Bible Study On: Book of Genesis, Chapters 1
by Russell J. Schmidt
Genesis Chapter One ~ NKJV
The History of Creation
1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2) The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3) Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4) And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6) Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7) Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8) And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9) Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
10) And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11) Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
12) And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13) So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14) Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15) and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16) Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17) God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18) and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19) So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20) Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
21) So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22) And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23) So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24) Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
25) And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26) Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 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.
28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29) And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30) Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.
31) Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The drag and drop panel above, has the full text of Matthew chapter Two. You can use the
scroll bar to scroll down for the remainder of the text you do not see. The rest of the page
below contains the commentary associated with chapter two. As you scroll the main page down
you can drag the panel with you so you can continue to see the Scripture as you read the
commentary associated with it.
To use the drag and drop panel, just place your mouse cursor over the blue header-bar that
has the title "Matthew Chapter One ~ NKJV", and hold down the right click. While holding down the right click, just
drag the panel to whatever position you like. The drag and drop panel will only reset itself upon
a page refresh or a post-back.
Bible Study: Book of Genesis, Chapter One "The History of Creation"
Verses 1-17:
The first 25 verses of Genesis are the story of creation. I am not going to delve to much into each of these first 25 verses because they are self explanatory. But, I do want to go over a few points that are relevant to understanding some of the concepts surrounding creation, that will be necessary in understanding the nature of God as we progress in future studies.
This story of creation is one of the great debates in the arena of science; during the nineteenth century scientist’s almost unanimously decided that God was dead. This philosophy came about when the scientific theories of that century concluded that matter was the fundamental and final reality. It was concluded that anything of the spirit nature was the imagination of those who promoted it. If you can’t see it, taste it, smell it, hear it, or touch it, it cannot be real.
The twentieth century, on the other hand, brought about a rekindled belief in a supernatural creator by many in the scientific community. This because of some more intricate details of elements that make up our creation as we know it, with the technological advances that helped scientist’s study these elements. These belief’s of a supernatural or greater power, were not necessarily Christian belief’s, although there are many scientist’s who once claimed to be atheist are now born again Christian’s, but many in the scientific community were more in the line of a possibility that there is the potential for some sort of creator not necessarily the Christian version. For a more in-depth study of creation and of intelligent design, you can read, Commentary on Creation: Intelligent Design vs. Science.”
When it comes to creation and the age of creation, again there is a huge discrepancy in what science estimates the age of our universe to be and what the Bible says. Science concludes the approximate age of the earth to be no less than 12 billions years old, but can be as much as 15 billion years old.
The Bible on the other hand, does not tell us the age of the universe, but one can conclude through the timeframe of biblical history for the earth to be approximately 6,000 to 7,000 years old. Now, that’s a rather large discrepancy to say the least. How can one explain away a discrepancy such as the difference between the two.
This is one area that appears science may have a leg up on the issue; but not so fast. Just like those who believe in creation as described in the Bible (creationist’s) cannot absolutely prove with physical certainty that the age of our universe is 6,000 to 7,000 years old, neither can scientist’s prove their theories of the age of the earth being 12 to 15 billion years old.
Just like scientist’s have their theories to support their argument, so to do creationist’s have theories that can be possible for an all powerful supernatural God. One such theory is that God may have created things that appear aged to us. Now, this may sound far fetched, but remember, we are talking about a God that we cannot comprehend with our limited human minds.
In John chapter 2 we have the account of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding banquet. Now, I am not a wine connoisseur, but I do know that wine must be aged in order for it to become a good tasting wine. The aging process takes time and that time varies depending upon how the wine is stored and the quality of the wine itself.
In John 2:7 Jesus, after being told that there is no wine left, said, “Fill the water-pots with water.” These water-pots were tall jugs, that sat on the floor and were filled with water to serve. Remember, there was no running water in that day. After filling the six water-pots, Jesus followed by telling them to draw some of it out and allow the master of the banquet to taste.
Now the Scripture tells us that the master of the banquet was not aware of the situation with Jesus, so when he tasted the wine he said to the bridegroom in verse 10, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” Jesus had instantly turned water into wine.
Not only did he turn it into wine, it tasted as a good wine. Typically, at functions such as this, the better wine was used at the beginning of a banquet and as people drank their taste buds would not be as sharp as at the beginning, so a cheaper version of the wine would have been substituted to save the host money.
But, here the master of the banquet, who was working and not drinking, when he tasted the wine he could tell it was a choice wine and not a lesser substitute. Why am I adding this? Because, a choice wine must be aged longer and becomes more expensive. Jesus turned simple water into a choice wine. So, he created an aged product! Is it possible than, that God created an aged product when He created the universe?
There is also the possibility that God states a six day process for creation in terms that man can understand. We are told in Ecclesiastes 8:17, “No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.” Even to this day with all the technological advances, man cannot come close to understanding the intricacy of God’s creation.
