TPT The Book of Genesis—Part 1 E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passionate Life Bible Study Series
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 209

Beschreibung

The Book of Genesis shares the origin of all things, including the cosmic order of the universe and the covenant relationship between God and his people. It showcases God's redemptive heart toward the world—a theme that can be traced throughout the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. This 12-lesson study guide on the first eleven chapters of Genesis provides a unique and welcoming opportunity to immerse yourself in God's precious Word as expressed in The Passion Translation®. Begin your journey with a thorough introduction that details the authorship of Genesis, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson then walks you through a portion from the book and includes features such as notable verses, historical and cultural background information, definitions of words and language, cross references to other books of the Bible, maps, and character portraits of figures from the Bible and church history.  Enrich your biblical understanding with the book of Genesis, experience God's love for you, and share his heart with others.  

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

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BroadStreetPublishing.com

TPT: The Book of Genesis – Part 1: 12-Lesson Bible Study Guide

Copyright © 2022 BroadStreet Publishing Group

978-1-4245-6093-6 (softcover)

978-1-4245-6094-3 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®, copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.⇪ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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General editor: Brian Simmons

Managing editor: William D. Watkins

Writer: William D. Watkins

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Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

From God’s Heart to Yours

Why I Love the Book of Genesis

Lesson 1Genesis: The Book of Origins

Lesson 2The Purpose and Themes of Genesis

Lesson 3In the Beginning

Lesson 4God’s Image Bearers

Lesson 5Adam and Eve in Paradise

Lesson 6The Tempter and the Temptation

Lesson 7Revolt, Loss, and Promise

Lesson 8Life, Family, and Fracture

Lesson 9Noah and the Judgment to Come

Lesson 10Judgment through Water, Salvation through Wood

Lesson 11New Families and Dispersed Nations

Lesson 12The Tower of Babel

Appendix 1 The Big Bang and Creation

Appendix 2 The Length of Days

Endnotes

From God’s Heart to Yours

“God is love,” says the apostle John, and “Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him” (1 John 4:7). The life of a Christ-follower is, at its core, a life of love—God’s love of us, our love of him, and our love of others and ourselves because of God’s love for us.

And this divine love is reliable, trustworthy, unconditional, other-centered, majestic, forgiving, redemptive, patient, kind, and more precious than anything else we can ever receive or give. It characterizes each person of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and so is as unlimited as they are. They love one another with this eternal love, and they reach beyond themselves to us, created in their image with this love.

How do we know such incredible truths? Through the primary source of all else we know about the one God—his Word, the Bible. Of course, God reveals who he is through other sources as well, such as the natural world, miracles, our inner life, our relationships (especially with him), those who minister on his behalf, and those who proclaim him to us and others. But the fullest and most comprehensive revelation we have of God and from him is what he has given us in the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the twenty-seven books of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament). Together, these sixty-six books present a compelling and telling portrait of God and his dealings with us.

It is these Scriptures that The Passionate Life Bible Study Series is all about. Through these study guides, we—the editors and writers of this series—seek to provide you with a unique and welcoming opportunity to delve more deeply into God’s precious Word, encountering there his loving heart for you and all the others he loves. God wants you to know him more deeply, to love him more devoutly, and to share his heart with others more frequently and freely. To accomplish this, we have based this study guide series on The Passion Translation of the Bible, which strives to “unlock the passion of [God’s] heart.” It is “a heart-level translation, from the passion of God’s heart to the passion of your heart,” created to “kindle in you a burning desire for him and his heart, while impacting the church for years to come.”1

In each study guide, you will find an introduction to the Bible book it covers. There you will gain information about that Bible book’s authorship, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson following the introduction will take a portion of that Bible book and walk you through it so you will learn its content better while experiencing and applying God’s heart for your own life and encountering ways you can share his heart with others. Along the way, you will come across a number of features we have created that provide opportunities for more life application and growth in biblical understanding:

Experience God’s Heart

This feature focuses questions on personal application. It will help you live out God’s Word, to bring the Bible into your world in fresh, exciting, and relevant ways.

Share God’s Heart

This feature will help you grow in your ability to share with other people what you learn and apply in a given lesson. It provides guidance on how the lesson relates to growing closer to others, to enriching your fellowship with others. It also points the way to enabling you to better listen to the stories of others so you can bridge the biblical story with their stories.

The Backstory

This feature provides ancient historical and cultural background that illuminates Bible passages and teachings. It deals with then-pertinent religious groups, communities, leaders, disputes, business trades, travel routes, customs, nations, political factions, ancient measurements and currency…in short, anything historical or cultural that will help you better understand what Scripture says and means. You may also find maps and charts that will help you reimagine these groups, places, and activities. Finally, in this feature you will find references to additional Bible texts that will further illuminate the Scripture you are studying.

