let them be for lights in the firmament in the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it was so. Believers can, for by faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3). All is consistent in revelation, and nowhere else. I need not dwell on the sad history which we all know more or less. For it is a day when all things are in question, even the surest. The true key to this account is supplied in the Epistle of Jude. *It seems almost too trivial to notice what Dr. Davidson and Bishop Colenso (or their German sources) say of Genesis 2:5-6, as if inconsistent with Genesis 1:9-10. This was decided not by some grave and mighty matter, of which man could reason and see the consequences, but simply by doing or not doing the will of God. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. How possibly have that discrimination which decides morally between what is good and what is evil? Abel, Enoch, Noah, we have already seen. Genesis 11:1-32 opens with the sin of man, which led to the division described in the preceding chapter, the moral reason of that fact, new then, but still in its substance going on, whatever the superficial changes among men in their lands, and tongues, and political distribution. The text we are studying for Sunday, September 16 is Genesis 1:26-31 + 2:4-7.This is that portion of the creation story or stories in Genesis 1 & 2 that deals with the creation of adam, which is variously translated (in the NRSV, anyway) as "humankind" (Genesis 1:26 & 27) and as "man" (Genesis 2:7).This means we're skipping over the institution of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3), and . A fly, you hate them, but yet what fabulous design! The sun, moon and stars, previously hidden, now became clearly visible. In the reason is evolved the distinction of good and evil Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:31, which is in itself the approval of the former and the disapproval of the latter. * We are therefore warranted in supposing that they are described just because they might have been less easily discerned. This does not mean simply that certain parts of human beings such as their spiritual, moral or mental capacities reflect the divine nature. Not at all. things in it were made, and which being finished, he is - The relation of man to the creature is now stated. The plural "We" was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity: modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis; or as an address by God to Himself, the subject and object being identical; or as communicative, an address to the spirits or angels who stand around the Deity and constitute His council. When it says that God sits above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22), it does not mean that he sits in space somewhere above the horizon, but that he is the sovereign Lord of the universe. For this was a new state of things, not only not at all in the world before the flood, but not for some considerable time after it, and their distribution in their lands. Certainly this is not mere creation in view, but special dealings of a moral sort. Yet we still thank God, for we know that he is the provider of all things. And you just look around, God'll speak to you through the grass, through the vegetables, through the flowers, through the trees. It is the truth, and in such a form and depth as man himself could not have discerned. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. (Comp. [Note: Bruce K. Waltke, "Reflections from the Old Testament on Abortion," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 19:1 (Winter 1976):8. Genesis 1-11:26. We should not have known anything of paradise from the first chapter. p. 108. apud Wagenseil. God is holy, just, wise, good, and perfect; so must the soul be that sprang from him: there could be in it nothing impure, unjust, ignorant, evil, low, base, mean, or vile. "Man" refers to mankind, not Adam individually (Genesis 1:27). Genesis 1:26. This explanation involves what some people call, sometimes disparagingly, the "gap theory," which shows that the Bible allows for a long time interval between verse 1 and verse 2 of Genesis 1. She listened, she looked, she took of the fruit; she ate, and was fallen. The exposition of Chrysostom is not more correct, who refers to the dominion which was given to man in order that he might, in a certain sense, act as Gods vicegerent in the government of the world. The real and only force of the "and" is another fact; not at all as if it implied that the first and second verses spoke of the same time, any more than they decide the question of the length of the interval. I don't intend to get into them. I warn every person solemnly against a notion found in both ancient and modern times, that there was in the beginning a quantity of what may be called crude matter for God to work on. What more important fact about God and man would be necessary if the covenant at Sinai were, in fact, to be a real relationship? The fish, the fowl, are beneath the domestic cattle. And, according to him, spiritual regeneration is nothing else than the restoration of the same image. Hence we may see how fitting it is that, as man is about to be introduced on the earth for the first time, as the previous state had nothing whatever to do with his being here below, and indeed was altogether unfit for his dwelling on it, besides the fact that he was not yet created, days should appear only when it was a question of making the heavens and the earth as they are. It doesn't necessarily mean a source of