The Real Creation Story, part 2: Creation of Mankind

The Creation of Mankind

Now we shall consider the creation sequence that exists in Genesis chapter 2. It isn’t as extensive as in chapter 1 and only covers the physical creation or formation of the earth’s fauna and flora.

However, before we begin, let us take a closer look at Genesis 1:26-28:

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth . . ."

I think the general assumption has always been that this references the creation or formation of Adam and Eve, even though there is no direct proof that this is the case.

Seeing as how, according to Genesis 2:1, all the host of the heavens and earth had already been created or formed at this time, it becomes clear that these verses reference the spiritual creation of all mankind. And since all of mankind were not present in the Garden of Eden, then it stands to reason that this is indeed a spiritual creation.

No Rain, No Plants and No Man

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." (Genesis 2:4-5.)

These verses make it clear that “the generations of the heavens and of the earth” were created in spirit form only at this point, or at least the earth’s flora and fauna, for we read that the earth’s flora were not yet “in the earth” but had been created “before [they] grew.”

Following this line of thought a bit further, it stands to reason that the beasts of the field, et al, which were created in Genesis chapter 1, and which depend on the earth’s plant life for nourishment, must have also been created in spirit form, or else they would have starved to death, there being no plant life. I don’t believe that God would have been so cruel as to do that.

However, the earth by now had been created physically, or else such a reference to plants “before [they] grew” in the earth would have been pointless.

Note that we have also been told that “the Lord God had not [yet] caused it to rain upon the earth.”

No rain . . . no water . . . no plants which depend on water . . . and no animals which depend on plants and water for their sustenance, at least no physical plants and animals.

In addition, “there was not a man to till the ground.” In short . . . no Adam. If no Adam, then no Eve, lending further support that Genesis 1:26-28 referenced the spiritual creation of all mankind and not the physical.