Genesis

Author, Date, and Recipients

Traditionally, Moses is considered to have been the author of Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch (see Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:24; John 5:46). Of course, Moses lived much later than the events of Genesis. Presum­ably, stories were passed down about those earlier events, and Moses brought them all together.

The first audience would have been the Israelites Moses led through the wilderness. For readers today, Genesis is an essential introduction to the rest of the Bible. It is rightly called the book of beginnings.

Theme

The theme of Genesis is creation, sin, and re-creation. God made the world very good, but first cursed it and then destroyed it in the flood because of man’s disobedience. The new world after the flood was also spoiled by human sin (ch. 11). God chose Abraham for a special purpose. Through his family, all nations would be blessed (12:1–3). God’s purpose will eventually be fulfilled through Abraham’s descendants (ch. 49).

Universal Themes in Genesis

The image of God. Genesis teaches that everyone on earth is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27; 9:6). This means that we are created like God in certain ways—for example, in our ability to love, speak, create, and reason, as well as in our ability to form relationships with our fellow humans. The image of God is also seen in the way humans are to rule the earth, under God, who rules over all. Because every person is made in God’s image, every person is inherently valuable to God and is to be treated with dignity regardless of ethnicity, age, class status, or gender.

Sin and the problem of the human heart. Genesis shows clearly that the fallen human heart is filled with sin. The reason God determined to destroy mankind in the flood was that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Despite experiencing God’s judgment in the flood, however, mankind fell again into sin (8:21). The flood, then, did not solve the problem of humanity’s sin and rebellion. Noah and his family passed the infection of sin on to their offspring and thus to all the nations of the earth. The world’s many expressions of rebellion against their Creator stem from the deeper, more fundamental problem of the fallen heart with its wayward desires. To fulfill his original intention for creation, God must find a way to forgive sin and to transform hard hearts with new desires. This divine mission would ultimately be fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Summary sourced from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”