Genesis (Understanding the Bible Commentary | UBC)

Top Highlights

“The purpose of this account is threefold. First, it teaches essential facts about the way God ordered the world so that humans might understand their place and role in creation. Second, it leads us to praise God as the wise, all-powerful Creator. Third, it preempts the deification of any created elements or forces regardless of their splendor.” (Page 39)

“The third proposal is that since ‘good and evil’ often have a moral connotation, the issue at stake was moral knowledge. ‘Know’ may be interpreted as ‘to have mastery over.’ Thus humans were seeking to gain for themselves the prerogative of determining what was good and what was evil.” (Pages 66–67)

“Then God stated the highest goal for Abram’s calling. All peoples on earth will be blessed through him. The verb may be better translated ‘find or obtain blessing.’ God’s primary way of working among the nations is through Abram’s seed. Thus, to experience God’s blessing, the various peoples must interact with Abram’s offspring. Having selected one family, God in a sense shows favoritism, but his design is not parochial. God was and is working through one family for the benefit of all families. Through Abram’s seed he is achieving his goal in creating the earth, namely, people worshiping only him. That this program is just rests in God’s wise sovereignty.” (Page 133)

“ in striving to become like God they no longer desired to be in God’s presence.” (Page 68)

“Because the deepest human relationship is found in marriage, any spouse’s abuse or domination of the other denies their mutuality and disrupts the harmony God intended. Divorce, moreover, is a shattering experience.” (Page 64)