Comparison and Contrast between the Two Creation Accounts in Genesis

 

Gen 1	Gen 2	Parallels
When God began to create (1:1)	On the day YHWH God created (2:4b)	Dependent clauses describing the state at the beginning of God’s creative activity mentioned in the text
The earth was uninhabitable and uninhabited (the earth was covered in water and darkness) (1:2)	Before there were any small or large plant there was no man  (uncultivated fields) (2:5)	State of chaos
God creates the cosmos as a temple that can be inhabited by His human images (1:3-25)	YHWH God caused a spring to come up and water the ground and planted a garden as a local temple in the midst of rivers (v. 6, 8-15)	YHWH God's reversal of the state of the earth as being uninhabitable
God creates man as His image and places him into the cosmic temple (1:26-31)	YHWH God formed a man like images for the temple are formed from the clay  (v. 7). He then creates the woman from the man to become one with him	YHWH God’s reversal of the state of the earth as being uninhabited by making humanity as His images and places them into His temple
And God blessed them when He said, “Be fruitful in order to multiply, (multiply) in order to fill up the earth, (fill up the earth) in order to subdue it, (subdue it) in order to rule over it (1:26-28).	The command to eat of the fruit of any tree but not the fruit of a particular tree is sandwiched in between the creation of man and the creation of the woman, Adam confirms that he is to become one flesh with her, and their nakedness/sexuality is not covered or shameful before  God or one another. (vv. 16-25)	The command to be fruitful and multiply is given to the human couple as God’s images to continue God’s work of filling up the earth. Both commands have ideas of fruit in common and in the context of the relationship of the man and woman and the sexual act that characterizes it.
Genesis 1	Genesis 2	Differences
The time frame in which God makes the heavens and earth is 7 days	The time frame in which God makes the earth and heavens (reversed order) is on a single day	The time frames conflict as the first account has God makes things in seven days and the second on only one day. The order of things created are also in conflict.
Only Elohim (the generic word for a deity) is used to refer to God	YHWH Elohim (the divine name God reveals to Israel along with the identification as Elohim) is used to refer to God	Divine names move from transcendent and distant to accessible and relational
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants (עֵ֚שֶׂב ) yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. (1:11-13)	5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. (2:5-9)	God makes the plants (עֵ֚שֶׂב) before the man is made in Gen 1, but in Gen 2:5, the עֵ֚שֶׂב are not made yet because there is no rain and no man and so God makes a water source and then man and then plants a garden.
20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind . . . 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day (1:20-21, 23)   24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them . . . And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day (vv. 24-27, 31)	18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. (vv. 18-19a)	Every type of animal and every kind of bird that flies in the sky is made before the man in Gen 1, but in Gen 2:19, every animal in uncultivated areas of the earth (i.e., everywhere according to the state of the earth in 2:5) and every bird that flies in the sky is made before the man.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (2:1-3)	God resting is absent from the text and is instead replaced with a narrative where more chaos comes into the world and threatens His creation. Rather than ending, the account is unending.	In the first account of Genesis, God rests in His cosmic throne as creation is finished and chaos is reversed with nothing more to create, but in the second account, the garden is not cared for and chaos endures in the world without a resolution to it.

 

The Sermon on the Mount, A Commentary, Part 2: Jesus' Instructions concerning How to Respond to His Law

Matthew 5:13-20 discusses  

13 * Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς·* ἐὰν δὲ τὸ ἅλας μωρανθῇ, ἐν τίνι ἁλισθήσεται; εἰς οὐδὲν ἰσχύει °ἔτι εἰ μὴ ⸂βληθὲν ἔξω⸃ καταπατεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. 14 * Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου.* οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη· 15 οὐδὲ καίουσιν λύχνον καὶ τιθέασιν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν, καὶ λάμπει πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ. 16 οὕτως λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων,* ὅπως ἴδωσιν ὑμῶν τὰ καλὰ °ἔργα καὶ δοξάσωσιν τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. 

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt becomes tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It no longer has any purpose except to be thrown outside and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city is not able to hide itself when it is seated high up on a hill. Nor do people light a lamp and hide it under a peck measure, but it gives light to everyone who is in the house. So also your light is to shine before men so that they might see your good actions and glorify your Father who is in the unseen realm.

