BIBLE 1
Understanding the Old Testament
Name: Angela B. Arguelles
Course & Year: BSIT-1A
Lesson 4: Genesis 1
ACTIVITY 4: A New Beginning for the World and Man
1. How does the creation story teach us about God? About ourselves?
The first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Bible, tells us about the
creation story or the beginning of everything. It let us know about God that He
created all things alone. It teaches us that God is sovereign over His creation, as
He created everything with wisdom and order. Likewise, His sovereignty is shown
by the occurrence of His commands. The fact that what He always ordered or
commanded never once failed to occur. This is apparent in almost every verse of
this chapter. For example, Genesis 1:3 states “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’
and there was light.” Consequently, God proved Himself that He is powerful, who
held great sovereignty over all His creations.
On the other hand, the creation story also tells us that God created us,
mankind, as the top or pinnacle of his creation. In simpler words, we are above
among his other creations because God created us in His image. Verse 26 clearly
stated that God created mankind in His likeness so that everyone would take care
and rule over His other creations such as the animals and nature. Overall, the
creation story in Genesis 1 teaches us about our significance as God is more
mindful of us when compared with the magnificence of the rest of His creation.
Here, I realized that we truly are blessed and significant because we are created
in God’s image with a purpose. And that purpose is to serve Him and follow His
will and commands for our glory and Himself.
2. How many individuals did God create? What are they?
God created individual creatures according to their kinds, such as birds,
fishes, mammals, and other wild animals. Every winged bird will dominate and fly
above the earth across the vault of the sky; creatures like fishes will be living
underneath the sea and populate; and, the livestock will habituate in the land along
with wild animals according to its kind. God created them to increase in number
and fill the vast sky, land, and sea and become lively to His likeness. Above all,
God created us, mankind, as male and female, wherein each is counted as an
individual.
If the word “individuals” stated in this question is referring to each kind of
the individual creatures God has created, then they are about four classifications,
such as the birds that will dominate the sky, the fishes in the sea, the animals that
will live through the land, and the humans who will rule over other creations.
However, if the term is referring to man, then there are only two individuals God
has first created – Adam and Eve. That, if we go further from this chapter where
they both got introduced.