Book of Genesis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "The Book of Genesis" redirects here. For the band, seeGenesis (band). For the comics, seeThe Book of Genesis(comics)."Gen." redirects here. For the military rank, seeGeneral officer.Tanakh and Old Testament [show]Tanakh Judaism portal[show]Old Testament Christianity portal VTEThe Book of Genesis (from the LatinVulgate, in turn borrowed or transliterated from Greekγένεσις, meaning "origin";Hebrew: , Bereʾšyt, "In [the] beginning"), is the first book of the Hebrew Bible(theTanakh) and theChristianOld Testament. [1] The book describes its own structure around ten "toledot" sections (the "these are the generations of..." phrases), but many modern commentators see it in terms of a "primeval history" (chapters 1 -11) followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories (chapters 12-50). [2] The basicnarrativeexpresses the central theme: Go dcreatesthe world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. The new post -Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson J acob. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph, thechildren of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, an d God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Is rael in Egypt, ready for the coming of Mosesandthe
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theology or overarching theme for all of Genesis.[25]
The problem lies in finding a way to unite the patriarchal
theme of divine promise to the primeval history, with its theme of God's continuing mercy in the face of man's
sinful nature.[26]
One solution is to see the patriarchal stories as resulting from God's decision not to remain
alienated from mankind:[26]
God creates the world and mankind, mankind rebels, and God "elects" (chooses)
Abraham.[3]
To this basic plot (which comes from the Yahwist) the Priestly source has added a series of covenants dividing
history into stages, each with its own distinctive "sign". The first covenant is between God and all living
creatures, and is marked by the sign of the rainbow; the second is with the descendants of Abraham
(Ishmaelites and others as well as Israelites), and its sign iscircumcision; and the last, which doesn't appear until
the book of Exodus, is with Israel alone, and its sign is Sabbath. Each covenant is mediated by a great leader
(Noah, Abraham, Moses), and at each stage God progressively reveals himself by his name (Elohim with
Noah, El Shaddai with Abraham, Yahweh with Moses).[3]
(One of many Bible articles on the "Wielding the Sword of the Spirit" web site at www.matthewmcgee.org)Home Page * Copyright Policy * Feedback
The Basics of Understanding the Bible
Matthew McGee
In order to understand the Bible, one must study dispensationally, that is, rightly divide the scriptures (2 Timothy2:15). But what does it mean to study dispensationally or to rightly divide? On the most basic level: It is reading aBible passage and asking, "Am I in the group of people being spoken to here?" That is, "Is this passage speaking toChristians?" Most commonly, we are taught that the entire Bible is written to us. But that is not entirely correct. Thewhole Bible is written for us, for our learning, but not all of it is addressed to us.
For example: When God gave the law to the people of Israel through Moses in about 1500 BC, one of the laws wasto do no work on the Sabbath. The Sabbath lasts from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. When a manwas found picking up sticks on the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36, God commanded the people of Israel to put him todeath by stoning. Now does that mean if we see our neighbor mowing his grass on Saturday morning that he iscommitting a sin? Should we round up the whole neighborhood and kill him? Of course not. We must realize that thechildren of Israel were not Christians. We are not under the law of Moses like they were then. They lived in adifferent dispensation from us.
The word "dispensation" comes from the word "dispense". So a dispensation is an administration (ordispensing) of God's will over a certain period of time to a certain group of people. In other words, adispensation is God's way of dealing with a group of people during a particular time period. To properly understand aBible passage, it is important to know both the time period to which it refers, and the group of people to which itapplies. This way, you can determine which dispensation applies to each Biblical passage.
God has had different rules for different groups of people in different time periods. Not only may the rules be different,but the punishment for not keeping the rules may be different. The way God interacts with man may be different.Sometimes even the environment man lives in may be different.
Here is an easy example that illustrates the point: Capital punishment.
1. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, there was no capital punishment for murder. For that matterthere was no sin at all for which to be punished. On top of that, there was no death at all, since the fall of man had notyet happened. 2. A few years after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, Cain, their son, murderedhis brother, Abel (Genesis 4:8-15). But there was no capital punishment for Cain. God had not yet allowed it.
