January 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Welcome to the Coffee and Bible Time Podcast! Today's episode is the first in our series called Bible Chit Chats, where we walk through Genesis together! The episode explores the creation narrative in Genesis chapters one and two, emphasizing the nature of God, humanity's identity, and the significance of rest. Mentor Mama Ellen and daughters unpack profound theological themes, encouraging listeners to reflect on their relationship with God and the importance of resting in His presence.
Join us as we are...
• Exploring the authorship and context of Genesis
• Summarizing the creation narrative and its key themes
• Discussing God's attributes as demonstrated in creation
• Highlighting humanity’s identity made in God's image
• Understanding the significance of rest in God's design
• Reflecting on interdependence and relationships in creation
• Encouraging personal insights and applications of faith
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host, andtoday I am so excited to be
joined by Coffee and BibleTime's wonderful Taylor and
Ashley.
Welcome Glad to be here.
So good to be with you saidthat we were going to start
(00:21):
doing these Bible chit chats andtoday we are beginning our new
Genesis series.
So today we will be discussingchapters one and two.
And how about if we just take abrief moment of prayer before
we start?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I will start us off with some prayer.
Dear Lord, thank you for today.
Thank you for this opportunityto talk about your word in
Genesis, the first chapter thatwe get to learn about who you
are and who we are in light ofyou.
We're so thankful for thisopportunity to talk and we just
pray that this video and thispodcast would glorify you and
(00:58):
all that we say, and that itwould be an encouragement to all
of those who listen.
In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Amen.
Thank you, ashley.
All right, so we are going tobe doing these Bible chit-chats
in the format of the Easy BibleStudy Method, which you can find
out more information in thelink below.
But we are following theE-A-S-Y acronym, and so the very
first E is Enter into the story.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Who's the author?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Who's he writing to?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So the author of this is highly debated in the
scholarly world, but churchtradition and church history and
most people, I would say,emphasize that Moses is the
author.
He's actually the author, asmost people believe, of the
(01:55):
whole Pentateuch, which is thefirst five books of the Bible,
and he was originally writing tothe Israelite people,
originally writing to theIsraelite people.
And it's interesting because alot of times we emphasize here
in Coffee and Bible Time andactually a lot of Bible study
methods will emphasize that theBible wasn't written directly to
(02:17):
us, it's for us, but theoriginal audience was somebody
different, so it was theIsraelite people.
And I think there are tons ofdifferent reasons why Moses
wrote this, but I believe one ofthe biggest ones for sure was
that he wanted to write downIsrael's history, how their
(02:39):
faith in the whole shebang cameto be, and so Moses wanted to
record that, so that theIsraelites could be united under
the Lord and know okay, why arewe here, who is our God, what
is our purpose, what is ouridentity.
And, of course, another purposeof Genesis is for us today too,
(03:01):
to know who is God.
What is our purpose, purpose,why are we here?
What does it mean that we'remade in the image of God.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
All of those things have you guys ever thought about
, like, if you could have beenthere just to witness that
(03:29):
firsthand?
I think that's kind of whatwe're getting at when we say
enter into the story, try to bein awe and wonder of this
magnificent event so true.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I think that's definitely a hurdle that I have
to go through when I'm readingscripture is slowing down enough
to actually be present, and alot of times, I think, when we
read the bible, we skip thefirst step of entering into the
story.
And in order to really enterinto the story, like Ashley said
(04:05):
, you kind of have to putyourself in the shoes of the
original audience.
And it was really reallyimportant, like Ashley said, for
them to have a record of theirhistory and, in the context of
the Israelites, they weresurrounded by a bunch of pagan
(04:26):
nations who had their own ideasabout how the world started, and
it's really important thatthey're able to have a firm
grasp of what the reality was,what God actually says and, as
we believe, it's God-breathed.
What is said here is the truth.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Absolutely Well.
How about we start with just abrief summary of chapters one
and two, and then we're going toget into the main themes, as we
assess the main idea now.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So I actually wrote out kind of a small summary from
Genesis 1 and 2, and it simplysays God's creation of the
universe, where he speaks allthings into existence over six
days, culminating in humanitybeing made in his image as the
pinnacle of creation.
(05:21):
And actually, if you're readingyour bible and you see in the
biblical text it says that, umso god created man in his image
and you see that that littlesection of poetry is indented
and that shows us that that partof scripture is very important
and it should be emphasized andwe see that humanity really is
(05:44):
the crown of God's creation.
And then, of course, on theseventh day, God rests,
establishing the sabbath as aday of rest and reflection on
his perfect and sovereign work.
And of course, genesis 1 andGenesis 2 are both the creation
story, just told from adifferent perspective or a
(06:09):
different lens, as you could say.
Genesis 1 has the video cameraat this angle and Genesis 2 has
it at that angle and we learndifferent and unique things
about God from chapter 1 versuschapter 2, which we'll get into
later.
But a good question to ask iswhy are there?
Why does Genesis 1 and Genesis2 both tell the creation story
(06:32):
right?
Because the biblical author waslimited in what he could add
into the text, and so why did headd it twice?
You know that's a question thatI was thinking as I was reading
through it twice.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You know that's a question that I was thinking as
I was reading through it.
