![]() ![]() This is why Jesus told his disciples to pray in the words, “Your kingdom come. “See, the home of God is among mortals” (Rev. God’s dwelling with humanity is here, in the renewed creation. Instead, God perfects his kingdom on earth and calls into being “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev. Humanity does not depart the earth to join God in heaven. Most significantly, the Bible ends where it begins-on earth. 1:1 2:1) are not two separate realms, but a Hebrew figure of speech meaning “the universe” in the same way that the English phrase “kith and kin” means “relatives.” The ruah of God in Genesis 1:2 is simultaneously “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit” (see footnote b in the NRSV or compare NRSV, NASB, NIV, and KJV). Or putting it more precisely, in Genesis there is no sharp distinction between the material and the spiritual. ![]() Do we regard the material world, the stuff we work with, as God’s first-rate stuff, imbued with lasting value? Or do we dismiss it as a temporary job site, a testing ground, a sinking ship from which we must escape to get to God’s true location in an immaterial “heaven.” Genesis argues against any notion that the material world is any less important to God than the spiritual world. Throughout chapters 1 and 2, we see God engrossed in the physicality of his creation.Īny theology of work must begin with a theology of creation. “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen. Later, in chapter 2, we even see God working the dirt of his creation. The nascent creation, though still “formless,” has the material dimensions of space (“the deep”) and matter (“waters”), and God is fully engaged with this materiality (“a wind from God swept over the face of the waters”). “The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gen. Genesis continues by emphasizing the materiality of the world. Yet they all spring from the source found here, in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The other sixty-five books of the Bible each have their own unique contributions to add to the theology of work. We both obey and disobey God in our work, and we discover that God is at work in both our obedience and disobedience. In Genesis we see God at work, and we learn how God intends us to work. Laboring in God’s image, we work in creation, on creation, with creation and -if we work as God intends- for creation. ![]() Within the created universe, God is present in relationship with his creatures and especially with people. The created universe that God brings into existence then provides the material of human work-space, time, matter and energy. God is not dreaming an illusion but creating a reality. Genesis is incomparably significant for the theology of work because it tells the story of God’s work of creation, the first work of all and the prototype for all work that follows. Any discussion of work in biblical perspective eventually finds itself grounded on passages in this book. The book of Genesis is the foundation for the theology of work. Introduction to Genesis 1-11 Back to Table of Contents Back to Table of Contents Learning From the Psalms How to Pray Through Your Work.Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership. ![]() Evangelism - Sharing the Gospel at Work.10 Key Points About Work in the Bible Every Christian Should Know. ![]()
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