In 2 Peter 3:8, the apostle tells us, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” You see, God’s timing is not our timing. God may have stated creation as a six day event just for our understanding and to relate it to our week so as to show us that we should work six days and rest on the seventh day.
Not only is that a spiritual principle, but God knew our physical bodies needed a day of rest and spiritual recharging to keep us healthy both physically and spiritually. God knew that throughout the work week, it would be difficult for us to stay focused on Him and His plan for us. Look what happened to Adam and Eve when they were in the Garden of Eden by themselves tending to it. Satan came along and separated them from God.
So too today, Satan is still prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour! (1 Peter 5:8) The moment we step out of the spiritual world and into this worlds way, which we must do to earn a living, Satan just waits for an opportunity to pounce.
I don’t mean to stray off the point, but all this will help you in understanding the nature of God. It may not be clear now, but it will become clear as we progress.
So, with this timing thing, we really do not know what God may have been up to before creation as we know it. God only gives us approximately 6 thousand years of time, but remember, God is infinite and has always existed. That in itself is probably the hardest thing for man to comprehend. Because we are limited to the physical realm, we cannot fathom something or someone always existing with no beginning. We’re just not capable of that.
Just maybe God was experimenting at some point during the creation process. There are many things throughout the Bible that I would have liked God to elaborate on more; but He didn’t. For example, each year in December we celebrate the birth of Christ. But, the actual account in Scripture is relatively vague in understanding. We are not even told of a date let alone that we were supposed to observe His birth. Observing Jesus’ birth was not important to God. God would much prefer we imitate the life of Jesus rather than just observe His birth and continue to live our lives as we do.
God deemed that it wasn’t important enough for us to know, so He doesn’t tell us. Observing Christ’s birth was secular man’s idea, not even the idea of believer’s in Christ. Emperor Constantine of the Holy Roman Empire who worshipped pagan gods, wanted to become more powerful. Since the movement of Christianity was growing, he saw an opportunity to profit himself by accepting this religion and merging it with his own paganism to make his kingdom more powerful.
In doing so, he took the pagan holiday of Saturnalia, which was the winter solstice celebration and created Christmas and celebrated Christ’s birth on that same day. He did this to appease all people, those who didn’t want to give up their worship of their pagan god’s, and to get Christian’s involved with the celebration. Can you see how this would help his rule?
One other piece of information that I find interesting, is that lava flow from a volcano, once it solidifies, appears aged longer than it really is. For example, with the eruption of Mount St. Helen in 1980, when scientist’s were finally able to go and investigate the remnants of the eruption, the solid rock that formed from the lava flow after it hardened, appeared to have been aged a lot more to them then it really was.
So, you see, as much as science thinks they have it all figured out, there is another side to the story that cannot be excused. Now, I’ve only touched on the many points that do lean toward intelligent design, but again, you can read my commentary on this topic by reading, “Commentary on Creation: Intelligent Design vs. Science.”
Verses 26-31:
The Creation of Man
Verse 26 starts off with very interesting information. God says, “Let us make man in our imagine” (bold mine). Notice my two highlights here, “us” and “our.” It’s clear here that God is talking to someone on His same level, because whoever He is talking to, is first, helping Him create, because He says, “Let us make;” so they are creating together. Second, He says, “in our imagine,” that would suggest that whomever He is talking to, is His equal.
If we go to the Book of John chapter one, we get clarification of who it was that God was talking to back in Genesis 1:26. In John 1:1-2 we get this clarification, “1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2) He was in the beginning with God.” Whenever the Bible speaks of a beginning, it is referring to the beginning as we know it from Scripture. Because God, as Scripture tells us, always existed; so He had no beginning, which would leave us to conclude that He is talking about the beginning as per Genesis, which the word Genesis means, “beginning”.
But, who is the Word? We get clarification of that as well. Let’s continue on in John 1:3-5, “3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5) And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” I am not going to go into the many Scripture verses, but if we continue to study any of the four Gospel’s of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and this very book of John, we can easy interpret the symbolic references to light, as referring to Jesus Christ.
We get absolute confirmation of this when we read John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” It’s easy to come to this conclusion here, because there has only been one begotten of the Father; that is Jesus Christ.
So, we can conclude from this that Jesus is and was the Word; or the Word of God. Now, if we look back at Genesis 1:2, we see that not only was Jesus or the Word was there, but we have another member of the godhead who was there as well. Let’s read Genesis 1:2, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This Spirit of God is referred to through the Bible as the Holy Spirit.
How do we know that the Spirit of God is a distinct person of the godhead? Again, I cannot reference all the Scripture verses here, but throughout the Bible it becomes clear that these three persons of the godhead are three distinct beings, yet under the one godhead; just as John 1:1 says, “...the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is not a contradictory statement. We call this the Trinity of God; which refers to the three person’s of the godhead. Some call God, the Triune God, referring to these three distinct person’s, which are still God.
