Marriage - 1.2 Man Oh

Marriage OH 1.2 (Screen read version)

and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

What Genesis 1-3 Teaches about Marriage

Man: Made in God’s Image Understanding Genesis 1-3 When we read the opening chapters of Genesis we need to be careful how we interpret their language. Literary Context Written as an account in pre-scientific figurative language that was understood within the thought framework of the people of the writer’s time Note: Figurative does not mean imaginary! Figurative language may be the most accurate way to convey what is real, abiding and certain in the absence of any human presence to observe. Interpret sometimes figuratively, not always literally!

Genesis 1 – 2 in brief At the beginning of human history God made the first man, endowed him with life, and placed him in a garden Note: Two accounts given: Gen 1 and Gen 2

• Suggests the writer had the two ancient sources for his information, each with a different focus on what is significant and needs explaining

• So the two accounts are aiming to do two different things Account No 1 Genesis 1:1-2:3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

WHEN? WHAT?

• light.. • sky… • land and sea… vegetation… • lights in the sky… sun and moon and stars… • living creatures in sea and sky… • living creatures on land…man… …in six days.

WHO? HOW?

HOW?

Gen 1:28 God blessed them (the male & the female) and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth . and subdue it Rule over the fish… birds… every living creature.”

•

BLESSING COMMANDS

To Discuss What does “made in God’s image” mean to you?

Made in God’s Image (Figurative language) How should we interpret “in God’s image”?

• Popular notions (taken from Greek thought) – Possessing intelligence, will or emotions – I.e. like God in his nature (being) Or: HOW (LONG)?

Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

WHO? HOW?

WHAT?

•Ancient Eastern custom – The setting up of the king’s statue equivalent to proclaiming his over the region in which the statue was erected (e.g. Dan 3:1,5-7) Gen 1:26-28 Textual Context

domination

Creation defined in terms of activity, being fruitful and multiplying and subduing the earth Note: All functional terms (of doing rather than being) Made in God’s Image Man Made Responsible for Ruling Creation Interpretation:

• Man is set in the midst of creation as God’s statue • God assigns to man and woman (both made “in His image”) the mandate of representative rule i.e. authority to look after creation in His name To Discuss

• How do think of man “ruling the earth” today? Is it the same as what Adam was told to do at creation?

• Is “rule” the same as “stewardship”? Where does “subdue” fit in to the mandate given to Adam? Gen 1:26-28 God made man and woman in his own image and likeness to be fruitful and so fill the earth by multiplying and to subdue it and to rule over all his other creatures

Made Like God (Figurative Language) Interpretation:

• As God rules over a large domain—the whole universe—so humanity is given charge of the entire earth to rule it for God as His stewards Account No 2 Genesis 2:4-25 Gen 2:4-7 When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens – and no shrub of the field had yet appeared… and there was no man to work the ground… the Lord formed man

and

from the dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:8-15 Now the Lord had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed… The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it…

Man’s Task “To work, serve, till”: A verb often used of cultivating the soil (2:5; 3:23; 4:2, 12, etc.). Also often used in a religious sense of serving God ^(e.g., Deut 4:19), especially of the tabernacle duties of the Levites (Num 3:7–8; 4:23–24, 26) “To guard, to keep”: The simple sense of “guard” (4:9; 30:31), but more commonly used in legal texts of observing religious commands and duties (17:9; Lev 18:5), particularly of the Levites responsibility for guarding the tabernacle from intruders (Num 1:53; 3:7–8) To Discuss

• What more do we learn about man’s task from the second account of creation? Boundaries Set The second account of creation ends with a permission, a limitation and a warning, before the narrative moves onto the next section.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.”

A Moral Boundary

FREEDOM LIMITATION

WARNING

The principle of having boundaries in the order of creation is extended to moral responsibility (the knowledge of good and evil) Next Session Man’s Helper