The Biblical Worldview - Genesis

• The Word of God brought the World into existence – Christ is the Word of the Father

• Catholic Christianity is not a religion of the Book, but of the Word made Flesh, a Divine Person

• God reveals Himself in human words• We have to struggle with the human to grasp

the Divine

• The Bible is a book that belongs most of all in the Mass since this is where it was read

• It has its home in the Church, which makes sense because the Catholic Church decided on the inspired books

• This is revealed in Genesis 1 & 2, but is hard to see because western culture has gone from a theological view, to a philosophical view, and now to a scientific view which only relies on the empirical (this expresses a short-sighted view of the human person)

• This makes it hard to see the Bible as the ancient readers would have seen it, hard to see the literal sense (what the author intended)

• Literal vs. Literalistic • So we are going to misinterpret the creation

accounts in Genesis if we try to impose modern scientific views on it, it wasn’t written for this

• Literal sense + Historical sense = Religious sense

Day 7

• THE SABBATH – 1:14 – “Let it be for signs and seasons” – Liturgical Time, feasts etc.– Sabbath Day sets up Israel following of the covenant– Seven days of celebration after Passover, the feast of

the unleavened bread– Pentecost, the Jewish Harvest feast, also called the

“Feast of Weeks” – the dayafter the 7 weeks after Passover

So God is setting up Liturgical Time, which is based on events

Day 7

• THE SABBATH• When God rests, He is resting on His throne, He is King

Day 7So the Sabbath is for rest so that worship can happen. It is also the day of the revelation of God’s intention for marriage.

In the beginning….

• 1:26 – man (mankind) rule over all creation• Who in the ancient world could afford his own

garden?GodallowsAdam andEve and share in His Kingship.They are kings and queens.

Gen 1:26-27

• Men and Women are equal both made in God’s image and likeness

• Who is God? FATHER“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness.” – Gen 5:3

Therefore being made in the “image and likeness of God” means God desires a familial relationship with His creatures!

*Adam and Eve are sons and daughters.

In the beginning….

• Who in the ancient Near East could afford such a garden?!

• A King…the sacred writer is tell us that God is King!

1:28

• And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiple, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

To struggle violently, to conqueror (Hb. Havash)

“Havash”

• To struggle violently, to conqueror• So Adam has to work to keep order (like a

king!)• So he even was called to keep the serpent in

line!• Adam was Royal failure…

2:2-3

• God rests, blesses, and “hallowed” the 7th day• God does not need rest, blessings, or holiness,

but we do!• Adam therefore is the first priest!• Gen 2:15 – to “till and to keep”

*This is the same language used in Leviticus of how the priest is to treat the sanctuary! (Hb: Awbad)

What does Adam being apriest have to do with Eve?

Adam fails as a priest too…lets set it up

• What is Genesis 2:24 poetic for?• What verb is used to describe what man does

to his wife?• The creation of woman is the masterpiece of

God.

Gen 3:15

Mary – Our Hope“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heal.”

A wound to the heel is not fatal, but one to the head is…