Word Wealth

This feature provides definitions and other illuminating information about key terms, names, and concepts, and how different ancient languages have influenced the biblical text. It also provides insight into the different literary forms in the Bible, such as prophecy, poetry, narrative history, parables, and letters, and how knowing the form of a text can help you better interpret and apply it. Finally, this feature highlights the most significant passages in a Bible book. You may be encouraged to memorize these verses or keep them before you in some way so you can actively hide God’s Word in your heart.

Digging Deeper

This feature explains the theological significance of a text or the controversial issues that arise and mentions resources you can use to help you arrive at your own conclusions. Another way to dig deeper into the Word is by looking into the life of a biblical character or another person from church history, showing how that man or woman incarnated a biblical truth or passage. For instance, Jonathan Edwards was well known for his missions work among native American Indians and for his intellectual prowess in articulating the Christian faith; Florence Nightingale for the reforms she brought about in healthcare; Irenaeus for his fight against heresy; Billy Graham for his work in evangelism; Moses for the strength God gave him to lead the Hebrews and receive and communicate the law; Deborah for her work as a judge in Israel. This feature introduces to you figures from the past who model what it looks like to experience God’s heart and share his heart with others.

The Extra Mile

While The Passion Translation’s notes are extensive, sometimes students of Scripture like to explore more on their own. In this feature, we provide you with opportunities to glean more information from a Bible dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia, a reliable Bible online tool, another ancient text, and the like. Here you will learn how you can go the extra mile on a Bible lesson. And not just in study either. Reflection, prayer, discussion, and applying a passage in new ways provide even more opportunities to go the extra mile. Here you will find questions to answer and applications to make that will require more time and energy from you—if and when you have them to give.

As you can see above, each of these features has a corresponding icon so you can quickly and easily identify them.

You will find other helps and guidance through the lessons of these study guides, including thoughtful questions, application suggestions, and spaces for you to record your own reflections, answers, and action steps. Of course, you can also write in your own journal, notebook, computer, or other resource, but we have provided you with space for your convenience.

Also, each lesson will direct you into the introductory material and numerous notes provided in The Passion Translation. There each Bible book contains a number of aids supplied to help you better grasp God’s words and his incredible love, power, knowledge, plans, and so much more. We want you to get the most out of your Bible study, especially using it to draw you closer to the One who loves you most.

Finally, at the end of each lesson you’ll find a section called “Talking It Out.” This contains questions and exercises for application that you can share, answer, and apply with your spouse, a friend, a coworker, a Bible study group, or any other individuals or groups who would like to walk with you through this material. As Christians, we gather together to serve, study, worship, sing, evangelize, and a host of other activities. We grow together, not just on our own. This section will give you ample opportunities to engage others with the content of each lesson so you can work it out in community.

We offer all of this to support you in becoming an even more faithful and loving disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple in the ancient world was a student of her teacher, a follower of his master. Students study and followers follow. Jesus’ disciples are to sit at his feet and listen and learn and then do what he tells them and shows them to do. We have created The Passionate Life Bible Study Series to help you do what a disciple of Jesus is called to do.

So go.

Read God’s words.

Hear what he has to say in them and through them.

Meditate on them.

Hide them in your heart.

Display their truths in your life.

Share their truths with others.

Let them ignite Jesus’ passion and light in all you say and do.

Use them to help you fulfill what Jesus called his disciples to do: “‘Now go in my authority and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age’” (Matthew 28:19–20).

And through all of this, let Jesus’ love nourish your heart and allow that love to overflow into your relationships with others (John 15:9–13). For it was for love that Jesus came, served, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. This love he gives us. And this love he wants us to pass along to others.

Why I Love the Book of Genesis

I love Genesis because it keeps me on the edge of my seat. Even reading the genealogies excites me. Every Bible reader needs to begin at the beginning, and what a beginning it is! Genesis starts off with a bang—a big bang! It will hold your attention from the very start as the cosmic silence is broken by the thunderous voice of God Almighty creating a universe.

Genesis also gives away God’s secrets. One way to discover the true value of something is to imagine not having it. Can you imagine if we did not have a book called Genesis? We would have no clue about:

•creation’s artistry

•the delight of God’s heart in forming human beings

•his eternal plan to express covenant love to men and women

•the blessing of heaven

•his choosing special servants to change the world

I love Genesis as well because it reveals the God of Glory, our kind Creator, who searches us out when we have erred and wandered from his presence. The transcendent God is unveiled through his creation and through his kindness to all. He is seen as holy, loving, and merciful as we turn the pages of this epic blockbuster. Genesis shows us the character and power of God. You can see grace and holiness holding hands and walking together through the story line of this masterpiece. We see who God is, what he can do, and how he relates to the people he made. Understanding who he has revealed himself to be helps us gain a better understanding of who we are and how we are to live in this world.

