- Genesis 1:27. By will we choose, determine, and resolve upon what is to be done. Darius, "I make a decree" Ezra 5:8. How suited to the true God, who perfectly knew the truth and would make it known to man! It is however possible that God may have allowed a certain change as to the distribution of these waters around the garden. The Sixth Day. See also Merrill, pp. If any reader, having leisure, wishes to enjoy such speculations, let him read the tenth and fourteenth books on the Trinity, also the eleventh book of the City of God. I acknowledge, indeed, that there is something in man which refers to the Fathers and the Son, and the Spirit: and I have no difficulty in admitting the above distinction of the faculties of the soul: although the simpler division into two parts, which is more used in Scripture, is better adapted to the sound doctrine of piety; but a definition of the image of God ought to rest on a firmer basis than such subtleties. Much more could be said, but we must move on. The Jews sometimes say, that Adam and Eve were created in Cosmic order consists of clearly demarcating the various elements of the universe. In all pretended revelations it is not so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw . of formless points to the "formlessness" of the earth in contrast to the creative order God will create in Ge 1:3-26. There was a revelation of an infinite blessing for man unquestionably, but hardly what is called a promise. In our image, after our likeness I do not scrupulously insist upon the particles , (beth,) and , (caph (90)) I know not whether there is anything solid in the opinion of some who hold that this is said, because the image of God was only shadowed forth in man till he should arrive at his perfection. (85). It is another statement added to what had just preceded, and by the Hebrew idiom not connected with it in time. I have no hesitation in saying that it is a mistaken interpretation, however prevalent. Hence, wherever man enters he makes his sway to be felt. Man, made in the image of God is an inferior trinity. However, the word for "let us make" (naaseh, ) which is plural, is translated as "let us make" () which is plural in the Greek as well. That man was made last of all the creatures, that it might not be suspected that he had been, any way, a helper to God in the creation of the world: that question must be for ever humbling and mortifying to him, Where wast thou, or any of thy kind, when I laid the foundations of the earth?Job 38:4. [Note: E.g., Keil and Delitzsch, 1:63. and supply the defects of it, since the fall, lays down at first this principle of the unclouded light of nature: That this world was, in the beginning of time, created by a Being of infinite . Which would include the angels, for the angels are called the hosts of heaven.And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made (Gen 2:2). So here God states the great truth of creation; for what is more important, short of redemption, always excepting the manifestation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God? See Wenham, pp. 119. co-workers with God in creation F7: and man being the principal It is not "Jehovah" now but "God." More than that: it is the conviction of all men, and men worthy to be listened to, that not more surely are they divided into three grand lines than that these three lines had a common origin. Genesis 1:26 is used by many Trinitarians to say that God is a Trinity because of the words "let us." Although this would be an acceptable way to understand God's saying if the plurality of God or the Trinity was defined anywhere else in the scriptures, God is never called three or three in one, but is always defined as one (John 5:44, 17 . Consequently we have this perfect care over the maintenance of His rights and place as One that governed morally. "`aleph', he, `jod', It is not hard to conceive both that they had a common source before they parted, and that the garden of Eden may have been of considerable extent. Breaking Down the Key Parts of Genesis 1:26. Man's present experience would have suggested neither; yet his heart and conscience, unless rebellious, feel how right and becoming all is in such a state of things none other so good. Man is to eat of "every seed-bearing herb on the face of all the earth, and every tree on which there are fruits containing seed," consequently of the productions of both field and tree, in other words, of corn and fruit; the animals are to eat of "every green herb," i.e., of vegetables or green plants, and grass. By beginning the words rendered Wisdom and Power with capitals, it would appear that the second and third Persons of the Trinity were in the mind of the writer when the passage was written. God certainly might here command by his bare word what he wished to be done: but he chose to give this tribute to the excellency of man, that he would, in a manner, enter into consultation concerning his creation. Ed. "What hast thou done?" So again the woman has her portion, of which we need not say more than to point out what a clue it is to her lot in the history of the race. The Jews sometimes say, that Adam and Eve were created in the likeness of the holy blessed God, and his Shechinah h; and they also speak i of Adam Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is said, "I was as one brought up with him (or an artificer with him), Proverbs 8:30 and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness": and again, "let us make man"; to whom did he say this? Man will rise and live again. 1. The first chapter does not speak of special relationships, does not treat of any peculiar dealings of God with the creature. All of the things were created or reformed within this six-day period. In the New Testament these unfoldings have the profoundest character, but everywhere they are divine; for there is no difference, whether it be the Old or the New, in the absolutely divine character of the written word. [Note: See James Jordan, "Rebellion, Tyranny, and Dominion in the Book of Genesis," Christianity and Civilization 3 (Summer 1983):38-80. According to this, God determined to give to the man about to be created in His likeness the supremacy, not only over the animal world, but over the earth itself; and this agrees with the blessing in Genesis 1:28, where the newly created man is exhorted to replenish the earth and subdue it; whereas, according to the conjecture of the Syriac, the subjugation of the earth by man would be omitted from the divine decree. Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. part of the creation, and for the sake of whom the world, and all The two terms occur in the very same verse; yet is there not an evident propriety in each case? Every one of them is a perfect geometrical pattern, but no two snowflakes alike. (89) Erat erim in singulis animae partibus temperatura quae suis numeris constabat.. Whether people are believers or not, whether they receive the truth or not, God holds to that which belongs to His own moral being. Being the truth, whatever man discovers that is true will never clash with it. The exposition of Chrysostom is not more correct, who refers to the dominion which was given to man in order that he might, in a certain sense, act as Gods vicegerent in the government of the world. This elementary truth is of immense importance at the present moment. That man's being evil was a ground for sending the flood we can all see; but what depth of grace in the declaration that God knew perfectly the ruined condition of man at the very time when He pledges His word that there shall come no more flood on the earth! There wouldn't be room for it to grow, there wouldn't be enough light, and so the seed needs to get out away from the mother pine a bit. It is owing to this blessing, which God commanded at first, that the race of mankind is still in being, and that as one generation passeth away another cometh. In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in Genesis 1:29, Genesis 1:30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. And Elohim, it is said, "shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." On the contrary, supposing there was but one writer of the book of Genesis, as I am persuaded is the truth of the case, it would not have borne the stamp of a divine communication if he had used either the name of Jehovah-Elohim in 1-2: 3, or the name of "Elohim" only in Genesis 2:4-25. And if natural science cannot boast that in any one of its many branches it has discovered all the phenomena connected with the animal and human organism of the existing world, how could it pretend to determine or limit the changes through which this organism may have passed in the course of thousands of years? 2. The text tells us he was the work of ELOHIM, the Divine Plurality, marked here more distinctly by the plural pronouns US and OUR; and to show that he was the masterpiece of God's creation, all the persons in the Godhead are represented as united in counsel and effort to produce this astonishing creature. It is false that scripture does not leave room for his investigation. The author passes on from the cattle to the entire earth, and embraces all the animal creation in the expression, "every moving thing () that moveth upon the earth," just as in Genesis 1:28, "every living thing upon the earth." I warn every person solemnly against a notion found in both ancient and modern times, that there was in the beginning a quantity of what may be called crude matter for God to work on. "First, Gods deliberation shows that he has decided to create man differently from any of the other creatures-in his image and likeness. Yet in Genesis 1:29, God states that human beings are only permitted a plant-based diet. It was not barely as He who had created all, but the God that was in special relationship with man Jehovah. Then we have the further fact stated of the state into which the earth was plunged to which it was reduced. Now, not only may it be the simple fact that Elohim alone was used, but, further, on account of it, the historian would not introduce here the name of special relationship which the enemy was above all anxious to have if possible forgotten, and which the woman in fact did soon forget when she allowed one to work on her mind whose first aim was to sow distrust of God. *Some have wondered why the serpent and Eve should be represented as saying Elohim ("God") in the temptation, seeing that everywhere else in the section the name employed is Jehovah-Elohim. The scientist may speak of the sun as the centre of the solar system, with the earth a minor planet of the sun, and the moon a small satellite of the earth. 98. Others blend them together, and say there is an Hendiadys, that is, according to the image most like us. with ( Genesis The word of God is before them. Cain, as it is said, went out from His presence, and dwelt in the land of Nod; a son is born in due time who builds a city called after his name. God is pleased when people study his creation and learn its wonders (Psalms 111:2). Some writers have called the image of God mans "spiritual personality." Through His creation, as you look at the wisdom, as you study it, as God has designed the leaves to take and turn the sunrays into energy and, and all, and the photosynthesis processes by which the sun is turned into energy to feed the tree and all. That man was made in God's image and after his likeness, two words to express the same thing and making each other the more expressive; image and likeness denote the likest image, the nearest resemblance of any of the visible creatures. said, "I was as one brought up with him (or an artificer with He has said enough; but any one who will take the trouble to refer to Jude in connection with this chapter will gather more than appears on the surface. "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Most wisely all such details awaited the unfolding of another day. Ishak hanya berperan dalam riwayat Abraham, Kej 26:21; 22:24, dan dalam riwayat anak-anaknya sendiri, Kej 25:19-28; 27; 28:1-9; 35:27-29.Bab 26 ini melulu yang langsung berbicara tentang Ishak. Was it with certain other intelligent beings in existence before man that he took counsel? He is certainly too vast, too infinite, to be confined to a form that could be hung around your neck or worn around your wrist. In truth only God is competent to pronounce; and this He has done. To the end of the third verse of that chapter it was always God (Elohim) as such. but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he 38. (Comp. It was created after the image of God; and that image, St. Paul tells us, consisted in righteousness, true holiness, and knowledge, Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10. (84) The earth, forsooth, was a most excellent adviser! Yet, we all possess the basic same, you know, the basic same features. We are examining now the sixth day of creation, the day when man appeared upon the earth. Second, the narrative thus interpreted is in striking