Sunday School #30: God makes Adam and Eve

Moses tells the story of creation twice. In Genesis One, he tells us how God created most of the universe simply by speaking — and it came to be! The creation of Adam and Eve is much different. God gets down on His hands and knees and makes us with His own hands.

Children may notice that getting food to eat can be pretty routine. In America we are blessed with countless restaurants, food packaged ready to eat or very close to it. Yet when a birthday, a holiday or a visit from relatives is coming, they take the time to prepare a big meal. They may even do it all from scratch — by meat and vegetables raw, clean it, chop it, smoke or marinate it, cook it and put it out on a decorated table. Why do they do this? Or make gifts by hand when they could do it with much less effort? They do these things because they want to do something special for someone they love.

God fashioned Adam from the dust and Eve from his rib because these creatures would be much more than the rest. He made us to be his companions and creation for us. We were to share the universe with him forever. That was very good indeed!

When God said, Let us make man in our own image, He did not mean that we look like Him or that we are the only beings that make decisions like He does. God made Adam and Eve to be holy like He is. Sadly, by trying to be just like God, (Genesis 3:5) Adam and Eve became less like Him. God is a being focused outward, giving and serving. As sinners, we are curved in on ourselves, serving ourselves.

In order to pay the price of our salvation, God in Christ, poured himself out into the form of a man. As one of us, he lived a perfect life for us and laid it down for us, his friends. By the Cross, God once again makes us to be just like Him by making us to be just like Jesus. (Romans 8:28-29) Restored to his image, we live just like him — serving God and each other.