Genesis and the New Testament

In the last two entries, I began exploring three of the common interpretive frameworks used when reading Genesis. I began by suggesting that we avoid reading Genesis as a collection of morality tales. In the second entry (the one before this one), I discuss our modern prevailing scientific origin myths and how they affect our readings of these ancient scriptures. In this entry, I will discuss interpretation of Genesis, the first book of the ancient Jewish Torah, as interpreted through our modern New Testament and Christian theology. I retain the introduction of the previous entries to allow this entry to be read more independently.

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Welcome to Genesis, an ancient and beautiful epic book of creation, rebellion, judgment, restoration, forgiveness, lust, power, poverty, and wealth. In my recent enriching exploration of Genesis, I have discovered and rediscovered a beautiful story that has for much of my life remained hidden. This book in the eyes and hands of many has collected a great deal of baggage, paintings and repaintings that obscure it’s delicate and detailed forms.

In my study, I have concluded that there are three common frameworks that people (especially us evangelicals) place Genesis in that serve to confuse or outright blind its theologically robust message. These frameworks are (1) the popular Sunday School method of reading Genesis as a collection of morality tales, (2) pressuring Genesis (especially chapters 1-11) into a modern scientific or historical understanding that did not exist in the ancient world of this book, and (3) reading Genesis only through a New Testament understanding and theology that had not yet formed when the book was written.

I will briefly touch on each of these frameworks in turn. If interest in further study or conversation is communicated in the comments, I will explore or explain these ideas further. If not, consider these to be an introduction to my own framework, what it is and what it isn’t. Whether you agree with me or not does not matter. My intention is to be forthright regarding my own paradigm from which I consider the text.

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Genesis and the New Testament

I must begin by making one thing very clear: as a Christian, I believe that the Bible, both the Jewish and Christian Canon, is Holy Scripture. In a macro interpretation, there is an incredibly beautiful and radical story of grace, freedom, salvation and redemption woven through the entire thing. The theological harmony of a book written through so many pens over such a long period of time is astounding. Even for those who do not share this faith, the Bible taken as a whole is a message worth hearing.

I believe that the Bible taken as a whole reveals a beautiful singular tapestry when it comes to theology, instruction in faith and worship, teleology, or moral instruction. At its heart, I believe the Bible reveals to us the story of Jesus, the God-Man, who redeems the world for God’s glory. However, when we place our microscope closer to the text, we can find many intricate details that create this whole story. For many generations, theologians have wisely used the word “harmony” when describing the unity of scripture.

For well initiated and experienced Christians, the New Testament and its’ basic teachings are quite familiar. Most evangelical churches spend most of their time in this last third of the Bible. The writers of the New Testament are intimately acquainted with the Hebrew Scriptures. Through these more recent, post-Jesus Greek texts we are frequently exposed to the ancient stories of the Hebrew Canon, and most frequently the book of Genesis.

Here is one list of New Testament passages that reference or interpret the narratives, lives, and teachings of Genesis:

Genesis 1 and 2

Matthew 19:4;
John 1:136;
John 8:12
Romans 6:23
1 Corinthians 11:8-9;
Colossians 1:15-17; 3:10
1 Timothy 2:13-14;
Hebrews 1:2-3;
James 3:7
Revelation 2:7; 22:14

Genesis 3

Romans 5:12-14; 8:20;
1 Corinthians 15:22
2 Corinthians 11:3;
James 1:15;
Revelation 12:2, 8-9, 17

Genesis 4

Luke 3:38
Hebrews 11:4; 12:24;
1 John 3:12

Genesis 5 -7

(5) Hebrews 11:5
(6) Hebrews 11:7
Matthew 24:39;
Luke 17:27;
2 Peter 2:5; 3:18-21;

Genesis 8 and 9

Ephesians 5:2;
Hebrews 9:18-28

Genesis 10-12

(10) Luke 3:35-36
(11) John 11:51-52
Matthew 1:1-2;
Luke 3:34

Genesis 14

Hebrews 5:5-10; 7:1-5

Genesis 15 and 17

Acts 3:25; 7:8-9;
Galatians 3:15-18;
Hebrews 11:8-19

Genesis 22

Hebrews 11:17;
James 2:21-22

Abraham’s Justification by Faith - Genesis 12, 15, and 22

Romans 4:3;
James 2:18-24;

Sarah - Genesis 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25

Romans 4:19; 9:9;
Galatians 4:21-31;
1 Peter 3:6

Ishmael - Genesis 16, 17, 21

Galatians 4:21-31

Isaac - Genesis 21, 22, 24-28, 31, 35, 46, 48, 49, 50

Matthew 1:2; 8:11; 22:32;
Mark 12:26;
Luke 3:34; 13:28; 20:37;
Acts 3:13; 7:9-10, 32;
Romans 9:7, 10;
Galatians 4:28;
Hebrews 11:9-20

