The Genesis Story

• In Hebrew, "Adam" means “from the soil."
• When Dr. Jackson analyzes the passage on Adam's duties, he provides “serve” and “guard” as alternative translations to "till" and "watch".
• Dr. Jackson explains that Adam's naming of the animals signifies a participation in the act of creation.
• When confronting Eve, the serpent tells both the truth and a lie at the same time.
• The purpose of God questioning Adam and Eve was to provide a call for repentance.
• According to Dr. Jackson, God's expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden should be understood as an act of mercy.
• At Isaac’s birth, Sarah is 90 years old.
• Hebrews 11 explains that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice knowing full well that God would restore Isaac from the dead.

Source: The Genesis Story: Reading Biblical Narratives course.

• The creation account is neither literal nor figurative but analogical.
• For example, the creation narrative discusses the creation of light (Genesis 1:3) before the creation of the heavenly bodies (Genesis 1:14). So the creation account is not strictly literal.
• But the language in the first chapters in Genesis is not strictly figurative either. God intends to communicate, and he is a good communicator (the best). So we are certain that the analogical language in Genesis is reliable and sufficiently like the literal.
• The verses of Genesis 1 do not specify the age of the cosmos.
• Genesis was not written to address evolution or geologic ages. The story was written to tell us who God is.
• Humanity was created to rule because we were created in the image of God who rules.
• Both men and women make up the image of God because God is plurality in unity (Trinity).
• When God names a thing, he demonstrates his sovereignty over it. For example, God named darkness because he is sovereign over darkness.
• Woman was created as man’s helper. But this does not mean that woman was created to do the “grunt work.” Woman was created to be man’s helper in the sense that she was his savior—enabling him to fulfill God’s command to cultivate, till, and keep the garden.
• No indication of masculine dominance exists until Genesis 3, and it happens only because of sin.
• The nakedness of Adam and Eve has more to do with their vulnerability than their lack of clothing.
• The gold, pearls, and lapis lazuli placed in the Garden of Eden were a challenge to man to grow aesthetically.
• Dr. Allman argues that the craftiness of the serpent is not necessarily bad (Proverbs 1). However, the serpent’s denial of the words of God does signal that there is something wrong with the serpent.
• Elements of faith: Knowledge of the person and plan of God, assent (James 2) , love commitment as changed behavior and risk, and hope (Romans 4 and Hebrews 11).
• God intended the serpent’s craftiness to help Adam and Eve learn wisdom (Proverbs 1).
• God cursed the serpent and the ground; He did not directly curse Adam and Eve.
• Noah found favor with God because God was gracious.
• The flood reveals that God is a judge who does make distinctions.
• The sign of the rainbow would remind God of his covenant affectively—not cognitively.
• Canaan was cursed for breaking the bonds of family loyalty.
• When Isaac was born Abraham laughed in joy; Sarah laughed in disbelief.
• The construction of the Tower of Babel was a direct refusal to follow God’s plan for blessing.
• God often sets up circumstances that seem impossible so He can display His glory.
• What God has done in the past is a model and a promise of what he will do in the future. But He’s too creative to do the same thing the same way twice.
• When you live your life by scheming and cheating, you lose the ability to recognize a lie.

Source: DTS Genesis course.