An Introduction to the Book of Genesis

by Luciano Cozzi

Why Genesis?

Do you know where you were born, and when? I was born in central Italy in the mid '50s, and that immediately identifies me as an Italian and a "baby boomer." There is an innate curiosity in everyone of us about our origins. Some of the best times I remember from my pre-school years are when the elders of my small mountain town would take a little time and tell me stories of times past. Where we come from, apparently, is important for all of us. Billions of dollars are spent every year in research that aims to unveil a little more of the mystery of our origins.

Genesis provides a record of our common origins. It is the book of beginnings, in which we find much that we could not otherwise know. It is the foundation upon which the rest of God's revelation rests, and if the foundation is weak and cracks, then we should not be surprised if the whole building collapses. Almost every other book of Scripture makes reference to Genesis and to the events narrated in it. The book of Genesis is relevant to us today, not just because it talks about our origins, but because it lays the foundation of our identity as humans, and especially as children of God.

Before we begin to study this fascinating book, however, there are some things we need to understand. To approach this book, after all, is to approach God Himself as He chose to reveal Himself to us, and glimpse into things often too great for us to understand. It will be an awesome journey that will inspire reverence and awe.

Right from the onset, the very first few words of the book immediately set themselves as diametrically opposed to many human philosophies. In so doing they provide a bedrock upon which we can stand while we gaze at the world as if from outside looking in.

They stand opposite to atheism (the denial of the existence of God) in as much as they declare from the very first phrase the fact that there is an eternal and self-existing God.

They stand opposite to polytheism (the belief in more than one god) by declaring that such God is One.

They stand opposite to pantheism (the belief that God can be identified with the universe, or that the universe is a manifestation of God) in as much as they present one God as the Creator of all things, and thus distinct and separate from His creation.

They stand opposite to materialism (the doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications) because they reveal in the Creator God a spiritual, not physical, nature.

They stand opposite to evolution (the process by which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed, especially by natural selection) because it shows God created different kinds of living organisms as unique and separate from each other, each "after its own kind," and locked into its own category.

They stand opposite to naturalism (a theory denying that an event or object has a supernatural significance, and more specifically the doctrine that scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena) because they present God as the Creator and Sustainer of such laws, and of all matter, which is not eternal.

They stand opposite to nihilism (a viewpoint holding traditional values and beliefs as unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless) because they present the work of the hands of a loving and caring God who blesses His creation.

They stand opposite to existentialism (the attempt to describe our desire to make rational decisions despite the fact that according to this view we exist in an irrational universe) in as much as it presents the world as a reality, objectively observed and acknowledged by God who created it to be real.

No wonder so many have attempted to discredit this book and its bold and authoritative statements!

Genesis, however, does not accomplish all this with the language of scholarship or of science and technology, but rather with the language of common people who lived several thousands of years ago, communicating things of God in a way that is quite consistent with His way of revealing Himself. This is important, so let's understand it better.

That we are unable to fully comprehend God, in the fullness of His divine nature, is not only a fact but certainly an understatement. Surely, we have an idea of who He is, and how He is, but we cannot fully comprehend Him. We know, for example, that God is eternal and omnipresent, which, in turn, helps us to see Him as infinite. But even the thought of eternity and infinity that Scripture says He has placed in our minds is woefully inadequate for our understanding. Even our brightest and most enlightened minds struggle helplessly to define such realities that are just too great for us to embrace. We may be able to imagine infinity, but we are utterly unable to embrace it and fully understand it. It is an undeniable reality that we are finite, limited beings. As such, we cannot fully understand God, for He exists in eternity and infinity.

However, you may object that since God has revealed Himself, we should be able to know Him. True, but here is the whole point. God cannot reveal Himself to us in the fullness of His nature. It is just impossible! So, we see Him revealing Himself in a limited manner, according to the capacity of the human being to understand Him. In order to do so, He cannot use a language no one would understand, as it would take the whole concept of revelation and turn it into a covering of truth under a thick veil of mystery. Rather, as you would expect in any form of meaningful communication, He uses the language and the culture of the people He is addressing. In our case, the Hebrews of the days of the Exodus.

Ancient Hebrew culture was quite different from our Western culture today. We like to make points that categorize what we talk about, and often enumerate them abstractively. I did just that, a few moments ago, when I wrote that God is eternal, omnipresent, and infinite. A Hebrew, however, would not express himself in the same abstract terms, but rather in metaphors. He would probably have said that God is the Ancient of Days, and that He is present at the bottom of the sea as well as on mountaintops. And it is so that we find statements, in the Hebrew Scripture, that define God as living water, or a high tower, or a safe refuge. That metaphorical language would be quite accurate in the mind of a Hebrew, for that is the way he would express himself. He would never take such statements literally and conclude that God is literally water or a tower. God is indeed the giver and sustainer of life (living water), and He is indeed the protector of His people (a high tower or refuge). A statement, therefore, can be metaphorical, but also accurate, in the sense that it reveals something about God and His creative work that is quite true and correct.

Additionally, we find that God does not tell us everything at once. Rather, we see Him revealing Himself in a way that is consistently progressive across the various cultures, languages and ages represented in the books of the Bible. So, it should not surprise us to find that God reveals Himself in Genesis in a very simple and limited — yet accurate — manner.

