Genesis Content

Question 1

Primary Purpose of the Creation account

Answer 1

1. To exalt the eternal God who alone created the heaven and the earth.
2. To evoke from man the worship, adoration, obedience and love which belong to God alone.
3. To prohibit any and all superstitious views of the universe.
4. To provide a trustworthy history of the divine activity of God in creation.
5. To prepare for the second portion of Genesis, dealing with man’s habitancy of God’s world.

Question 2

Essential Teaching of the Creation account

Answer 2

1. The origin of the world and of life was no accident.
2. God made everything there is.
3. All that God made was good.
4. The highpoint of all God’s creative acts was the making of man.
5. Mankind is distinguished from all other creatures: made in God’s own likeness, he is given charge over all the rest.
6. God’s six days of creative activity followed by a day of rest sets the pattern for man’s working life.

Question 3

Gen. 1:1 denies these philosophies:

Answer 3

1. Atheism: no God
2. Polytheism: many gods
3. Fatalism: impersonal determinism
4. Evolution: infinite becoming
5. Pantheism: all is God
6. Materialism: matter is eternal
7. Dualism: good and evil are eternal

Question 4

Days of Creation:

Answer 4

Day 1: Separated light from darkness
Day 2: Separated sea and sky
Day 3: Separated land from seas
Day 4: Luminaries of day and night
Day 5: Birds and fish
Day 6: Animals and humans
Day 7: God rested

Question 5

Views on the Days of Creation:

Answer 5

Literal Day View (24 hours) - terms evening and morning, numerical understanding
Day-Age View (indefinite time) - Day “yom” is used multiple ways. Gen. 2 seems to be more than 1 day.

Question 6

Views on the Date of Creation:

Answer 6

Concordist Views for Young Earth: Flood Theory, Appearance of Age Theory.
Old Earth: Gap Theory, Literal-Day-with-Gaps Theory, Day-Age Theory.
Nonconcordits Interpretations: Framework Theory (days are snapshots of God’s creative work).
Analogical Days Theory (Days are God’s workdays, length is not specified or important.
Functional Cosmic Temple Theory (Days are sequential calendar days, but are the period of time devoted to the inauguration of the functions of the cosmic temple).
Days of Revelation Theory (series of statements to man about what God had done in ages past).
Theistic Evolution: God used the process of evolution to create living things, including humans.

Question 7

Lessons from History

Answer 7

1. Danger of Misinterpreting Scripture - don’t ignore scientific evidence that seems to contradict the ‘general impression’ interpretation of Genesis 1.
2. Danger of Overestimating Science - Goal is not to seek to satisfy science.

Question 8

3 Views on humans being made in the image of God

Answer 8

1. Traditional (Substantive) View - Resemblance (who we are)
2. Representative (Functional) View - What we do (near Eastern statues)
3. Relational View - How we relate

Question 9

Relationship between Gen. 1 and 2

Answer 9

In Subject Matter: Complementary, not contradictory

In Style: Genesis 2 is not chronological, but topical

Question 10

Purpose of the Babylonian Account of Creation (Enuma Elish)

Answer 10

Written to honor Marduk, God of Babylon

Question 11

Similarites between the Genesis account and the Enuma Elish

Answer 11

1. Original mass of material was water.
2. Two bodies of water separated by firmament.
3. Narrative divided into seven parts.
4. Heavens, earth, firmament created first; then celestial bodies; then man.

Question 12

Differences between the Genesis account and the Enuma Elish

Answer 12

1. EE is Polytheistic, Gen 1:1 is Monotheistic.
2. Matter is eternal in EE, while Matter was created by God from nothing in Gen.
3. Earth and water formed from preexisting matter in EE, in Gen., earth and water created from nothing.
4. EE has no record of creation of vegetation, animals, birds, reptiles, fish. Gen. is a clear account of creation of all of these.
5. In EE, man created to serve gods. In Gen., man created to rule the earth and its inhabitants.
6. in EE, Marduk’s creative acts required great effort. God’s creative acts required only spoken word.

