Devotional – Plus Interesting Reads – 07/06/2023 – Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

Chapter CONTEXT from BibleRef.com:

Genesis 1 is nothing less than a bare-bones claim that God created the universe. Setting all of the debates on models and interpretations aside, the chapter undeniably insists on one thing: God means to be known as the Creator of all things. Written in the original Hebrew language according to a rigid, poetic structure, the chapter unfolds in a series of patterns and revelations. For those who believe these words, our response should be nothing less than to worship our Maker.

Genesis 2 concludes the description of God’s week of creation and then zooms in on the creation of man, his work, his perfect environment, and the creation of woman as his helper and wife. It is our last glimpse of the world before it is ravaged by human sin and death with the disobedience of Adam and Eve in chapter 3. Where chapter 1 gave a full overview of creation, this chapter focuses more on a few specific events. These are crucial to understanding the fall of man.

Today it is all too common that folks (even some professing to be “Christian” deny the creation story described in Genesis. The reasons vary from the highly educated (if misinformed) evolution really did happen, to the more mundane, The Bible isn’t the Word of God, or even an occasional honest answer of I don’t know.

The “HOT” topic of the moment seems to be dealing with the denial of biology. Did God create two distinct human beings that are male (Gen 1:26-27) and female (Gen 2:21-22) or for the last 6,000 (+/-) years has mankind been blind or fooled?

Creation of Humans

The creation account in Gen 1–3 provides the foundational biblical image of humanity (for examples of the reception of this text, see Luttikhuizen, Creation of Man and Woman). Genesis 1:24–28 records that God made humans on the sixth day to complete His creational work (Gen 1:24–28). According to the creation account, humans are:

• created in the image of God (Gen 1:26–27)
• beings distinct from the rest of creation (Gen 1:26)
• created as man and woman to be fruitful (Gen 1:27–28)
• made from the dust of the ground and infused with the breath of life (Gen 2:7)
• capable of entering into relationships with other humans and with God (Gen 2:18)

The creation account establishes that humans are separate from God and dependent on Him (compare Pss 104; 147; 148). It also establishes that God is wholly other than His creation. It is the capacity for entering into a personal relationship with God that sets humans apart from the rest of creation. In the Old Testament, this capacity is brought to its fullest potential in the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Fretheim notes that as this relationship with God breaks down, so do all dependent relations to the rest of creation (Fretheim, God and World, 69–90). Humanity’s dependence on creation is illustrated by the association between people and soil or “dust.” Moreover, human sin is thought to have the power to break down all of creation (Gen 6:11; Isa 24:5–6; Jer 4).

Mathias Nygaard, “Humanity, Theology of,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

MAN—(1.) Heb. ‘Adam was used as the proper name of the first man. The name is derived from a word meaning “to be red,” and thus the first man was called Adam because he was formed from the red earth. It is also the generic name of the human race (Gen. 1:26, 27; 5:2; 8:21; Deut. 8:3). Its equivalents are the Latin homo and the Greek anthropos (Matt. 5:13, 16). It denotes also man in opposition to woman (Gen. 3:12; Matt. 19:10).
(2.) Heb. ‘ish, like the Latin vir and Greek aner, denotes properly a man in opposition to a woman (1 Sam. 17:33; Matt. 14:21); a husband (Gen. 3:16; Hos. 2:16); man with reference to excellent mental qualities.
(3.) Heb. ‘enosh, man as mortal, transient, perishable (2 Chr. 14:11; Isa. 8:1; Job 15:14; Ps. 8:4; 9:19, 20; 103:15). It is applied to women (Josh. 8:25).
(4.) Heb. geber, man with reference to his strength, as distinguished from women (Deut. 22:5) and from children (Ex. 12:37); a husband (Prov. 6:34).
(5.) Heb. methim, men as mortal (Isa. 41:14), and as opposed to women and children (Deut. 3:6; Job 11:3; Isa. 3:25).

Man was created by the immediate hand of God, and is generically different from all other creatures (Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:7). His complex nature is composed of two elements, two distinct substances, viz., body and soul (Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7; 2 Cor. 5:1–8).

The words translated “spirit” and “soul,” in 1 Thess. 5:23, Heb. 4:12, are habitually used interchangeably (Matt. 10:28; 16:26; 1 Pet. 1:22). The “spirit” (Gr. pneuma) is the soul as rational; the “soul” (Gr. psuche) is the same, considered as the animating and vital principle of the body.
Man was created in the likeness of God as to the perfection of his nature, in knowledge (Col. 3:10), righteousness, and holiness (Eph. 4:24), and as having dominion over all the inferior creatures (Gen. 1:28). He had in his original state God’s law written on his heart, and had power to obey it, and yet was capable of disobeying, being left to the freedom of his own will. He was created with holy dispositions, prompting him to holy actions; but he was fallible, and did fall from his integrity (3:1–6). (See FALL.)

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 440–441.