Outline:
- Scripture is the Word of God
- It is made up of the work of various communities
- The Christian community came together to establish what is Scripture
- All of the stories collected in Scripture are considered Holy
- Scripture is True, even if not every story in it factually occurred
Genesis and Community:
- From the start, Emphasis on Community
- Genesis 1:26-28
- God makes “humankind” as a whole
- Command given to all is “to be fruitful and multiply.”
- Genesis 2:24
- Story specifically of Adam and Eve
- Call to them is to “cling” to one another
- The two come together as an individual unit, a new household
- Responsibility of the whole
- The whole is responsible for the next generation, not the individual
- Implication- we are all called to help raise up those after us
- Responsibility of the individual
- Couple called to care for one another
- Says nothing about their duties as members of the broader community
- Community and Sin (And God continuing to preserve Community)
- Cain and Abel- Genesis 4:1-16
- Cain fears how his sin will affect him in the broader community
- Shows there are other people (how can this be if Adam and Eve are the first? We don’t know.)
- God provides Cain with protection
- Noah
- Genesis 6:8
- Community around has gone bad
- God uses Noah and his family to rebuild the community
- Community of God’s People
- Abraham
- Call in Genesis 12:1-3
- God uses him to make “a great nation”
- Start of community of God’s People
- Moses
- Call in Exodus 3
- God uses to bring back the community and set them free
- Not just those of the family, takes work but others could join
- Great example seen with Rahab in the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6:25