to plant a garden there. It took days to haul away the accumulated rubbish and even more time to prepare the soil, but the man worked hard. The next year, the lot was aglow with life and beauty, and everyone took notice. "God has certainly given you a beautiful piece of property," said a visitor as he admired the flowers and the landscaping. "Yes, He has," the busy gardener replied, "but you should have seen this property when God had it all by Himself!" The reply was a wise one and not at all irreverent. The same God who ordains the end—a beautiful garden—also ordains the means to the end—someone to do the work.
The natural world that God has made
Must not be used at whim;
We serve as stewards of His earth,
Responsible to Him.
—D. De Haan
God still places people where He wants them —
families
jobs
churches
callings
Where God places you, He also provides for you.
III. MAN WAS GIVEN MORAL RESPONSIBILITY (vv. 16–17)
III. MAN WAS GIVEN MORAL RESPONSIBILITY (vv. 16–17)
(vv 16) “And the LORD God commanded the man…”
This is the first command in Scripture.
Relationship includes:
freedom
boundaries
God did not make Adam a robot.
He gave him choice.
Adam was to partake of everything in the garden to his heart’s content, which included the tree of life. This is lavish, extravagant abundance, and Adam could take from the tree of life if he wanted it. Everything was there for him—everything he could possibly want.
But God’s permission was paired with his prohibition:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Obedience was the test of relationship.
God was saying:
“Trust Me.”
“Walk with Me.”
“Submit to Me.”
Love without choice is not love.
Relationship without obedience is not fellowship.
“The temptation to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was to seek wisdom without reference to the word of God. It was an act of moral autonomy—deciding what is right without reference to God’s revealed will.” - Kent Hughes
“The presence of this tree — the presence of a choice for Adam — was good because for Adam to be a creature of free will, there had to be a choice, some opportunity to rebel against God. If there is never a command or never something forbidden there can then never be choice. God wants our love and obedience to Him to be the love and obedience of choice.” David Guzik
True relationship with God still involves:
His Word
our obedience
our trust
Considering all that, look at Adam’s advantages. He only had one way he could sin and we have countless ways. There are many trees of temptation in our lives, but Adam had only one.
IV. MAN WAS CREATED FOR HUMAN RELATIONSHIP (vv. 18–23)
IV. MAN WAS CREATED FOR HUMAN RELATIONSHIP (vv. 18–23)
(vv 18) “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone…”
This is the first thing called “not good.”
“Not good” here is strong language. It indicates not only the absence of something good but a substantial deficiency.” - Umberto Cassuto
Adam had:
a perfect world
perfect food
perfect work
But no companion… (Vs. 19-20)
He saw there was none that corresponded to him. In the process he also realized that many of the animals had a social companionship that he lacked. So Adam began to long for companionship with a being like himself. It is reasonable to surmise that the man began to ache for a corresponding other. God was preparing him to value his helper
So God created woman… (Vs. 21-23)
God did not create woman for us to Lord over them…
It must be understood that it is the name used to describe God as the helper of Israel (cf. Exodus 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7
7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, And bring him unto his people: Let his hands be sufficient for him; And be thou an help to him from his enemies.
12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Often “help” was used to reference God’s aid against Israel’s enemies (cf. Psalm 20:2; 121:1, 2; 124:8
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Moses referred to God as his “helper” who delivered him from Pharaoh (cf. Exodus 18:4
4 And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:
So man’s “helper” would be no “weak sister” by any stretch of a misogynist’s imagination.
The function of the helper would be complementary to the man’s—“a helper fit for him”—literally, “like opposite him”3 or “according to his opposite.”4
The woman would be a corresponding counterpart. As a counterpart she would share in his nature. Male and female were created in the image of God (cf. 1:27). And as his matching opposite, she would supply what was lacking in him...
There is a beautiful Jewish tradition saying God made woman, not out of man’s foot to be under him, nor out of his head to be over him, but “She was taken from under his arm that he might protect her and from next to his heart that he might love her” -Donald Barnhouse
Not from Adam’s:
head (to rule him)
feet (to be beneath him)
But from his:
side (to walk with him)
near his heart (to be loved)
Marriage is God’s design —
not culture’s invention.
It is:
complementary
covenantal
relational
God designed us to need one another.
The woman would make it possible for man to do what he could never do alone.
Isolation is not holiness.
Community is part of creation.
V. MAN WAS CREATED FOR UNASHAMED FELLOWSHIP (vv. 24–25)
V. MAN WAS CREATED FOR UNASHAMED FELLOWSHIP (vv. 24–25)
(Vs. 24)
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother” must be understood relatively and as a prescription for the loyalty and intimacy that a man must give his wife—he must “leave” his family. The union with his wife is so profound that he leaves his family even though he remains with them. His first obligation and loyalties are to his wife.
So many marriages fail today at precisely this point: Husbands and wives fail to leave their parents. First loyalties are not established. The creation norm is ignored—and marriage perverted. Any man or woman who believes that first loyalties belong to their parents believes a perversion…
The following requirement, “and hold fast to his wife” has been made much too tame in our translation. The exact sense is, “and sticks to his wife,” even as Israel was repeatedly urged to stick to the Lord in covenantal relationship
Verse 25:
“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Before the fall, Adam and Eve were both naked… and not ashamed. The idea of “nakedness” is far more than mere nudity. It has the sense of being totally open and exposed as a person before God and man. To be naked… and not ashamed means you have no sin, nothing to be rightly ashamed of, and nothing to hide.
This is innocence.
No fear.
No hiding.
No guilt.
They walked with God freely.
They walked with each other honestly.
“Our first parents needed no clothes for covering against cold or heat, for neither could hurt them: they needed none for ornament. Thus easy, thus happy, was man in his state of innocency. How good was God to him! How many favours did he load him with! How easy were the laws given to him! Yet man, being in honour, understood not his own interest, but soon became as the beasts that perish.” - Matthew Henry
Sin will soon break this:
shame enters
fear enters
hiding begins
Here at the pinnacle in 2:25 we should note that 2:25 and 3:7 enclose a unit, because both focus on the couple’s nakedness, but in radical contrast. Whereas 2:25 pictures Adam and Eve at the pinnacle of innocence and intimacy, 3:7 describes them in the pit of guilt and estrangement. This section describes the first couple’s descent from innocence to guilt. It is real history. But as primal history, it describes what has happened countless times down through the ages.
But this verse shows us God’s original intent:
Relationship without:
barriers
suspicion
brokenness
The longing in our hearts for intimacy and belonging comes from Eden.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Genesis 2 teaches us:
You were created:
by God
for God
to walk with God
and to live with others
Sin breaks relationship.
Christ restores it.
The Garden shows what was lost.
The Cross shows what was bought back.
If you are distant from God,
you are distant from what you were made for.
Jesus did not die to make you religious.
He died to bring you back to God.
“Where art thou?” (Gen 3:9)
is answered at the Cross.
