"God's Communication" Study: Genesis 1-3

I need to know more about how God communicates. So I'm going to be taking a closer look at the things he says in the Bible. Today I read Genesis 1-3.

In Genesis 1:28-30, God issues a command and makes a gift.

• God's command is life-affirming. It encourages humans to reproduce and make more of their kind.


• God's command also affirms the value of responsibility. Humans are to be good stewards of the creation, to exercise authority over it.


• God's gift provides for his creation: both the humans in charge and the animals to be ruled over. What does the gift communicate?

In Genesis 2:16 God gives another command.

• God's command creates boundaries for our protection. Some knowledge is healthy for man, and he should pursue that knowledge. God's boundaries are intended to protect us from the knowledge that will break us.


• I am reminded of John 16:12-13, in which Jesus says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear." In time, Jesus explains, the Spirit will reveal what the disciples need to know, as they learn to trust God. Perhaps eating from the tree in the garden is a sin not because it is pursuing forbidden knowledge, but because it seeks to obtain that knowledge outside of a relationship with God, from a source other than God. It's just a hypothesis, but it could be the case.

In Genesis 3:8-13, God asks several questions.

• Human beings ask questions in order to gather knowledge. However, God is omniscient and already possesses knowledge of everything. Why does God ask questions?