I love Genesis because of all the promises God has made and kept. He promised a coming “seed” who would redeem humanity and break the curse from our planet. He promised to protect and preserve Noah and his family even in a time of judgment. He promised to bless Abraham and his sons and grandsons. He promised Joseph that his brothers would one day bow down to him. God keeps every promise he makes, and he will keep every promise he has given to you and me. Genesis convinces me that God is faithful.

And I love Genesis because I see my life in the journey of those who followed the voice of God. Abraham teaches me about faith. Isaac shows me the path of sonship and inheritance. Jacob persuades me that God will transform everything in me that doesn’t reflect Christ. And Joseph maps out for me the path that every true prince or princess who is destined to reign must walk—a path filled with both testing and triumph.

Because Genesis is so foundational to the rest of history, we’ve decided to cover it in two study guides. This one treats the first eleven chapters of Genesis, from creation to the confusion of human languages during the construction of the tower of Babel. The second study guide treats the rest of Genesis, from God’s choice of Abraham to the last days of Jacob and Joseph—the era of the Patriarchs. I hope you will take the next several weeks to pour through the pages of this first part of the Genesis Bible study guides. Take notes, underline what speaks to you, and answer the questions we pose. Genesis will lead you into a deeper understanding of God and the way he works in your life. Let him speak to you and enflame you with a passion to follow God with faith and courage. I know you are going to love Genesis too!

Brian Simmons

General Editor

LESSON 1

Genesis: The Book of Origins

Every story has a starting place, every life a beginning, every plot an opening narrative. History is no exception. All the major characters, events, inventions, lessons learned and lost…have an origin. The lone exception is God, who eternally lives above the changing universe and all it contains. In fact, he is the One who brought this universe into existence and inhabited it with living creatures. How do we know this? Genesis.

Genesis is the book of origins, given to us by God to reveal his work in creation and his involvement in history, especially in human history. Genesis gives us God’s perspective on such events as:

•the beginning of the universe

•the beginning of the earth

•the beginning of order in creation

•the beginning of life in creation

•the beginning of God’s self-revelation

•the beginning of humanity

•the beginning of humanity’s fellowship with God

•the beginning of marriage

•the beginning of God’s blessing upon humanity

•the beginning of Satan’s war against God on earth

•the beginning of human sin, death, and nature’s corruption

•the beginning of God’s plan to defeat evil and redeem the sin-ridden created order

•the beginning of marital discord

•the beginning of families and fractures

•the beginning of faith and doubt

•the beginning of human culture and civilization

•the beginning of the division of human language

•the beginning of God’s covenants with human beings

•the beginning of God’s love poured through and on creation, especially on humanity

All the beginnings that are the most important for us to know are provided in the inspired historical record of Genesis.

•If you were writing a history of your life, what are two or three beginnings you would include that have had the most impact on you? Why does each one matter so much?

The Book’s Title

The Hebrew title of the book comes from the opening Hebrew phrase, bereshith, usually translated “in the beginning” or “when.” The English title, “Genesis,” comes from the Greek word geneseos, which appears in the Septuagint, the first Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Septuagint was commissioned during the middle of the third century BCE, and it was during this time that the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) was completely translated from Hebrew into Greek.2 The Greek word geneseos can be translated a number of ways, including “origin,” “birth,” “history of origin,” “genealogy,” or “account,” depending on the context in which the word appears (e.g., Genesis 2:4, “account”).3

Whether we go with the Hebrew or Greek title, the content of Genesis focuses on firsts or beginnings and then starts to trace their development in history. As you will discover, the historical accounts key in on the most important happenings—what and who matters the most in the revelation of God’s significant undertakings in earthly history. These are the people and events he wants us to know about in the stories of creation, paradise, the fall and its consequences, and his remedy for human rebellion.

•Why do you think books of history focus on key people, events, and ideas and not on everything that happened during the time period covered?

•What makes the origin of something so important?

•Look at the list of beginnings provided at the start of this lesson. Take just a few of them and write below why you think it’s important that we know about each one, especially given that God has chosen to reveal them to us.

Authorship

Genesis is the first book of the Torah, also referred to as the law or the Pentateuch. The other books of the Torah are Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Most likely the earliest division of the Hebrew Scriptures was twofold: the Torah and the Prophets (the latter including the rest of the Old Testament books). Eventually, however, the Jews divided the Hebrew Scriptures into three major sections: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings.4

In Scripture, Moses and the Torah (or law) are often linked, which is why there’s a long-standing tradition that ascribes Moses as the author of Genesis.

