Should the Book of Genesis Matter to Christians?

By Tony Williams | August 1, 2022

The book of Genesis can bring out a variety of reactions among Christians. The debate on origins is one that I follow closely, and the relevance and reality of Genesis to Christians always seems to be an emotional debate.

There are some Christians who see Genesis as an allegorical, mythical tale that is not to be taken literally, but rather as how ancient men developed a story for the origins of man, perhaps even taken from earlier myths about human origins. Others take it as a literal accounting of the creation of the universe by God in six days, the fall of man and the stories of judgment against sin and reconciliation that repeated for generations until the arrival of Christ. There are also those who say that the reality of Jesus is the first matter of importance, and the rest is not worth arguing over.

I certainly agree that the reality of who Jesus is takes the lead in our faith because if He is not who He said He was, we have nothing to be hopeful for, even if the stories of Genesis are all true. That said, I hereafter wish to share why the book of Genesis, wherever you land on ages, matters to the Christian faith.

Genesis Should Matter to Christians as a History of Creation

In addition to other things deeper than I have the talent or time to express adequately, the book of Genesis is written as a history book. Genesis should matter to Christians because it tells the tale of the moment God spoke material existence into, well, existence. It follows the story of Adam and Eve whose disobedience in the Garden of Eden led to the genetic feature of sin shared by all their offspring ever since. That sin is on full display for the rest of the Old Testament and is similar to the world we live in today in many ways. Technology has certainly brought about more efficient ways of sinning, but the motives remain the same.

When a Christian in America in the year 2022 thinks of the book of Genesis as it relates to their faith it is easy to forget that we now live in a world culture that has overwhelmingly subscribed to the ancient idea that the universe is very old or eternal, and things slowly evolved into what we see today by random chances of slow and uncontrolled processes. But Genesis says that there was a single moment of creation when God spoke, and that creatures were created in their kinds with man being the pinnacle of life on earth.

Technology is bringing more information about our origins into focus. Wherever you are in the debate over when it happened, it must be acknowledged that we now find ourselves in a time where space exploration and scientific discoveries have provided overwhelming proof of the fact that the universe had a beginning. It came into existence, and suddenly. We see the evidence of that beginning in the cosmic background radiation and the red shift in light from faraway stars.

As a Christian, this shouldn’t be a surprise. However, it was a surprise to many in science in the mid-20th century who had been convinced for decades that the universe was eternal. Einstein himself had created a “fudge factor” for his theory of general relativity to fit within an eternal universe because it seems he did not care for the implications of that beginning in the original equations. What is the implication? It is that there must have been a beginning.

The universe itself is often boiled down to include time, space, energy, and matter. It has been pointed out to me that the first sentence of Genesis includes all four universal attributes:

“In the beginning (time) God created (energy) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).” (Genesis 1:1)

No matter when you believe it began, this beginning of the universe is critical for the Christian to consider as an apologetic of massive significance. Consider that this miracle makes all other material miracles seem insignificant. If the universe was started, whatever started it should certainly not be assumed to lack the power to interact with people, heal their diseases and raise people from the dead. You are living your life inside, and as a part of, the first miracle of a Creator who possesses power and intelligence we cannot fathom. This is not the case with creation or eternal existences taught by other worldviews and religions outside the Abrahamic lines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Genesis Should Matter to Christians as a History of the Fall of Humanity

Genesis, in addition to explaining the creation of mankind in Adam and Eve, should matter to Christians because it tells the story of the “fall” of humanity when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating forbidden fruit. This sinful act caused their offspring to have the genetic disposition (maybe not literal DNA, but spiritual perhaps?) to sin and constantly be inclined to rebel against our Creator. What is the apologetic relevance there? How about the evening news? How about every wicked thing one man or woman has done to another? These are real time demonstrations that man has a sin problem to this day despite the miles of laws written to make society polite.

Take away the fall account in Genesis and we are left with no reason for the way things are today. Death, natural disasters, evil and all the things we have grown accustomed to in this world are just bad. If we claim there is objective good and bad, there is not a good explanation for why things are bad except that God must be bad, or at least not care. If we take the creation away from God, and take the fall away from man, it is only natural to come to the conclusion that if there is a God, He must not care or worse, he is a monster.

Certainly, many are quick to dismiss the idea that there was a real Adam and Eve but again, science may be challenging the arguments against it. In the same way the scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century have allowed us to peer more deeply into the universe to find evidence of the beginning of the universe, we have also begun to be able to look inwardly to the incredibly small and gloriously designed universe of the cells within our own bodies. This includes unraveling the codes written on the twin helices of our DNA to build maps of the human genome.

Only in the last decade or so have many come to acknowledge that human origins are not necessarily as we might have expected. In fact, thanks to modern genetic science we now know that every single human being on planet earth has one man and one woman from whom we are all descended. This is not a fringe belief or opinion held only by young earth scientists. Secular science proclaims that there is what they call “Mitochondrial Eve” and “Y Chromosome Adam”.

While the debate is certainly ongoing as to their place in time relative to one another and what lineage of humans may or may not have preceded them, how stunning is it to know that we are all related to one man and one woman. It means that racism is suicide and we should truly consider ourselves one human family. It certainly means that the great commission to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19), is not a command to go and find strange people who don’t look like you, but rather a rescue mission to seek and save the lost of our own family who are unlike any other created thing because they are made in the image of the same Creator.

In the same way the curse of the division of languages at Babel (Genesis 11:9) was reversed in the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the saints speaking in tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2:3), the picture of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne” (Revelation 7:9) is a beautiful picture of the hope that we can have of a reconciliation for many of the children of men with the One who was forced to eject the first image bearers out of His presence for their sin in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24).

Genesis Should Matter to Christians as a Promise of Jesus

The “scarlet thread” that runs through the entire Bible and eventually arrives in the form of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago was not first mentioned by one of the prophets or King David. It is understood by many that the first prophecy of the first coming of Jesus was in the very curse of Adam, Eve and Satan by God Himself as he pronounced judgment on them:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

The bruising of the heel, it is suggested, is a reference to the nails driven through Jesus’ feet as He was crucified. The reference to the bruising of Satan’s head is viewed by many as the ultimate defeat of Satan that is achieved through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, Genesis brings about a variety of reactions from everyone asked about the topic, especially within Christianity. I must say that my own experience of coming to faith was through Genesis, and eventually to the cross of Christ. If there was no Genesis, I reasoned, there is no need for Christ. However, coming to terms with the fact that Genesis made more sense to the world around me in both scientific terms and in terms of morality (or lack thereof), I continue to find Genesis to be like a flashlight, illuminating the path to Christ from the beginning.

The reality of Genesis in my faith continues to bring God much deserved glory as I consider His power and wisdom in creation, as well as His abiding and perfect love for this family of fallen image bearers. Thanks be to God for the beginning as we look forward to forevermore with Him and with those who find their way to that reconciliation awaited since the garden because of the One Who would crush death forever; Jesus Christ.

About the Author

Tony Williams is currently serving in his 20th year as a police officer in a city in Southern Illinois. He has been studying apologetics in his spare time for two decades, since a crisis of faith led him to the discovery of vast and ever-increasing evidence for his faith. Tony received a bachelor’s degree in University Studies from Southern Illinois University in 2019. His career in law enforcement has provided valuable insight into the concepts of truth, evidence, confession, testimony, cultural competency, morality, and most of all, the compelling need for Christ in the lives of the lost. Tony plans to pursue postgraduate studies in apologetics in the near future to sharpen his understanding of the various facets of Christian apologetics.