DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Genesis 5:1-24 (3/20) 1st
Beyond
Eden-IV ~ The Image Continued: Genesis 5:1-24, especially vss. 1, 2: “...in
the day in which God made Adam; in the image of God He made him; male and
female He made them, and blessed them; and He called his name Adam in the day
in which He made them.” This
Genesis passage is more than a list of descendants. Herein God unveils hope: life is not simply
“poor, nasty, brutish and short”[1]
as Thomas Hobbes or the swaggering Lamech have asserted (vs. 4:23,24). The blessing of God’s image
remains in each person, and the gift of life perseveres even in death. God continues seeking and restoring
those who are well-pleasing in His sight.
The opening verses direct us back to the uniqueness of our common race,
to our being fashioned “in the image of God.” God does not withdraw His blessing from
mankind, despite our expulsion from
One of the wonderful morning prayers to the Holy Trinity reveals the
truth of God’s continuing love for us “while we were still
sinners” (Rom. 5:8): “because of the abundance of Thy goodness and
long suffering, Thou was not wroth with us, slothful and sinful as we are;
neither hast Thou destroyed us in our transgressions, but in Thy compassion
raised us up as we lay in despair, that at dawn we might sing the glories of
Thy Majesty.” What shall we
make of God’s image that He placed within us, revealed fully in Christ
Jesus, and illumined by the Holy Spirit?
The repetitive litany of fathers and firstborns in this chapter, as it
flows from Adam to Enoch, directs us to hope. Note: in maturity each Patriarch fathers
a firstborn. After the
child’s birth, the father lives on for many years and sires other sons
and daughters. God's gift of life
asserts itself against death that mankind sadly introduced. The human race is not consigned to
develop solely from Cain’s lineage of murderous, secular men and women,
an element in man that is devoid of all relationship with God. The Lord appoints another seed in the
stead “of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Gen. 4:25). The world is not given over to Satan and
his human slaves.
The lineage of Seth reveals that our gracious Creator always is the
“fountain of life” (Ps. 35:10). Yes, we are exiled from
In the seventh generation from Adam, the new lineage through Seth
reaches a pinnacle in Enoch, a man “who was well-pleasing to
God” (Gen. 5:22,24).
Undoubtedly, like Seth, he “hoped to call on the Name of the Lord
God” (Gen. 4:26), for he did not taste the bitterness of death. Instead, “God translated
him” directly to heaven (Gen. 5:24).
Enoch, like the Prophet Elijah, was lifted up to the very presence of
God without directly undergoing death.
The fact is reiterated in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “By faith
Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found because
God had taken him; for before he was taken away he had this testimony, that he
pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). By
Thy mercy may we struggle to please Thee!
Enoch foreshadows the hope completed for us in the Resurrection and
Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Despite death, let us look forward in hope and live in such a manner
that we too may be pleasing to God and worthy always to “be with the
Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).
O All-compassionate Word, Who didst translate Enoch from the earth, by his prayers save us who glorify Thee in faith that we too may be found well-pleasing in Thy sight.[4]