I know one of the things that Iresearched about that is it was
saying that verses one or I'msorry days one, two and three of
creation our are sort ofrefined in the second three days
of creation, and then thatsecond narrative of the creation
(07:09):
, starting in chapter two, is afurther refinement.
So when you break it all downyou see that you're learning
more and more and moreinformation at each one of those
stages.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Right, and I saw somewhere someone wrote that.
The first, as it starts off,it's a picture with really broad
strokes and as you continuegoing, the details become more
clear and the biblical author isjust adding more and more
details about the garden andabout Adam and Eve.
And it just you right.
(07:45):
It becomes a more detailedstory and you continue learning
more about who God is, who hiscreation is, why we're here.
It starts to answer all thosequestions.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Absolutely All right.
So in these chapters wediscover three main themes.
We have God's nature andattributes, we have humanity and
relationship with God, and thenalso rest.
So as we talk about the firstone, God's nature and attributes
(08:20):
what stood out to you that youlearned about God?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I mean I don't want to jump ahead because right now
we're in assess the main ideaand SSC, god and his character,
but I will say that we learnedso much about God in this
chapter.
It's incredible, and we seeeven God in the trinity right,
(08:48):
him being father, son, spirit.
And we know this because ittalks about God, the Father,
throughout the whole thing.
And then it says in verse 2, itsays the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters.
In verse 126, let us makemankind in our image, which
(09:10):
there's scholarly debate aboutwhat that means, and you can dig
into that deeper for yourselfwhat that means, and you can dig
into that deeper for yourself.
I personally believe that thatis God speaking as the Trinity,
as Father, son and Spirit.
Let us make mankind in ourimage.
And then, of course, if youflip to John in your Bible, it
says in the beginning was theWord and the Word was with God
(09:35):
and the Word was God.
And so we know that Jesus wasintertwined in the creation
story and so one big characterquality about God I see already
at the beginning of scripture isthat he is one God, three
persons, and we learn more aboutthe Trinity.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Right from the get-go , absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
How about for you, tay, anything?
Um, I think, in terms ofassessing the main idea, I feel
like in these first two chaptersyou get, um, an idea of what
humanity was supposed to looklike in a in its perfect form,
what life was supposed to belike, and that's a really
(10:24):
important thing to latch on tobefore you get to Genesis 3 when
spoiler alert things don't endup going very well because sin
enters the picture.
But in Genesis 1 and 2, I mean,these are, this is how God
originally intended things, soit's important to have that
foundation.
(10:44):
I think.
I also believe that, like theysaid, you get a really strong
picture of God's creativity andhis sovereignty and you know, I
think that that is really justan important attribute to see
right off the bat, as God, ascreator, and then, as we see in
(11:05):
these chapters as well, godcreating us in his image.
We reflect that creativity andGod gives us reign to have
creativity and to um.
What does it say in here?
He um makes, gives us dominionover creation yes, which is so?
(11:26):
he reflection of being made inhis image.
I would say yes, yeah,absolutely.
He gives us the dignity and thethe ability to rule over his
creation and to take care ofthings and to provide and to
nurture and to create and to behis.
(11:48):
Is it called a co-regent?
Is that what we learned, tay?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That sounds right, I love um, really sort of digging
into, sort of the deepunderstanding and, I think,
something that gets overlookedquite easily, like you said, tay
, when you're reading through itfast.
But the bible is making thisassumption that creation had a
(12:17):
beginning, but god has alwaysbeen right.
So we're really talking aboutsomething that's beyond our sort
of finite human capacity,intellect, to truly, truly grasp
.
But what is so cool to me isyou you see, right from the
(12:39):
beginning, god pursuing creatingman to have this relationship
and so yet he is so big that wecan't fully comprehend him.
At the same time, it's notbeyond our capacity to know God,
to know about him, to see hiscreation and to reflect on how
(13:05):
he created us and sustains everybreath of our life.
So I kind of love like those big, heady type things you know and
truly like.
God was the only one there atcreation and so he's the only
(13:26):
one that could reveal the truthabout the creation.
He chose to do that through theBible.
But that requires faith andthis is where you know a lot of
people struggle.
This it is, it's faith, it'strusting that God is who he says
(13:49):
he is through what's beenwritten in the Bible In fact,
hebrews.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I made a note that hebrews 11 3 says by faith, we
understand that the universe wasformed at god's command I think
it does take a lot of faith andI think a lot of people
struggle to really grasp thecreation story.
I know there's a lot of peoplestruggle to really grasp the
creation story.
I know there's a lot of viewsabout was it actually seven days
(14:23):
that God created the world, orwas each day thousands of years,
and a bunch of people havedifferent perspectives on that.
But I do think it takes a lotof faith to just say you know
what, god?
I believe that you could havecreated the world in seven days,
or technically, six days, right, because on the seventh he
(14:45):
rested.
But it takes a tremendousamount of faith.
I think something that you weresaying, mentor Mama, about how
thinking like really deep aboutthese things, um, is to go back
to the trinity, about how, ifgod create, if god existed
before the creation of the worldand he is three persons father,
(15:09):
son and spirit and they all hadperfect love with each other,
um, within the trinity, they,they didn't need any, anything
or anybody else, right, goddidn't need us, god didn't need
humans, um, but he still choseto create a world and to create
(15:29):
us, and it really I know I'mthinking about the book
delighting in the trinity.
