That there was only one such root is the statement of the scriptures. Hence man was wise in his mind, holy in his heart, and righteous in his actions. There is no one more miserable than the man who has no object before him. But this made the want so much the more evident, of which Jehovah-Elohim takes notice, of a partner for Adam's affections and life, one that might be before him, as it is said: "And Jehovah-Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.'' And I'll think, you marvelous little creature, you, you can fly! Nay, more, now that it is clearly revealed, they have no competency to appreciate it never take in its force; and for this simple reason, that man invariably judges from himself and from his own experience, instead of submitting to God and His word. 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them . For as we have on the sixth day the lower creation for the earth, so finally man himself the crown of all. See also Merrill, pp. The moment God spoke, you have the Word of God. 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. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth" (versesGenesis 11:8-9; Genesis 11:8-9). Others blend them together, and say there is an Hendiadys, that is, according to the image most like us. The world, the universe has been created. The environmental conditions have been placed here for man, the trees, the vegetables have been placed here for his food. In the New . That he made this image to consist in righteousness and true holiness, is by the figure synecdochee; (88) for though this is the chief part, it is not the whole of Gods image. There was no longer trial in Paradise, because man was turned out. It is not needful to say more now. But we have on the first day light, and a most remarkable fact it is (I may in passing just say) that the inspired historian should have named it. 133.]. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. "The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah-Elohim had made.". 15 My frame was not hidden from you. On the first day light is. How is this image of God upon man defaced! It was no longer in the likeness of God, but in the image of God always. But it is the more important because, when it is a question of the guilt of taking man's life, the ground is that he was made in God's image. For although at the present time man is fitted by his teeth and alimentary canal for the combination of vegetable and animal food; and although the law of mutual destruction so thoroughly pervades the whole animal kingdom, that not only is the life of one sustained by the death of another, but "as the graminivorous animals check the overgrowth of the vegetable kingdom, so the excessive increase of the former is restricted by the beasts of prey, and of these again by the destructive implements of man;" and although, again, not only beasts of prey, but evident symptoms of disease are met with among the fossil remains of the aboriginal animals: all these facts furnish no proof that the human and animal races were originally constituted for death and destruction, or that disease and slaughter are older than the fall. Hitherto they had been of one lip; but combining to make a name to themselves, lest they should be scattered, not to exalt God nor confide in Him, they had their language confounded, and themselves dispersed. They are not said to be created then; but God made two great lights (it is no question of their mass, but of their capacity as light bearers,) for the Adamic earth the stars also. Sermon Bible Commentary. all the more because of the chaste simplicity of the style and words. That is why, when God created man and He created the garden for man to dwell in, that He put in that Garden a tree of knowledge of good and evil and said to man, "Don't eat that". It is plain, had Moses merely formed a probable opinion as men do, that no one would have introduced the mention of light, apart from, and before all distinct notice of, the heavenly orbs. It is only faith that really accepts what comes from God; and faith alone gives the clue to what is around us now, but then it guides us through all present entanglements by believing God whether as to what He once made or what He will yet do. "And Jehovah-Elohim commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day," etc. Carmen Memorial. It is the great truth of sacrifice, of which Abel's faith laid hold, realising and confessing in his slain lamb that there was no other way in a ruined world for a holy relationship, and for the confession of the truth too, as between God and man. The word of God is always right. 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. They who would define the subject briefly, say that in the image are contained those endowments which God has conferred on human nature at large, while they expound likeness to mean gratuitous gifts. Not a word of this again occurs in the previous chapter. We gather from the present chapter that God is a spirit Genesis 1:2, that he thinks, speaks, wills, and acts (Genesis 1:3-4, etc.). That man's creation was a more signal and immediate act of divine wisdom and power than that of the other creatures. The utmost possible care appears in the statement. Since the image of God had been destroyed in us by the fall, we may judge from its restoration what it originally had been. He ceased His creative act on the seventh day. "And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded.". But it is an old story in this world, though a new thing for professing members and ministers of Christ, to take pride in putting scorn on divine revelation. It is however possible that God may have allowed a certain change as to the distribution of these waters around the garden. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth, must be put together in him, and he must be allied to both worlds. In his original estate man was created in God's image, but he had not the knowledge of good and evil. Mans body, therefore, as that of one who rules, is erect, and endowed with speech, that he may give the word of command. Man will rise and live again. The whole creation was built by the Word of God from the mouth of God. of Proud member preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the Genesis 1:26-28. Without loss, these two things could not be transposed. 