The Book of Beginnings

Studies in Genesis

Lesson 12 : Genesis 1:24-31 – Paragraph Six: The Sixth Day

THE SIXTH DAY – CREATION OF ANIMALS – THE ABSENCE OF THE BLESSING – CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN – MANKIND IS THE CROWN OF GOD’S HANDIWORK IN CREATION – WHY THE PLURAL? – ‘LET US … IN OUR …’ – OTHER OT PASSAGES WHERE THE UNI-PLURAL GODHEAD WAS ADDRESSING ANOTHER MEMBER OR MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD – MAN = ADAM IN HEBREW – ‘MANKIND’ OR ‘ADAM’? – THE IMAGO DEI – IMPORTANT: NO WHERE IS ‘IMAGO DEI’ DEFINED, JUST STATED! – ALL AGREE THE ‘IMAGO DEI’ WOULD NOT REFER TO A PHYSICAL LIKENESS – THE ‘IMAGO DEI’ APPLIES TO ALL MANKIND EQUALLY – POSSIBLE: MANKIND BEING THE ‘IMAGE OF GOD’ REFERS TO MANKIND AS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE – SOME EXPLANATIONS AS TO WHAT THE ‘IMAGO DEI’ MAY PERTAIN – THE DOMINION MANDATE – ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE – THE FALSE DICHOTOMY OF SECULAR VS. SACRED DUTIES – MAN HAS TWO ‘ASSIGNMENTS’: PROCREATION AND DOMINION – MANKIND IS TO ‘FILL’ THE EARTH – WAS MANKIND AND ANIMALS ORIGINALLY VEGETARIANS? – A CREATION WITHOUT SIN, DEATH AND FOSSILS