God, Man, Sin, and Redemption Introduced in Genesis and Explained by Paul – Part 2

August 9, 2025

Part 2

by Dennis Christian

(As drawn from the pages of Holy Scripture)

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Overview
Before Creation
God’s decision to create man
God’s purpose required man to be made in His image
The foreseen sin of man an obstacle to God’s purpose for creating him
God’s predetermined solution (the Cross) to the obstacle

Part 2 – Creation
Creation’s beginning:
Creation completes with the addition of man
Possible interpretations

Part 3 – After creation – the first humans
God’s purposes for creation were ready to be fulfilled:
The commandment, which exposed mankind’s vulnerability to sin, Adam and Eve (the Fall):
Paul’s exposition on the Law from Romans 7:
Sin’s impact on creation, mankind:
Paul’s exposition on the Fall from Romans 5 and 8

Part 4 – God’s predetermined plan to rescue sinful man begins, unfolding over time
God’s love for Adam and Eve (mankind) despite their sin
God wants to walk with man, but few will
Enoch, a descendant of Adam’s son Seth, was one of the few.
God’s grief over mankind’s rampant sin
Noah and the Flood
God selects a family, which will become a nation, through whom the Messiah will come:
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: God’s chosen people Israel
Joseph a type of the Future Messiah
Israel grows to the size of a nation
Moses and the Exodus, Moses and the Law
Joshua leads the Hebrews into the promised land (Canaan)
The Battle of Jericho
Canaan is divided among the twelve tribes of Israel
Israel ruled by Judges
Saul becomes the first king of Israel
David, slayer of Goliath then becoming a mighty king
Solomon and the peak of Israel’s earthly strength, wealth, and glory
Israel’s failures, but God’s faithfulness

Part 5 – Jesus (the Messiah) comes:
The ministry of Jesus
The Cross – the pinnacle event of the history of God and man
What the cross did for mankind
How the cross did it
Man’s required response: Spiritual rebirth through repentance and faith
God’s fulfillment of promises to both Jew and gentile – united now as one people, the role of His chosen people fulfilled
God’s purpose for creating mankind fulfilled for believers

Part 6 – Jesus’ future 2nd coming and the end times
Uncertainties of the end time events
The rapture and great tribulation
The Day of the Lord
Judgment
The end state(s) of mankind and all creation

 

Creation: Let me start by acknowledging that believers do not all agree on how to interpret the Genesis account of creation. Some take it very literally and believe they would be denying the inerrancy of scripture if they did not do so. Others take into consideration observations or evidence from studying the created world when interpreting the Genesis account. As an example of their differences, the former group believe all creation was completed in six twenty-four hour days while the latter group believe scientific evidence shows creation began some 13 to 14 billion years ago and wasn’t completed until man appeared on the earth about 300 thousand years ago. Proponents of each group are sincerely motivated with good – the former motivated by defending the accuracy of scripture and the latter by defending the evidence from God’s other book – the observable universe. So, rather than focusing on their differences, let’s focus on their common points. These are that it was God who created the universe and us, and that He did it in a certain order. Now, let’s look at the Genesis account.

  • Creation’s beginning: Genesis 1 depicts God’s creation of the physical world in 6 days in this order: Days 1, 2, and 4 – the heavens (the sun, moon and stars), and the earth, Day 3 -the oceans, land masses, and plant life, Day 5 – birds and marine life, and Day 6 – land animals and man.
  • Creation completes with the addition of man, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  Genesis 1:31.

“And God rested on the seventh day.”

 

  • Possible interpretations:
    • Creation completed in literally six 24-hour days
      • Rationale for six 24-hour days: Proponents argue that there is no reason not to take the days as 24-hour days; the Bible is to be taken literally unless it is clearly a passage meant to be taken symbolically or metaphorically
      • Based on scripture, the age of the universe and earth is claimed to be 6000 to 12,000 years: Proponents of the 24-hour day use the Genisis events and lives of the people to calculate the age of the earth.
      • This view believes that how God created was through simple, authoritative commands and denies scientific evidence regarding the age of the universe.

 

  • Creation took much longer based on scientific evidence (To God “a day is as 1000 years” (2 Peter 3:8-9); the six days are to be taken as six sequential steps in the creation process, and the Genesis account cannot mean 24-hour days.
    • “A day is as 1000 years”: This does not mean a literal 1000 years but an indefinitely long period of time, which could be any length. The point is that God is outside of time, so if science proves it took much longer to create the universe, earth, life, and mankind, scripture has an explanation.
    • This view believes God has two books – the Bible and creation. (Paul appeals to creation as evidence of God which implies the right and responsibility of man to study God’s creation. Romans 1:20) Both books reveal aspects of God. Both give us truth, and all truth is God’s truth.
    • What does scientific evidence (not unproven theory) say is the age of the universe and the date of the first human’s appearance?
    • This view believes how God created was by using His limitless power and intellect, not by just simple commands which discount the power and intellect it took to create such a vast and complex world. God created matter from energy – the reverse of atomic power, which converts matter into energy. This view sees the big bang as the first moment of creation when God injected His energy to create the universe.

Conclusion: Both views hold that God created the world and us. Now, let’s see what happened when man entered the scene.   Next: Part 3 – After Creation