Page 25 - Masters Sample Courses

New Testament. Yet there exist over one hundred quotations or direct references to Genesis 1-11 in the
New Testament. Further, every one of these chapters is alluded to somewhere in the New Testament,
and every one of the New Testament authors refers in his writing to Genesis 1-11. On at least 6
different occasions, Jesus Christ quoted from or referred to something or someone in one of these
chapters, including specific references to each of the first seven chapters.

Further, there is not one instance where these New Testament writers referring to Genesis give even
the slightest evidence that they regard the events or persons as mere myths or allegories. Instead, they
viewed Genesis as absolutely historical, true and authoritative.

Henry Morris said, “It is quite impossible to reject the historicity and divine authority of Genesis without
undermining and in effect repudiating the authority of the entire Bible. If the first Adam was only an
allegory, then by all logic so is the second Adam. If man did not really fall into sin from his created state
of innocence, there is no reason for him to need a Savior. If all things can be accounted for by natural
processes of evolution there is no need to look forward to a future supernatural consummation of all
things. If Genesis is not true, then neither are the testimonies of the prophets and apostles who
believed it was true. Jesus Christ Himself becomes a false witness, either a deceiver or one who is
deceived, and His testimony concerning His own omniscience and omnipotence becomes blasphemy.
2
Faith in the gospel of Christ for one’s eternal salvation is an empty mockery”.

Reading Genesis helps us develop a higher view of God.

Scholars call Hebrews, chapter 11, the “hall of faith.” In it the chapter opens explaining to us what faith
is and then begins to share great men and women throughout history of the Bible who demonstrated
great faith. We are introduced to Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as people
whose faith brought them salvation. We meet all of these men of faith in the book of Genesis. But the
first person we meet in the book is introduced in the fourth word as the book opens, “In the beginning,
God.”

Genesis reveals to us the character and power of God. He spoke into existence all that we see and
know, and in seconds revealed His awesome power and limitless beauty. But after creating all that
there is, he began having a relationship with Adam and Eve. He daily walked with them in the garden.
He created the world not out of a need, but to demonstrate His own glory and to have a relationship
with His creation.

Through the historical events in Genesis, we see how God shows us his holiness and how He righteously
deals with disobedience. He establishes consequences for sin and demonstrates how He judges sin in
the destruction of the flood. Yet the grace of God walks through the pages of Genesis. We see God
begin His plan of redemption and the promise to send a redeemer. That grace we see in full form in
Jesus Christ, but it had its origin in God’s acts in Genesis.

Genesis tells us about God’s faithful promises and covenants.

Throughout the book, God makes conditional and unconditional promises. God promised Noah that he
would bring him safely through the flood and promised him with the seal of a rainbow that He would
never destroy the earth with water. He promised Abraham that he would have a son in his old age and

2 Henry Morris, The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), p.22.