The "you" is plural and so speaking to the disciples, and the assembly, as a collective. Given the context, however, He is likely talking to the disciples who represent church leadership (prophets, pastors, teachers). They are salt and light for the congregation, i.e., the household, by being examples of those who do good works that can be seen by those genuine Christians in their congregations.

Salt was something that was required with every offering given to God so that it would become pleasing to Him. Notice that it does not say that they taste like the salt of the earth but that they are the salt of the earth. The emphasis, again, is on being versus simply the action that takes place from being. Christ's new law stems from the new covenant, which is from root to fruit, based in a change of nature. Hence, if one were to become tasteless, evidencing that they are no longer the right kind of salt, the rhetorical question is asked to argue that there is no way for one to become salty again. This idea connects to the later ideas presented in Matthew such as the Parable of the Sower, where one who is initially declared to believe and be forgiven has that identification revoked due to evidence of his actions that expose a different nature. Salt is salty but unsalty salt isn't really the kind of salt that belongs to Christ and with which God is pleased. It no longer serves it purpose as something that is pleasing to God, and therefore, like so many other things analogous to being thrown out of the kingdom of God, it is thrown out to be tortured under the feet of men.

Likewise, those who truly follow Christ are lights, and as such, will produce light that can be seen by others. One might say he is a light but just a hidden light, but Christ rejects that here by saying that no real light is lit to be hidden. If one is truly a light, his good works will be seen by others. These works evidence the transforming work of God through the new covenant in his life that leads to actions noticeable by those within the "household," which likely refers to other Christians who are genuinely lights and not necessarily the world made up of pagans and false Christians that persecute the true Christian because of Christ in him rather than glorify the Father for them. The good works that evidence salvation cause other genuine disciples of Christ to glorify God for His marvelous work of transformation in other Christians. The Father is unseen as He is in the heavens, but He is seen through the character of Christians who are pleasing to Him and display a picture of Him in the good that they do.

These two elements of salt and light will contrast those whose righteousness loosens the law rather than expands it to its fullest expression in the character of Christ, a righteousness that is of the scribes and Pharisees that does not come from a change in nature but is merely external and therefore seeks to limit righteousness to the bare minimum because it does not rejoice in it but rather sees it as a burden. The reason why those who are transformed taste salty is because they are salt. The reason why they give off light is because they are light. Such is not the case for the false Christian whose righteousness is forced by cultural and religious influences but not from internal transformation.

17 * Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας· οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι. 18 ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν· ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου ⸆, ἕως °ἂν πάντα γένηται.* ⸇ 19 * ὃς ἐὰν οὖν λύσῃ μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων καὶ διδάξῃ οὕτως τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐλάχιστος κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν· ⸋ὃς δʼ ἂν ποιήσῃ καὶ διδάξῃ, οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν.⸌ 20 ⸋Λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ ὑμῶν ἡ δικαιοσύνη πλεῖον τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων,* οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν

Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to bring them to their fullest expression. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, a single yod or a single stroke of a letter will definitely not pass away from the law until everything comes to pass.

Christ makes it clear that the new covenant is not a contradiction to any of the righteousness declared by the entirety of the old covenant. Every bit of that righteousness, every bit of the character of God that is in the Hebrew Bible, will now come to its fullest expression in the follower of Jesus.

In light of this, anyone who starts fudging on any part of that righteousness, no matter how insignificant he may think it is, evidences that he is not a transformed person like the scribes and Pharisees that opposed Christ, will himself be considered insignificant by kingdom standards, and will therefore, not enter the kingdom of God.

This refers not only to someone who does not obey these things but anyone who teaches someone else that he or she can dismiss, ignore, go around, find loopholes and exceptions to obeying even the least moral command of God in the Hebrew Bible as it is now expressed in the fullness of the law of Jesus Christ is rejected by the kingdom as anyone belonging to it and will therefore not enter in. In this, we see that the Sermon on the Mount is not merely a warning to laity, although it is at points and with some application throughout but is instead primarily directed toward those who are doing the teaching, i.e., the teachers/prophets/pastors. As the scribes and Pharisees evidence that they do not know God by their lack of desire to fill up the moral commands of the Hebrew Bible to their fullest expression, so also these so called church leaders evidence that they do not know Christ, or rather are not known and transformed by Him, by virtue of their lack of fear and concern in minimizing the moral commandments of God that display His character to the rest of the congregation.