It's an incredible book.
I encourage anybody andeveryone to go out there and
read it.
It's a quite an easy read, um,but god didn't.
God is so full of love,overflowing with love, that he
(15:50):
created us to be a part of thatlove, right and in in in the
first chapter, when it says soGod created man in his own image
.
When it says let us create manin our image, we reflect the
(16:13):
trinity even in the way that hecreated us right in like,
needing to be in relationship,like whether you're single or
married, god created us to be.
Whether you're single or you'remarried, god created us to be
in relationship with one another, right, and that reflects the
(16:36):
trinity how we're created tolove and to be loved and how we
reflect god in that, and how weneed god's love in order to
flourish and survive, and weneed each other's love to
flourish and survive.
All of us were born into afamily.
All of us needed other peopleto like.
(16:57):
I'm thinking about my son, theo.
If he would have been born andno one took care of him, no one
fed him milk, no one raised himand nurtured him, loved him, he
would just die.
Like we need, we start offneeding each other.
We always need each other.
We're made in god's image, inthe image of needing love, right
right.
Interdependence, I think, iswhat they use, that word yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You've brought up some really good, good dialogue
here on this theme of humanityand its relationship with God.
That was one thing that Icalled out too, god.
(17:45):
You know, that was one thingthat I called out to was that we
are completely, so utterly,dependent upon God.
Right, for how the universe isperfectly in sync.
You know, the temperature ofour planet that we live in, all
these different things that wetake for granted every single
day, things that we take forgranted every single day.
(18:06):
And in acts 17, paul says thatmen are so dependent upon god
for their very existence thatthat should compel them to seek
god and find him, and I thoughtthat that was a good
cross-reference on thisparticular aspect.
All right, so let's wrap up ourdiscussion of the main themes
(18:28):
here by talking about the lastone, which is rest.
Taylor, what did you learnabout God's?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
design for rest challenges us to rethink about
rest, especially for those of usin western cultures where we're
really valuing pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing yourself to
(18:59):
the limit.
Even in christian culture, Ithink we can sometimes idolize
overworking, over doing it tothe point where we have nothing
left to give.
We're giving serving on empty,and that isn't God's design.
God's design was built in rest,and not just mind-numbing rest
(19:23):
of being on our phones, butresting in him and when we rest,
like we've been sayingthroughout this podcast, it is a
reflection of being made in hisimage that's really interesting
.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I know that I've struggled with rest as you know
I tend to work, work, work, butactually it was this past year
that I think all of us talkedabout the sabbath and the
importance of honoring god andfollowing what his design was.
(20:03):
Just like he did worked for sixdays and took that seventh day
for rest, and that was carriedthrough in the old testament.
That's what Moses outlined forthe Israelites, also as part of
the ten commandments.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So I think when we allow ourselves to do that and
we get into that rhythm of workand rest like I find myself
actually really looking forwardto that that time I was also
telling Ashley that I think herbecoming a mother I mean, ashley
(20:41):
has the same tendencies asmentor mama, with the work,
workaholic bug in them, and theamount of times that babies need
to feed, lo and behold, all thestinking time forces her to be
present.
I'd love to hear yourperspective on this, but the
(21:02):
amount of times that I FaceTimeher and she's sitting on the
couch letting Theo feed thenight away because he is hungry,
okay, but I'm like that baby ismaking you rest in the best way
possible, and I know it's stillwork, but it at least forces
you to be present, right, yeah,yeah, I mean, I agree with that,
(21:24):
I think, and even, um, that'swhy having phone boundaries
during this time has been reallygood for me, because I think,
as a breastfeeding mom, you aretempted to scroll, doom, scroll
while you're breastfeeding andthat isn't restful.
Whenever I doom scroll, I don'tfeel rested afterwards and I
(21:46):
feel more bogged down.
So I have challenged myself toeven when I'm feeding him.
Yeah, I can struggle with that,but I've been living in the
moment more and I've beenrealizing it kind of helps time
to slow down, helps you realize,keep you grounded and realize
the blessings that God has rightin front of you.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Amen.
Thanks for sharing that, ashley.
Well, let's talk about seekingGod and his character, which is
the S part of the acronym.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
for easy, Well, I was going to say that it's kind of
funny.
How it's I don't know if funnyis the right word, but how.
This whole time we've beentalking about God and his
character.
We've been talking about how hecreated the world and how
powerful he is, how he is thefather-son spirit, how he was
(22:39):
there before the world began,how absolutely incredible he is
and how he gave us a purpose.
He created us and gave us anidentity in him.
And it's just.
He is the the main idea of thispassage.
He's the center of it all, and Ithink you can't study this
(23:00):
passage without studying who godis really.
So we've talked about him.
I mean, we've talked about howeven this passage points to
Jesus as being God right and howhe's been in, he was,
throughout the whole creationprocess there creating and
Colossians.
(23:21):
Also talks about how Jesus isthe image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation,for by him all things were
created.
So we know that Jesus was there, was present in this.
He is God.
He created the world.
I mean, it's absolutelyincredible.
So I think there's so many waysthat you can study God in this
(23:43):
passage.
