Who Preaches or Teaches from Genesis 1-11?
Genesis 1-11 is one of the most neglected sections of the Scripture. The creation stories have served as battlegrounds for those interested in debating evolution versus creationism, but their profound message about a Creator God who orders the created world and forms women and men in his own image as its pinnacle is lost. Moreover Sabbath as a God ordained rest at the climax of creation is rarely mentioned. What does it say to the world that the goal of creation is rest and not work? It is astonishing that the biblical God has woven rest into the fabric of Creation. Yet most pastors and teachers of Scripture avoid these powerful texts due to their controversial nature in modern debates. The same goes for most of the other stories in these chapters. When was the last time that you heard or preached a sermon on Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, or one of the long genealogies in Genesis 1-11? There remains one area of the church in which these texts are deployed on occasion—the children’s Sunday school or Bible hour. Isn’t this deeply ironic. We relegate the opening chapters of the Scripture to serving as material only relevant for children. As we seek to (re)align ourselves with God’s mission, we will discover that Genesis 1-11 is surely not a section for children. My own daughter cried the first tme that she heard the story of Noah’s Ark. She was upset that God would kill all but a hand full of animals!
The stories of Genesis 1-11 are foundational for understanding mission, salvation, and sin. They describe the world as God intended it as well as the world in which we now find ourselves. They are presupposition for the rest of Scripture. If we miss the message of these texts, we run the risk of mishearing the Bible.
[...] According to Brian, one of the most neglected sections of scripture (in the modern western church) is Genesis 1-11. And yet, Brian says: The stories of Genesis 1-11 are foundational for understanding mission, salvation, and sin. They describe the world as God intended it as well as the world in which we now find ourselves. They are presupposition for the rest of Scripture. If we miss the message of these texts, we run the risk of mishearing the Bible. read more [...]