Scripture’s first words tell us what the Bible’s main point is: “In the beginning, God…” (Gen. 1:1; all quotations are from the ESV). Much of the Bible’s unfolding story is about how we, as sinners, lose sight of that main point. Our gaze quickly drifts from our Creator’s majesty to the creation’s mundaneness. Yet, we make them trade places concerning which we find more captivating. Our sin-tinted vision reverses the order of importance so that we are more amazed by the things of the world than by the things of God.
Christians have long found Genesis 1–2 to be some of the most fascinating portions of God’s Word. In our fascination, we have developed a few talking points that have become our first points of interest in this passage. We often ask things like, “How long were these days?” or “How long ago did these events happen?” Those questions are certainly important. Scripture may well have many things to say in answer to them. Nevertheless, they are not the most important questions that Genesis 1–2 should raise for us.
Our attention ought to be rapt by God himself. Scripture aims to enthrall us more with the Creator than with curiosity about the creation. Creation is good and worth consideration. But it is still less mesmerizing than the One who created it. Even in our Bible reading, we ought not give into the distraction to focus more on what was made than the One who made it. As I argue in my book, Created for Communion with God: The Promise of Genesis 1–2, these reflections aim to show us that the opening chapters of Genesis are primarily about our relationship with God.
The Refrain of Genesis 1
Repetition can turn into white noise if we hear something too much. Still, sometimes we have to 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 span of these thirty-one verses in Genesis 1, there are thirty-three instances of God performing an 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 order 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 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 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.
God Addresses His People
The traditional, conservative view is that Moses, under the Spirit’s inspiration, wrote the book of Genesis. This book was one part of the material revealed to Israel at Mount Sinai as God made a covenant with them to be his treasured people. The purpose of Genesis, therefore, was very specific concerning the first readers to whom God delivered it. God was addressing his covenant people about their relationship with him.
Creation fascinates us both as we investigate it today and as we reflect upon how it came into existence. It is meant to be marvelous. We should be impressed by everything that the universe holds. Still, creation’s majesty is not where we are supposed to stop. As wonderful and captivating as creation is, it ought to direct our eyes — and hearts — higher to the One who made it.
The creation account in Genesis 1–2 is God’s address to his people. That purpose should still be first in our consideration today. God’s Word is living and active. He still uses holy Scripture to address his covenant people today. When we take up the Bible’s opening chapters, let us not be distracted from the main point. Let us not get so fixated on what is made that we forget to contemplate the Maker. Let us remember that God is telling us about himself so that we might know him. So, let us read of creation to be mesmerized by the beauty of the Creator.
The book of Genesis brings us back to beginnings. And in the beginning, we meet God.
In Created for Communion with God, Harrison Perkins explains that the creation account of Genesis 1–2 is primarily about God and his relationship with human beings. These chapters are God’s word for God’s people, to summon us into communion with him. Perkins’s theological reflections reveal God’s glory and goodness, highlight the good news of Jesus, and encourage the soul.
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Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a senior research fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, associate online faculty in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and author ofCreated for Communion with God: The Promise of Genesis 1–2(Lexham, 2025).