I don't think there's just oneway.
You can study how God'screative.
You can study how Jesus'screative.
You can study how Jesus wasthere in creation.
You can study how God createdus to be in a relationship with
us.
He's an intimate God who wantsrelationship, right?
There's so many differentavenues and so I don't know.
I just think you could talkabout this for hours, about who
(24:05):
is God in the creation story.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Absolutely.
You know, ashley, one of thethings that I love that you did
was in the Genesis guide thatyou developed for this Genesis
study, you have a page for everyof the 13 weeks, for every one
of those weeks, that talks abouthow those chapters point to
(24:30):
Christ, and I think for a lot ofpeople they don't make that
connection between the OldTestament pointing to Christ and
then, even so, specifically,examples that you have given in
all the various chapters.
So, um, I would just love toencourage people.
(24:51):
If you want to go even deeperthan what we're talking about
here, we'll be talking aboutthat in our community so the
genesis study is available onour website.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
You can purchase it separately, like you can just
purchase straight up the genesisguide, or you can join our
community, which we give thegenesis guide on there for free.
But we also meet every thursdaynight and we talk about genesis
together as a group of womenwanting to read, study god's
word.
We also have our in-depth biblestudy academy on there as well,
(25:25):
and that's all available foryou on our community.
It's kind of like a one-stopshop.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, and we had kind of a fun get to know you
session and it's really neat tomeet people from all over the
country from the.
East Coast to the West, andsometimes we've even had people
from other countries able tojoin us, so it's really awesome.
Well, as we wrap things up here, how are you guys going to
(25:51):
yearn for heart?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
change, which is the why and the easy bible study
method.
I just wrote in my guide, as Iwas studying through this, that
I I really focused on how thefirst words we hear God say is
let there be light, and I wasfocusing on how.
Even in John 1, it says Jesusis the light, and so I.
(26:17):
For me, my takeaway was everytime I see the sun shining and I
see light, I want to bereminded that God is light.
Jesus is the light of life.
He's the one who gives us life,and only through him,
spiritually speaking.
All right, I have to go.
(26:38):
My baby's crying.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Goodbye, bye.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
You can just finish up.
Yeah, so that was a goodtakeaway.
I think about what you saidbefore.
Sweet little Theo wanted hismommy.
Ashley is the light in Theo'slife right now.
Let's just say that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
What about your takeaway?
You know, for me I loved justfocusing in, as I talked about
earlier, focusing in, as Italked about earlier, some of
the bigger, heavier thoughtsabout, you know, how God
pre-existed, the createdcreation, and it really has
(27:20):
forced me to think about myfaith, be grateful that that's
one of my spiritual gifts.
And then I think it's alsochallenged me to really maybe
put together some thoughts or tolike maybe re-look at some of
the books, like, uh, like theleast struggle books, or some of
(27:44):
those um books that helpexplain how god's existence
really is real and so thatthat's how it affected me and
Speaker 2 (27:58):
maybe be more intentional about incorporating
um god's creation into part ofthe story when I tell it, well
said, sounds like you're lettingyour faith drive you to further
exploration, without it beingyou're trying to conjure up a
(28:20):
bunch of facts to convince youof why god exists, but rather
from faith, your curiosity is,you know, wanting you to lead
you to see more pieces ofevidence.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yes, and actually I'm reading lee struggle's book
right now, the case for faith,and which is different than the
case for christ, which is hisother book.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
So really good, yeah, nice, yeah, and I think for me,
um, something that stuck out tome, which we didn't touch too
much on today, was at the end ofum, genesis 2.
You see more about God'sinteraction with Adam and the
creation of Eve, and at the veryend the verse says Adam and his
(29:07):
wife were both naked and theyfelt no shame.
And something that I just wasmoved to think about was the
reality that at the beginningthere was no shame, and I really
feel like that emotion is justso interwoven to how we live our
everyday lives.
(29:27):
I know for me it affected somuch of my life, like even just
feeling a lot of shame about mybody or the way that I looked
and about how I interacted withpeople, always feeling kind of
inadequate and just remindingmyself that the way that God
created us is good, the way thathe created you, how you look,
your body, it is inherently goodbecause you are made in his
(29:49):
image, and so my heart is tokind of just prayerfully
consider what it would look likefor me to live without shame
and to combat that shame thatyou feel and to process it, but
not let it control my life.
But not let it control my life.
So think about okay, where isthere shame in my life and how
(30:10):
can I live how God intended,which is to live without shame.
And we can do that with Christ.
I mean, it's not like we'regoing to do it perfectly, but
with Christ we don't have to beshamed anymore.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah.
So, taylor, are you suggesting,in heaven, we'll all just be
nude?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Wow, that was a jump.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Well, I want to wrap this discussion up with one bit
of information that I retrievedfrom a commentary, because I
think it's just kind of aninteresting way to end it.
So it says because I think it'sjust kind of an interesting way
to end it.
So it says, ironically, thefirst achievement that their
(30:55):
newfound wisdom acquired was therealization of their nudity.
Adam and Eve Luther observedwhat we suspect the ancient
Hebrew audience would havepondered, which is this
Therefore, this passage pointsout admirably how much evil
followed after the sin of adam.
