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October 4, 2020 Divine Liturgy Series, Number 5 By Fr. Alex Miller   Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2   At the beginning of the liturgical new year I began this series of homilies on the divine liturgy by looking at the foundation of who God is and who we are because of him.   We have been working our way through the Genesis account of creation and today we come to the sixth day and the pinnacle and completion of all that God created.   The account of the creation of Adam brings to a conclusion this chronological narrative of how God created all that exists.   The account is immediately followed by a separate explanation of creation that is complementary to it.   Critics of the literal creation story say that these two accounts contradict each other and therefore show that they cannot be trustworthy.   However when understood beneath the lens of scholastic scholarship and the writings of the holy fathers we see that these two accounts are completely compatible and complementary to each other.   So let’s look at the conclusion of the chronological narrative and then move on to the  complementary narrative.   By way of review here are the six days of creation:   Day 1 The heavens and the earth, light, and the invisible angelic world   Day 2 The separation of the waters above the heavens from the waters below the heavens(heavens, firmament, sky, atmosphere)   Day 3 Separation  of the water from the dry land and the bringing forth of vegetation from the dry land.   Day 4 The sun the moon and the stars   Day 5 Fish in the sea and birds in the air   Day 6 Land animals and the creation of man   Then God said let us make man in our image.   In this final day of creation and in this narrative God tells us three specific things about man:   first of all,  that he is created in the image of God    secondly,  that he was created male and female and    thirdly, that he is created to have dominion over all creation.   The final verses of chapter 1 establishes  the fact that all of the vegetation growing on the earth was given for food for man and for all living things and that it was very good.   Chapter 2 of Genesis begins with a description of the seventh day, the day of rest.    And then begins a separate narrative of creation that is not chronological but is more of an overall summary of creation with emphasis on the creation of man and a description of the garden of Eden.   Here the emphasis is not so much on chronology but rather on purpose and function.     Chapter 2 gives us greater detail about the creation of man. The first man Adam was formed from the dust of the earth and “God breathed in his face the breath of life and man became a living soul.”   Then we have a fairly detailed description of a specific part of creation known as the garden of Eden where man would be placed. In this description are listed some rivers that flow from the garden and some of the rivers have names that continue today in contemporary geography, Tigris and Euphrates.   We are told that God placed man in the garden to tend it and we find the admonition to partake of everything in the garden except for one tree, the  tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   Then God said something very important about the nature of man, he said “it is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”   This is where we need to be very careful in how we read this text. The next verse says also God formed out of the ground all the wild animals of the field all the birds of heaven and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them.   Critics read this verse without precision and interpret it  to mean that God created Adam and then created all the animals.   But that is not what it says.   The text is not speaking chronologically but rather generally about creation. It explains that in addition to the creation of Adam, God had  also created the birds and all of the land animals, and he brought them to Adam to see what he would name them.   In other w