Furthermore, God put a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him. 3. After the great flood, God instituted capitalpunishment for murder (Genesis 9:6). 4. And as just explained, when God instituted the law of Moses, capitalpunishment was administered for working on the Sabbath. Some other offenses would also result in death by stoning,such as the worship of idols, adultery, homosexual acts, and consulting spirit mediums (Leviticus 20).
In this simple example alone, we see four distinctly different sets of rules regarding capital punishment that applied indifferent dispensations.
Below is a summary of all of the dispensations:
Eternity Past - Even before God created the world, He always was, having no beginning or end.
1. Innocence - from the creation to the fall of man (the first sin) - Although the Bible does not say specifically, thisdispensation probably did not last very long, perhaps only a few days. It ended about 4000 BC. This dispensation iscovered in the scriptures from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 3:22.
2. Conscience - from the fall of man to the great flood - This dispensation lasted from about 4000 BC to about 2350BC and is covered in the scriptures from Genesis 3:23 to Genesis 8:19. With very little instruction from God duringthis time, man acted according to his own conscience. The evil became so overwhelming, that this dispensationended when God destroyed all but Noah and his family in the great flood.
3. Human government - from the great flood to the call of Abraham - This dispensation began in about 2350 BC andis still in effect. Although Abraham and his descendants went under the dispensation of promise around 2000 BC, asexplained below, the remainder of mankind remained under the human government dispensation. It is covered in thescriptures from Genesis 8:20 to Genesis 11:32. God began allowing humans to govern themselves and to punishcriminals.
4. Promise - from the call of Abraham to the giving of the law to Moses for the children of Israel - This dispensationapplied only to Abraham and his descendants through his son, Isaac, and Isaac's son, Jacob (Israel). It lasted fromabout 2000 BC to about 1500 BC is covered in the scriptures from Genesis 12:1 to Exodus 19:7. God promisedAbraham that He would give land to Abraham's seed and that all the nations of the world would be blessed by hisseed. Although Israel went under the law described below around 1500 BC, the promise God made to Abraham isstill in effect.
5. Law - from the giving of the law to Moses for the children of Israel to the calling of Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles(those not of Israel) - This dispensation applied only to Jacob's descendants, Israel. It began about 1500 BC andlasted until it began to fade away about 37 AD and stopped in 70 AD. It will resume for seven years during the futuretribulation after the dispensation of grace listed below. It is covered in the scriptures from Exodus 19:8 to Acts 8 andfrom Hebrews to Revelation. The book of Acts is a book of transition from law to grace. During the period covered byActs 9 to 28, we see the grace dispensation coming in and the law dispensation fading away. God chose Israel as theapple of His eye. He gave Israel strict laws, harsh punishments, and prophecies of worldwide prominence in thefuture kingdom of their coming Messiah.
6. Grace - from the calling of Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, to the rapture of the church - We are now in thisdispensation. It began in about 37 AD and will last until the future rapture. Hopefully it will be soon, but we do notknow when the rapture will occur, except that it will occur before the seven-year tribulation. This dispensation of graceis covered in the scriptures in Paul's letters from Romans to Philemon. When Israel refused to accept Jesus Christ,who had ascended to heaven, as their Messiah, God turned to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy (Romans
11:11).
7. Kingdom (or divine government) - from the return of Jesus Christ to the great white throne of judgment - Thisbegins at the end of the seven-year tribulation mentioned above and lasts for 1000 years. During this time, JesusChrist will reign as King in Jerusalem. This dispensation is covered in Revelation chapter 20. However, much moredetail on this dispensation may be found in many prophecies in various other parts of the Bible. I have summarizedmany of these in my article, "The Millennial Kingdom Reign of Jesus Christ".
Eternity Future - This dispensation begins at the end of the 1000 years mentioned above and lasts forever. It iscovered in the scriptures in Revelation chapters 21-22.
Understanding the dispensations clears up all sorts of confusion. For example, many people cannot understand whoCain married. Obviously, he married one of his sisters, since there were no other women to marry. These peopleknow that today, a man should not marry a near relative, or perhaps they are aware that the law given to Moses forIsrael says not to marry near relatives. However, people often assume that this rule was always in effect. But inreality, Cain lived 2500 years before God instituted the statute against marrying a near relative. People who do notstudy dispensationally will find themselves mixing up the rules intended for different people in different dispensations.Thus, they have little chance of gaining a clear understanding of the scriptures and even God's will for their own life.