For now it would be regarded asthe utmost madness if anyone
(31:19):
walked about naked you know,that's right so I thought that
was a fun way to kind of wrapthings up.
All right, if you loved thispodcast and its video, we would
love it if you would write us acomment and we will definitely
(31:40):
reach out to you.
Thank you so much for justsupporting the Coffee and Bible
Time podcast.
We love you all.
Have a blessed day.
Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host, andtoday I am so excited to be
joined by Coffee and BibleTime's wonderful Taylor and
Ashley.
Welcome Glad to be here.
So good to be with you saidthat we were going to start
(00:21):
doing these Bible chit chats andtoday we are beginning our new
Genesis series.
So today we will be discussingchapters one and two.
And how about if we just take abrief moment of prayer before
we start?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I will start us off with some prayer.
Dear Lord, thank you for today.
Thank you for this opportunityto talk about your word in
Genesis, the first chapter thatwe get to learn about who you
are and who we are in light ofyou.
We're so thankful for thisopportunity to talk and we just
pray that this video and thispodcast would glorify you and
(00:58):
all that we say, and that itwould be an encouragement to all
of those who listen.
In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Amen.
Thank you, ashley.
All right, so we are going tobe doing these Bible chit-chats
in the format of the Easy BibleStudy Method, which you can find
out more information in thelink below.
But we are following theE-A-S-Y acronym, and so the very
first E is Enter into the story.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Who's the author?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Who's he writing to?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So the author of this is highly debated in the
scholarly world, but churchtradition and church history and
most people, I would say,emphasize that Moses is the
author.
He's actually the author, asmost people believe, of the
(01:55):
whole Pentateuch, which is thefirst five books of the Bible,
and he was originally writing tothe Israelite people,
originally writing to theIsraelite people.
And it's interesting because alot of times we emphasize here
in Coffee and Bible Time andactually a lot of Bible study
methods will emphasize that theBible wasn't written directly to
(02:17):
us, it's for us, but theoriginal audience was somebody
different, so it was theIsraelite people.
And I think there are tons ofdifferent reasons why Moses
wrote this, but I believe one ofthe biggest ones for sure was
that he wanted to write downIsrael's history, how their
(02:39):
faith in the whole shebang cameto be, and so Moses wanted to
record that, so that theIsraelites could be united under
the Lord and know okay, why arewe here, who is our God, what
is our purpose, what is ouridentity.
And, of course, another purposeof Genesis is for us today too,
(03:01):
to know who is God.
What is our purpose, purpose,why are we here?
What does it mean that we'remade in the image of God.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
All of those things have you guys ever thought about
, like, if you could have beenthere just to witness that
(03:29):
firsthand?
I think that's kind of whatwe're getting at when we say
enter into the story, try to bein awe and wonder of this
magnificent event so true.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I think that's definitely a hurdle that I have
to go through when I'm readingscripture is slowing down enough
to actually be present, and alot of times, I think, when we
read the bible, we skip thefirst step of entering into the
story.
And in order to really enterinto the story, like Ashley said
(04:05):
, you kind of have to putyourself in the shoes of the
original audience.
And it was really reallyimportant, like Ashley said, for
them to have a record of theirhistory and, in the context of
the Israelites, they weresurrounded by a bunch of pagan
(04:26):
nations who had their own ideasabout how the world started, and
it's really important thatthey're able to have a firm
grasp of what the reality was,what God actually says and, as
we believe, it's God-breathed.
What is said here is the truth.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Absolutely Well.
How about we start with just abrief summary of chapters one
and two, and then we're going toget into the main themes, as we
assess the main idea now.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So I actually wrote out kind of a small summary from
Genesis 1 and 2, and it simplysays God's creation of the
universe, where he speaks allthings into existence over six
days, culminating in humanitybeing made in his image as the
pinnacle of creation.
(05:21):
And actually, if you're readingyour bible and you see in the
biblical text it says that, umso god created man in his image
and you see that that littlesection of poetry is indented
and that shows us that that partof scripture is very important
and it should be emphasized andwe see that humanity really is
(05:44):
the crown of God's creation.
And then, of course, on theseventh day, God rests,
establishing the sabbath as aday of rest and reflection on
his perfect and sovereign work.
And of course, genesis 1 andGenesis 2 are both the creation
story, just told from adifferent perspective or a
(06:09):
different lens, as you could say.
Genesis 1 has the video cameraat this angle and Genesis 2 has
it at that angle and we learndifferent and unique things
about God from chapter 1 versuschapter 2, which we'll get into
later.
But a good question to ask iswhy are there?
Why does Genesis 1 and Genesis2 both tell the creation story
(06:32):
right?
Because the biblical author waslimited in what he could add
into the text, and so why did headd it twice?
You know that's a question thatI was thinking as I was reading
through it twice.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
You know that's a question that I was thinking as
I was reading through it.
I know one of the things that Iresearched about that is it was
saying that verses one or I'msorry days one, two and three of
creation our are sort ofrefined in the second three days
of creation, and then thatsecond narrative of the creation
(07:09):
, starting in chapter two, is afurther refinement.
So when you break it all downyou see that you're learning
more and more and moreinformation at each one of those
stages.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Right, and I saw somewhere someone wrote that.
