The Universal Story: Genesis 1–11 (Transformative Word)

Top Highlights

“Unlike the first man and the patriarchs, Joseph is the only male in Genesis that doesn’t listen to a woman with a wayward desire. When Potiphar’s wife seeks him sexually ‘day by day’ (compare Gen 3:17; 16:2–3; 27:8; 39:10), he refuses to listen to her on the principle of his entrusted position.” (Page 9)

“It might surprise us that God diagnoses the problem, not as eating the fruit, but as the man shifting his trust to the woman who, by implication, is listening to the serpent.” (Page 50)

“We must consider that, of the millions of details and stories that the biblical authors could have included in these texts, they chose these details and these stories to relate the story of the universe to us. Hence, we should submit to the wisdom of the biblical author, knowing that God speaks to us through these stories and not the ones we wish he had told.” (Page 3)

“However, the ‘image of God’ plays a special role in Genesis 1–11, not just identifying the form that humans are created in, but also referring to our role on earth. First, the image of God includes our commission: fruitfulness and care of creation. Second, as Leon Kass puts it, ‘Human beings really are different from and higher than the other animals; and only the human animal could be called god-like.’¹⁰ Third, in the very first giving of a statute, our image is the basis for human dignity, requiring recompense when humans are murdered (see Gen 9:6). Surprisingly, being created in God’s image is not defined in Genesis in terms of our rational capacities. Rather, the image of God gives humanity both a different status and culpability among the creatures in the world.” (Page 26)