GenesisGetting Started With God

Composition Stuff

תולדותTOLEDOTH

• Genesis is a compilation of ancient source materials.

• “This is the account (TOLEDOTH) of …” (x13; 2:4a; 5:1a; 6:9a; 10:1a; 11:10a; 11:27a; 25:12; 25:19a; 36:1; 36:9; 37:2a)

• The phrase is generally a concluding signature, referring back to the proceeding account (e.g., 25:19b - 37:2a).

• The above account is attributed to Jacob as the author of the source material, a man most qualified to record the events of his father Isaac’s life.

• So, if Jacob lived c2000 BC, and if the Exodus (Israelites freed from Egyptian bondage) occurred in c1440 BC, Moses likely composed part of the Pentateuch (The Torah, The Law, Genesis - Deuteronomy) in the wilderness after being liberated from Egypt; in this case, with a 500-year-old source.

• This source selection, compilation, and editing, was performed under the the influence of God’s guidance (2 Tim 3:16), presumably being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21).

• TABLET THEORY

Creation Stuff

• There are no less than nine articulated interpretations of the Genesis creation account.

• The interpretations are variously distinguished as “scientific” v. “historic” (“exegetical”) or “young earth” v. “old earth.”

• Given (1) the popularity of Darwin’s evolutionary model (common descent with modification over time by means of natural selection), (2) the advent of scientific instrumentation to measure the age of the earth and distances between celestial objects, and (3) the desire for biblical scholars to reconcile the scientific with the historical/exegetical; multiple and often divisive and controversial interpretations exist.

• So, what do we know? That is, from the Genesis creation account (1:1-2:4)?

• Who created? GOD (1:1)

• What did he create? “The heavens and the earth” (1:1)

• How did he create? ex nihilo v. ex materia; i.e., the above merism refers to “everything,” and so God, at an unspecified time (itself part of creation), initiated a period of creation (1:1) wherein the subsequent acts of creation (by fiat - God spoke into existence) would occur (1:2-2:4).

• We have a literal creation of a literal universe by a literal God which included literal objects, animals, vegetation, and human beings (i.e., the creation account is historical narrative (e.g., 1 Cor 15:22; Paul refers to Adam and Jesus as historical persons).

• The time and duration of creation are not central to the (1:1-2:4) account; BUT rather an introduction to the nature of the Creator by whose power our redemption would be accomplished (the grand theme of the Bible first disclosed in 3:15 - the protoevangelium

A Thought Experiment

• In most of the Bible translations, the creation account is printed on two sides of a single sheet of paper.

• The books on the interpretations of the creation account can fill a sizable library!

• Most recently (2017) the book to the left (1008 pages!) debunks the notion that God used natural selection as the means to evolve species from common ancestry.

• So, why only 1-sheet of paper for such a monumental event?

• Also, the Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of God; it assumes God!

Image of God Stuff

• Humans are created in “the image of God” (1:25-27; 9:6); that is, we are separate from the animal kingdom in that we are self-reflective, reasoning beings, with personality (intellect, emotion, will).

• The entrance of sin into the race (the “fall”) marred, but did not destroy this image; (1) a single prohibition challenged the autonomy of the will; (2) a predator challenged the reasoning and emotional faculties of the race; (3) sin fills the void where righteousness “rightly” belongs; (4) it’s entrance into the race was permanent (nature as well); (5) allusions to God acting as Redeemer are embedded in his judgment (3:15; 3:21; 3:24; 4:26; 6:9; 11:10; 11:27; 12:1-3; Matt 1:1-16; John 4:22; Rev 22:16).

• The new birth permits a progressive restoration of this image as the life of Christ takes root in our actions and attitudes (2 Cor 3:18).

• “Come, Desire of nations, come! Fix in us Thy humble home: Rise, the woman’s conquering seed, bruise in us the serpent’s head; Adam’s likeness now efface, stamp thine image in its place: final Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.”