The first, as it starts off,it's a picture with really broad
strokes and as you continuegoing, the details become more
clear and the biblical author isjust adding more and more
details about the garden andabout Adam and Eve.
And it just you right.
(07:45):
It becomes a more detailedstory and you continue learning
more about who God is, who hiscreation is, why we're here.
It starts to answer all thosequestions.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Absolutely All right.
So in these chapters wediscover three main themes.
We have God's nature andattributes, we have humanity and
relationship with God, and thenalso rest.
So as we talk about the firstone, God's nature and attributes
(08:20):
what stood out to you that youlearned about God?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I mean I don't want to jump ahead because right now
we're in assess the main ideaand SSC, god and his character,
but I will say that we learnedso much about God in this
chapter.
It's incredible, and we seeeven God in the trinity right,
(08:48):
him being father, son, spirit.
And we know this because ittalks about God, the Father,
throughout the whole thing.
And then it says in verse 2, itsays the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters.
In verse 126, let us makemankind in our image, which
(09:10):
there's scholarly debate aboutwhat that means, and you can dig
into that deeper for yourselfwhat that means, and you can dig
into that deeper for yourself.
I personally believe that thatis God speaking as the Trinity,
as Father, son and Spirit.
Let us make mankind in ourimage.
And then, of course, if youflip to John in your Bible, it
says in the beginning was theWord and the Word was with God
(09:35):
and the Word was God.
And so we know that Jesus wasintertwined in the creation
story and so one big characterquality about God I see already
at the beginning of scripture isthat he is one God, three
persons, and we learn more aboutthe Trinity.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Right from the get-go , absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
How about for you, tay, anything?
Um, I think, in terms ofassessing the main idea, I feel
like in these first two chaptersyou get, um, an idea of what
humanity was supposed to looklike in a in its perfect form,
what life was supposed to belike, and that's a really
(10:24):
important thing to latch on tobefore you get to Genesis 3 when
spoiler alert things don't endup going very well because sin
enters the picture.
But in Genesis 1 and 2, I mean,these are, this is how God
originally intended things, soit's important to have that
foundation.
(10:44):
I think.
I also believe that, like theysaid, you get a really strong
picture of God's creativity andhis sovereignty and you know, I
think that that is really justan important attribute to see
right off the bat, as God, ascreator, and then, as we see in
(11:05):
these chapters as well, godcreating us in his image.
We reflect that creativity andGod gives us reign to have
creativity and to um.
What does it say in here?
He um makes, gives us dominionover creation yes, which is so?
(11:26):
he reflection of being made inhis image.
I would say yes, yeah,absolutely.
He gives us the dignity and thethe ability to rule over his
creation and to take care ofthings and to provide and to
nurture and to create and to behis.
(11:48):
Is it called a co-regent?
Is that what we learned, tay?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That sounds right, I love um, really sort of digging
into, sort of the deepunderstanding and, I think,
something that gets overlookedquite easily, like you said, tay
, when you're reading through itfast.
But the bible is making thisassumption that creation had a
(12:17):
beginning, but god has alwaysbeen right.
So we're really talking aboutsomething that's beyond our sort
of finite human capacity,intellect, to truly, truly grasp
.
But what is so cool to me isyou you see, right from the
(12:39):
beginning, god pursuing creatingman to have this relationship
and so yet he is so big that wecan't fully comprehend him.
At the same time, it's notbeyond our capacity to know God,
to know about him, to see hiscreation and to reflect on how
(13:05):
he created us and sustains everybreath of our life.
So I kind of love like those big, heady type things you know and
truly like.
God was the only one there atcreation and so he's the only
(13:26):
one that could reveal the truthabout the creation.
He chose to do that through theBible.
But that requires faith andthis is where you know a lot of
people struggle.
This it is, it's faith, it'strusting that God is who he says
(13:49):
he is through what's beenwritten in the Bible In fact,
hebrews.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I made a note that hebrews 11 3 says by faith, we
understand that the universe wasformed at god's command I think
it does take a lot of faith andI think a lot of people
struggle to really grasp thecreation story.
I know there's a lot of peoplestruggle to really grasp the
creation story.
I know there's a lot of viewsabout was it actually seven days
(14:23):
that God created the world, orwas each day thousands of years,
and a bunch of people havedifferent perspectives on that.
But I do think it takes a lotof faith to just say you know
what, god?
I believe that you could havecreated the world in seven days,
or technically, six days, right, because on the seventh he
(14:45):
rested.
But it takes a tremendousamount of faith.
I think something that you weresaying, mentor Mama, about how
thinking like really deep aboutthese things, um, is to go back
to the trinity, about how, ifgod create, if god existed
before the creation of the worldand he is three persons father,
(15:09):
son and spirit and they all hadperfect love with each other,
um, within the trinity, they,they didn't need any, anything
or anybody else, right, goddidn't need us, god didn't need
humans, um, but he still choseto create a world and to create
(15:29):
us, and it really I know I'mthinking about the book
delighting in the trinity.
It's an incredible book.
I encourage anybody andeveryone to go out there and
read it.
It's a quite an easy read, um,but god didn't.
God is so full of love,overflowing with love, that he
(15:50):
created us to be a part of thatlove, right and in in in the
first chapter, when it says soGod created man in his own image
.
