Creation - Day Six: Humans ...

Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013. Today we come to a longer passage of the creation story, the day no. Six, where animals and humans are created.

Day Six …

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth

living creatures

according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Gen 1, 24-31) God created the animals and the humans in one row on day six. Today, our idea is that humans evolved from joint predecessors of modern higher animals. This would go completely in line with the above description. We know that there is a lot, which animals and humans have in common. For example, most of our DNA is identical, with tiny differences which make humans human and animals to be animals. The Role of Men …**

God created man “in his image”. There seems to be something in humans, which is “like God”. This is a very basic and important part of this creation story, which will be found in every biblical book implicitly or explicitly. We will need to come back to it again and again, to dicover its full meaning! There is the invitation, to discover the image of God in every single individual on this planet! Who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Note that mankind has been created as “man and woman”. Here, there is no distinction between the two - they seem to be equal humans. Also, it looks as if being “male and female” is linked with being created in the image of God himself, who is both male and female. In later biblical books, God will call himself both “mother” and “father”.

Humans is given “dominion” over the animals. Is this something artificial? When we look into the world history, into what humans have been able to do, we understand more of it. Humans have been able to govern over the different species. Even the strongest of all animals we have been able to contain and control by modern scientific tools and technology.

Finally, we should note that this creation story declares all green food to be usable. There is no special food, which we would not be able to eat. This first creation account keeps it completely open. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts