Belief Statement
I believe that the first five words in the Bible, “In the beginning God created…” stand as the foundation of the entire Spirit inspired work of the Bible. It is here we find an infinite God revealing Himself to His finite creation, man. His presence is both inside and outside the realm the time, that is to say, God is eternal. God is sovereign over all of His creation.
In addition, I believe that all of the doctrines we find throughout the Bible find their roots, history and foundational meaning in the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis.
As we unfold these first eleven chapters of Genesis, we see…
God created the universe and everything in it simply by His spoken word, “God said…”
Each day of the week of creation is an ordinary, 24-hour day. This is established by the context of the word “day.” Yom is the Hebrew word for day and when this word is used in conjunction with evening, morning, evening and morning, night, or number is always means an ordinary 24-hour day. This can be contrasted with Genesis 2:4, where we see the word “day” being used in an undefined context, “in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.”
Man has dominion over the earth and animals
“God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."” (Ge 1:28 NAS95)
Marriage, one man for one woman.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. — Ge 2:21-25 (AV)
Sin enters the world
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” (Ge 3:6-7 NAS95)
Death enters the world
Spiritually-“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” Genesis 3:7
Physically-“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
At the heart of Genesis is a message of love and hope. The love of a God that was big enough to allow His creation to say “NO.” The hope of a God that extended grace and mercy to a creation that so desperately needs it.