harmony with the dictates of reason and the axioms of philosophy concerning the essence of God and the nature of man. The union of attributes which constitute his spiritual nature is his character or likeness. In short, if the word had not been here, it might have been supposed that the writer meant us to conclude that the original condition of the earth was the shapeless mass of confusion which verse 2 describes with such terse and graphic brevity. They were all merged in one; and hence it is that we find that Job's friends, though guilty in the Lord's sight, yet alike with him offer burnt-offerings. A numerous lasting family, to enjoy this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing upon them, in virtue of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth and continue to the utmost period of time. Then there are other seeds that put a little hook on the end of the seed, and you or an animal walks by, and that little seed hooks on to your pants and it gets a free ride or it hooks in to your socks. Take, for instance, the way in which the book of Genesis opens. It is the beauty and the blessedness of scripture that it is as much above man's science as above his ignorance. plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a This chapter shows the folly and sin of the worship of light, of sun, moon, or star, of air or water, of plant, of fish or fowl, of earth, of cattle, creeping thing or wild beast, or, finally, of man himself; as all these are but the creatures of the one Eternal Spirit, who, as the Creator of all, is alone to be worshipped by his intelligent creatures. But the two trees, representing the two principles, which man is ever confounding or obliterating one for the other, are in the scripture as in truth wholly distinct. "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens . and of beasts that are not clean by two." And as we suggested last Thursday night, it is possible that He'll be the only handicapped person in there. Genesis 1:24). Now we have the basic life forms, the plant life forms, on the third day. The doctrine in systematic theology is that God's image within became corrupted and defiled; yet that even then he was not altogether forsaken; and that the course of his history declares by what means it has pleased God to renew, in some measure, His lost image, etc. The reason is plain when we look at Genesis 1:1-31. It is evident therefore that in the one case we have that which was generally necessary, in the other case that which was special and due to the relationship in which man was placed with Jehovah. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah. It is not "And in the day." It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let All other ways of explaining it are feeble, if not mere trash. What does He do then? This is to rule on a limited scale. Here indeed the principle of reserve does apply, not in withholding from man's soul the deepest blessing of grace for his deepest wants, but in furnishing no more than that which was suitable for man to learn about the matter. She listened, she looked, she took of the fruit; she ate, and was fallen. correct. And therefore God himself not only undertakes to make him, but is pleased so to express himself as if he called a council to consider of the making of him: Let us make man. Certainly he did not well. Yet, wonderful to say, in the very announcement of judgment on the serpent, God, who had by the light of His presence compelled the guilty pair to come forth out of the darkness in which they had hid, or rather sought to hide God held out the first bright light of mercy, but mercy in the judgment of him who was the root of the evil. The first and fourth days refer principally to the darkness on the face of the deep; the second and fifth to the disorder and emptiness of the aerial and aqueous elements; and the third and sixth to the similar condition of the land. "And 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 heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth upon the earth. An inspired author could not have expressed himself differently from Moses without impairing the perfect beauty and accuracy of the truth. Genesis 1-11:26. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the imag. On the other hand, man has potential and it is unlimited in amount and variety. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters he called the Seas: and God saw that it was good. likeness For this, as for other reasons, it is manifest that Genesis 2:1-25 ought to begin with the verse which stands fourth in the common English Bible. And God here too beautifully marks His feeling. JANUARY 5 TODAY'S READING IN THE ONE YEAR BIBLE - GENESIS 11-13:4; MATTHEW 5:1-26; PSALM 5:1-12; PROVERBS 1:24-28 Commentary written and read by Pastor David K. MacAdam. Lastly, in the fifth chapter, without making any mention of image, he puts likeness in its place, (Genesis 5:1.) You say, "oh, they remember the way they flew out. We might with interest pass through the account of the various days, and mark the wisdom of God in each; but I forbear to dwell on such details now, saying a word here and there on the goodness of God apparent throughout. And I'll think, you marvelous little creature, you, you can fly! Other places in the Old Testament it is translated Gods. 2. It gathers information from the primitive meanings of the names that are given to certain objects, and notices the subsequent development of these meanings. That explains why humans can actually imitate God's personality. The earth is only a very small part of Gods creation, but the creation story in the Bible is concerned mainly with the earth and mentions other features only in relation to the earth.The Genesis account is concerned with showing that God made everything out of nothing, that he worked from the formless to the formed, from the simple to the complex. And here in a secondary sense of the word is the propriety of the phrase "created" in verse 21; and we shall see it also when a new action comes before us in imparting not animal life but a rational soul. Appeared upon the name of Jehovah is another statement added to what had just preceded, and resolve what! Fact stated of the state into which the book of Genesis opens himself differently any... But we must move on with the creature she listened, she took of the third verse of that it. Looked, she looked, she looked, she looked, she took of the things were or... 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