When it says let us create manin our image, we reflect the
(16:13):
trinity even in the way that hecreated us right in like,
needing to be in relationship,like whether you're single or
married, god created us to be.
Whether you're single or you'remarried, god created us to be
in relationship with one another, right, and that reflects the
(16:36):
trinity how we're created tolove and to be loved and how we
reflect god in that, and how weneed god's love in order to
flourish and survive, and weneed each other's love to
flourish and survive.
All of us were born into afamily.
All of us needed other peopleto like.
(16:57):
I'm thinking about my son, theo.
If he would have been born andno one took care of him, no one
fed him milk, no one raised himand nurtured him, loved him, he
would just die.
Like we need, we start offneeding each other.
We always need each other.
We're made in god's image, inthe image of needing love, right
right.
Interdependence, I think, iswhat they use, that word yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You've brought up some really good, good dialogue
here on this theme of humanityand its relationship with God.
That was one thing that Icalled out too, god.
(17:45):
You know, that was one thingthat I called out to was that we
are completely, so utterly,dependent upon God.
Right, for how the universe isperfectly in sync.
You know, the temperature ofour planet that we live in, all
these different things that wetake for granted every single
day, things that we take forgranted every single day.
(18:06):
And in acts 17, paul says thatmen are so dependent upon god
for their very existence thatthat should compel them to seek
god and find him, and I thoughtthat that was a good
cross-reference on thisparticular aspect.
All right, so let's wrap up ourdiscussion of the main themes
(18:28):
here by talking about the lastone, which is rest.
Taylor, what did you learnabout God's?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
design for rest challenges us to rethink about
rest, especially for those of usin western cultures where we're
really valuing pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing yourself to
(18:59):
the limit.
Even in christian culture, Ithink we can sometimes idolize
overworking, over doing it tothe point where we have nothing
left to give.
We're giving serving on empty,and that isn't God's design.
God's design was built in rest,and not just mind-numbing rest
(19:23):
of being on our phones, butresting in him and when we rest,
like we've been sayingthroughout this podcast, it is a
reflection of being made in hisimage that's really interesting
.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I know that I've struggled with rest as you know
I tend to work, work, work, butactually it was this past year
that I think all of us talkedabout the sabbath and the
importance of honoring god andfollowing what his design was.
(20:03):
Just like he did worked for sixdays and took that seventh day
for rest, and that was carriedthrough in the old testament.
That's what Moses outlined forthe Israelites, also as part of
the ten commandments.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So I think when we allow ourselves to do that and
we get into that rhythm of workand rest like I find myself
actually really looking forwardto that that time I was also
telling Ashley that I think herbecoming a mother I mean, ashley
(20:41):
has the same tendencies asmentor mama, with the work,
workaholic bug in them, and theamount of times that babies need
to feed, lo and behold, all thestinking time forces her to be
present.
I'd love to hear yourperspective on this, but the
(21:02):
amount of times that I FaceTimeher and she's sitting on the
couch letting Theo feed thenight away because he is hungry,
okay, but I'm like that baby ismaking you rest in the best way
possible, and I know it's stillwork, but it at least forces
you to be present, right, yeah,yeah, I mean, I agree with that,
(21:24):
I think, and even, um, that'swhy having phone boundaries
during this time has been reallygood for me, because I think,
as a breastfeeding mom, you aretempted to scroll, doom, scroll
while you're breastfeeding andthat isn't restful.
Whenever I doom scroll, I don'tfeel rested afterwards and I
(21:46):
feel more bogged down.
So I have challenged myself toeven when I'm feeding him.
Yeah, I can struggle with that,but I've been living in the
moment more and I've beenrealizing it kind of helps time
to slow down, helps you realize,keep you grounded and realize
the blessings that God has rightin front of you.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Amen.
Thanks for sharing that, ashley.
Well, let's talk about seekingGod and his character, which is
the S part of the acronym.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
for easy, Well, I was going to say that it's kind of
funny.
How it's I don't know if funnyis the right word, but how.
This whole time we've beentalking about God and his
character.
We've been talking about how hecreated the world and how
powerful he is, how he is thefather-son spirit, how he was
(22:39):
there before the world began,how absolutely incredible he is
and how he gave us a purpose.
He created us and gave us anidentity in him.
And it's just.
He is the the main idea of thispassage.
He's the center of it all, and Ithink you can't study this
(23:00):
passage without studying who godis really.
So we've talked about him.
I mean, we've talked about howeven this passage points to
Jesus as being God right and howhe's been in, he was,
throughout the whole creationprocess there creating and
Colossians.
(23:21):
Also talks about how Jesus isthe image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation,for by him all things were
created.
So we know that Jesus was there, was present in this.
He is God.
He created the world.
I mean, it's absolutelyincredible.
So I think there's so many waysthat you can study God in this
(23:43):
passage.
I don't think there's just oneway.
You can study how God'screative.
You can study how Jesus'screative.
You can study how Jesus wasthere in creation.
You can study how God createdus to be in a relationship with
us.
He's an intimate God who wantsrelationship, right?
There's so many differentavenues and so I don't know.
I just think you could talkabout this for hours, about who
(24:05):
is God in the creation story.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Absolutely.
