Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. JPS Tanakh 1917 Historically the church has pointed at this verse along with Matthew 19:4-7 and Mark 10:6-9 as the norm for human sexuality. While the word “marriage” doesn’t appear here, the act of leaving parents, Read more…
God teaches truth in the Bible three ways: 1) Direct statements, 2) approved examples and 3)inference/prudential reasoning. Direct statements, such as the Ten Commandments, are relatively straightforward as are the examples. Inference is the hardest because we are taking the principles and morals of the story and then applying them to ascertain what is being taught. These narratives teach their truths differently than direct statements (think Mark versus the Ten Commandments). In terms of frequency, Read more…
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. KJ This is an important verse for Christians and Jews as both view this text as the premise for humans having both a physical body and a soul. Of even greater importance is the implications this has after we die for the continuing existence of the Read more…
There are people who will say that the Bible is full of contradictions and therefore, cannot be trusted. They typically start with a comparison of Genesis 1 and 2 with the observation that these two chapters cannot be reconciled. The thing to keep in mind is that these two chapters are not intended to be reconciled. The relationship of Genesis 2 to Genesis 1 is similar to that of the Gospel of John versus Matthew, Read more…
Genesis 1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. 2:1 he heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. 2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, Read more…
Genesis 1:26 And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of the sky, and over the tame animals, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creature that crawls on the earth.” And it was so. 27And God created humankind in his own image. In God’s image he created him; Read more…
Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them. God said Read more…
Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the Read more…
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was on the surface of the watery depths. And God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. NHEB There are three main ways to interpret verses 1 and 2. The first approach (gap or ruin-restoration theory) begins with the idea that God creates things but by the time we get to Read more…
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. WEB Dr. Joel Beeke, the president of the Puritan Theological Seminary has summarized Genesis 1:1 by breaking it down into three parts. The first is that the eternal God (who has always existed) has started something new Read more…