Offering of Isaac - Genesis 22

Hebrews 11:17-18;
James 2:21

Hagar - Genesis 16, 21, 25

Galatians 4:21-31

Lot and Sodom - Genesis 18-19

Luke 17:28-29;
2 Peter 2:7

Covenant with Isaac and Jacob/Israel - Genesis 26, 35

Hebrews 8:8

Esau son sells his birthright - Genesis 25

Hebrews 11:16

Joseph's trials - Genesis 37-41

Acts 7:9-16

Jacob/Israel's prophecy concerning Judah - Genesis 49

Matthew 21:1-9;
Hebrews 7:14;
Revelation 7:14; 19:13

Here are a few of the ways that New Testament theology has been used to interpret and understand the story of Jesus in just the first ten chapters of Genesis:
(I present these only as examples. I do not intend to affirm or deny these interpretations.)

The Word of God
Let there be Light (John 1)
Let us...(Trinity)
God's promise of redemption to Adam and Eve (crush serpent's head - seed)
Sacrifice of an animal (clothing)
Abel's animal sacrifice accepted (blood for sin).
God hears Abel's blood cry out - mercy, just like for Ishmael, for Israel in Egypt, and for us.
The mark of Cain is an act of mercy that rescues him from judgment and death. Christ's mark on us does the same.
Jesus said his return would be during a time like the time of Noah.
Noah built the ark in obedience to God. His obedience was an act of faith in God's promise. God rescued Noah. Our faith in Jesus rescues us.
God establishes COVENANT with Noah.

By no means do I deny the value and importance of New Testament interpretations of these old scriptures. I believe that they are true, and they form the foundation for my Christian faith. However, we must consider when we read Genesis that though the theology of the Christian scripture had the benefit of many hundreds of years of Jewish thought, tradition, and doctrine, Genesis and the rest of the Torah had no such rich tradition to draw from. Genesis is the oldest book of the entire Bible after Job. The Torah’s original readers would have read and understood its theology from their own ancient cultural milieu, without the benefit of any other post-Torah scripture or extrabiblical commentary at all.

I would like to suggest that our modern Christian could be greatly enriched by considering how Job, Genesis, and the rest of the Torah were understood and interpreted for the scores of generations who read them before these New Testament scriptures were written. How does an ancient Hebrew person still waiting for his or her Messiah understand the Torah? How do they read or understand the Messianic prophesies? Are they as easily recognized by this person as they are by us?

As an example, the ancient Hebrew world had no understanding or teaching regarding a personification of evil such as Satan when the Torah was written. Neither did they yet believe in or describe angels as they are later described in the more recently written Hebrew Scriptures. In fact, the Torah does not even go as far as to explicitly teach that Yahweh is the only god in existence. Genesis lays a foundation for the clear Torah command that Israel is to worship only one God, but denying the existence of other gods is a later development. Of course, the uniquely Christian teachings like the Trinity were completely unknown before the time of Christ.

With this in mind, how do we read the story of Job, when the accuser (often translated “Satan”) challenges God? How would the original readers of Genesis have understood the serpent, and how does that affect their understanding of the curse in Genesis 3? How would an ancient Israelite have understood God’s use of the plural form when speaking of himself in Genesis 1? I would like to suggest that considering these questions can give us a fuller and clearer understanding of Genesis AND of these New Testament passages that interpret Genesis.

I believe that the caution I stated in the previous entries regarding isogesis, or reading our cultural paradigm into the text, also applies to insisting on a purely New Testament or Christian interpretation for Genesis, at the exclusion of its’ original meanings. This is an incorrect hermeneutic (interpretation theory) when reading for theology in any passage of scripture. If Romans 5, or 9, or 1 Corinthians 15 (or countless other passages) give us another understanding of what we’re reading, we should exegete those passages in the light of Genesis, not isogete those passages into the text of Genesis, written thousands of years before those other books were ever understood. Just like when we read Genesis for morality or science, we risk reading animal shapes into the clouds of scripture.

Let us consider Old Testament interpretations of Genesis in the light of the New Testament without contradicting either, and enriching both.

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To be clear, I do intend to approach Genesis with reverence and prayer. I do believe that Genesis and the rest of the Bible is scripture, and I read it as such. I believe that God speaks to us through the words of Genesis. I believe that Genesis is true, more true than anything outside of scripture.

However, I believe that Genesis and all scripture is only as true as it intends to be, and only true in the way it intends to be true. I do not believe that a faithful reading of Genesis means that we need to disengage our God created mental faculties. I also believe that we can gain much from the scholarship of many others in the church or outside of it, whether we agree with them or not. The consequences of our readings and conclusions can affect our views of God and others deeply, so let us be humble and considerate as we interpret God’s Word, or share our interpretations with others.