Genesis 1: 1-31 The Creation:

Genesis 1: 1-31 The Creation:

"1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." (NASB)

Verse 26 From various sources I've learned that the pattern God followed in making man was Himself: "in Our image, according to Our likeness". Image and likeness referring to a spiritual rather than a bodily shadow image (not a duplication but an inferior finite similarity); in that man's soul is immaterial, spiritual, rational, moral with capacity for relationship. Like God we have self consciousness, mentality, volition and conscience. We are the only creatures who uniquely reflect God.

What have you learned relevant to the topic of the essence of man?

That rationality is obviously a recessive trait which has been lost in a significant portion of humanity. And that god was apparantly heterozygous for this trait.

let there be light, So the light did not need to travel."YES. zoom! zoom!

Many things I have learned. One is that Jesus Christ is central to the revelation of Genesis. The Spirit of God had Christ in mind in this inspired account.

The evidence of this is in the dry land rising from beneath the waters on the third day. Life is preceded by the rising of dry land from underneath the waters. And this is surely a prefigure of the Christ in resurrection causing people to be regenerated - born anew with God's imparted life.

Why did the land come up on the third day? Why not the second or the fifth day ?

Here, we see the land coming up in "resurrection" -

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. (v.9)

And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good. " (v.10)

It is crucial to see that LIFE is not mentioned until this rising of the dry land occurs ON THE THIRD DAY. The very next verse 11 speaks of life for the first time.

"And God said, Let the earth sprout grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind with their seed in them upon the earth; and it was so. (v.11)

And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with their seed in them according to their kind; and God saw that it was good. (v.12)

And there was evening and there was morning, a third day." (v.13)

Resurrection + Life

The science minded may be preoccupied with asking why it doesn't say that biological life started in the water. But the revelatory purpose, I think, is to show dry land rising up giving rise to life.

Natural life is great. But the eternal life that God desires to give man through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from under death, is greater.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3)

Praise God.

Originally posted by Great King Rat
That rationality is obviously a recessive trait which has been lost in a significant portion of humanity. And that god was apparantly heterozygous for this trait.

"That rationality is obviously a recessive trait which has been lost in a significant portion of humanity." -Great King Rat

Causes?

Dunno.

Consciousness. Self-awareness. Knowledge of one's own existence, it's fragility and it's unavoidable impending doom. Paralyzing fear leading to denial and creating unobtainable fantasies of everlasting life in paradise.

Which is incompatible with rationalism.

Just wondering if anyone has tackled the day and Night issue in the first three days since rotation and revolution appeared on day 4.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Just wondering if anyone has tackled the day and Night issue in the first three days since rotation and revolution appeared on day 4.

Where does it say the Earth only began rotating on day 4? There was no man to observe the rotation anyway until day 6. So we have to depend on God to keep track of the time for us.