The Book of Genesis provides the basis for understanding the rest of Scripture. It introduces us to the true and living God, to the beginning of sin, its consequences, and how it has affected the whole created order. It also tells of God’s grace and of His promises to bless a world of lost sinners under God’s curse.
In the Book of Genesis we are introduced to God’s covenant with Abraham and to the great plan of salvation for all nations. Genesis is a signpost to the fulfillment of these promises in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the redemption He achieved, and the new covenant He established through His atoning death.
The Book of Genesis gives vital information concerning the origin of all things—and therefore the meaning of all things—which would otherwise be forever inaccessible to man.
The origin of man (and all things) would be left to blind fate, and God’s plan of redemption would make no sense except in light of man’s desperate need for salvation through his fall into sin as recorded in Genesis.
A believing understanding of the Book of Genesis is therefore prerequisite to an understanding of God and His purpose for man.
The word genesisin Hebrew means “origin” and the Book of Genesis gives the only true and reliable account of the origin of all things pertaining to the universe and to life.
The Book of Genesis introduces us to this great God who is Creator and Sustainer of all things. In Genesis we are given infallible instruction concerning where we all came from and why things are the way they are.
Genesis was not written to be a sciencetextbook. But when it touches upon matters of science, it does so with clarity and infallibility. After all, God is the God of science, and thus, it is science that is subservient to God, not God to science.
The Book of Genesis is in reality the foundation of all true history, as well as true science and true philosophy. It is above all else the foundation of God’s revelation, as given in the Bible.
No other book of the Bible is quoted as often in other books as is Genesis. It is therefore, impossible to reject the historicityand divine authority of the Book of Genesis without undermining the authority of the entire Bible.
It has been accepted by biblical scholars down through the ages that Moses wrote Genesis. The Jewish scribesalso recognized Moses as the author of the first five books of the Bible, which in the Hebrew is called the torah(the Law of Moses).
The book of Genesis like all books of the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as the Scriptures clearly teach in
2 Timothy 3:16 For we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (God breathed), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.
2 Peter 1:21 is also clear that no prophecy (revelation) was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Jesus Himself said in Luke 24:44 These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.
There are three different views of how the Book of Genesis was received and transmittedby Moses.
1. Moses received it all by direct revelation from God, either in the form of audible words dictated by God and transcribed by him, or else by visions given him of the great events of the past, which he then put down in writing, as guided by the Holy Spirit.
2. Moses received it all by oral traditions passed down over centuries from father to son, which he then collected and wrote down as guided by the Holy Spirit.
3. Moses collected actual written records of the past and placed them together into a final form as guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Genesis, as we shall see, is not only important as a history of man’s origin, but also as a prophecy of man’s future. The last book of the Bible (Revelation) uses the language of Genesis to show how all God’s plans come to completion.
