Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 1-3.
I am switching to the English Standard Version(ESV) this year.  The main reason for making this change is that I have been using the New International Version(NIV) for multiple years now and I think that seeing the different translation choices of the ESV will cause me to think about verses that I am starting to take for granted.

I love starting the year off with the Creation Story.  People often read these three chapters as one story, viewing chapter two verse four to the end of chapter three as being a continuation of what came before.  However, as I read this passage, Chapter one verse one through chapter two verse three are a self-contained story which describes that God created the Universe and everything in it.  It does not tell us how God created, just that He did so.  The only aspect of this account which pushes towards a Young Earth view (the idea that the earth’s age should be counted in thousands of years rather than in billions of years) is that it suggests that all living creatures were originally created as pure vegetarians.  The point of this story is that God created the physical world and it was good.  The physical world is not a manifestation of evil.

The second story begins in chapter two verse four, continuing to the end of chapter two.  This story is not a sequel to the first story, taking place after the first story ended.  Rather, it is a related story about the creation of mankind.  The point of this story is that man and woman are made to be partners, to work together to do God’s work.  It sets up the family unit as the basis for all social structures.

Finally, chapter three is the third story.  This story is a sequel to the second story, taking up where that story leaves off.  It recounts how mankind lost its relationship with God.  Many people read this and blame the woman for eating the fruit.  In fact, Adam himself did so in this story.  However, if you read it closely you see that Adam had equal responsibility with Eve for choosing to eat the fruit.  While the serpent directed its argument to Eve, and it was Eve who first accepted those arguments, the passage tells us that Adam was right there with her.  He could have, and should have, interjected to question the serpent’s attempt to convince Eve to break God’s command.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.