light. The thing indeed is true; but I do not think that anything of the kind entered the mind of Moses. That is another matter, and by ho means of such consequence as many suppose. So God is a superior trinity. We'll know no weakness, no pain, no suffering. way of speaking did not obtain very early, not even till the A third rule is to employ faithfully and discreetly whatever we can learn concerning the time, place, and other circumstances of the author to the elucidation of his meaning. * Creation does not in the first instance belong to the church at all, whose place is purely one of grace. Unquestionably. All the delays of God now proceed on the fact that the first man is in sin. Both indicate personality, moral, and spiritual qualities that God and man share (i.e., self-consciousness, God-consciousness, freedom, responsibility, speech, moral discernment, etc.) Lastly, in the fifth chapter, without making any mention of image, he puts likeness in its place, (Genesis 5:1.) But, as it is, scripture means nothing of the sort. (90) The two prefixes to the Hebrew words signifying image and likeness; the former of which is translated in, the latter after, or still more correctly, according to. The soul is a spirit, an intelligent immortal spirit, an influencing active spirit, herein resembling God, the Father of Spirits, and the soul of the world. co-workers with God in creation F7: and man being the principal This act of creation, too, like all that precede it, is shown by the divine word "good" to be in accordance with the will of God. The impact of this point on the remainder of the Pentateuch and the authors view of Sinai is clear: through Abraham, Israel and the covenant this blessing is to be restored to all mankind." The rebellious spirit of the forefather shows itself in the descendant Lamech. Man was the pinnacle of His splendid super-structure, underlining the peculiar importance of man in God's economy, for man was to be God's representative on earth, crowned with his Maker . In Assyrian the name for man is also adamu, or admu. The difference in the divine titles is due to a distinctness of object, not of authorship; and it runs through the Psalms and the Prophets as well as the Law, so as to convict of ignorance and temerity the learned men who vaunt so loudly of the document hypothesis as applied to the Pentateuch. But now, although some obscure lineaments of that image are found remaining in us; yet are they so vitiated and maimed, that they may truly be said to be destroyed. Could they so made have carried themselves otherwise than is here described? Should any one take the exception, that he was merely studying brevity; I answer, (87) that where he twice uses the word image, he makes no mention of the likeness. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Being made in Gods image, human beings are unique in Gods creation. What caused the change? This elementary truth is of immense importance at the present moment. If the Holy Spirit, as in Exodus 20:11, refers to heaven and earth made in six days, it always avoids the expression "creation." And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 15 My frame was not hidden from you. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Gen 1:31). He therefore restricts the image of God to government, in which the man has superiority over the wife and certainly he meant nothing more than that man is superior in the degree of honor. It is only faith that really accepts what comes from God; and faith alone gives the clue to what is around us now, but then it guides us through all present entanglements by believing God whether as to what He once made or what He will yet do. That man's creation was a more signal and immediate act of divine wisdom and power than that of the other creatures. Is this merely the conserving of the creature? p. 344. I'm so glad that I know Him. "Let them rule" (1:26) is the consequence of "Let Us make man in Our image.". "Thou madest him (man) a little lower than the angels; Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands" (Hebrews 2:5-7). Some . the formation of him; not because of any difficulty attending it, The Bible demonstrates this order of importance from the outset by fitting the story of creation into a mere week, into the opening page of a 1,000-page Bible.The Bible was never intended to be a scientific textbook. He had described what she was rather than who; it was only when sin had come in, and when others, had there been any, would have called her naturally the parent of death, that Adam (by what seems to be the guidance of God in faith) calls her rather the mother of the living. But what came in immediately, and what is traced throughout the Bible, it may be noted, is the present consequence in the government of God. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah. What is the idea? So, the parents fly off to Hawaii, leaving their kids in Alaska! Had the copulative not been here, the first verse might have been regarded as a kind of summary of the chapter. But I often wonder why God made such weird-looking fish, in such variety, and then the fabulous colors! It is an awesome thing to realize that God does respect my choice.Now, He does speak to influence my choice because He loves me, and He knows what is best for me. He pronounces a . The whole creation was built by the Word of God from the mouth of God. When men reason instead of receiving the revealed light of the Bible, I care not who or what they may be, they only mistake God and even man. I need ears to hear, but God wouldn't necessarily need ears to hear. A numerous lasting family, to enjoy this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing upon them, in virtue of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth and continue to the utmost period of time. Observe. Eden was to be the scene of the moral trial of man. Not only is the method the most worthy, but the truth with which the book opens is one that nobody ever did really discover before it was revealed. 