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Reflecting on Genesis

The past several months for my Thursday night Bible study group we have been studying the book of Genesis. Originally it started solely as an examination of Genesis 1-11 with specific emphasis on different, orthodox interpretations of those chapters. In other words, we were looking at different Christian views on creation, the fall, the flood, and so on. The goal was to show that you can have a different interpretation of those first few chapters of Genesis and still be well within the theological boundaries of Christianity.

One thing I kept mentioning while leading this study was that Genesis 1-11, while important and the part of the book that gets all the attention, isn't the primary focus of Genesis. It is, in a sense, a set up for the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, when we finished Genesis 11 the group requested that we keep going and pay off all that set up. So we did.

Here are some of my reflections on Genesis having just studied it for several months.

1. We desperately need to calm down about Genesis 1-11.

I'll admit I was nervous to cover to Genesis 1-11. I don't hold to the Young Earth, literal six day view that I grew up believing and that most within my tradition tend to believe. I know just from reading up on the different views of Genesis 1-11 just how heated and defensive people get about the beginning of the Bible. I was worried me presenting various, legitimate views on the subject would spark fury and accusation.

Thankfully this was not the case and I never should have been worried about this group. Still, there was worry, questions, and real concern about any view other than the "traditional" view. One reminder that we repeated over and over again was that the center of our faith is Jesus Christ, not a particular view of Genesis 1-11. There are many people out there that seem to elevate their particular view of creation to the same importance as the Resurrection of Christ. 

We need to calm down on this issue. Is it an important discussion to have? Yes! Is it the foundation of our faith? No! That means, much to our discomfort at times, that there can be disagreement and we can still have unity.

2. There are no human heroes (except Jesus!)

One of the things that struck me most while doing this study was just how sinful and messed up every single person in Genesis (except God) was. It was actually encouraging to see these characters we often hold up on pedestals as supremely flawed human beings. God wasn't faithful to Abraham because Abraham was so great, God was faithful because that's who God is! The promises and purposes of God are not dependent upon our perfection but upon God's character, but we are invited to participate.

3. Sin sucks.

A bit of an obvious one, but I think it's important. I actually think one of the greatest handicaps to the church today is our lack of engagement with the Old Testament. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one of the biggest is that by ignoring the OT we don't see the enormity and hideousness of sin. It's everywhere and on full display.

Even in Genesis we see murder, rape, adultery, slavery, coercion, lying, cheating. betrayal, and the overall corruption of the human heart and will. The New Testament of course talks about sin but it doesn't show it to us like the Old Testament does, mainly because the NT assumes you are constantly in the OT! The Cross of Christ comes into every sharper focus the more we read the OT and see just how bad sin is and just how helpless we are against it.

4. It really is all about Jesus.

In Luke 24:27 Jesus opens up the Scriptures revealing that everything is about him. Studying Genesis this time around I intentionally looked at it with a Christ-centered interpretation in mind along with the usual historical methods we normally use. I didn't tell anyone I was doing this, but it was life changing.

When we look through the Old Testament with Christ as our key everything becomes clearer. Difficult stories like Judah and Tamar come into focus as we look beyond the historical details and see the sign pointing ahead to Christ. There is a lot I could go into here, but suffice it to say that Jesus really is the center of everything. He is our foundation, cornerstone, and the author of our faith.

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