This article is reprinted from 2009, with permission, from Doug Kutilek’s free newsletter “As I See It,” then a monthly electronic magazine.
One of the most often-quoted devotional comments in Matthew Henry’s (1662-1714) famous commentary on the Bible is his remark regarding the creation of the first woman from the side of the first man (Genesis 2:21-22)—
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Moses gives us one more application of Creation that I’d like to note. One of the Ten Commandments, the fourth, makes a direct reference to the creation as a basis for application to how we live. I note that two of the commandments—the second and the fourth—receive considerably more column inches than the others. (Not that any of the ten are “less” important than the others, of course.) The second, which forbids graven images, protects the holiness of God; since God is unlike any of his creatures, to make an image of him is to represent him as less than he actually is.
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As Moses continues his narrative of beginnings, he comes quickly to an account of the Flood, God’s global judgment on human sin. Perhaps you’ve never noticed how thoroughly the flood account is imbued with Creation language.
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Moses himself, the author of the creation account, begins to interpret and apply almost immediately. He finds his opportunity in two specific events: the initiation of the godly line, and the Great Flood.
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Commentaries on the Book of Genesis are ten-a-penny. But some of them are too concerned with ANE parallels that they forget to teach the Book itself. Some are over speculative, while others too critical and unbelieving. The pastor who wants to get at the meat without spitting out too many bones might do worse than study the following:
“It is, admittedly, quite weird…. But just because it’s unfamiliar to us doesn’t mean it’s nonsense. Imagine if we somehow plopped Abram down into this year’s Kentucky Derby. Or at the starting line of a Tough Mudder.
“If the pre-flood humans were biologically superior, then it is likely to assume that their cognitive functions were superior as well. They had higher I.Q.’s, which means that they had better problem-solving skills than we have today.” - P&D
“The truth is—most Christians probably couldn’t answer these questions. And yet there are answers.” - Ken Ham
In my training in the original Biblical languages, I was clearly instructed to remember that words have greater meaning than the sum of their constituent parts.
While that rule stands true, there is still one particular New Testament word that is built of fascinating components. It is a word that has a significant presence in our theological vocabulary, even though it is actually found only two times in the Scriptures. It is the word regeneration.
