Characters of CreationSample

Moses reminds us here as sin makes its way around the world, as it marbles itself into the human experience, as depravity and violence and sensuality begin to define God’s good creation, that He has not given up on the human project. Moses reminds us here that still, in the midst of all this, that human beings are still created in God’s image, and that His plan is not thwarted by the enemy. What’s more, he reminds us that it is through men and women coming together in marriage and through families that His promise of redemp- tion will march through the ages.

Even in a fallen world, even against the backdrop of sensuality and sin, God’s design for human flourishing didn’t change. Pastor Tony Evans says that “family was established to provide the opportunity and framework for individuals to collectively carry out the plan of God in history. In particular, that plan includes the replication of God’s image and the implementation of His rule, or dominion, on earth. Dominion simply means ruling on God’s behalf in history so that history comes under God’s authority.”

This doesn’t mean, of course, that those whom God has not called to be married are somehow inferior or incomplete or less important to the mission of God. In Christ, we are a new family with a new identity. And yet regardless of our family status, we can affirm and uphold God’s design for marriage between men and women and the raising of children in a way that images and points forward to Christ’s love for His church.

This declaration by God that His plan for His image bearers is still in effect should also shape the way we see the world, that even in a fallen age, sinful humans have value and worth. There is nothing of the image of God that is lost, even after the fall. We see this later in Genesis 9, after God reiterates the value of human life and even way ahead in James 3 as Jesus’ brother appeals to human dignity as a way of urging God’s people toward kindness and respect.

It can be difficult to see humanity as image bearers, in a world so filled with sin, so fraught with division, a world that so cheapens life that it seems the way of God and the promises of God are no longer in effect. But a word of hope at the end of the tale of Cain’s family echoes God’s words in Genesis 4:26: “At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.” And Genesis 5 unfolds this hope: that God’s promise of deliverance will endure.