God, Humanity, and Creation Theme Analysis

The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible, the sacred text of Judaism and Christianity. Though traditional Jewish and Christian readers of this biblical book have attributed it to Moses (an early prophet and leader of the Jewish people), modern scholars believe that the book was written over a period of centuries—spanning from the 10th century B.C.E. to as recently as the 5th century B.C.E. Scholars also suggest that Genesis served to give the Jewish people a sense of their origins and identity at various points of their history. However, the theme of God as creator runs throughout Genesis, dealing with cosmic and human origins on a larger scale. Creating the world and the first human beings (Adam and Eve) by his own word and breath, God is portrayed as calling human beings to emulate his creative power within the world. By emphasizing God’s creative power, Genesis suggests that human beings, as bearers of God’s image, share in Adam and Eve’s inheritance of creation, as well as the obligation to extend God’s creative and caring work throughout the world.

According to Genesis, God created everything, and everything is an expression of God’s creative power—including human beings. Genesis opens with an account of God’s creation of all that exists: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. […] And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” In this account, God created the world out of nothing; before God creates, everything is “formless,” dark, and empty. God then speaks creation into existence by the power of a mere word. After creating the earth, skies, vegetation, and animals, God makes humanity. God declares, “‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over […] all the wild animals of the earth’ […] So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Humanity, both male and female, reflects God in some way (“in our image”—a phrase that’s interpreted in different ways, whether it’s God talking to himself or, from a Christian perspective, to other persons of the Trinity). In this passage, that “imaging” is linked to humans’ care for the other creatures God has made. In other words, humans, in their supervision of the created world, should reflect God’s creativity and his care for them.

Human beings’ existence reflects God’s being in a unique way. God makes human beings out of the substance of the earth and also grants them life from his own breath: “Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” As this verse shows, humans are an extension of God’s creation (“from the dust of the ground”) and even of God himself (“the breath of life”). After breathing life into the first man, God immediately places him in a lush garden home (the garden of Eden) in which the man can thrive. In Eden, the man is meant to enjoy the beauty and bounty of God’s creation; and, much as he is charged to “have dominion” over the animals, the man is also charged with tending the garden—again reflecting God’s creativity and care.

God provides for the continuation of humanity. He sees that the man, Adam, needs a partner, so Adam is tasked with surveying the animals, “but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man […] And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh[.]” The woman is a fitting companion for the man because she is made from his very substance. The man’s exultant reaction to the woman (“bone of my bones…”) also suggests that the woman is not simply a “helper,” but a perfect counterpart and match for the man. As Adam was made from the breath of God and so reflects God’s character, so also, it seems, the woman, made from the man, reflects the man in a way that suits them perfectly for one another. Together, their procreation will continue to reflect God’s creative work.

Later in Genesis, the theme of creation reappears when God destroys rebellious humanity and preserves a small, faithful remnant (Noah’s family) to fulfill his original purpose for creation. God tells Noah, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you […] so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” The charge to Noah’s family—to “be fruitful and multiply”—recalls the original command to Adam and Eve. After the flood subsides and Noah’s family emerges from the ark to repopulate the earth, the story of Genesis increasingly narrows from humanity in general to those specific descendants of Noah who come to be known as the family of Abraham. Genesis’s audience is meant to see themselves as descendants of that family and fulfillers of God’s charge to them—to reflect God’s own character by extending and nurturing creation.