_|_ | C O P | N E T GENESIS A Sunday School Lesson College Level Chapters 1 ---------- o This Chapter tells us that God is the Creator of the "heavens and earth." "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." [Genesis 1:1]. o It specifies that God did so in six epochs and that in the last of these epochs, He created both Man and Woman in His own "image" and "likeness". Obviously we are created on the image of God not physically, but spiritualy, in the sense that we have a "will". o It does not tell us how He accomplished the work in each one of these epochs. It tells us that God said "let it be" and that "it was so". Chapter 2 --------- o In this Chapter we learn that we humans are different from all the rest of the creation because we possess not only a body from the "dust of the ground" but also a "living spirit" that is from the "breath" of God. o We also learn that God blessed the union of husband and wife: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." [Genesis 2:24]. o We also learn of God's commandment regarding the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". Many Christian scholars linked the "eating of the fruit" with "sex". Our church doesn't believe in such an association. The exact significance or meaning of the "fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is only known to God. Chapter 3 --------- o This Chapter starts with an account of the "original sin". It is a sin of not believing in God's supremacy "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil" [Genesis 3:4-5]. o After Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit (whatever the significance of that act), they fell in many other "typical" wrongdoings. They tryed to avoid God "Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden" [Genesis 3:8]. They blamed others for their own mistakes "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." and "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" [Genesis 3:12-13]. o The Chapter ends with the sentencing "for dust you are, and to dust you shall return" [Genesis 3:19] and the promise of salvation "He (Son of Man) shall bruise your (the devil's) head, and you shall bruise His heel." [Genesis 3:15] Chapter 4 --------- o This Chapter emphasizes the sinful nature of mankind through the story of Cain and Abel. An important verse in that chapter is what God said to Cain before the killing of Abel. "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" [Genesis 4:7]. These words should strengthen our belief that we can and should overcome sin. God's desire is clear, but He can't stop us from chosing to sin. Chapter 5-8 ----------- o Chapter 5 gives the genealogy of Adam (a list of his descendants) through his third son Seth and until Noah. o Chapter 6 tells us about the wickedness of mankind. A wickedness that made God "grieve in His heart" and regret "that He had made man on the earth" [Genesis 6:6]. But, Noah's faithfulness found grace in the eyes of God. o The remainder of chapters 6 and 7 give an account of the flood and Noah's ark. This story is in fact a prophesy about the Church of the New Covenant, which resembles an ark, which protects those inside from the "drowning" in the troubled waters of the world. o Chapter 8 concludes the story of the flood, with Noah and all those on board of the ark giving thanks burning offerings on an altar they built for the Lord, who promised "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease" [Genesis 8:21-22]. Chapter 9-11 ------------ o God establishes a covenant, a new beginning with mankind through the offsprings of Noah: Shem (Sam), Ham, and Japheth. Decendents of these three mankind races are partially listed in Chapter 10. o But mankind, again, choses to defy God's supremacy. They united in Babel and started building a "tower whose top is in the heavens" [Genesis 11:4]. But God scattered "them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city" [Genesis 11:8]. From that day people started speaking different languages. o Chapter 11 concludes with a genealogy of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It ends with the introduction of Abram and Sarai. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _|_ This article is one of many more articles about the Coptic Orthodox | Church, the Christian Apostolic Church of Egypt. These articles can be | retrieved from Copt-Net archives at http://pharos.bu.edu/cn/Menu.html COP|NET For more information, contact Copt-Net server at CN-request@cs.bu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------