•Look up the following passages. Write down what you find about Moses and the law.

Deuteronomy 31:9–13

Joshua 1:7–8

1 Kings 2:1–3

Malachi 4:4

Luke 24:44

John 1:17

Acts 13:38–39

Acts 26:22–23

•What do some of the passages teach about who revealed the law to Moses? Is the law’s source Moses or God?

•What are people expected to do in light of the Mosaic law?

   THE BACKSTORY

Moses was certainly suited for the task of writing Genesis and the rest of the Torah. Bible scholar Bruce K. Waltke states, “Moses’ superb training, exceptional spiritual gifts and divine call uniquely qualified him to compose the essential content and shape of Genesis and of the Pentateuch.” Among the many reasons Waltke and other scholars cite is the education Moses would have received “in Pharaoh’s court as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Ex. 2:1–10).”5 Acts tells us that “Moses was fully trained in the royal courts [of Egypt] and educated in the highest wisdom Egypt had to offer” (Acts 7:22). That would have included ready access to ancient Near Eastern myths that offered different and conflicting creation and flood stories and accounts of kings, gods, and religious practices that Genesis 1–11 counters.

Moses, in his training to become an Egyptian leader, would have also learned the law codes of his native land as well as the ones that likely influenced them. One of these, the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1700 BCE), shows some resemblances to the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19), and “Deuteronomy has formal similarities with Hittite suzerainty treaties (1400–1250) at the time of Moses.”6

Also, Waltke points out that:

As the greatest of Israel’s prophets, Moses would also have had the ability to draw upon God’s omniscience and omnipresence in the retelling of Israel’s historical traditions (cf. Num. 11:25; Deut. 34:10–11). With his extraordinary gift, confirmed by his spectacular signs and wonders, he was eminently qualified to usher his audience into the heavenly court at the time God created the cosmos (Gen. 1) and to reveal what the Almighty and other humans thought, felt, and intended (6:6, 8; 13:13; 25:34b).7

Finally, the author of Genesis and the rest of the Torah shows a great deal of knowledge about Egypt and Sinai, knowledge best acquired by someone like Moses who lived and traveled in those areas. Old Testament scholar Gleason L. Archer Jr. recounts some of this evidence, which includes:

•“Eyewitness details…in the account of the Exodus which suggest an actual participant in the events…For example, in Ex. 15:27 the narrator recalls the exact number of fountains (twelve) and of palm trees (seventy) at Elim”—a place in Sinai.

•“The author of Genesis and Exodus…is familiar with Egyptian names,” such as the native name for Heliopolis and Pithom and “the special title of honor bestowed on Joseph by Pharaoh” in Genesis 41:45.

•The ancient author “also uses a greater percentage of Egyptian words than elsewhere in the Old Testament.”

•The Genesis writer also uses “a large number of idioms and turns of speech that are characteristically Egyptian in origin, even though translated into Hebrew.”

•“The titles of the [Egyptian] court officials, the polite language used in the interviews with Pharaoh, and the like are all…true to Egyptian usage.”

•“The seasons and the weather referred to in the [Torah] narrative are Egyptian, not Palestinian.”

•“The flora and fauna referred to are Egyptian or Sinaitic, never distinctively Palestinian.”

•“The lists of clean and unclean birds and animals contained in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14 include some which are peculiar to Sinai…but none of which are peculiar to Canaan.”

•“Both Egypt and Sinai are very familiar to the author from the standpoint of geography. The narrative of the Exodus route is filled with authentic local references that have been verified by modern archaeology.”8

In short, Moses had the education, the knowledge, the skills, the experience, and so much more to accomplish all that God had for him to do, including writing Genesis and the rest of the Torah while leading God’s people out of Egypt and up to the border of Canaan.

•Do you know what God has prepared you to do? It can be great or small, public or private, within a church ministry or outside of it. But it will use your knowledge, experience, skills, education, and giftedness to accomplish what the Lord wants you to do—and it can be more than one thing! If you’re not sure yet, that’s all right. Ask God to guide you and, in his time, to reveal to you what he has for you to do. If you already know what God has for you, articulate it here and ask him to grant you anything else you need to do his will his way.

Date of Writing

Genesis and the rest of the Torah were likely written after God’s delivery of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt but before Joshua led the people into Canaan, the promised land. This would place the Torah’s composition during the Hebrews’ forty years of wanderings in the Sinai wilderness. Gleason Archer writes: “[Moses] certainly had plenty of time and leisure during the slow, tiresome forty years of wandering in the Sinai desert to compose a book several times the size of the Torah.”9