We believe whole-life disciples are formed by hearing from the whole Bible. We also believe that the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) are foundational for how we understand the story of redemption. Genesis is the foundation of these books, and is, as one Old Testament scholar calls it, “the Old Testament of the Old Testament.”

Our intention is to go through the entire book, but this fall we are focusing on the first four chapters. There, we see the origin of the cosmos, the origin of life on earth, the origin of humanity, the origin of Sabbath, the origin of marriage, the origin of sin, the origin of relational discord, the origin of culture, and the origin of worship. As you can see, much of what we experience in life under the sun finds its root in Genesis 1-4. 

To better understand the present, we often need to correctly interpret the past. And by spending time hearing from God’s Word in Genesis, we are equipped to not only know where we are in the story of redemption, but how we got where we are. What’s more, these four chapters not only tell us what happened in the past, they tell us what continues to happen in the present and will continue to happen until Christ’s return to make all things new.

By going back to Genesis, we will calibrate our minds and hearts for what God is doing in the present and set our hope in his work of redemption in the future. From the beginning, God has been at work in our midst, and will continue to do so until he takes not back to the garden, but beyond it to life eternal where garden and city unite.