Let’s take a look at a couple of examples to help clarify this understanding. Now, let me preface this by saying that there are no comparison’s that are equivalent to God. These examples are the best I can come up with, with my limit thinking as compared to the magnitude of God.
But, let’s take water, for an example. Water, which is made up two elements, two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen (H2O). Those two elements make one product of water. Water by itself is water; easy enough. But, water can come in three different forms; you have liquid, solid (ice), and vapor (steam). Even though these three examples are in different states, they are still water. It doesn’t matter how you want to try and explain that they are different; they are not! Each of those three states are still made up of the same elements of H2O.
Another example that I’ve used in the past, is a reference to a three person family with a last name, of let’s say, Jones. You have the mother and the father, Mr. And Mrs. Jones; and let’s say they had a son called Johnny. Now, each of these three person’s are distinct individuals, yet, each of them is Jones. They may have different first names, but they each can be called, just Jones. They are three distinct people under the Jones-head.
Again, these examples which are poor comparison’s in all actuality, hopefully help you to sort of comprehend the concept of the Trinity of God.
As we continue on in verse 26, we find another principle that is power and that needs to be looked at. God goes on, “let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” This word “dominion” here is a very powerful word and cannot be over-looked.
When we look up the word dominion, we find two definitions that are quite compelling and that is relevant for us Christian’s today and most of Christianity over-looks this element of our being. The two definitions I am referring to are, “ruling power,” and “authority.” Because the majority of Christianity does not understand this power that God has given us, is the cause for many of Christianities short-comings.
I will try to encapsulate what I mean here, because I do not want to get to far ahead of myself. And if you are not clear on what I am talking about, please do not get to caught up in my explanation, because as we move forward in our studies, this principle will become clearer.
We just read that God has given us dominion over the earth and all that is in it. That was, of course, given here to Adam and Eve, but they represented all of mankind to come in the future. Lucifer, who God appointed the guardian cherub, or Arch Angel here on earth in the Garden of Eden, was looking for a way he could go up against God and take over His throne or dominion, if you will. Lucifer, upon getting Adam and Eve to sin became Satan or the devil, the great deceiver.
We find the reference to Lucifer, being the name of the Arch-Angel of God in two translations, the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, and the New King James Version (NKJV). Most other translations use the name “morning star.” The original Hebrew word used in Scripture was “heylel.” This word is translated as “morning star” as in brightness, and also “Lucifer” meaning the same.
In Ezekiel 28, we get our information that Lucifer or the Morning Star, was in the Garden of Eden before iniquity (sin) was found in him. And that he was designated as the guardian cherub of the Garden of Eden. I believe this means that he was the primary caretaker of the Garden as well as Adam and Eve.
As the guardian cherub of the Garden of Eden, he must have had free access to both Adam and Eve. We will go into more detail on the subject of Adam and Eve’s possible relationship with Lucifer in the Bible study for chapter three next month. But, upon getting Adam and Eve to transgress or to sin against God, it resulted in them giving over to Satan their dominion over the earth or their power and authority.
By relinquishing their power and authority over to Satan, they were giving him free reign and power and authority over their lives. I believe that both Adam and Eve had the same powers as Jesus Christ had when He was in human form on the earth. But, by giving into sin they relinquished all their powers over to Satan.
And this same power that I believe Adam and Eve had, and we know from Scripture Jesus had, is available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus; if we as a Church body, on a whole, would realize it, we would be a far greater witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all people and religions around the world. We extracted a lot of information out of just one verse, in verse 26.
Again, please do not yet get to caught up in what I’ve discussed; if you continue to study with Us here, you will see this principle develop clearly along the way.
As we continue on in verse 27-28, God just confirms what we just read in verse 26. But, when we get to verses 29-31, that concludes Genesis chapter one, we find some more nuggets of information hidden within the Scriptures.
One last point in reference to verse 28. In this verse God blesses man and says, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it (NKJV).” For clarification purposes, I just want to mention that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible says it this way, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” I’ve highlighted the word “replenish” because many use this to say that God went through this process before, because the word “replenish” means to “restock” or “replace something that was and is no longer.”
Of course, detractors of the Bible will try to use this as suggesting that God failed on previous tries to create. Most other translations do not use the word replenish; the original Hebrew word used in Hebrew manuscripts is “male,” pronounced “Maw-ley’.” This word is not related to our word “male” referring to a man. This Hebrew word has many translations with replenish being one of them.
The prim root of the word means “to fill” or “be full of,” and that’s how most of the translations use it. In the New King James Version, which is the example I used above, also uses the correct translation of “fill.” My point is with all this, is that there are always discussions on what is the best translation of the Bible to use. Although I have my preferences, we need to look at all translations, as well as a good concordance, which you can search for words in the Bible for their original translated word in either Hebrew or Greek, and alternative meanings of that word; so as to get the best understanding of Scripture.