You know, ashley, one of thethings that I love that you did
was in the Genesis guide thatyou developed for this Genesis
study, you have a page for everyof the 13 weeks, for every one
of those weeks, that talks abouthow those chapters point to
(24:30):
Christ, and I think for a lot ofpeople they don't make that
connection between the OldTestament pointing to Christ and
then, even so, specifically,examples that you have given in
all the various chapters.
So, um, I would just love toencourage people.
(24:51):
If you want to go even deeperthan what we're talking about
here, we'll be talking aboutthat in our community so the
genesis study is available onour website.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
You can purchase it separately, like you can just
purchase straight up the genesisguide, or you can join our
community, which we give thegenesis guide on there for free.
But we also meet every thursdaynight and we talk about genesis
together as a group of womenwanting to read, study god's
word.
We also have our in-depth biblestudy academy on there as well,
(25:25):
and that's all available foryou on our community.
It's kind of like a one-stopshop.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, and we had kind of a fun get to know you
session and it's really neat tomeet people from all over the
country from the.
East Coast to the West, andsometimes we've even had people
from other countries able tojoin us, so it's really awesome.
Well, as we wrap things up here, how are you guys going to
(25:51):
yearn for heart?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
change, which is the why and the easy bible study
method.
I just wrote in my guide, as Iwas studying through this, that
I I really focused on how thefirst words we hear God say is
let there be light, and I wasfocusing on how.
Even in John 1, it says Jesusis the light, and so I.
(26:17):
For me, my takeaway was everytime I see the sun shining and I
see light, I want to bereminded that God is light.
Jesus is the light of life.
He's the one who gives us life,and only through him,
spiritually speaking.
All right, I have to go.
(26:38):
My baby's crying.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Goodbye, bye.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
You can just finish up.
Yeah, so that was a goodtakeaway.
I think about what you saidbefore.
Sweet little Theo wanted hismommy.
Ashley is the light in Theo'slife right now.
Let's just say that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
What about your takeaway?
You know, for me I loved justfocusing in, as I talked about
earlier, focusing in, as Italked about earlier, some of
the bigger, heavier thoughtsabout, you know, how God
pre-existed, the createdcreation, and it really has
(27:20):
forced me to think about myfaith, be grateful that that's
one of my spiritual gifts.
And then I think it's alsochallenged me to really maybe
put together some thoughts or tolike maybe re-look at some of
the books, like, uh, like theleast struggle books, or some of
(27:44):
those um books that helpexplain how god's existence
really is real and so thatthat's how it affected me and
Speaker 2 (27:58):
maybe be more intentional about incorporating
um god's creation into part ofthe story when I tell it, well
said, sounds like you're lettingyour faith drive you to further
exploration, without it beingyou're trying to conjure up a
(28:20):
bunch of facts to convince youof why god exists, but rather
from faith, your curiosity is,you know, wanting you to lead
you to see more pieces ofevidence.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yes, and actually I'm reading lee struggle's book
right now, the case for faith,and which is different than the
case for christ, which is hisother book.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
So really good, yeah, nice, yeah, and I think for me,
um, something that stuck out tome, which we didn't touch too
much on today, was at the end ofum, genesis 2.
You see more about God'sinteraction with Adam and the
creation of Eve, and at the veryend the verse says Adam and his
(29:07):
wife were both naked and theyfelt no shame.
And something that I just wasmoved to think about was the
reality that at the beginningthere was no shame, and I really
feel like that emotion is justso interwoven to how we live our
everyday lives.
(29:27):
I know for me it affected somuch of my life, like even just
feeling a lot of shame about mybody or the way that I looked
and about how I interacted withpeople, always feeling kind of
inadequate and just remindingmyself that the way that God
created us is good, the way thathe created you, how you look,
your body, it is inherently goodbecause you are made in his
(29:49):
image, and so my heart is tokind of just prayerfully
consider what it would look likefor me to live without shame
and to combat that shame thatyou feel and to process it, but
not let it control my life.
But not let it control my life.
So think about okay, where isthere shame in my life and how
(30:10):
can I live how God intended,which is to live without shame.
And we can do that with Christ.
I mean, it's not like we'regoing to do it perfectly, but
with Christ we don't have to beshamed anymore.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Yeah.
So, taylor, are you suggesting,in heaven, we'll all just be
nude?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Wow, that was a jump.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Well, I want to wrap this discussion up with one bit
of information that I retrievedfrom a commentary, because I
think it's just kind of aninteresting way to end it.
So it says because I think it'sjust kind of an interesting way
to end it.
So it says, ironically, thefirst achievement that their
(30:55):
newfound wisdom acquired was therealization of their nudity.
Adam and Eve Luther observedwhat we suspect the ancient
Hebrew audience would havepondered, which is this
Therefore, this passage pointsout admirably how much evil
followed after the sin of adam.
For now it would be regarded asthe utmost madness if anyone
(31:19):
walked about naked you know,that's right so I thought that
was a fun way to kind of wrapthings up.
All right, if you loved thispodcast and its video, we would
love it if you would write us acomment and we will definitely
(31:40):
reach out to you.
Thank you so much for justsupporting the Coffee and Bible
Time podcast.
We love you all.
Have a blessed day.
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