The God Who Made Everything (Gen 1:1-2:3)
- What are some difficulties in studying the creation accounts in Genesis 1-2? How might we address them?
- What is the author's message for Israel (the theme)? Why did he write this message to Israel (the goal)?
- Who is God (Gen 1:1; Deut 6:4)? Why did God create the world (Ps 19:1-4; 1 Cor 10:31)? What does a talking God suggest? Could our God be a complex being, a complex unity (Gen 1:1-3;26)?
- God created man in his own image (Gen 1:26-27). What are some similarities and differences between God and man?
- How does not trusting the goodness of God always lead to sin (Gen 3:1,5)? What are 2 different ways of not trusting God (Luke 15:11-32)?
- What do we lose and how do we act when we sin (Gen 3:7,22; cf. 2:25)? Reflect on this definition of shame: "that sense of unease with yourself at the depth of your being."
- Instead of destroying man (Gen 2:16,17), what does God do (Gen 3:9, 15, 24)?
Sin, Grace and Salvation (Genesis 4:1-16)
- What is the nature of sin (Gen 4:7)? Reflect on the statement by the Puritan John Owen: "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." Do you know your crouching sins (1 Pet 5:8)?
- How does God address Cain's sin (Gen 4:6-7; Isa 9:6)? What is the essence of sin (cf Exo 20:2)?
- Why was Abel and his offering accepted (Heb 11:4)? What did Cain not know about God (Eph 2:8-9)?
- How is Jesus' (the true Abel) blood different from that of Abel's blood (Heb 12:24; 1 John 1:9)?
The Pain of God's Heart (Genesis 6:5-13)
- What did God decide to do because of the escalating human violence in the world (Gen 6:11-13)
- How does God assess our human condition (Gen 6:5; Isa 64:6; Rom 3:9-11,23)?
- How does God respond toward human violence, toward his own judgment (Gen 6:6)? Why (Isa 54:6; 49:15)?
- How can God both judge the world and save the world at the same time? How is the flood a pattern of salvation/grace through judgment?
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