In the first part of a three part series, Whitney Clayton begins by discussing the Christian Faith and its responses to the theory of evolution.  What are you?  Young Earth, Old Earth, Theistic Evolution, or simply Evolution without an intelligent designer?  And tell us why?

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Moving from a discussion of God’s love within His intratrinitarian Persons (see here) and God’s provisional love for all of His creation (see here), we move now to discuss yet another aspect of God’s other-orientation and self-giving love in this third installment within this series on God’s love—God’s general love for all mankind. There is a sense in which God’s love for all of mankind could have been included in the preceding discussion of God’s provisional love for all of His creation.

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Having discussed the source from which God’s love flows—that is God’s essential attribute of love as it is and has been expressed perpetually and eternally, apart from and independent of the created order, within His intratrinitarian Persons (See my first installment to this series)—we can now consider the expressions of the outworking of God’s other-orientation in His self-giving. The first aspect of God’s self-giving love, to which we will now devote our attention, is the providential love of God for all creation.

God “did not, on making the world, leave it to itself, or commit it into other hands; but it is an object of His constant care, and His hand is concerned in all its movements.”[i] God is not deistic; He is, in fact, interested and concerned with what He has created. Creation is not worthless; it is, on the contrary, of special significance to God.

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The Beginning is important. Foundations are crucial for homes, businesses, athletics, academia, and relationships. Anything that holds importance, finds its significance in the beginning. The same is true for Christianity. In the beginning, God created.

Nowadays, when people talk about the beginning of Genesis, they seem to have a sole purpose in proving their scientific thoughts on the beginning of the world. But is that the thrust of meaning the Bible picks up from Genesis 1-3, or do biblical authors focus their attention on different themes? Let’s attempt to listen to what the Bible focuses on from Genesis 1-3 as important, and we may realize it isn’t an edited timeline.

1. God is Creator. The first chapter of Genesis is solely dedicated to the creation of the world out of nothing by God. Many interpret the first chapter differently like whether it is literal or poetic literature or a mixture of both. Thus, many solid Christians who love God differ in opinion on some details, but they all build upon the fact that God is creator. The fact is undeniable in biblical opinion. Everything exists because God created.

2. Man in God’s Image. The end of the first and all the second chapter picks up the focus and crown of God’s creation centering on man. It narrows the creation story of the first chapter from the general creation of all things to the specific creation of those whom it is said God made in His Image, men and women. What is the Image of God? The image of God is much more than a physical idea because our physical bodies do not look like God. The idea of image has to do with representation. We see this idea picked up and focused upon later in Genesis with the idea of sonship. A son represents his father like one made in another’s image is to represent them. Being made in the Image of God gives us a unique relationship with the Creator different than all others.

3. God’s Mission. We see being made in God’s image meant man and woman were given a mission. They were given responsibility. In 1:28 God charges us to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. God tells Adam and Eve that the entire world is to be inhabited like the Garden of Eden with Godly communities and people everywhere. Adam and Eve had a Great Commission, too, but there mission was to raise Godly offspring to fill the world. They were to also show dominion and right rule over all other parts of creation like the ground and animals. God made the world to fill the world with His glory and Image, and he gave the responsibility to humanity to carry out the mission

4. Sin. Also, in the beginning, everything created was perfect. We see the ground and animals operating in perfect harmony (1:29-30). We see perfect relationships between humans (2:25). Finally, and most importantly, we see humans living in righteousness with God. Adam and Eve enjoyed the ability to communicate with God and the ability to fulfill God’s mission. They were in right relationship with Him.

Adam and Eve’s righteous relationship with God lasted until the day they sinned and sin entered the world. In chapter three, we see Adam and Eve being tempted to put themselves before God. All throughout creation, God had provided for Adam and Eve’s every need in goodness. However, when the serpent questioned God’s goodness, they turned to trust themselves and their knowledge above God’s.

5. Curse. Suddenly, due to Adam and Eve’s sin, their righteous relationship was thrown out the window. When God came looking for them, Adam and Eve first response was to hide and not face God instead of running to submit, communicate, and love Him. Not only did they lose the ability to know God, but sin and trusting themselves came with a curse. From now on, work would be tough and frustrating. Instead of joyously bearing godly children, women would painfully bear sinful offspring. They were kicked out of communion with God as they were sent packing out of Eden. And, worst of all, there was no hope as the end of this world now spirals toward death as God pronounces, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

6. Promise and Hope. The curse of sin brings pain. But, God did not abandon his people and his creation. Rather, God gave a promise and grace that absolutely consumes the rest of Genesis and in fact the rest of the Bible. First, God doesn’t leave Adam and Eve in their shame, but he kills an animal to provide clothes for them in order to cover their shame. Here, we see grace at work because God acts on our behalf. Even more though, in Genesis 3:15, God gives us a promise that a seed will come that will destroy the serpent and the curse. The promise is vague but it is there. Even in the midst of the curse, God gives hope.

Later on throughout Genesis we see the gospel hope in the seed and offspring coming from Adam and Eve to reverse the curse. We see the godly line of Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as they navigate through their lives and God comes down to make a people for himself out of orphans. Throughout Genesis, we see that God’s promise for the offspring has survived by God’s grace.

Genesis’ Foundation Fulfilled

So why are these foundations important for the rest of Scripture? Let’s take a look at themes of Genesis 1-3: God as Creator, man in the Image of God, man’s mission, sin, curse, promise and hope. We see that Jesus is the knowledge and answer for all of these themes. Jesus created the world (Colossians 1:15) Jesus is the perfect Image of God (Colossians 1:15) through Jesus, God’s mission for his glory is made known to all men (John 1:14) In Jesus, sin has been paid for on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus has defeated the curse of sin which is death (1 Corinthians 15:56-58) and Jesus is the promise and hope of the offspring and sonship that Genesis longingly expects (Matthew 1:1, Luke 3:38).

Biblical authors use these themes from Genesis 1-3 to reveal to us the Christ, Jesus. That’s why these themes are essential. To be sure, it is a worthy endeavor to study to better understand the historical background and literary style of Genesis 1-3. However, when it comes to unity in the church and evangelism among those who do not believe, let us desire to stick with what the Bible explains in great detail.

How does the Son fulfill his role along side the Father and Holy Spirit in the stage of creation?  First of all, we understand that the Father is the primary member of the Trinity who creates and speaks the world into existence (Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 11:3, Hebrews 1:2).  Genesis 1:1 says, “God created the Heavens and the Earth.”  Although, beginning in Genesis 1:2, we find our first reference to a Trinitarian Creator-God with a reference to the Holy Spirit; we find our second reference to a Trinitarian God in Genesis 1:26 stating, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness (emphasis added)’”.  With the unfolding of Scripture through a progression of redemptive history we come to note three things about the role of the Son within the stage of creation:

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