The content below was developed by Doug Reynolds who has requested that it be placed here for others to use in teaching the word of God.
The content is constructed in ten different parts or sections. Each section consists of one lesson.
Genesis – The book of beginnings
Part I – Introduction
Today we will begin our study of the book of Genesis. Genesis starts with creation and ends with the people of Israel in Egypt after the death of Joseph. Genesis is truly a book of beginnings. It tells us about:
- The beginning of the universe
- The beginning of a perfect world
- The beginning of people
- The beginning of sin (and suffering)
- The beginning of nations (civilization)
- The beginning of our struggle for independence from God
- The beginning of God’s revelation of Himself to man
- The beginning of the plan of salvation for man
Who wrote Genesis?
Moses is the author of the book of Genesis. In fact, Moses, inspired by God, is the author of the first five books of the Bible. The first five books are called the Pentateuch and include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Joshua completed this work after Moses’ death. Of course, Moses was not an eyewitness to the events of Genesis, having not yet been born. God told the story we have in Genesis to Moses through special revelation. It is interesting that the first and last books of the Bible are given by special, divine revelation.
What does Genesis tell us?
To begin with, Genesis tells us that God created everything. Genesis also reveals to us a great deal about our nature. It tells us this through stories about people and relationships. Most importantly, it tells us about man’s relationship with God.
What does Genesis not tell us?
God does not choose to tell us anything about how He created everything, at least from a scientific standpoint. Neither does God tell us the age of the universe, of earth, or of man.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
This is probably the most profound statement ever made. Some have called verse 1 the “doorway through which we have to walk into the Bible.” Why would verse 1 be described in this way? Several answers may be appropriate, but I feel the most fitting answer is that we must accept God’s creation account by trust. There is no other way to accept it or begin to understand it than by trust. Please refer to Hebrews 11:1-3. In these verses, the Apostle Paul more eloquently explains the trust relationship we must have to understand the creation account.
What does Genesis 1:1 tell us/do?
This verse introduces us to God, the central figure of all scripture.
This verse shows that God was in existence before the beginning of the universe and earth. God is preexistent.
Genesis 1:1 tells us how everything in the universe began.
This verse tells us that God created everything from nothing. The Hebrew word “bara” is the word we translate into “created.” Bara means to begin or originate a sequence of events. The ability to create something from nothing is unique to God alone. Man must have raw materials to work with, either inside or outside the body.
Lastly, Genesis 1:1 tells us that God is greater than and separate from His creation.
What is God’s purpose in giving us such a short, abridged version of the creation story?
Why did God not give us a scientific account of creation?
To answer these questions, it’s best we refer to scripture. Please read II Timothy 3:14-17.
Scripture is:
- From God
- for instruction in righteousness
- to show how man can be complete in God.
Therefore, God did not intend for us to understand the “science” of creation. In fact, it is doubtful man will ever understand it. We are to accept God’s word by trust in many instances. Creation is certainly one of those instances. Think about this….If Moses had brought the fully revealed scientific story of creation to Israel, would they have understood it? Would we even understand it today? Most likely we could not. Anything that is not well understood tends to be rejected. God did not/does not want man to reject his account of creation.
Part II – Chapter 1, Verse 2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Do you have to see the Creator to recognize the fact that His creation exists? This is just a question to get us started for today’s lesson. The answer to this will help us defend God’s act of creation to those who would doubt it. It will also help remind us of the significance of the verses we study. Each time we see God act in creation, we should be reminded of the wisdom of respecting God.
Today we will study verses 2 through 5. We will discuss several different theories relative to the age of the earth and to God’s creative “day” shown in Genesis.
Notice how we have not reached the end of the first day of creation, even though verse 1 tells us that God created the heaven and the earth. As is common in the Bible, God tells us a general statement first, and then proceeds to give us more details and answers about what He has just said. You will see this pattern repeated in Genesis and throughout the Bible.
In this verse, God begins to bring order to His creation. This verse is significant in that it tells us that God reversed natural order, bringing order, and later life, to his creation. The Law of Entropy, also known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, says that, when left alone, any system will decline and decay. Can you think of some examples of this law? In verse 2, God’s spirit moves “upon the face of the waters” reversing natural order by His supernatural intervention to create man’s perfect environment.
The first theory concerning creation we will discuss concerns what happened between verses 1 and 2. This theory is called the “gap” theory, and is held by many conservative bible scholars. This theory holds that God’s creation in verse 1 was perfect. It holds that it was ruined afterward, and before verse 2, by Satan. Please refer to Isaiah 14:12-15, for details about Satan’s origin and his fall. This theory proposes that Satan, after he was cast from heaven, caused the chaos on earth that is revealed in verse 2. According to the “gap” theory, the account of God’s creation, beginning in verse 3, is God’s act of reconstructing and restoring His creation. Proponents of this theory believe that the gap between verses 1 and 2 is ages long, probably billions of years.