Verses 29-31:
God’s Blessing on Mankind and His Principles for Healthy Living
In the remaining verses of Genesis chapter one, God establishes some guidelines for His created man on dietary issues. Now, to preface this, nowhere does God mention these principles as dietary law’s, He does mention them as a sign of being His people. But, the hidden principle is that these foods do provide a healthful benefit. So, with that said, let’s dig into some of these principles.
These guidelines that God lays out here are designed for our overall health and well-being. Just like an auto manufacturer will give you an owners manual with maintenance guidelines. In these maintenance guidelines, the manufacturer will for example tell you what kind of oil to use in the engine for its overall health and well-being throughout the expected lifespan.
I use oil as an example because I found out the hard way that I should take a look at this manual from time-to-time, because there are good reasons why the manufacturer spends the money to produce these manual’s for us. I had a 1994 Ford pickup truck that I regularly changed the oil, because I’ve always been told that changing the oil is one of the most important maintenance practices in preserving the engines lifespan.
But, what these same arm-chair mechanics neglected to tell me is that the type of oil is just as important as the oil change itself. I also was told that 10W 40W oil is the safest bet when choosing an oil. So, that is what I’ve always used.
Now, when my 1994 Ford pickup’s engine seized on me with only 134,000 miles; right away I was ready to blame the manufacturer and repeat the old adage, F.O.R.D., Found On Road Dead. Well, much to my surprise, when I spoke with a professional about this, he asked me if I did the regular oil change maintenance. And I said, “yes, I do it myself.” He then asked me what oil I used, and I told him, proudly, “10W 40W oil.”
Boy, did I feel like a fool when he told me that that was my problem. He went on to say that in a 1994 F-150 pickup I was only supposed to use SAE20 motor oil. The engine was designed only for that weight oil, any other oil would not protect the engine from such problems. Talk about a humiliating situation.
In the same way we need to read our owners manuals for our auto’s, we must also read God’s manual for living, the Bible, in order that we don’t make foolish mistakes, as I did with my pickup truck, with our lives that can result in our missing salvation and spending eternity in the fiery furnace of hell.
The Bible makes reference to this in Luke chapter 16 where Jesus tells a parable of a rich man and a beggar. Because the rich man had, what Jesus described as, luxury living, he did not feel the need to listen to the truth’s of God. Because of this when he died, he wound up in agony in hell, yet the beggar was described as dying and going to Abraham’s side in heaven.
Don’t we as human beings treat our bodies, as I did my pickup truck, as though we know what’s best for it? Yet, we have so much unnecessary sickness in our societies. If we would only listen to what God has to say in reference to care of our bodies.
Just like our auto’s owners manual comes in the glove compartment of our cars and we rarely, if ever, take it out and read it to see what it has to says; in the same way statistics show that a good percentage of American homes has at least one Bible in it, yet it sits on the book shelf or buried in a drawer somewhere and never gets read.
This is exactly why God had to institute a law after Adam and Eve sinned. Mankind already proved that they were corrupt people and could not be responsible for themselves. In order for God to create order in man’s life, He needed to to institute a law. That’s why man was created before the law. Man was not made for the benefit of the law, but the law was made for the benefit of man.
Just take a look at the rate of sickness and disease in our societies. Cancer is one of the most feared diseases in our day, yet as a people, we search for a cure, but we don’t stop to consider what it might be that causes the spread of such a disease. If we would compare our dietary practices with those described in the Bible, we would see a red flag raised, if we were being honest in our assessment of the two.
We have an eye opening example in the book of Daniel chapter one. When Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the nation of Judah, he brought Daniel in to serve him in the kings palace.
The king had a special diet that he ordered all his servants to eat, yet much of the diet went against Hebrew law. Daniel being a true man of God, heeded these law’s. We get our first indication here that they are dietary health law’s as our story unfolds.
When the official of the king came to give Daniel his food ordered by the king, Daniel refused to eat it. The official who was prompted by the Lord to show Daniel favor, wanted to oblige Daniel but feared the king, if the king were to find out. Daniel makes the official an offer that if he would give Daniel just vegetables and water secretly for ten days and then compare his appearance to that of the other servants eating the kings diet, he assured him his appearance would be better.
Sure enough, after the ten days we learn from Scripture here that Daniel’s appearance and health, as well as three other Israelites who were with him, were better than those who ate the kings food.
There certainly is something to following the godly inspired principles found in the Bible, of not only these dietary or health issue, but all the principles that relate to aspects of our lives. If we as a people would only humble ourselves and accept that God does know what’s better for us than we do, we would not only be healthier, but wiser, more successful, and more prosperous in our lives.
To go to our main Bible study content page, click here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------