God's Children

In the Beginning

The stories of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 are some of the most important words ever written. The birth of the entire universe is packed into just two pages of words.

Obviously, two pages — even 2,000 pages — couldn’t include all the factual data and details about when, where, and how the universe came into being. The author doesn’t seem interested in those things. “Factual data” wasn’t really a thing in the ancient world.

The wisest biblical scholars throughout the centuries have different thoughts on how the creation stories should be read and understood. They don’t always agree on every point, but that doesn’t mean we can’t trust and believe the truth we find in Genesis 1 and 2. It just means we aren’t God, we weren’t there, and we don’t know everything (no surprises there).

What all biblical scholars do agree on is this: Genesis 1 and 2 make it clear that humanity is set apart from everything else in creation. Genesis 1:1-2:4 is like a wide-angle panoramic version of creation. We see the whole picture. Then near the end (verses 26-30) the camera zooms in on humanity. We learn that human beings are the final and most significant creation in God’s world, designed with a very specific purpose, and described in very specific terms. Genesis 2:4b-25 is an even more zoomed in view of creation, this time focused almost exclusively on humanity.

One thing is very clear: humanity was intended, designed, and created by God. Each and every person is God's creation. But it's when we begin following Jesus that we are adopted into God's family and become his children who can call him Father.

Read & Reflect

Genesis 1:26-30 and Genesis 2 - 3

What do you think it means to be made in God's image?
How does Genesis 1:26-30 describe “made in God’s image”?
What do you learn about humanity from Genesis 2?
What do you learn about humanity from Genesis 3? When humanity rejected God and his boundaries, they also rejected their identity as God's image-bearers. That's one reason Jesus came to earth, to be the visible image of the invisible God. When we begin following Jesus, we are slowly transformed into his image so we can be restored into who God created us to be: his image-bearers.

Extra Info

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The Bible says that humans are made in the “image of God.” In Latin, the phrase is imago Dei (ih-MAH-go DAY). Many preachers and teachers have written articles and books on what it means to be the “imago Dei.” Does it mean people are somehow like God? That we share certain abilities and characteristics? That we share certain roles and responsibilities? Did we lose our identity as the “imago Dei” when we gave in to sin?
In one of his letters Paul writes that Jesus was the “visible image of the invisible God.” Jesus fulfilled his purpose in ways that no other human has or could.
The Hebrew word for “man” is adam (ah-DAHM’). The Hebrew word for “ground” (as in “the dust of the ground”) is adamah (ah-duh-MAH’).

Extra Verses

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Psalm 8

Isaiah 42:5

Isaiah 45:8-13

Extra Things

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Listen to a new version of an old song, "All Creatures of Our God and King."

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2103 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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