Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 1): Genesis 1–2 Introduction

by on September 9, 2025 | Comment

Genesis is a massive book of Scripture that has long captured the Christian imagination. Its opening few chapters alone have sparked more discussion and have motivated more explanation and commentary than even some other Old Testament books. It contains some of the most gripping stories about God’s people navigating challenging and overwhelming situations while depending on the Lord’s grace. Without Genesis, the canon of Scripture would be missing one of its great building blocks to help us understand who we are, who God is, and what he has done for us.

Amid the most popular discussions about Genesis, its main point might easily be obscured. Genesis is about communion with God. It tells the story of how God created us to have communion with him. It explains our rebellion against him when our sin brought death and calamity upon our race. Hence, it helps us understand the world as we know it after the fall. So, this book tells us about our origins and the current state of affairs concerning our relationship with God.

Genesis also tells us the beginnings of God’s story of salvation where he began to restore us to communion through his covenant of grace. It is the narrative of blessed beginnings as God takes a people for himself and establishes the foundation of his saving covenant that will drive the major contours of redemptive history.

This series, “Continuing in Communion with God,” aims to expound the book of Genesis with a focus on how this book is meant to teach God’s people about our relationship with him. My book, Created for Communion with God, argued that the main focus of Genesis 1–2 was God himself and our relationship with him.1 Because a fuller exposition of Genesis 1–2 is available in that book, this article merely revisits some major points about Scripture’s first chapters to get this series going. We will then pick up in earnest at Genesis 3 to see how the story of our communion with God continues.

Because Genesis is a long book, it can be difficult to sustain attention for a single extended series. This series, therefore, will break Genesis down into more manageable sections by focusing on certain story arcs. This first story arc takes us through Genesis 1–4, exploring the spiral into sin. This article serves as an introduction to summarize some basic thoughts about Genesis 1–2.

The Refrain of Genesis 12

Repetition can turn into white noise if we hear something too much. Still, sometimes we must rehearse things over and over to make sure they stick in our attention and in our memory. Repetition can be an effective way to emphasize some of the main notes that we want to stand out among all the others.

In the same way that Genesis 1 starts with God in central focus, the note that resounds time and again throughout this passage is about God himself. Especially if you were to read this chapter out loud, you would come away realizing that God’s actions are the plain emphasis of this account of creation.

Within the thirty-one verses of Genesis 1, thirty-three instances occur where God performs some astounding action. The first event is, “God created” (Gen 1:1). Even then, the most prominent events that structure the development of the whole creation week are marked with, “And God said . . . .” Ten times this narrative’s drumbeat moves forward as God speaks (Gen 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). God’s acts of speaking get the spotlight as the driving force of the creation week.

Packed in between when God spoke instructions to create or to bring order to various features of the universe, our attention is kept on God as he acts in other ways. He creates and makes (Gen 1:1, 7, 16, 21, 25, 27). He sees, separates, and sets in place (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 17, 18, 21, 25, 31). He names and blesses (Gen 1:5, 8, 10, 22, 28). Although creation is importantly involved in this narrative, the thirty-three events where God is repeatedly in focus show where our reflections are meant to be concentrated.

Throughout Genesis 1, God is wonderful, and creation is just his work. Creation is the effect. God is what should amaze us. Even as the creation week spills into Genesis 2:1–3, the pattern continues as God performs three more actions in completing his work, resting, and blessing. The Worker, not the work, should mesmerize us in this passage. As the beginning of Genesis pounds forward, it will not let us forget that God is the main point of this story.

Genesis 2 and the Reason Why We Exist

Genesis 2 blessedly gives no reprieve from reminding us that God ought to be our central consideration as we think about the creation narratives. The contours of these events are again framed by what God does. First, “The Lord God formed the man” (Gen 2:7). Then, “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden” (Gen 2:8). Further, “The Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen. 2:9). Seven times in this chapter, the Lord God acts to develop the human race and to set the pattern for how we are meant to live within the created world.

The new pieces of the story added in Genesis 2 zoom in more closely on God creating humanity and making a place for us to live. Nevertheless, God remains the main character throughout all these events. He is the one who provides for us in all things.

Genesis 2 also connects certain dots concerning the purpose of these opening chapters. On the one hand, Genesis 1 described a universal perspective on cosmic scale events. On the other hand, we readers come to God’s Word because we know it is profitable for our hearts and minds.

The more detailed account in Genesis 2 about how God made humanity as his image-bearers shows how we are fashioned for a relationship with him. The wide-angle lens of Genesis 1 presents God in such grand majesty that it might leave us with that resounding question of Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” God may appear in Genesis 1 so transcendent that we could doubt that he has special affection for us.

In Genesis 2, God is intimately involved in fashioning humanity and our first place to live. The needed implication of this close-angle lens is God’s painstaking care for his people. He “formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen 2:7). God could hardly be more closely involved with Adam than to knit dust particles in the right order to make a human being in the divine image. God personally “made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Gen 2:9). Although less desirable plants could dot other parts of earth (Gen 2:5), the Lord gave special attention to ensure that every individual pleasing plant sprouted in the garden that he was crafting for Adam’s home.

God was also relationally involved with humanity. He took special, vocal notice that, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18). So, he crafted Eve to be the fitting companion for Adam in all that God called him to do as the first human being. God addressed Adam personally to instruct him about how to walk faithfully with him (Gen 2:15–17). This communication shows how God was directly involved in Adam’s life, bringing Adam into personal fellowship with him.

Genesis 2 highlights God’s involvement with humanity in our origins and our first calling. God is still the main actor and the main focus of this narrative. Yet, we now have the added detail that we should see God in connection to ourselves as his people.

Concluding Reflection

The main point of Genesis 1–2 is to address God’s people regarding our relationship with him. Moses, under the Spirit’s inspiration, wrote these chapters as the initial deposit of God’s covenant charter for Israel as he covenanted with them at Mount Sinai. Therefore, this is God’s Word to his people about our relationship with him.

When we read Genesis, we should focus on what it teaches us about God and how we relate to him. The main takeaways should be about how amazing our Creator is and how astounding it is that he has promised himself to sinners in grace. The rest of this book puts that marvelous grace on full display.

Notes

  1. Harrison Perkins, Created for Communion with God: The Promise in Genesis 1–2 (Lexham Press, 2025).
  2. This section and the next are revised from Harrison Perkins, “The Creator is More Mesmerizing than Creation,” Bible Gateway Newsletter (May 2025).

©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this whole series here.

RESOURCES

Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Subscribe to the Heidelblog today!


Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments are welcome but must observe the moral law. Comments that are profane, deny the gospel, advance positions contrary to the Reformed confession, or that irritate the management are subject to deletion. Anonymous comments, posted without permission, are forbidden. Please use a working email address so we can contact you, if necessary, about content or corrections.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.