Question 13

Explanations of Similarities in EE and Genesis accounts

Answer 13

1. Genesis account drew from the Babylonian account.
2. Babylonian account drew from the Genesis account.
3. They are independent accounts that possibly go back to a common source.

Question 14

Views on the identification of the tempter

Answer 14

1. Figurative
2. Reptile (used by Satan)
3. Non-reptile (Satan)

Question 15

Threefold pattern of the Temptation

Answer 15

1. Lust of the Flesh
2. Lust of the Eye
3. The Pride of Life

Question 16

Immediate Consequences of the Fall

Answer 16

1. Experience of Sin
2. Experience of Guilt
3. Expulsion from Eden

Question 17

Individual Consequences of the Fall

Answer 17

On the Serpent: humiliation and disgrace, hostility and defeat.
On the Woman: Suffering in childbirth, struggle in marriage.
On the Man: Sorrow in work, struggle to live
On the Ground: Cursed (separation of man from nature)

Question 18

General (universal) Effects of the Fall

Answer 18

1. Death and Disease (spiritual and physical death)
2. Depravity
3. Division (between man and God, man and himself, man and man, man and nature, nature and nature)

Question 19

2 Contrasting Lines in Gen. 4 and 5

Answer 19

Line of Cain, Line of Seth (Seth replaces Abel)

Question 20

Possible causes of God refusing Cain’s offering

Answer 20

Spirit and character of the offerers. Not blood, not best.

Question 21

First city named in Scripture

Answer 21

Enoch, named after Cain’s first son

Question 22

First Polygamist

Answer 22

Lamech - married two women

Question 23

Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain

Answer 23

Jabal - Herders/Farmers
Jubal - Musicians
Tubal-Cain - Craftsmen

Question 24

Sons of God

Answer 24

1. Cosmologically mixed marriages: Angel/Human
2. Religiously mixed marriages: Righteous/Unrighteous
3. Sociologically mixed marriages: King/Commoner
4. Superstitious marriages: King/Any Woman
5. Normal Marriages

Question 25

Arguments for a local flood

Answer 25

1. The biblical text does not demand a universal flood. 2. The scientific evidence does not support a universal flood. 3. The universality of flood traditions cannot be uncritically appealed to.

Question 26

Arguments for a universal flood

Answer 26

1. The biblical text supports a universal flood. 2. The scientific evidence does not eliminate a universal flood. 3. The universality of the traditions is strong support for a universal flood.

Question 27

3 similarities between Genesis and the Gilgamesh Epic

Answer 27

1. The deluge is divinely instigated. 2. The boat comes to rest on a mountain. 3. The releasing of the birds. 4. The promise that such a flood will never occur again.

Question 28

3 differences between Genesis flood and the Gilgamesh Epic

Answer 28

1. The account is polytheistic, not monotheistic. 2. The many gods are morally depraved, not holy. 3. The shape of the arks is significantly different. 4. Genesis flood is caused by man's sin. Gilgamesh flood is caused by man making noise, disturbing the gods.

Question 29

Views on why Canaan is cursed

Answer 29

1. Two accounts 2. Canaan was with Ham 3. Ham was with his mother (Canaan is the offspring of incest) 4. Noah saw that Canaan shared perversity with his father. 5. Youngest son = Canaan

Question 30

Where did Noah's sons settle

Answer 30

1. Japheth - Occupied N and NW of the Fertile Crescent. 2. Ham - Occupied SW of the Fertile Crescent. 3. Shem - Occupied the area between the Japhethites and Hamites around the Arabian subcontinent.

Question 31

The tower of Babel is probably a prototype of later:

Answer 31

Ziggurats (towers which served as a place for a god whose shrine belonged on the summit).

Question 32

Numerical Symmetry in the Genealogies of Gen. 5 and 11:

Answer 32

Adam to Noah includes 10 names, last, Noah has 3 sons. | Noah to Terah includes 10 names, last, Terah has 3 sons.

Question 33

Solutions for the problem of Terah's age at his death:

Answer 33

1. Abram may have been the youngest son, but placed first because of prominence. 2. The Samaritan text gives Terah's age as 145 at death. 3. Terah was only "seen as dead" by Abram. 4. Terah was not dead when Abram left.