“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Genesis 1:27 (KJV)

The story

Genesis 1 begins without argument or defence: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. There is no account of where God came from, because the chapter is not making a case for him, it is reporting what he did. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Into that emptiness the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God spoke. Let there be light, and there was light. The pattern for the whole chapter is set in that sentence: God speaks, and what he says exists. Genesis 1:1-3

The first three days form the world; the second three fill it. Day one divides light from darkness. Day two makes the firmament dividing the waters, called Heaven. Day three gathers the waters into Seas so the dry land, called Earth, can appear, and the land brings forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees, each yielding seed after his kind. That phrase, after his kind, repeats through the chapter: what God made was made to continue, carrying its own future inside it. Genesis 1:4-13

Day four fills the sky God had made: two great lights, the greater to rule the day, the lesser to rule the night, and the stars also, set for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Day five fills the sea and air with great whales and every winged fowl, and God blesses them to be fruitful and multiply. Day six fills the land with cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth, each after his kind. Every stage ends the same way, with God seeing that it was good. Genesis 1:14-25

Then the language changes. God does not say Let the earth bring forth, but Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Man is not made as a better animal but as an image, and is given dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the cattle, and every creeping thing. Dominion here is stewardship inside a world that already belongs to God, not ownership of it. Genesis 1:26-28

God provides food for man and beast alike from the seed-bearing plants and fruit trees. Then comes the verdict on the whole: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Through the chapter individual works were good; only the finished whole is very good. On the seventh day God ended his work and rested, and he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he had rested from all his work. Rest is not exhaustion here but completion, built into the world from the start. Genesis 1:29-2:3

Quiz

1. What was upon the face of the deep before God spoke?

   • Fire
   • Darkness
   • Ice
   • A mist

2. What did God divide the light from?

   • The waters
   • The darkness
   • The firmament
   • The dry land

3. What did the firmament divide?

   • The waters from the waters
   • Light from darkness
   • Land from sea
   • Day from year

4. What did God call the gathering together of the waters?

   • Rivers
   • Deep
   • Seas
   • Heaven

5. What phrase repeats to describe how living things reproduce?

   • After his kind
   • In his season
   • Of the earth
   • By his word

6. Which light was made to rule the night?

   • The greater light
   • The lesser light
   • The stars
   • The firmament

7. How does God announce the making of man, unlike the other works?

   • Let the earth bring forth man
   • Let us make man in our image
   • Let the waters bring forth man
   • Let there be man

8. According to Genesis 1:27, how did God create them?

   • Male and female
   • One at a time over years
   • From the sea
   • Without a likeness

9. What blessing was given to both the sea creatures and to man?

   • Be fruitful, and multiply
   • Rest on the seventh day
   • Rule the stars
   • Name the animals

10. What dominion was man given?

    • Over the sun and moon
    • Over the fish, fowl, cattle, and every creeping thing
    • Over the seas only
    • Over the firmament

11. How did God describe everything he had made at the end of the sixth day?

    • Good
    • Complete
    • Very good
    • Finished

12. Why did God bless and sanctify the seventh day?

    • Because the light was made in it
    • Because in it he had rested from all his work
    • Because man was made in it
    • Because the sea was filled in it

Discussion

1. Genesis 1 repeats God saw that it was good six times before declaring the whole very good. What does it change about how you treat the physical world, your body, and your work if the material creation is called good by God rather than treated as something to escape?
2. Man is the only creature made in the image of God, and the only one given dominion. How should being an image-bearer shape the way people are valued, including people who can produce nothing and hold no power?
3. God rested on the seventh day and blessed it, though he was not tired. If rest is built into creation rather than earned by exhaustion, what would it look like to take it seriously in a week of school, work, and screens?