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. He has made the sea his highway to the ends of the earth, the stars his pilots on the pathless ocean, the sun his bleacher and painter, the bowels of the earth the treasury from which he draws his precious and useful metals and much of his fuel, the steam his motive power, and the lightning his messenger. I call your attention for a moment to this. 4. But "Adam," it is said, "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." For the view that the image of God includes the body, see Jonathan F. Henry, "Man in Gods Image: What Does it Mean?" But while this question of who was God talking to may seem impossible to answer. some for another; and over all the wild beasts of the earth, The presumption is that there was a reasonable consistency of thought in his mind during one effort of composition. "Where is Abel thy brother?" So, that seems to lend credence to the "gap theory" that the heavens and the earth were created in verse one, this is an account of re-creation.Now the fog cloud's removed and the sun and the moon becoming visible and are now used to mark off years and days and months; used as time indicators and the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light holder to rule the night. Creation and redemption bear witness to His glory, instead of communicating aught of His own dignity. According to the account of creation in Genesis 1, the chief purpose of God in creating man is to bless him. The image and likeness must necessarily be intellectual; his mind, his soul, must have been formed after the nature and perfections of his God. Genesis 1:26-27New International Version. Both unite in this, that, as they were made of dust, to the dust they must return. Both may be perfectly right, and both absolutely true; but there is a difference of manner and phraseology, because of a difference of object before you. In the day that God created man." Six years they may go into slavery, the seventh year they are set free. So we find what shows the folly of this yet more in what follows: "And they that went in went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Jehovah shut him in." God forbid that by indulging the body and the desires of it we should make ourselves like the beasts that perish! In reading the Bible we must understand not only what the Bible says but also what it means. For there was an attempering in the several parts of the soul, which corresponded with their various offices. Hence, therefore, as closing all the previous state of things, where man was not spoken of, preparing the way for the Adamic earth, the Spirit of God is seen brooding upon the face of the waters. But short of Christ's person and work, there is nothing more characteristic of God than creation. That is another matter, and by ho means of such consequence as many suppose. Moreover, this view is irreconcilable with the words "in our image, after our likeness;" since man was created in the image of God alone (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:1), and not in the image of either the angels, or God and the angels. It should seem as if this were the work which he longed to be at; as if he had said, "Having at last settled the preliminaries, let us now apply ourselves to the business, Let us make man." It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let The superior trinity being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the inferior trinity of man being body, soul and spirit. The atmosphere has been created to sustain his life. Again, let us note the confronting of the serpent, not with man, who always falls under Satan's power, but with Christ, who always conquers. It is the relationship of Noah which appears here. On the six days which follow I shall not dwell: the subject was before many of us not long ago. Genesis 1:26 Context. God created man in His own image: in the image of God created He him. You've got something over me. As we saw God Himself the Creator and the moral Governor, so further we find the enemy of God and of man in exact accordance with the latest word that God speaks. When it says that God sits above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22), it does not mean that he sits in space somewhere above the horizon, but that he is the sovereign Lord of the universe. The grand question to be tried we have afterwards. A mere historian, like Josephus of old a mere commentator, like Ewald now might have used either the one or the other without sensible loss to his readers through both chapters. Believers can, for by faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3). They show a misunderstanding of the nature of the Bibles language. Our. In his place and authority: Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion. There we have delight in the man who had found grace in His eyes. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. Not how did He say it, or to whom did He say it, but what did He say. There is the provision of God, not merely for the need of man, but for His own glory; and this in the smallest things as in the greatest. They build their nests, they lay the eggs, they hatch their young. The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us. The story of creation is but an introduction to the story of Gods dealings with the human race. He made man the master over the earth. And God created the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. I don't want God around me! The whole person is in Gods image. But it is evident that dispensation, in the true sense of the word, there was none. God is pleased when people study his creation and learn its wonders (Psalms 111:2). It's just to me exciting, that God is not limited to just one design.If you'd look around tonight you'd see that God isn't limited to just one design. But it was important to show its ground in the facts of creation, apart from special relationship, and that made Elohim alone appropriate in this place. with ( Genesis The believer can readily understand how Noah was divinely led to pronounce a just malediction on Canaan. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. This completes, then, the restoration of that order and fullness the absence of which is described in the second verse. Yes, Jehovah is in question. The Heir of all things is the Second man, and not the bride. 26 Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.". But there is enough in man's amplification to point to what is stated here in a few simple words of truth. I have no doubt that, besides this, Enoch is the type of the portion of those who look to be with the Lord above, just as Noah shows us (as is too well known to call for a delay upon it) those who pass through the judicial dealings of God, and nevertheless are preserved. 163. The book is the account of the beginning of the earth, mankind, and God's dealings with man. Here on the fifth day, now, we have the more complex life forms. Genesis 11:1-32 opens with the sin of man, which led to the division described in the preceding chapter, the moral reason of that fact, new then, but still in its substance going on, whatever the superficial changes among men in their lands, and tongues, and political distribution. Man alone therefore has what is commonly called an immortal soul. 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 . So the Holy Spirit, basically, is the author of all the scripture and who He was inspiring is of no import to us.So next week, we'll continue with chapter two. As Apostolic's we can in fact give solid biblical answers as to why God may have used a plural form. He says bloop, "you can't do that." 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