Genesis Part 1

Introduction:

As we begin this study of Genesis… I’d like to introduce some ground rules… and maybe take some presuppositions out of the way… early on.

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This will be my third time teaching this...

The first time was… a long time ago. I worked through it verse by verse with the help of my Bible School notes, devotional commentaries and the examples of other people’s sermons.

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We took it on.. one bite at at time… and in doing so, I failed to consider some ‘big picture’ issues. I missed some of the broad sweeping context. I missed a lot of the cultural insight, and the ancient worldview that this was written in.

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The second time through… we did hit some of the big picture stuff and the broad sweeping context… but pretty much that was all… - Our second study of Genesis was a part of an overview study of the Pentateuch.

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This time… is going to be the same as the previous studies… in some ways… and completely different in other ways.

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Here are some things we will bring into this study… that maybe we missed in previous studies..

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ONE

We will be cognitive of the ancient world this was written in. This was was written in a cultural context that is quite different than ours. We need to understand how the people of this time would have received this letter.

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We need to understand the religious and social climate of the world this letter was introduced into. The context of Genesis isn’t our time period, our doctrine, our traditions or our science. The context of Genesis is ancient… and we will do our best to understand… how it was written, and how it would have been received.

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TWO

We will see the big picture. - Genesis 1-11 sets forth a problem… that can only be solved in Jesus.

-We learn about man…

-what it means to be fallen…

-man’s big problem with rebellion…

-and God’s ultimate… divine plan to redeem mankind through a Messiah.

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THREE

The Ancient World had a supernatural perspective that was well established… from the time of Genesis… all the way into the first century of the church. One of the prime influencers of the first century was Augustine… who rejected many of the supernatural elements of the early scriptures… and his views have influenced the church heavily.

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To truly understand Genesis… we need to understand… a little bit more about the supernatural worldview of that day. We covered this topic in one of our live feed mid week studies with the Covid-19 thing first hit… but I’ll give it a quick overview here.

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The Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ is a term that is used often in the OT. Some think that this is a name of God… but’s not. It’s a term for any being that exists in the spiritual realm. So, yes, God is Elohim… but so are other beings… like angels, and seraphim, and living creatures, and cherubim.

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Psalm 82:1