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.'. There is no real courage with a bad conscience, and guile will soon be apparent where God brings His own light and makes guilt manifest. We have first the great announcement that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. He may not be able perhaps to meet objections. of God. "So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. It is the earliest history we have of the earth and of God's relationships to men. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. But because I relate seeing to eyes, and when I talk to God about seeing, I would say, well, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth, but it doesn't necessarily follow that God has eyes, because eyes aren't necessarily essential for seeing.So what does God look like? but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he Then the earth is described as void and waste, and (not as succeeding, but accompanying it) darkness upon the face of the deep, contemporaneously with which the Spirit of God broods upon the face of the waters. The reason why persons have found such perplexities, for instance) in relation to our Lord's, as compared with the Jews taking the passover and with the crucifixion, is owing to their forgetting that the evening and the morning were the first day, the second day, or any other. What can be more beautiful in its season? It just testifies to God's neat, inventive genius, and being able to take same basic features and just creates an infinite number of varieties.God evidently likes variety. It remains yet to be seen whether he will be good in act and habit. Unto whom? It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. 26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Much more could be said, but we must move on. There was a famine in the land: Though Isaac lived in the land God promised to his father Abraham and his descendants, it did not mean that life in the land would be without trouble or challenge. He is to be related to the Eternal Being himself. And chapter one was written by the "Elohistic"; chapter two by the "Jehovistic." to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in the In another sense man is the image of God (e.g., he rules and creates [procreates] as God does, thus reflecting God). Those who made the Pison to be the Ganges regarded the Gihon as the Nile. These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers F6, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to . We see God's tender care and parental solicitude for the comfort and well-being of this masterpiece of his workmanship, in creating the world previously to the creation of man. Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Which would include the angels, for the angels are called the hosts of heaven.And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made (Gen 2:2). On this however we need not say more than that He "drove out the man," lest he should perpetuate the condition of ruin into which he had passed. [Note: See John F. Kilner, "Humanity in Gods Image: Is the Image Really Damaged?" As a notice of God's covenant with the earth, I may just refer, in passing, to the establishment of the bow in the cloud as the sign of the mercy of Elohim (verses Genesis 9:12-17). In Hebrew there is a dual tense, two, and the Hebrew "Elah" is God in a dual tense. Man will rise and live again. I know it's night because it's dark, but I don't see the moon, because there is a cloud cover that prohibits me seeing the moon or prohibits my seeing the sun.Now, this fog, cloud cover could have been removed on the fourth day, so that the "light holder" becomes visible. But, after all, it is the positive truth of God which it is the all-important business to hold, and this God has put in the heart of the simplest child who believes in Jesus. Needless to say, the divine image has been grossly eroded in many of Adam's rebellious and sinful children. No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis, - an interpretation which . Humanity was the final full-stop in creation's story. In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in Genesis 1:29, Genesis 1:30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. [Note: See James Jordan, "Rebellion, Tyranny, and Dominion in the Book of Genesis," Christianity and Civilization 3 (Summer 1983):38-80. Where is anything like it in all the known ways of God? It merely describes in a few graphic touches, that are strikingly true to nature, the last of those geologic changes which our globe has undergone. The strict import of the term is that which to my mind is most suitable to the context; the week in which God made the heaven and earth for man seems alone appropriate in introducing the revelation of God. Christians, therefore, properly contend, from this testimony, that there exists a plurality of Persons in the Godhead. In his purity and rectitude. F8; and they also speak F9 of Adam Stemming from the fact that God made man in His image is a second purpose: 2. Genesis chapter 1. 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