What the Bible Teaches

about
Marriage:
Man
Made in God’s Image
*
PCJB
PP Presentation
devised and prepared
at
Gujranwala Theological Seminary
may be copied for non-commercial use
only
September 2008
 Why We Begin With
Genesis
• Why start with “At the beginning of
Genesis? creation God
• Jesus did (Mk. made them male
10:6ff and and female [Gen
Matt. 19:4ff) 1:27]… and the
two will become
one flesh. [Gen
2:24]”
Understanding Genesis
1-3
When we read
the opening chapters of
Genesis
we need to be careful
how we interpret their
language.
 Genesis Chs. 1 – 3
Literary Context

Written as an account
in pre-scientific figurative
language
that was understood within
the thought framework of
the people of the writer’s time

NB. Figurative does not mean

 Genesis Chs. 1 – 3
Literary Context
Significance for understanding
what is being taught about Marriage:
Interpret sometimes
figuratively,
not always literally!
Note:
Figurative language
may be the most accurate way
to convey what is real, abiding and
 Genesis 1 – 2
Summary

At the beginning of human

history
God made the first man,
endowed him with life,
and
placed him in a garden
 Genesis 1 - 2
Why does it appear that there are
two accounts of Creation
in the first two chapters of Genesis?
Actually the whole book of Genesis follows
a structure of 12 sections,
11 of them starting with a Toledot*
or
“that which is born from or comes out of”
something else.
*variously translated; “generations”, “history”,
“account”
 Genesis 1 - 2
So Genesis begins
• 1:1 “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the
earth.” 1:1 - 2:3
• 2:4 “These are the toledot of
the heavens and the earth.” 2:4
- 4:26
i.e this is what came out of
the heavens and the earth…
 Genesis 1 - 2
According to this toledot (“what came out
of”) structure
(found throughout the whole book of
Genesis),
the verse in Gen 2:4
does not start a second creation account,
but tells us
what has come out of the heavens
and earth,
which had already been created
in the first section
Account of Creation
Genesis 1:1-2:3
 Genesis 1:1-2:3
Textual Context
In the beginning
God created the heavens and the
earth…
1. light..
2. sky…
3. land and sea… vegetation…
4. lights in the sky… sun and moon and
stars…
5. living creatures in sea and sky…
6. living creatures on land…man…
 Gen
Then God said, 1:26
“Let us make man
WHO?
in our image,
HOW?
in our likeness,
and
let them rule over the fish of the sea
WHAT?
and

the birds of the air,

over the livestock,
over all the earth
 Gen 1:27

So God created man

WHO?
in his own image,
HOW?
In the image of God
he created him;
male and female
HOW?
 Gen 1:28
God blessed them (the male & the female)
BLESSING
and
said to them,
“Be fruitful
COMMANDS
and
increase in number;
fill the earth .
and
 To Discuss
(Getting the picture)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• What does
to be “made in God’s image”
mean to you?
 Made in God’s Image
(Figurative language)
How should we interpret “in God’s
image”?
• Popular notions (taken from Greek
thought)
– Possessing intelligence, will or emotions
– i.e. like God in his nature (being)

• Ancient Eastern custom

– The setting up of the king’s statue
equivalent to proclaiming his domination
over the region in which the statue was
 Gen 1:26-28
Textual Context
Creation
defined in terms of activity,
being fruitful
and multiplying
and subduing the earth

Note:
All functional terms
(of doing rather than being)
 Made in God’s Image
Man Made Responsible for Ruling
Creation
Interpretation:
• Man is set in the midst of creation
as God’s statue
• God assigns to man and woman
(both made “in His image”)
the mandate of representative rule,
i.e. authority to look after creation in
 To Discuss
(Who’s in charge?)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• How do think of man “ruling the

earth” today?
Is it the same as what Adam was
told to do at creation?
• Is “rule” the same as
“stewardship” ? Where does
“subdue” fit in to
the mandate given to Adam?
 Gen 1:26-28
God made man and woman
in his own image and likeness
to be fruitful
and
so fill the earth by multiplying
and
to subdue it
and
to rule
over all his other creatures
 Made Like God
(Figurative Language)
Interpretation:
• As God rules over a large domain
—the whole universe—
so humanity is given charge of
the entire earth
to rule it for God
as His stewards
 The Toledot (what
came out) of
the heavens and the
earth

Genesis 2:4-25
 Missing Items of Genesis
2:4b-7a
When the Lord God made the earth
and the heavens
– and no shrub of the field had yet
appeared on the earth
and no plant of the field had yet
sprung up,
for the Lord had not sent rain on
the earth
and there was no man to work the
ground,
but streams came up from the earth
Missing from Creation
When the Lord first made
the earth and the heavens,
the following were missing:
shrubs
plants
rain
man
 Creation’s First Lack
The first problem in creation:

“There was no man to work

the ground”
i.e. to farm it

So God formed man…

 Genesis 2:7
The Lord formed man
from the dust of
the ground
and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life,
and
the man became a living being.
 Genesis 2:7-15
God shaped
man (Hebrew: “adam”)
from
the soil of
the earth (Hebrew: “adamah”)
So man is given the enormous
responsibility of
being entrusted with God’s Garden
 Genesis 2:4b-7
Textual Context
When the Lord God made the earth
and the heavens
– and no shrub of the field had yet
appeared…
and there was no man to work the
ground…
the Lord formed man
from the dust of the
ground
and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life,
 Genesis 2:8-15
Textual Context
Now the Lord had planted a garden
in the east, in Eden;

and there
he put the man he had
formed…
The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of
Eden
to work it
 Man’s Task
“To work, serve, till”:
a verb often used of cultivating the
soil
(2:5; 3:23; 4:2, 12, etc.).
Also often used in a religious sense of
serving God
(e.g., Deut 4:19),
especially of the tabernacle duties of
the Levites (Num 3:7–8; 4:23–24, 26,
 Man’s Task
“To guard, to keep”:
the simple sense of “guard” (4:9;
30:31),
but more commonly used in legal texts
of
observing religious commands
and duties
(17:9; Lev 18:5),
particularly of the Levites
 To Discuss
(What’s the difference?)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_

• What more do we learn

about man’s task
from this second passage (the
toledot)?

(For both passages see next frame)

Then God said, When the Lord God made the
“Let us make man earth
and the
in our image, heavens
– and no shrub of the field had
in our likeness, yet appeared…
and let them rule over the fish
of the sea and there was no man to work
and the birds of
the ground…
the air, the Lord formed man
over the from the dust of
livestock, the ground
over all the and breathed into his
earth nostrils
and over all the the breath of
creatures
life,
that move along
the ground.” and the man became a living
So God created man being.
in his own image, Now
The Lord had planted a garden
In the image of God in the east,
he created him; in Eden;
male and female he and there
created them.
he put the man he had
God blessed them (the male & the formed…
 Boundaries Set
The second passage
ends with
a permission,
a limitation
and
a warning,
before the narrative moves onto the
next section.
 Genesis 2:16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man,
“You are free to eat
FREEDOM
from any tree in the
garden;
but
you must not eat
LIMITATION
from the tree of the
knowledge
 A Moral Boundary

The principle of having

boundaries in the order of
creation
is extended to
moral responsibility
(the knowledge of good and evil)
 Next Session

Man’s Helper
 Genesis 2:18
“A Suitable Helper”

The Lord God said,

“It is not good for the man to
be alone.
I will make a helper
suitable for him.”
The End