- Humanity is special because we got image of God, not because we have spirit. According to scripture, anything that can move is alive and has spirit. 

- When Moses wrote this he wasn't randomly talking about creation. But to show there is order when God created. 

 

3) God establishes His Lordship on 7th day (2:1-3) 

- Rest in hebrew means you seize from striving. (not not doing anything, it's that you don't have to fight anymore) 

- Sabbath is I can rest in the fact that God will take care of me. ' I work 6 days but i'm fed for 7 days' 

 

 

WHAT ISIT TRYING TO TEACH US

 

1) The Nature of God

-  Romans 1:18 says that everybody knows there is a creator out there. (people look at creation they can't deny that there is a creator) 

- most culture has their gods in creation. but Israelites is God was already there, then creation was made. 

-  

2) God is Transcendent 

- out of the world. God is far but yet He comes near. (reverential fear of God coming near to us) 

- always teach that God is transcendent and holy, then we can appreciate that God came near. 

 

3) God is Personal 

- in OT, stress that He is holy, acts through angels

- stress that He is personal, He does it Himself 

 

4) God as Provider 

- most religions assume God needs something from you, humans need to appease the gods

- but God created man to serve them. Psalm 50:10. When we sacrifice the bulls, it's not for God but it's for ourselves. 

- God created not to take but to give. (He also create those that he know won't choose Him in the end. If He created people to take then those that don't want to give He won't create ) 

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US TODAY

•  We believe in one God. 

• finite or infinite God? is there a limit to how great your God is. (when things happen do we wonder why God can't do this? claim to believe an infinite God but we struggle to believe it) 

• God is not part of the world but not indifferent towards it. He comes to restores it. (infinite, transcendent yet intervenes) 

- Elohim in Hebrew is plural. but it's a plural of intensity (plural to make it BIG not to make it many) - the verbs that follow are always singular. 

 

REFLECTION:

1)  We struggle in having a view of God that is consistent with what has been revealed about Him. Without the acknowledgment of a sovereign and transcendent God, we cannot understand the concept of goodness and this the accountability of si

 

 

 

Man in God's image. 

(who is man, how is man related to God) 

it's a triangular relationship between God, creation and humanity. 

 

Genesis 1 & 2 is not trying to tell you creation scientifically. 

God knows what He is doing (Jeremiah 29, God knows, idk) 

- God looks at my life and thinks 20 years later. I look at my life and I think yesterday, today and tomorrow. Whatever I'm going through now, God knows how He can use it for.  

- God's purpose is Rev 21 & 22 (redeeming humanity to new heaven new earth.) not just OUR purpose. 

 

Background: 
Canaanites would take clay and shape it to look like man, then do rituals and install the idol in a temple. 

Genesis 2 tells us that it's the other way round, God took clay and formed me and installed me in His temple. 

- the idea that Man has authority over the world is very jewish. Everything else was just created but with Man, God did it personally and BREATHED LIFE INTO US. 

- clay (physical nature), breath (breathe spirit into us. You don't have a soul, you BECOME a soul.) 

 

God's Image

- what makes us different from everythings else. Humanity alone can choose, don't go by instinct etc. Those distinctions is what make us different. When creation look at us, there's something that is very different about us. 

- murder is violating the image of God. that's why we must treat each other we respect. (we alone are given the mandate to take care of creation) 

- the importance is the content, not the order. 

 

 

WHAT IT SAYS 

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1) Adam and His Creator (2 : 4 -7) 

- instead of man create god in his image, it's the other way around.

 

2) Adam and the Garden of Eden (2 : 8 - 17) 

- name (naming means you have authority over that creature). that's why when God give names, it's significant. it means that God will be the authority over that person. (the setting) 

-  by creation, default for humanity is that we live forever and do not need to know difference between good and evil. (incapable of doing so, just need to trust and obey God.) 

- have authority but authority is restricted by God. 

