Day 2: September 2, 2025 – Genesis 1-3 and John 1-3

We find in both Genesis and John the stories of creation. Genesis gives us the literal creation of all that we see in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the sky. In John we see us being created as children of God, that takes root from the prompt that we find in Genesis that we are made in the image of God. This concept of being made in the image of God is not an appearance thing. Remember what God says to Samuel when he is trying to find the next king: “Do not look upon his appearance for people look on the outside, but God look upon the heart.” We are made in the image God in that we strive to be in relationship that gives life. Jesus gives life and we ought to desire to be in relationship with him.

We find in John the primary difference between the Old and the New Testament, which is in reality the difference between the Old and the New Covenant. Look at vs.17 where we read: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth were given by Jesus.” That is the difference. We no longer are relegated to following rules which dictate our lives and which bind us to inevitable sin. Instead, we find ourselves pursuing grace and truth in the person of Jesus Christ through a relationship that is completely unbound.

There are so many details in the creation story that I would love to touch on. Some see two creation stories, one in chapter 1 and the other in chapter 2. That is not my approach. I tend to harmonize the stories into one. What we find in chapter 1 is a general overview of creation. Chapter 2 gives us the specifics that we hear mentioned in chapter 1, specifically in relationship to the creation of man and woman. Woman being described as a helper is also a key concept we would do well to understand. The term helper is ezer and it is used in a few other places in Scripture. But here is the kicker, each time that it is used it is used to describe God as our helper, someone who was necessary for us to pursue and continue on in our lives. The helper that God creates is just as equally made in God’s image as the man that God creates in chapter 1.

John begins his Gospel with his own account of creation. Notice the theological truth that he begins with which is necessary to our understanding of the Trinity. The Son, the Word of God, is present in creation. Without the Word, without Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the Son, creation would not and did not occur. We often misunderstand the Trinity in a modalist perspective. The Son is relegated to the first century and never seen or heard from again. That is not our belief. The Son was present from the very beginning. The Son, Jesus, was God fully and completely and without any hesitation. Anything less than that is heresy. This includes the presence of the Son in creation itself.