Biblical Theology I: Genesis

Genesis is foundational in three main respects. It provides, not only the historical foundation for the world and God’s people; but also the theological and ethical foundations for the rest of the Bible. It, therefore, provides an all-encompassing grid through which all of the theology and ethics the Bible teaches should be understood.

Theology: The theological question being answered: “If God is good, and God is all powerful, why does evil/chaos still exist in the created world?”

The opening two chapters of Genesis provide a foundation for the book’s theology. Genesis 1 and 2 contrast one another in that Genesis 1 provides the divine perspective of creation and Genesis 2 provides the human perspective. From the divine perspective, God sees and declares all to be ordered and good. Chaos/evil is eradicated, and God rules from His throne over a finished creation. From the human perspective, however, creation (i.e., the ordering and subjugation of chaos/evil) is still taking place.

Hence, Genesis answers the above question by saying that the Good good, who is all powerful, is the Creator, and although He can see the end work and declare it good, creation is still in the process of being ordered, and chaos is still, therefore, in the process of being subjugated.

The book ends with the statement that indicates that God does all of these things for good/order, which is the ultimate preservation of many lives. Creation is seen as the filling up of the earth with His human images, i.e., His covenant people; and this work is still in the process of being completed through, not despite of, the chaos/evil that is in the world. Hence, God’s promises of people and land, given to the patriarchs, is fulfilled through the chaos they undergo, and not despite of it.

This is all to show that God is, in fact, dealing with evil, but in a way that humans may not appreciate since they must endure chaos in order to be created through it.

Ethics: The ethics of Genesis stem from its theology. If God is Creator, and His primary work in the world right now is creation, then what are His human images to do in the world? This question is answered by the very theology Genesis teaches. If God’s goal is to bring the world and His people to an ordered state, which is described as being fruitful in order to multiply, multiplying in order to fill up the earth, fill up the earth in order to subdue it, and subdue it in order to rule over it, then the role of the image is to join God in His work toward what Genesis considers “good.” The word “good” refers to a state of creation/order. God’s people are to work toward God’s goal in creation, which is to be creational with Him in all of their activities. To work toward the filling up of the earth with God’s human images in any given act is to do good by joining God in His creational work. To work against that goal in any given act is to do evil and reject the role of the image.

Hence, those who work toward it are called His image, and are His covenant people. Those who work against it are said to be wicked, agents of chaos, and they are destroyed/removed as chaos is removed by God as an act of creation. The genealogies in Chapters 4 and 5 lay this contrast out, and the contrast plays out in the rest of the book, and even in the rest of the Bible.