Genesis 1-2: Creation and the Garden of Eden

Genesis 1-2: Creation and the Garden of Eden

The Bible is a confession of faith in an invisible God who relates to humanity. In the creation account, God is acknowledged as the originator of not only humans but all things. The entire universe is under God's care. God specially created humans in his image. This expresses humanity's desire to have a unique relationship with God. After the Babylonian exile, Israel began to confess God as the Creator. The key here is God's presence, which cannot be seen but cannot be denied either. The Creator God cannot be limited to being the highest expression of religious human emotion, nor is he a product projected from human religiosity. Guidelines, institutions, and laws from humans are rather traps. Contrary to human expectations, they only define humans as sinners. It's a cycle of sin - humans create guidelines for serving God to escape sin, only to be labeled sinners again by those very regulations, an eternal recurrence. God's words and actions are important. Whether it's hell, known as God's ultimate judgment, or heaven, his greatest reward, God's rule is what matters. The desire for universal salvation reveals humanity's greatest goodness in seeking reciprocal equality. How does the Bible, the best record of God, deal with all things? Genesis 1 contains humanity's hope of clinging to God while honestly acknowledging both humans and God for who they are. The Garden of Eden is a space where this hope is realized. In Eden, God and humans communicate without barriers, with God remaining God and humans remaining human. It is truly a dream space.