Genesis 2:4-25 “Biblical Creation from Another Angle”

Genesis 2:4-25 “Biblical Creation from Another Angle”
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Some suggest that the second chapter of Genesis talks of another creation of mankind. I submit that what we have is not a different account of the creation of people, but a differing perspective of the same event.
The second chapter of Genesis offers a human-centric account of the creation. This is a different view compared to the chronological account of all things coming into existence found in the first chapter. So then Genesis 2:4-6 does not contradict Genesis chapter one. Rather verses 4-6 give a summary of the making of the heavens and the earth in relation to the creation of the vegetation. God does not claim to make mankind before the vegetation in chapter two. He tells us again that the vegetation came between the creation of the earth and the creation of man. The reason for this is because God wants us to focus upon the forming of humanity.

The Creation of Male Human
God formed man from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). The picture was similar to that of a potter forming something from clay (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:20, 21). Man’s material essence is dust. God states this very thing (Genesis 3:19). Abraham certainly recognized this truth as well (Genesis 18:27).
The truth that man came from the dust is not a low view of the human body. Rather it is a realistic worldview of man’s physical nature. The human body, though an amazing creation, is simply material element until God instills life into it. Being the author of life, God breathes into the first man the breath of life[1].

Man, now having a body and a soul, is given a mission (Genesis 2:15-17). He is entrusted with the care of the garden of Eden, which God also placed upon the new earth (Genesis 2:8-14). The new man receives the commission to care for the paradise of God and to refrain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From the very beginning of human beings, mankind is created to be active, to work.

The Creation of the Female Human
People are built as social creatures. We know this from Genesis in which God states that man should not be alone (Genesis 2:18). So God gives the first man his helper (aid). This helper comes not directly from the dust but is still from the dust. This is because she is made from man, who is dust (Genesis 2:21, 22).

The creation gives a clear picture of the relation between male and female. This is clearly witnessed in the institution of the marriage (the union) of the man and his helper (Genesis 2:22-25). Differences between the two are designed for complementing not competing. Their union is a joyous, pleasurable unification and not a divisive battle. There is no more humanity in one as there is in the other. Though they are different, the man and the woman are equally of the human species, both made in God’s image.

Implication
The creation of human beings gives us the foundations of the relation between God and man. The primary foundational issue rests upon man’s complete dependence upon God. Human life does not just come from nothing. It is caused. God is the cause for human existence. As such, man can never truly be independent of God, no matter how much he or she desires to be independent.

Human beings are not only dependent upon God for their very lives, but they are also accountable to Him. God’s creative work has purpose. There is purpose in every human life. The purpose is to glorify God, and every person stands accountable to fulfill his or her purpose.

The purpose of man connects to man’s subjection to God. God creates man and because He does, He is the only rightful maker of the rules by which man must live. We call these rules natural law (moral law). From the second chapter of Genesis reveals God rules for the first man to live in the garden. It also tells the consequence of rebelling against God’s rule.   
 
Pastor Randy


[1] See also (Psalm 139:13-16; I Corinthians 15:45; I Timothy 2:13).