GENESIS
Lesson 1: AN INTRODUCTION
Pastor David Green
10/25/2009

Genesis 1:1
Having gone through the book of Revelation, a study that took us from June 22, 2008 until October 18, 2009 I will now begin a study of the book of Genesis. I realize this may seem strange, but I feel that just as important as Revelation was, so is also Genesis important. In fact, the book of Genesis might be the most important book of the Bible.

Why Genesis? There are several reasons why Genesis is an important book. Consider this:

Genesis is foundational to all the books of the Bible. Think about this for a moment: without the book of Genesis, the rest of the Old Testament would not make sense and much of the New Testament would not mean much. No other book of the Bible is quoted or referred to as often as Genesis. In the New Testament alone, there are over 200 quotations or allusions to Genesis. Genesis has been called the “seedbed of all Christian doctrine.” As we go through this book we'll pick up on a lot of these things.
The book of Genesis gives us vital information about the origin of all things, including man. And this will influence a person's belief about his purpose and destiny. Again, as we go through this book we will make some of these statements clearer.
Genesis is foundational to all true history, as well as all true science. There is supposedly much mystery in science and history, yet a proper study of Genesis will remove much of that mystery. We have in our hands the only eyewitness account of the creation of the universe, for example.

Name of the Book. The name of the book is Genesis, a word that comes from the word beginning in the Greek. It is “The Book of Beginnings.” Notice some of the firsts in Genesis:

first mention of God
first man and woman
first marriage
first sin
first lie
first murder

And this is just a short list, what I thought of off the top of my head!

Myth? Allegory? History? Just like the book of Revelation, there are differences of opinion as to how Genesis should be treated. Some folks say it is purely figurative. Others insist it to be literal. Some are somewhere in between.. I have even read some who believe Genesis is not Scripture.

My position and belief is that Genesis is a literal book, and it is a historical account, not as legend. This is in fact the only correct and satisfactory information we possess concerning historic times.

II Timothy 3:16
We must treat Genesis like we would treat any other book of the Bible. We took Revelation to be literal, and we must also take Genesis to be literal if we are going to be consistent. To fail to do so undermines the rest of the Bible. If Genesis cannot be trusted, then how can we trust Revelation?

John 3:12
If God cannot be trusted with science and history, then how can we trust Him in prophecy? How can we trust Him with our spiritual well being if He could not even get the story of creation right?

We as Baptists have always held the Bible to be our only rule of faith and practice, but let us also declare it to be true in all subjects it touches, whether it be history, science, etc.

Our confessions of faith always affirm the Bible has God for its author and truth without any admixture of error for its matter.

Purpose of Genesis. While it does deal with the history of the world in general, the main purpose of this book is to relate how Israel was selected from among the nations of the world. It is the true story of God's free grace in establishing Israel for Himself as His people.

Chapter Divisions. Most authors divide the book of Genesis in the following way:

Genesis 1-11: The general history of man.
Genesis 12-50: The special history of God's people.

Author. Moses is regarded as the writer God used to write the book of Genesis. This has been the traditional view of both Jewish scribes and early church writings. Also, we find that the best commentary on Scripture to be other Scriptures. Genesis is considered the first book of the Pentateuch (the others being Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and all these books together were called the Law of Moses. Notice the following:

Luke 24:27, 44
Here Jesus credits Moses as being the author here, and therefore we also accept the idea that he was the author who wrote under inspiration of God.

Suggested Commentaties. I did not do this in our study of Revelation, but I should have. If anyone is interested in commentaries on the book of Genesis, here are a few I recommend:

Studies in Genesis, by H Boyce Taylor (1870-1932)
The Genesis Record, by Henry Morris (1918-2006)
Exposition of Genesis by H. C. Leupold
Gleanings in Genesis by A. W. Pink (1886-1952).
Note: Beware of Pink on the first chapter ("Creation and Restoration") since he did believe the Gap Theory. Hold your nose and get a black marker and scrub out the evolutionary propaganda. After that, though he is quite good.

Helpful Websites. Many resources are also available online, so I have tried to make it as easy as I could by adding links to these from my website. http://www.faithdelivered.net/links/creation.html