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Answers Week 1
1. It is important to see how God worked to create the heavens, the Earth and all that is in it, as it gives us a window into who God is. God is Eternal and as the creator of all things he is above our understanding. In verses 1-31 we are told that God created in two forms 1. By thought - and we need to recognize that God’s thoughts are something we cannot comprehend, as His thoughts are greater than our thoughts. This is what we need to understand about God right from the beginning. 2. God’s spirit moved across the Earth. It is beyond our understanding to appreciate just how big our God is, but bear in mind that God created everything from nothing. God is both Spirit and a Personal being. Then God saw all He had created, and “Behold, it was very good”.
2. God created Adam in His image and while we may immediately wish to think that we look like God that is NOT what this means. When God created Adam, he created Adam to have “Some” of God’s characteristics. He gave Adam intelligence, reasoning, morals, ethics, and the ability to love all things God had created. God intended Adam to be like a true son and have a relationship with Him. Think of your own parents…they used those very same attributes to raise you. Now, your parents may have made mistakes, may not have followed all that God wished for you but then God gave everyone a freedom of choice, the will to do the right things, and yes, even the wrong things. This choice is still yours today and by reading the Bible we will gain knowledge of how much He truly loves us and how much he is waiting for us to turn to Him, to receive His love, His amazing Grace and the many Blessings He has waiting for us.
3. Adam said that the woman was now “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; and she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man” . The fact that God pulled a rib bone out of Adam and not some other piece of his body shows God’s wisdom, planning, and foresight. Ribs regrow. All bones in the human body are able to mend themselves, but a rib bone is unique in that it can regenerate. When a surgeon takes out a rib, he will leave the perichondrium from which a new rib will
grow.
4. The serpent was Satan and Satan has power on Earth after being cast out by God from Heaven and has the power to speak to us in order to deceive us as he did to Eve. The tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The reason God had placed that Tree in the garden was a test of man’s obedience and trust in God, or as happened, man’s disobedience that resulted in the sin that we bear today, as we “are born into sin”. It also resulted in Adam and Eve being forced to leave the Graden of Eden and to toil all their days as God’s judgement upon them.
5. Whether God actually walked in physical form is often debated with some saying He was in Physical form, and some saying that he moved as a wind in Spirit, so that Adam and Eve were able to recognize His presence and hear His voice. This is evident in the fact that they often walked with God in the Garden and talked to Him, which suggests that they could acknowledge God’s presence. They also tried to hide their nakedness from God. No matter what, it shows God’s all-knowing character and His swift judgement upon man for sin by removing Adam and Eve from the Garden as punishment.
6. In Chapter 2 God had given Adam and Eve dominion over all the earth and all created things. Their life in the garden was idyllic, requiring them to do nothing in way of labor as God provided all they needed. Once sin entered, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and we read in Chapter 3: 16-19 how man’s days were to be filled with work and the woman was to have sorrow greatly added to her life and in that sorrow, she was to bear children and be subservient to her husband only. Adam named Eve for she was to be the “Mother of all the living”. The future generations of man.
7. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked because they did not recognize their nakedness, and this implies innocence. They did not know of sexual things as they were like children and thus, they did not have sexual relations. It was not until their expulsion and God’s discipline for their disobedience, and sin, that Adam has a sexual relationship with Eve that resulted in the Birth of Cain and Abel. Cain was to toil in the fields planting and harvesting plants while Abel was assigned as a “Keeper of Sheep” in Chapter 4 verse 1. God did not accept Cain’s offering because God could see that Cain did not have a heart after God, while Abel’s offering was given from a heart that reflected Abel’s obedience to, and love for, God.
8. God knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. God knew that Cain had killed Abel as we see in Chapter 4 verse 10. God says that Abels blood cries out to Him from the ground. God wanted Cain to confess his sin openly just as we are to confess our sins before God. We must understand that God is all knowing, and we can never hide our sin from God the Father. Cain’s sin was a result of Adam and Eve bringing sin into the world and, thus, Cain had been born into a sinful world. Cain gave into the sinful things of the world unlike Abel who was obedient and had a heart for God. To escape that sinful nature required obedience to God in all things, yet Cain’s heart was not upon the Lord, and it resulted in the death of Abel by Cain’s hands. Jealousy is a sin.
9. When Adam and Eve were created God created them perfectly, which means that they had no genetic damages. This ensured them perfect health at all times. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve it most likely affected their children’s DNA in a minimal way, and it is safe to assume that Adam and Eve had more children after Cain and Abel. It is also very likely that there would have been less chance of genetic damage in these children who grew and had children of their own. So, given that the population was very small, at the time, the various children would marry cousins, great nieces, great nephews and so forth. Because of the low chance for genetic damages producing defective offspring, God allowed inter-marriage as a way to grow the population and provide wives, and husbands, for the descendants of Adam and Eve. Once the population grew, and the genetic damages presented a problem for newborn children, God stopped allowing inter-marriage (incest as we term it today) between close relatives. So, it is very likely that Cain, who was an adult when he killed Abel, would be afraid of retribution from relatives.
This ends week 1 and it is hoped that you have found God’s Grace throughout this week’s study of Genesis. If you were to search for the definition of Grace, you would see the Character of God.
The biblical meaning of grace holds a profound significance in understanding God’s love and forgiveness as revealed in the Scripture. Grace, as described in the Bible, refers to the unmerited favor or undeserved favor of God. It is the gift of God’s benevolence, love, and mercy towards sinners. Grace is central to the gospel message and serves as the foundation of our salvation.
I trust that, as we move through scripture, you keep the above meaning of Grace, as the central theme to your study of God’s Holy Word. I am truly humbled by acknowledging that I am undeserving of His Grace and infinite Mercy, and the forgiveness that comes with it.
To God, the Father, be all the Glory Forever!
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