Genesis Analytical Essay

Genesis is one of the most important books in the Bible. Besides the fact that it is the first book of the Bible, it describes the format of all creation. God goes through a seven day process of filling the earth with animals, vegetation, light, etc. On the last day, there is the grand finale: the creation of humanity. A different process goes into the creation of man. When God was creating anything else on the earth, He simply spoke “Let there be…” and there it was. But with man, He took a different approach, which is written for us in Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 through 28. These verses say, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26-28 English Standard Version). In the Word Biblical Commentary; Genesis 1-15,

He explains that the word image is portrayed as specific qualities that man and God both have, such as intelligence and sense of well-being. The word likeness more so captures the qualities of God that man does not have naturally, yet has the ability to obtain, such as “supernatural graces, e.g., ethical, that make the redeemed godlike” (Wenham 29). Wenham somewhat voices the possibility that “’likeness’ is simply added to indicate the precise nuance of ‘image’ in this context” (Wenham