Book Review: Genesis

I recently posted this review at Keenan’s Book Reviews. I think regular reading and meditation on God’s Word is an important part of a Christian’s spiritual growth.

Genesis. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

It’s hard to even begin to discuss Genesis in just a page or two. It covers a great patch of history from the creation of the world to the death of Joseph, who brought Israel and his descendants to Egypt, where he was a high official, to save them from a famine. A lot happens in between.

A lot happens in Genesis, but three major thematic events occur: the creation, the fall of man and the God’s initiation of a plan to redeem people. The creation is described in a chapter. Man’s wonderful life with God before the fall takes up another chapter. These are important issues, but since they occurred before the problem of sin became the central problem of human life, they are presented as establishing scenes.

The fall takes up a chapter, too. Eve is deceived and believes ill of God. Adam stands by passively letting it happening and following her into sin. They broke there relationship with God and since then humanity has been a slave to sin and a victim of sin’s consequences, ultimately death.

God immediately steps in to begin to repair the relationship with man. Yes, in His justice He judges man, as in the flood of Noah’s time and other times in Genesis and since. However, Genesis also establishes God as the hero of the story who rescues people from sin and reconciles them to himself. He provides a sacrifice for Adam and Eve and covers them. This pattern repeats throughout Genesis and the Bible until it finds its ultimate expression in Jesus Christ.

In its major themes, Genesis is the establishing chapter in our enslavement to sin and God’s heroic action to free us, love us and make us part of His family. In its details, Genesis is full of interesting stories. We are introduced to several of the major people of Biblical times: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph. One can get the impression that the Bible is all about these people.

The things God did in their lives reverberate through the Bible. God revealed his plan of salvation step-by-step, each time making a connection to the past as He opened up something about the future. In this way, Genesis isn’t tossed aside with the coming of Christ, but becomes part of the background and evidence for our faith in the One who completed the divine work of salvation that began as soon as we needed saving.

You can order this book here.