Genesis 1:1-31

The Account of Creation

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. 3Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4And God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." Together these made up one day.

6And God said, "Let there be space between the waters, to separate water from water." 7And so it was. God made this space to separate the waters above from the waters below. 8And God called the space "sky." This happened on the second day.

9And God said, "Let the waters beneath the sky be gathered into one place so dry ground may appear." And so it was. 10God named the dry ground "land" and the water "seas." And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, "Let the land burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant. And let there be trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. The seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came." And so it was. 12The land was filled with seed-bearing plants and trees, and their seeds produced plants and trees of like kind. And God saw that it was good. 13This all happened on the third day.


14And God said, "Let bright lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs to mark off the seasons, the days, and the years. 15Let their light shine down upon the earth." And so it was. 16For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars. 17God set these lights in the heavens to light the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19This all happened on the fourth day.

20And God said, "Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind." 21So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish and every kind of bird. And God saw that it was good. 22Then God blessed them, saying, "Let the fish multiply and fill the oceans. Let the birds increase and fill the earth." 23This all happened on the fifth day.

24And God said, "Let the earth bring forth every kind of animal--livestock, small animals, and wildlife." And so it was. 25God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to reproduce more of its own kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, "Let us make people[b] in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life--the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals,[c] and small animals."


27So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.

28God blessed them and told them, "Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters over the fish and birds and all the animals." 29And God said, "Look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30And I have given all the grasses and other green plants to the animals and birds for their food." And so it was. 31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way. This all happened on the sixth day.



Dig Deeper

In Genesis 1:26, we find that God decided to make man in His image and likeness. There seems to be a conversation that takes place in verse 26 before the actual act of creating man in verse 27. Who was God talking to? We know that the Almighty God does not need a counselor, so this conversation must have taken place within the Trinity. It was a conversation between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hebrews 1:2 tells us that when God created the universe, He did so through the Son, and verse 2 here tells us that the Spirit was present. It is important to note that all the rest of creation, including the animals, were created by God’s spoken Word without discussion. God did something special when He created mankind. He made us in His image and likeness.


The Hebrew word, ‘Tselem,’ is what we translate as image. It literally means a resemblance, a copy, a representative or an idol. It is the same word used in conjunction with worshipping false idols in the Ten Commandments. It implies that we are God’s idol, His representative on earth. We are are carrying the qualities of God that we represent to the universe for the glory of God. When we sin and separate ourselves from God, we cease to be His ‘Tselem’ in many respects.


The Hebrew word for likeness is ‘demuwth,’ which implies not so much the concept of an exact copy, but rather, possessing many but not all of the characteristics of that person. We do not possess things like God’s omnipotence, wisdom, righteousness, perfection, ability to create, and divineness but we do share other qualities of God. God endowed man with mental abilities far superior to any other creation. He gave us the ability to hear, understand, obey, and communicate with God. We are also able to be creative, to love, to design, to think abstractly, to be self-conscious, and so many other things. We are also like God in our moral likeness. We are the only of God’s creatures with a spirit or a God-consciousness. We can hold communion with God through prayer, praise, and worship.


In this passage, then, we find the first two, of the four, primary purposes of the creation of man on which we will focus through the first two chapters of Genesis. First, we were made to represent God; and Second, we were made to work for Him and have dominion.


Devotional Thought

God created man in His image and likeness, so that we could be his representatives on the earth. Sin destroys that, though, and it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that we can be reconciled with God and be his representatives once again. This is what Christians are. Are you truly acting as God’s representative today or are you usually more concerned with your own affairs? Think of one way this week that you can truly represent God to those around you.