 

3) Adam and His Helper 

- helper is translated as HS is our helper, a partner. 

- a part of humanity that is hard to function and need community / partner. 

- man and woman are side by side, partnership. (cleave - grab hold and stick together) 

 

 

WHAT ISIT TRYING TO TEACH US

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1) Supremacy (Authority of Man over Creation) 

- second to angels (Psalm 8:5) 

 

2) Humility (dependence on God)

- man is under the authority of Creator. We have the authority because we are under God. 

 

3) Equality (a partnership of man with his wife) 

- in ancient culture, man and woman are not equal. but God sees man and woman as equal (humanity as a whole) 

- James 2 (if we treat ppl differently cause of colour or background, we are dishonoring the image of God. Christian ethics is because people carry the image of God) 

 

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US TODAY

- Man not highest object in the Universe (we are not that important)

- Man carries the sense of nobility because of our rs to God and we are His image bearer. 

(we are responsible for our sins because we are different. that's why we are against drugs and alcohol. because once you take, you cannot make decisions, you become an animal and act on instinct.) 

 

 

 

Sin as Rebellion. 

 

WHAT IT SAYS 

 

1) Fall of Humanity & its consequences (3:1-24)

- tempted, falling.

- judgement and aftermath

 

2) Escalate of sin through generations (4:1-26)

- Bible intentionally doesn't state why Cain's offering wasn't accepted by God. (if Cain trusted God, cain will go back and think about why he was wrong. But Cain just went to murder his brother) 

- Bible traces the righteous lineage. 

 

3) Perseverance of Hope in spite of Rebellion (5:1 - 6:8)

- sin spreads but God always preserve the righteous line. (eg. Noah) 

 

 

WHAT IS IT TEACHING US

 

- the temptation is how we processed the image from within us, not the image itself. 

 

1) Lies of the Serpent

- DID GOD REALLY SAY? 

questions our knowledge of the content in God's word. 

 

- YOU WILL NOT CERTAINLY...

questions our belief in the certainty of God's Word. 

do we selectively believe in God's word? (Galatians 6:7-8) 

 

- FOR GOD KNOWS THAT WHEN...

questions our trust in the good intentions behind God's Word (serpent trying to tell eve that God got good things but dont want to share)

Bible calls Satan the father of lies. Satan cannot do anything to make you lose salvation, ONLY ME  can make the first step to lose salvation.

 

the root of sin is that I want to decide what I want in life. 

 

2) What happens to us when we are tempted? (Gen 3 and Luke 4)

 

- Lust of the Flesh (Good for Food)

• it meets a real human need. "i must meet this need, at all cost'. You don't always need to meet the need. "you're not harming anyone".

• You have needs to meet but there are correct ways to meet that need. (i don't decide what I do because of my needs only) 

• you can't decide what is good and what is bad NOW. because we are not able to have the full context. (example of man and woman on cruise). we will never be able to know all things, that's why don't take from the tree of knowledge. Because once you take, you will forever want to distinguish between good and bad even though you cannot. (you want to decide good and evil for yourself) 

• humanity alone can go against our fleshly and natural desires. 

• Exertion of moral independence  ( trusting our own determination of good and evil. (when we think God made a mistake) 

 

- Lust of the Eyes (pleasing to the eye) 

• trusting our own determination of what is good (Jesus was going to ultimately be the King of the world. Just that through God's way it's by the cross and through Satan's way it was to worship him) 

• I will serve and submit only to God. 

• Exertion of moral independence  (trusting our own determination of good and evil. (when we think God made a mistake) 

 

- Pride of Life (desirable for gaining wisdom)

• taunt Jesus to question whether God loves Him. (who do you think you are that you can force God to do something) 

• God has given you more than your life can return. God cannot owe you something. (it's a pagan belief) 

• "why must I listen to you"

• Rejection of God as creator  (decide life for myself)

 

 

Romans 1 

- Unrighteousness (behavior. doing what is wrong in the eyes of God)

- Ungodliness (attitude, being aware of God) 

- Judgement is on ungodliness, not unrighteousness. (ungodliness is invisible, that's why the Law is given, to make it visible) 

- sin is because i'm ungodly, not because i'm unrighteous. 

 

 

3) Consequence of Sin

 

• sin & guilt

- led to covering up, escaped and hid from God, fear and blame shifting

 

• Promise of seed 

- "He will crush your head" singular. God will somehow use a singular SEED, to crush the head of a serpent. "you will injure Him, but He will destroy you'

- first time animal is mentioned as dead (god will shed blood in order to provide a covering) 

 

 

• Judgement from God 

-  earth is cursed because of you, not you are cursed

- what we don't like about work is that it is difficult. Working is God's design, the thorns and thistles is why we dont like

 

• Expulsion from Garden

- experience mortality. (cannot eat from tree of life anymore) 

 

 

4) Spread of Sin

• Sin permeates when left unaddressed 

- must be dealt with promptly 

 

• Sin escalates when left un-arrested (gets worse and worse) 

-  provoke and lead to more rebellious disobedience. (Gen 6) 

- must be dealt with decisively. 

 

 

WHAT THIS MEAN FOR US TODAY

 

- Discipleship is not JUST training people to do the right things. Sin is ungodliness at its core, the core of discipleship is godliness. (helping people to be aware of God) 

- when the person become godly, overtime the person will become righteous. (fastest way to righteousness is by law. to Godliness, grace is the only way) 

 

REFLECTION:

1) Sin is not just about what I did, but about where is God in all that I did. 

- is the Gospel an supplement or my antidote? 

 

 

Theology of Judgement. 

 

- God wanted to destroy humanity but Noah was righteous and God made a covenant with humanity through Noah. 

- there is two way to do with sin (destroy or redeem) 

- God promised us he will not deal with sin through destruction. Hinting at the gospel (in Noah's story)

 

WHAT IT SAYS 

 

1) The Nature of Judgement

- Certainty of it (no matter how we deny or feel about it, it will come to pass. God will find us accountable. When Jesus come back, the first thing He will do is to JUDGE.)

- Severity of it (no matter how trivial our sin appears to be there will be severe consequences. the consequences of sin is death. That's how servere if not someone can just pay a fine for my sins, nobody needs to die) 

- Totality of it (no matter how much we hide or do, no one will be excused from it) 

 

 

Theology of Revelation. 

 

- tower of babel, instead of spreading and multiplying, they gathered and build tower. 

 

WHAT IT SAYS 

 

1) Table of Nations (10:1-23)

- Japheth, Ham and Shem. 

- Israel alone is created out of one man

 

2) Division of Nation (11:1-9) 

- People rebel and build tower, God come down and build. 

- God confusing their language is an act of mercy (if not they will continue to conspire and evil will multiply) 

 

3) Dawn of Revelation (11:10-26)

- the only way to know GOd is God reveal to us, not we imagine. 

 

WHAT IT TEACHES US

 

WITHOUT REVELATION: 

 

1) Man Pursues his own agenda

- do whatever we want. 

- If Christ pursued his own agenda, HE wouldn't have went to the cross. 

 

2) Man speculates what God wants

- are you sure this is what God wants? (book of Colossians) 

- cannot base on our own imagination, go back to WOG.

 

3) Man approaches God in his own ways

- build tower can go to God? but actually is God build tabernacle and He come down. 

 

WHAT IT MEANS FOR ME TODAY

 

- whatever I believe in God is it really who God says he is? 

- the name of the golden calf is yaweh. Just because you claim to believe in Jesus doesn't mean it is really Jesus.

- if your description of God doesn't match what is described in Jesus, you are believing in a name, not the person. 

 

 

 

 

 

READING BIBLICAL NARRATIVES / STORIES

 

1) Zoom Out

- understand chiastic structures, don't go for details. 

