Part 1: From Very Good to Very Bad

Scripture Covering this Period:

• Genesis 1-11

Dates:

• Creation - c. 2000BC

Main Points:

1. God is the good Creator, sovereign King, and a generous giver.

2. He created humans in His image for relationship and partnership, desiring to live with them in Eden.

3. Sin is mutiny against God’s rule and severs relationship with Him.

• It is the human condition because of human choice, but it also affects all of creation.
• Humanity made this choice because of the serpent’s deception concerning God’s character (Genesis 3)

4. God is merciful and patient and immediately indicates His plan to redeem His image-bearers and His world.

• The Noahic covenant is the first formal expression of this commitment

Summary:

In short, the Bible is a story about the Kingdom of God.

After God created a perfect world, desiring His image-bearers to govern it under His command, humans chose to listen to the serpent's voice and trusted their wisdom instead of God’s. They rejected God’s right to rule over them and brought sin into the world (Genesis 1-3). The following chapters (Genesis 4-11) illustrate that sin is like a virus that infects everybody and everything. Without gracious interventions from God, there is no hope for this world.