The Gospel Project
Year 1, Week 1
Backgrounder (points from Genesis 1:1-2:3)
“In the beginning God created…”
- Creation ex nihilo (understood this way in other OT & NT passages)
Unique among all stories of beginnings. One God is doing it. - Order out of chaos: without form and void.” Augustine, it was “confused and mixed up.”
Jewish commentator: worse than nothingness.
Creating precedes Ordering. Ambrose: “Scripture points out that things were first created and afterward put in order lest it be supposed that they were not actually created and had no beginning…”
From earliest times the NT pointed out that the Trinity was involved in creation.
e.g., God’s Spirit (life, wind, breath, ruach) was hovering above, ready to act.
The Son: John 1:1ff, Colossians 1:15-19.
Verses 26-27 God creates man and woman.
“These verses are perhaps the verses of the OT most commented on by the Fathers.
The doctrine of man’s creation in the image of God is the foundation of patristic anthropology. The mention of his likeness to God points to the destiny of his sanctification and glorification.”
BTW: The idea that we are created in the image of God is blasphemous for Muslims.
Genesis 2:4-25
Days of Creation (God’s Days)
Day 6: Animals and Humans (we zoom in on Genesis 2:4-25)
2:7,15-17 God created humanity as special and with purpose.
Key concept: God created humanity for relationships.
Christ connection: I Cor 15:45-49 quotes Gen 2:7 to compare “the first man Adam” and “the last Adam,” Jesus. Adam is a man of dust and we all take after his image, being his descendants by birth. The second Adam is a man of heaven; we will bear His perfect image through faith in Jesus who was crucified for our sins and raised again.
Theology connection (Anthropology): Man is the special creation of God, made in his own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.
Gospel connection: The exclusive relationship between husband and wife pictures the plan of God for Christ and the church to be united as one through the perfect sacrificial death of Jesus to cleanse us of our sins and make us holy (Eph 5:22-33).
Discuss: Based on Genesis 2:7, 15-25, how should we relate to God? To others?
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