Those who support the “gap” theory will point to the reference of “darkness was upon the face of the deep” and say that the darkness referred to here indicates the absence of God. The Hebrew word for the phrase “without form” is the word Tohu meaning “ruin or vacancy.” The Hebrew word for the term “void” is Bohu meaning “emptiness.” Please refer to Isaiah 45:18. In this verse God says He did not create the earth “in vain.” The Hebrew word used here is the same as in Genesis 1:2: Tohu. Proponents of the “gap” theory maintain that God did not create the earth tohu va bohu, in ruin or emptiness, or in vain. God created the earth for man to inhabit it. The “gap” theorists maintain that, after the chaos caused by Satan, God reconstructed the earth into a perfect place for man to live.
Chapter 1, Verses 3-5
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
In his first step of creating an earth suitable and perfect for man, God creates light and divides the light from the darkness. In and of itself, these verses suggest that light did not exist prior to this account. This complements verse 2. God created light in the world because it was necessary to create a world inhabitable and perfect for man. At the end of verse 5, God gives us a unique clue to the amount of time God needed or used to create the world and universe as we now see it. “And the evening and the morning were the first day” indicates a specific period of time. I believe it to be a literal 24 hour day as we now know it. I see know other way it can be interpreted. I don’t believe God would have revealed it to Moses in a way he couldn’t understand. There are others, however, that propose alternatives. These are discussed below.
The Geological Ages Theory
In this theory, each creative day is considered to be a geological age. These ages occurred before man was found on earth, and they spanned millions of years. You likely have heard of these ages as Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Jurassic, etc.
The 24-hour Period Theory
According to this theory, each day indicated in the creation account is a twenty four hour day in Moses’ life as God revealed the story to him. Therefore, the “days” of creation were symbolic of a much longer period of elapsed time.
The Literary Framework Theory
This theory maintains that while the facts of creation are accurate, the “day” is used only as a literary device to frame the acts of creation. This theory would hold that the “days” represented much longer periods of time as well.
The Myth Theory
This theory regards the account of creation as being only symbolic. It accepts that God created, but does not accept the account as being historically accurate.
Things to consider as you continue to study . . .
If you consider a creative day to be symbolic of an age, how did the flowers, created on the third day, survive for ages without insects and birds, created on the fifth day, to pollinate them?
If you consider a creative day to be a literal 24 hour day, how do you account for the obvious passage of time before the creation of woman as described in Chapter 2?
Part III – Chapter 1:6-25
Verses 6-8
God divides the waters. Essentially, God creates a space between the waters. We call the space sky. God leaves the earth covered in water at this point, and He creates the atmosphere surrounding the earth. In its most common form, we refer to this as the creation of dew, clouds, and fog, but moisture in the air we breathe is essential to man’s existence.
This completes the Second Day
There are three “heavens” mentioned in scripture. They are:
- The atmosphere, or sky, we can see with the naked eye.
- The stars, solar system, and universe, and
- God’s dwelling place
Verses 9-13
In these verses, we are told that God divides the waters that are upon the earth. In doing so, He reveals the dry land, or earth, and creates new boundaries for the seas. Next, God creates vegetation from the dry land.
What God does next is repeated when He creates animal life. God gave each plant the ability to reproduce from its own seed – after each its kind.
This completes the Third Day
Biblical scholars suggest that the best way to interpret the word kind from its Hebrew origins is to translate the word into our word, phylum. Science has proven biblical teaching correct about creation through DNA research. We have proven that each organism has its own unique genetic code. Though there is great variation within each phylum, or kind, each kind is unique. There has never been discovered proof that an organism from one phylum, or kind, has ever “evolved” into an organism with a different genetic code. Can you think of examples of variations of phylum in the plant or animal world?
For just a quick refresher of the way organisms are classified, please refer to the following listing…starting at the top:
- Kingdom (plant or animal)
- Phylum (kind)
- Order
- Family
- Class
- Genus
- Species
As you can see, the division into kind falls just below the division of plants and animals. Very early in the classification process, God made sure each kind was unique and reproduces only after its kind.
Verses 14-19
In these verses, God puts the sun, moon, and stars into position. However, God does not create them here. Remember, God created the heaven and the earth in verse 1. At this point, God merely brings them all into exact position for one purpose, to sustain the life of what He has created, and what He will create.
