Where we came from
Above all else, Genesis says this: God did it.
The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. 2:7
The biology teacher displays a chart showing six animals. At one end is an ape standing upright, its hands swinging below its knees. At the other end, a rather hairy, stooped man in skins. “These are the stages of human evolution,” the teacher declared, “over a period of several million years.”
One agonized student shoots up his hand. “I believe in the Bible,” he stammers, “that God made the earth and that the first man was Adam.”
The teacher lets him finish, then dismisses his view. “Everybody is free to have his own religious beliefs. But science has proven evolution is fact.”
Scenes like this have thrown confusion over the first three chapters of the Bible. It’s impossible to read about Adam and Eve without wondering how they fit in with the bones anthropologists proclaim as “earliest man.”
The Main Point
These differences stir up controversy, even court cases. Certainly they are important issues. It’s unfortunate, though, that they distract attention from the main truth Genesis teaches.
Above everything else, its witness is this: God Did It. We are not here by accident, nor are we here merely to please ourselves. We owe our very existence to God. Every helium atom, every spiral galaxy, every living creature exists because God wants it to. Genesis 1-3 is the artist’s signature on the painting, saying, “This is mine.”
God Made Us Good
Genesis 1-3 pays humanity its highest compliment. After making all the glories of the world, God topped off his work with man and woman. He put them in charge. Unlike the animals, they were like him, “in his image.” “Very good,” he said to himself when he had finished. With humans he quit, satisfied.
Nobody, including God, has been satisfied with human beings since then. We were made good, but we disobeyed God right from the beginning. We’ve been suffering the consequences ever since. Genesis helps us understand why the universe is so flagrantly lovely, and yet so tragic. It is lovely because God made it. But it is tragic because he trusted it to us-and we failed.
