From Death To Life

INTRODUCTION

Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It’s a blessing to worship with you and share from God’s word.

Few weeks ago, the chaplain contacted me to sign me for preaching. Since he called me, I’ve been thinking about what to preach. It’s around the same time we had a brief discussion in the faculty whatsapp group about a forwarded message from Genesis 5. The message says that the names mentioned in Genesis 5 contain cryptic/hidden codes that, if properly translated, lead us to the gospel message about Christ. Whenever I hear words such as “hidden” “secret”, alarm goes off in my mind. As a OT scholar, I am cautious not to make extractions, beyond what is present in the text. And so, I thought I’d revisit Genesis 5 this morning, to see its Christological significance and draw out some biblical lessons today.

Genesis 5 contains a genealogy. Its a tedious passage to read. It might seem simply too repetitive, and even irrelevant. As Christians, how can we understand and preach this passage christologically? Is it possible to preach this passage christologically? If Jesus said the Scripture speaks of Him, and this stands as part of the inspired scripture, how can we discern its Christological significance? Or is it even right to pose such a question on this seeming dark passage.

TWO REASONS:

I believe it is right to approach this text christologically for two reasons.

First, when we look at Gen 5: 1, it begins “This is the written account of Adam. KJV says that it is the book of genealogy of Adam. Hebrew words used here is “safer toledot”, in Septuagint translates it as “biblos genesios”. This phrase “biblos genesios” appears only twice in the bible apart from Genesis 5:1. Genesis 2:4, this is the book of the generations of the heavens and the earth. Then it appears in 5:1., “this is the book of genealogy of Adam.” Then it comes interestingly in Matthew 1:1, this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I think Genesis 5 is anticipating Matthew 1 and Matthew 1 is definitely alluding to Genesis 5. Why is it so? Genesis 5 is the genealogy of the first Adam. And Mt 1 is the genealogy of the last Adam. Do you see the connection here? The head of the old creation was Adam, the head of the new creation is Jesus Christ.

A second point to note, on the Christological connection. In Genesis 5, traces the genealogy of Adam through Seth. This promise that God made to Adam-Eve, the protoevangelium, the first promise of messiah, will continue through this genealogy. That is the reason, you see the emphasis on creation at the beginning of this chapter. And this genealogy hints that the promise of God to Adam will continue through this line, not through the line of Cain. Who is the ultimate fulfillment of this line? It is Jesus Christ. Compare this genealogy in Gen 5 to last genealogy mentioned in the NT. We find it in Luke 3:23-38. Luke traces his genealogy backwards from Jesus to Adam. In fact, we can read all the 10 names mentioned in Genesis 5 in the final verses of Luke 3.

These connections justify our Christological reading of this text.

THE STRUCTURE OF GENESIS 5

Now let us quickly look at the passage: Gene 5:3-32. This is a highly structured passage. It follows a specific formula

When “A” had lived “X” years, he became the father of “B”.

After he became the father of “B”, “A” lived “Y” years and had other sons and daughters.

Altogether, “A” lived a total of “X+Y” years, and then he died.

This pattern repeats through the entire chapter. If you read it earlier, you might have already noticed. However, the formula breaks in three places: v. 3, 24, and 29. These deviations from the established pattern are significant. Let us analyze them closely.

1. GENESIS 5:3 – IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth

And additional phrase “in his own image and likeness” is inserted here. When we read this phrase, we remember Genesis 1: God created human beings “in his image and likeness”. God blessed all creation but did not make anything in creation in his image and likeness, not even angels. It shows the distinction, the value God placed on humanity. Each one of us is created in his image and likeness. May be we are from north, south, east and west, look different, talk different, we need to remember that each one is created in God’s image and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.