Genesis 1 - 3

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GENESIS 1

1:2 - The Spirit of God was present at the beginning.
1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 - The Word of God does the creation.
"according to their kinds" - suggests:
1) animals are to follow their natures (which suggests that Man is separate/distinct from the animals because we are to DENY our sinful, fleshly natures.) [actually, our initial nature is not sinful, it is only disobedience and the eating of the apple that transformed us, and distanced us from god.]
2) God's creation is also an act of SEPARATION - making one thing distinct, and different; God CHOOSES - see the parallel to the Israelites chosen from all the peoples of the earth, and the Levites chosen from among the Israelites. (Gen 1:4, 6, 9, 14, 18).
3) our God is an orderly God - see Leviticus.


1:28 - the original commandment is threefold:
1) Be fruitful and increase in number,
2) Fill the earth and subdue it,
3) rule over the fish, birds and animals.


1:29 - we are given the gift of the earth's bounty - every seed-bearing plant, every fruit-bearing tree is ours for food. This suggests the abundance and the generous nature of God.
This gift is later taken away (or in some sense limited) (Gen 3:17-19, 4:12) as a punishment for sin and disobedience.
This gift is described in 2:9, given to man in 2:16. Man is given a command (2:17), but disobeys (3:6). This gift later removed for his disobedience in 3:17.




GENESIS 2

2:7 - "breath of life" - suggestive of the Holy Spirit? However, in Genesis 7, God speaks of creatures with 'the breath of life' within them...
Given the breath of life, Adam's task is a scaled-down version of God's - he names and chooses the animals, separating them according to their kinds, as it were (2:19).
The awesome power of this word is shown in 2:19-20:
1) Whatever Adam called the creatures, that was the name after.
2) Adam gave names to ALL the creatures.
Adam is like God because he has the breath of god within him, and his word has power because the same breath that God uses to speak His word is also within Adam.


2:9 - bounty of the earth (mentioned above in 1:29)


2:17 - God forbade them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, but not the tree of eternal life! There is hope of eternal life for us yet!


2: 18-20 - naming the creatures. (mentioned above in 2:7)


2:25 - "felt no shame" - What does this mean? Does it mean that they:
1) were not embarassed?
2) had no knowledge of nakedness? Did this mean that they had no concept of clothing or of covering themselves? (Not so. We see later that they cover up their nakedness with fig leaves - 3:7.)
3) perhaps it means that they had no knowledge that nakedness required shame or guilt as a response. The concept of shame or guilt was foreign to them.
Shame and guilt come only with disobedience - where is the man who feels guilty while doing good? Hence, it might not have existed before the original act of disobedience. Hence, without the knowledge of good and evil, shame did not exist for them, nor the need to feel guilty.




GENESIS 3

3:1-3 - The Fall of Man began with the questioning of God's word (3:1), and the inability of woman to answer accurately (3:2-3). The Word is the Sword of the Spirit - we must we well versed in it to use it correctly, lest it be used against us.


3:4 - The snake directly contradicts the known Word of God (2:17).


3:5-11 - After they ate the fruit, "the eyes of them both were opened", they ended up "knowing good and evil". Was the fruit a magic fruit? Or was it the ACT of disobedience that opened their eyes? Previously, all they knew was good - God's abundance, God's presence, God's blessing - with no knowledge of evil - they were only forbidden to do one thing.
Once the deed was done/the fruit was eaten, they were ashamed and afraid:
1) They "knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (3:7).
2) When God was walking in the garden, the couple "hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God". Also, "I [Adam] was afraid, because I[Adam] was naked".
Their shame, guilt and fear made it immediately clear to the LORD that they had sinned (3:11).

We see something similar when Paul talks about the Law in Romans 3:20, 23:
"for by the law is the knowledge of sin", and "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Again in 4:15: "where no law is, there is no transgression".
His meaning is that only through our knowledge of good and evil can there be sin, and its associated corruption. Similarly, only when God's commandment had been broken did Adam and Eve come to know of evil - where before all they experienced was good.


3:12-13 - pushing the blame: Adam blames Eve, and through her, God (3:12 - "the woman thou gavest to be with me"); Eve blames the serpent (3:13 - "The serpent beguiled me").


3:14-19 - God punishes all three.
The serpent is:
1) cursed above all beasts
2) condemned to crawl on its belly, and
3) eat dust all the days of its life.
4) It is the enemy of woman, and its offspring are the enemies of the offspring of woman.

Woman will
1) give birth to children with pain,
2) desire to control her husband,
3) but her husband will dominate her.

Because of Man,
1) Cursed is the ground
2) He can only eat of it with painful labour.
3) It will produce inedible thorns and thistles,
4) and only with sweat will it produce grain for bread.
5) Man is condemned to return to dust.

Both were expelled from the Garden, and distanced from God (3:23)


3:21 - The LORD God clothed the two before banishing them - He made garments from skin for them. Though we sin and grieve God, He still loves us and cares for us - this speaks of His love and compassion.


3:22-23 - Now knowing sin, Man was expelled from Eden - he was distanced from the presence of the LORD God.