For a printable copy of this chapter (4) click here: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

Click here for a pdf of Genesis 4–11 in Redemptive History: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

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b) Gen 5:1–2: Moses began this chapter by returning to the sixth day of creation.

He wrote, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created humanity (adam), in the likeness of God he created him. Male and female, he created them. And he blessed them and he called their name ‘human’ (adam) on the day they were created.”

While this paragraph sounds much like Gen 2:4, its content bears greater resemblance to Gen 1:26–28.[1]

Repeating this information establishes that God also made the line of Adam—which originated after the fall—in his image (Cf. Gen 5:3).[2]

The Lord blessed those succeeding generations with the ability to multiply. However, while God created, Adam and his descendants procreated.[3]

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Sexual differentiation characterizes humanity. The Lord described people in terms of gender, unlike the plants and animals, which he made in various species and kinds (min) (Gen 1:11–12, 21, 24–25).

Not until the flood narrative does Genesis portray non-human creatures as male and female (Gen 6:19).

Therefore, this verse affirms that the Lord created both men and women in his image as stewards over creation.

Our sexuality comes as a gift from God, rather than an accident of nature or a mere biological phenomenon.[4]

As a result, those who are male need interactions with those who are female and vice versa, for neither gender comprises all that it means to be human.[5]

Just as the members of the Trinity exist in relationship, God designed us to experience community as men and women in order to express all that it means to be fully human (Gen 2:18, 22–24).[6]

This holds true whether we marry or remain single.

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Throughout Genesis, fathers blessed their children (Gen 9:26–27; Gen 27:27–29; Gen 48:14–16; Gen 49:28).

Here the father of us all does the same (cf. Gen 9:1; Gen 12:1–3).

Ultimately, the Lord’s plan to bless humanity would be fully realized by the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15), the lion of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:8–10).[7]

This royal savior would mediate God’s favor to all the people groups of the earth (Rev 5:4–10).[8]

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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Read Gen 5:1–2. What makes people different from animals in the Lord’s sight? Why is it significant that God created all humanity to rule over his creation even after the fall? How does this affect your view of yourself? Why do people need relationships with each other?

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Go to In Adam’s Likeness and Image (Gen 5:3–5)

[Related posts include Ancient Near Eastern Genealogies (Gen 5:1); Dry Ground Appears (Gen 1:9–13); Inhabitants of the Sea and Sky (Gen 1:20–23); Living Things from the Earth (Gen 1:24–25); Made in the Image of God (Gen 1:26 cont.); Stewards of the Earth (Gen 1:26 cont.); Male and Female He Created Them (Gen 1:27); The Blessing of Fruitfulness (Gen 1:28); What Became of the Heavens and the Earth (Gen 2:4–6); Not Good! (Gen 2:18); An Equal and Adequate Partner (Gen 2:21–23); The First Good News (Gen 3:15); In Adam’s Likeness and Image (Gen 5:3–5); Two of Every Kind (Gen 6:19–22); Interdependence (1 Cor 11:11–12); and Author and Date of Genesis]

[Click here to go to Chapter 4: The Generations of Adam (Genesis 5:1–27)]

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[1]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 126.

[2]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 112.

[3]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 255.

[4]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–1, 138–9.

[5]Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 97.

[6] Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall: A Theological Exposition of Genesis 1–3, 83

[7]Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, 117–8.

[8]Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land, 2nd Ed, 88.