This completes the Fourth Day
It is important to note here that the biblical view of the universe is not at odds with a scientific view of the universe. Both view the universe as an infinite creation. Please refer to Job 11:7-8, and Job 22:12.
Verses 20-25
God creates fish, fowl, and animal life after their own kind as well. God also blesses and commands them to be fruitful and multiply. This command to animal life is further evidence of God’s control over his creation. It is also further justification that all His creation should, and ultimately will, worship Him.
This completes the Fifth Day
Part IV – Chapter 1: 26-27
God creates man and woman! In these verses we see four astounding revelations:
- God uses the pronoun “us.” This is the first glimpse we get of the triune God. God is one person, yet is more than one in His action and unity. In Acts 4:24, we see God the Father. In John 1:1-2; and Colossians 1:15-17, we see the Son, Jesus Christ. And in Psalm 104:30 we see the Holy Spirit. These are just some of the verses in which we see further evidence of the three persons through which God reveals Himself to us.
- When God “makes” man, it is clearly distinct from His creation of the other animals. While He made a multitude of other animals, He created only one man and (later) one woman.
- God created man in His image. We know from the Bible that God is a Person with identity and individuality. We see that He has emotions and values, appreciates beauty, demonstrates creativity, distinguishes between right and wrong, loves, and even sacrifices Himself for the sake of others. God created us just like that! We have attributes not shared by other animals. We have a moral consciousness, the ability to think abstractly and create, an understanding of beauty and emotion, and most of all, the capacity to love a loving God.
- God separates man and woman from other parts of creation by giving them dominion over creation.
Verses 28-31
In these verses, God repeats his charge to man to have dominion over creation. God also commands man to be fruitful and to multiply. Some scholars have suggested that Adam and perhaps Eve, until the fall actually had dominion over the forces of nature; weather, for instance. An interesting thought, but I don’t see any direct evidence of that myself.
God is the first to bring up the subject of sex. He intended man and woman to have sex for the purpose of procreation. Later we see the sanctioning by God of sex between husband and wife.
In short, Man was put here with purpose. Can you name some of our purposes?
God shows His love further by the provisions he made for us in verse 29. Man and the other animals were given all they needed to eat and sustain themselves. It is clear that at this point in creation that man was a vegetarian.
Careful reading of the King James Version of the Bible reveals an interesting use of a word in verse 28. God tells man to “replenish” the earth. What do you think of when you use the word “replenish?” The idea is restoring something to its original, full state. This gives the idea that the earth was inhabited before man, and that something happened that caused their destruction. Many who hold the “Gap” theory we discussed when we first began our study of Genesis hold this view. However, it is also interesting to note that other translations of the Bible (New International, English Standard, New King James) do not interpret the Hebrew text as “replenish.” These versions interpret this word to be “fill.” This interpretation does not carry the same implication as “replenish.”
God saw everything He had created and it was “very good.”
This completes the Sixth Day
Part V – Chapter 2:1-6
In chapter 2, God will begin to tell us in more detail about his creation. But we are not given details about everything. Rather, God focuses chapter 2 on His creation of man. This theme is repeated often in the Bible. God first gives a summary account, then follows with the specific application to man. Man, after all, is the reason for God’s creation. Simply put, God begins now to teach us about his relationship with us, and our relationship with Him.
Verses 1-3:
In these verses we see that God rests. This is an unusual term. Why do you think that God “rested?”
Unlike the other six days of creation, God does not indicate this day with the phrase “and the evening and the morning were.” Why do you think this is so?
God also blesses this day. Though He pronounces them “very good”, God does not bless the other six days of creation. It is obvious that God intends this day to be of special significance.
Genesis was written in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for Sabbath is shabat, meaning rest, or cessation of activity.
Let’s look at various verses in the Bible to help us understand the importance of the Sabbath day.
Exodus 16:23
Exodus 20:8-11
Exodus 31:12-17
Isaiah 58:13-14
Matthew 12:1-14
Mark 2:27
Luke 13:10-17
John 20:1
Acts 20:7
Hebrews 4:5-11
God wants us to honor the Sabbath day by refraining from our normal work to focus on Him. Does this mean that we should stop all work on the Sabbath or Lord’s Day?
Who knows us better than we know ourselves? If you answered this question correctly, explain why God felt he needed to institute this observance of the Sabbath?
Verses 4-6
In these verses, Moses, through God’s inspiration, gives us a fresh introduction to the Creation account before beginning the further account of the creation of man. These verses repeat, but do not contradict, the account of chapter 1.