Notice that sometimes dispensational time periods can overlap one another, with two different dispensations applyingto two different groups of people. For example, the whole time that Israel was under the law (#5) dispensation, all ofthe Gentile nations were under the human government (#3) dispensation. A similar overlapping occurred from about37 AD until 70 AD. During this time the Jews in Israel were still under the law (Acts 21:20-21) which ended when the
Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. But the Gentiles and Jews living outside of the land of Israelwere already under grace (#6), the dispensation committed to Paul (Ephesians 3:2), the apostle of the Gentiles(Romans 11:13).
Now at this point I should explain something that has been a great source of confusion for most Christians (includingmyself in the past). Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:8 "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel ...." How can Paul say that it is "my gospel"? Paul explained in Galatians 1:11-12that he did not learn the gospel that he preached from any man, but rather, was taught it "... by the revelation of Jesus Christ ." The ascended Lord Jesus Christ revealed the mystery of the gospel to Paul. The fact that it was a mysterymeans that no one knew it before. It had been a secret.
John the Baptist, Jesus, and the twelve apostles preached the gospel of the kingdom to the people of Israel only.This good news was that the kingdom, promised in the Old Testament by the prophets was ready to come in. Itrequired the repentance of the entire nation of Israel. Hence, the gospel message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand " (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, and 10:7). Even after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, theoffer of the kingdom was still valid and available to Israel. Peter offered the kingdom to Israel again in Acts 3:19-21 ifthey would only repent as a nation. But they would not. So the kingdom was postponed, and God called Paul andmade him "the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles " (Romans 15:16) and "the apostle of the Gentiles"(Romans 11:13). That makes Paul "our apostle".
God gave Paul information that no one knew before. It was a new gospel, which Paul calls the gospel ofgrace or my gospel. The gospel of grace is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, freely gave His life as the perfectsacrifice to pay for our sins. He was crucified, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day (1Corinthians 15:1-4). Look at the early parts of Acts. You will never see the twelve apostles talking about Jesus
Christ's redeeming blood or saying how He died for our sins. Oh, they mention His death and resurrection, but only asa great miracle to prove to Israel that He is alive and can return to be their King as the Old Testament prophesied.The twelve do not tell the Jews that Christ gave His life as a sacrifice, but rather, that they (the Jews)had murdered Him. The twelve never associate Christ's death with forgiveness of sins. The fact that His death andforgiveness are related was still a mystery at that point. But it was later revealed to Paul. "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery , even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory " (1
Corinthians 2:7-8). So, you see, God, knowing the future before He even created the world, had to keep the plan ofour redemption (our gospel) a secret (a mystery), and He did not reveal the secret until after He had called forth Paul.Also see also Romans 16:25.
So God had a "kingdom" program for the nation of Israel. It is described in great detail in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,and the early chapters of Acts. After Israel refused to repent as a nation, God began His "grace" program for theGentiles (with some Jews included).
The following example will illustrate one of the key differences in the two programs:
Jesus, talking to people in His earthly ministry, said in Matthew 6:14-15, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses ." Notice that you will only be forgiven if you first forgive others.
But Paul tells us the opposite in Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you ." If you are a believer, God has already forgiven you. Notof just some sins, but of all the sins we will ever commit (Colossians 2:13). Certainly, God wants Christians to forgiveothers, and we will receive rewards in heaven according to our works (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). But our salvation doesnot depend on the works at all (Romans 4:5).
Paul was not contradicting Jesus. After all, Paul received his message from our risen and ascended Lord JesusChrist, Himself. Their messages are not contradictory because they were to different audiences in differentdispensations. If a man tells his son to empty the garbage and his daughter to vacuum the floor, he is notcontradicting himself. Jesus Christ, in his earthly ministry, was teaching Jews who were under the law of Moses. Butlater, Jesus Christ (through Paul) was teaching Christians (mostly non-Jew) who were not under the law of Moses,but under grace. We are still in the dispensation of grace today, which will continue until the rapture of the church. Soour salvation comes by believing the gospel of grace that our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to our Apostle Paul.
I realize that this is a lot to consider, so I welcome questions. To study this further, see the articles below whichfurther explain the differences between the kingdom program and the grace program:
Israel's Kingdom Gospel and Our Grace Gospel Elements of the Gospel and Our Ascended Lord The Seven Churches of Revelation