- "chapters' end through repeated line/phrases. eg for genesis "this is the account of'

- x ---> "CHI". expand to narrow to expand. eg. noah's ark and Genesis 10

- Jewish people write like that. eg. Paul

 

2) Zoom In 

- ' watch movie', read AGAIN>

- Principal of first reading: stories written to surprise you, catch you off guard

- Principal of second reading: Read again, details will jump out at you

 

3) Zoom Backward

- recall backstory in Gen 1 - 11

- expecially Tower of Babel (make their own decision, make themselves great, by their own effort) and Abrahamic Covenant (God's decision, God will make his name great, God will do it) 

 

4) Zoom Forward 

- recognise foreshadowing in the call of Israel and the coming of the Gospel

 

5) Zoom Within

- see yourself in the patriachs' and villains' struggle. 

 

 

ACCOUNT OF ABRAHAM, THE FATHER OF FAITH

 

1) Summary

- Gen 12:1-9 (call to covenant)

- Gen 12:10 - 20:18 (9 chapters of agonizing wait. Faith in the context of promise is usually waiting)

- Gen 22:1 - 22:24 (fulfillment of Promise in 2 chapters) 

- Gen 23:1- 25:19 (pass covenant to son) 

 

Focus is not God fulfilling the promise but how Abraham acted while waiting

 

 

2) What it says to the Israelites 

 

•  Abram's call to covenant

- God's call for Abram to leave (v1)

- God's offer of a covenant to Abram (v2-3)

- Abram's obedience to the call to leave (v4-5) he left when he was 75

- God's confirmation of the covenant with Abram (v6-9) 'to your SEEED." 

(main obstacles in Abram's circumstances) the land shown was occupied by Canaan and sarah was barren.

 

•  Waiting in the Promise (12:10 - 20:18)

- Abram and Sarai lie to Pharaoh (12:1-20).

was already in the promised land but left on their own accord to find food cause of famine. (parallel to Jesus being tempted)

God intervene to protect Sarai to ensure the SEED is PURE.

Abram did not have faith that God will protect him.

 

- Abram rescues Lot when Sodom was defeated (13:1 - 14:24)

Lot chose where the 2.5 tribes chose (outside the promised land) 

318 fighers was a big thing at that time. 

otw back from war, Abram met King of Sodom and Salem (first account of tithing) and he rejected King of Sodom's offer of goods because he wanted to make sure all he had was from God. 

 

- Abram believes God's word and God commits Himself to the covenant (15:1 - 21) 

v6, Abram believed God. (it's not abstract but believing in what God says)

the oath of tearing animals, instead of both parties walking down towards each other, God told abram to stay there and God came towards him. 

v13 Prophecy (readers are just nice at the point where they just returned to promised land) 

 

- Abram took matters into his own hands to fulfil God's promise (16:1-16) 

the turning point. 

Birth of Ishmael (Abram is 85 and Sarai 75)

he had 2 choices.  (WAIT or REINTERPRET THE PROMISE) 

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- Abraham struggles with God's word when God clarifies the covenant (17:1 - 18:15) 

Abraham is 99, Ishamel 13 (adult already) 

God reaffirms covenant and Abraham doubted. 

v9, Abraham's part of the covenant was to CIRCUMCISE (as a sign of covenant) 

SIGNS OF COVENANT  is for ppl to see and rmb the covenant. Circumcision can only be seen by the individual. To remind him that his father believed in that covenant. if they believed, they would circumcise their son. 

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they both doubted.  (God intentionally waited 25 years so that they will doubt. By sight they know NO CHANCE> that's when faith can occur. The point of faith is that, Abraham laughed and doubted but still went to sleep with his wife. 

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- Abraham intercedes for Lot when Sodom was destroyed 

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- Abraham and Sarah lie to Abimelek about their relationship (Chiastic structure)