Many of the arguments that are centered on the beginning of Genesis revolve on whether this portion of Scripture should be understood literally or metaphorically. I have struggled with this question as well, until I could see that this whole section is anthropomorphic; that is, it describes the divinity in human terms as if God had human form. For example, in verse 3 is written, "Then God said,..." To read this literally, we would need to think of a God who has a mouth, a throat, and vocal cords. God would have had to inhale air, and while exhaling it vibrate His vocal cords and pronounce words. No one, in their right mind, however, would assume this to be literally so. It is clear, in context, that this was a metaphor, an anthropomorphic way of describing a truth. We know that God is Spirit, and as such He does not have (or need) a throat, a mouth and vocal cords. Nor did He have air to vibrate in order to produce audible sound waves. What this really means is that God had determined that He would create, and somehow He communicated His will and acted on it. How exactly does God communicate within the triune Godhead, in spirit, cannot be known to us. But it is sufficient for us to know that He does, and this is communicated to us in human terms, as if God Himself was human.

Another reason why God chose to reveal Himself anthropomorphically, or in human terms, could be that He chose to relate to us and to talk to us about Himself in a relational manner. He relates to us because He wants us, in turn, to relate to Him. But how can we relate to pure, perfect, infinite and eternal Spirit, unless He reveals Himself in limited human terms? It may be good to pause a moment and meditate on the ultimate revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. It was a relational way of revealing Himself, and unfolding His plan for humanity. Not only did He describe himself in human terms, but He actually took human form and lived among us, being fully God and fully man at the same time.

Perhaps it is now easier to understand how Genesis, the book of beginnings, is more a book about relationships than cosmology, or physics. The primary focus of the book is how we are created to have a relationship with God, who has a special plan for us and wants to share eternity with us. That's why, after a very brief introduction about the creation of all things (in itself expressed in covenant terms as we shall see), this book immediately launches into the story of God's covenants with Adam, Noah, and then Abraham, Isaac and finally Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel. Vernon McGee describes this as "the book of families" which focuses on a particular lineage for a particular purpose: to introduce a God who establishes covenants with the people He creates, primary among which, the covenant He made with Israel on Mt. Sinai, and later the new covenant in His Son Jesus Christ.

This, however, does not mean (as some would want us to think) that this is a book of myths! Genesis does not tell us things that are not true. What we read in these pages is the truth, revealed by the almighty God in a way that makes sense to His audience and is fitting for His purpose in revealing it. Just because God expressed things about Himself and His creative work in simpler terms, or in relational or anthropomorphic terms, does not mean that what He revealed is inaccurate or not true. A good example of this comes from another book of the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 1:7, where we read, "All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again." There we have, about two thousand years before it was defined in scientific terms, a clear and accurate statement in Scripture that describes the cycle of water in our planet. It describes the process of evaporation, the movement of vapor in the atmosphere (clouds), condensation and precipitation in the form of rain, and the flowing of that same water back into the oceans. Yet, it is not a statement made in scientific terms or for scientific purposes. Rather, it is a truth that is expressed in very simple terms for the purpose of teaching a spiritual lesson through an observation of nature.

As we will see, the Genesis account makes much more sense than many would want you to believe. The book of beginnings, in fact, is much more than a record of the origins of things. It lays out the very bedrock upon which the great themes of the Old and New Testaments rest. It introduces the principal truths of theology as it introduces the awesome and delicate relationship between God, nature and humans, the nature and origin of sin, the concept of covenant, of grace, of redemption, and the promise of a Messiah who will fulfill the plan of God for humanity. All this is expressed in human terms, in the everyday language of the Israelites of the time of the exodus.

For Further Reading

Marsh, Frank Lewis. Evolution, Creation and Science. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1947.

Morris, Henry Madison. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1985. Reprint, November 2003.

Ashton, John F. On the Seventh Day : 40 Scientists and Academics Explain Why They Believe in God. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2002.

Ashton, John F., ed. In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2001. Reprint, September 2003.

Martin, Jobe Ralph. The Evolution of a Creationist : A Laymen's Guide to the Conflict between the Bible and Evolutionary Theory. Rev. ed. Rockwall, TX: Biblical Discipleship Publishers, 2002.

Morris, Henry Madison. The Biblical Basis for Modern Science. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2002. Reprint, November 2002.

MacArthur, John. The Battle for the Beginning: The Bible on Creation and the Fall of Adam. Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001.

Cook, Ron, Dee Kimbrell, and Tom Hicks. Ground Zero: Starting All over Again with God. Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 1999.

Pache, René. L'ispirazione E L'autorità Della Bibbia. L'Inspiration et L'Autorité de la Bible. Trans. Edoardo Labanchi. Roma, Italy: Unione Cristiana Edizioni Bibliche, 1978.

Mars Hill Productions. The Hope: The Story of God's Promise for All People. DVD Videorecording. Mars Hill Productions, Missouri City, TX, 2002.

Hovind, Kent. The Age of the Earth. Creation Science Evangelism. 2002. DVD. Creation Science Evangelism.

Planet Earth: Sanctuary of Life. The Wonders of God's Creation. 1993. DVD. Moody Bible Institute.

Animal Kingdom: Great Are Thy Works. The Wonders of God's Creation. 1993. DVD. Moody Bible Institute.

Human Life: Crown of Creation. The Wonders of God's Creation. 1993. DVD. Moody Bible Institute.

Greisen, Steve. Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution Pt. 1,2,3. 2000. DVD. Steve Greisen.

Unlocking the Mystery of Life. 2002. DVD. Illustra Media.

A Question of Origins: Examining the Creation/Evolution Controversy. 2004. DVD. Eternal Productions.