) July 31, 2022
Genesis 2:7-17
A New Creation
v.7 …then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Beloved, we were blessed to witness at St. Paul this morning a great miracle—an incredible act of God—whereby He brought someone from death to life! What was the occasion? Someone suffering a heart attack? No. Someone hurt from a great fall? No. Some sort of strange automobile accident? No. Rather, it was a Baptism of a little girl—less than two weeks old. She was baptized with water and the Spirit as God's triune name was poured out upon her—and the devil was driven from her heart. Her sins were washed clean away—and she was granted the gift of faith in Jesus, and made a child, along with every believer, of God's heavenly family. Welcome, dear Stella, to our Christian family!
Some may look at us with skepticism to be talking this way. After all, she's just a tiny baby. She couldn't make a conscious decision. We can't see any evidence of her expressing faith in Christ in any way. Surely, all that really happened was she got her head wet. But this would be to discount the mighty power of God's Holy Word, beloved.
In our text from Genesis 2:7-17, we see Moses take pains to expand upon the creation account given from Genesis 1:1-2:3 in which the creation story is related to us day by day, beginning with Day 1 and the creation of light to Day 7 and the day of God's resting from His work. Yet, here in these verses in Chapter 2, we see a little more of an in-depth look into the pinnacle of God's creation—mankind. And He provides us with the context of the placement of Adam into the Garden, and God's command to Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. More on that in a little bit.
But first, when the creation was still young (this takes place on Day 6, you'll recall), God took some dust of the ground and formed Adam (the first man) much like a potter might shape some clay into a vessel. But the man formed in God's image and likeness was not yet alive. Note that the Lord took special pains with Adam (and later Eve) to fashion them with His own hands, not speaking them into existence as He did everything else in creation. No, with human beings, God took a special interest. After fashioning Adam from the dust of the earth, the Lord "breathed into His nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." A tremendous miracle, indeed!
At first Adam was simply a lump of clay—dead and lifeless. But then the Lord breathed into his face the breath of life—poured life into Adam by breathing out His own life. Then Adam became a living creature—with a rational mind and soul—setting mankind apart from all the rest of God's good creation.
Indeed, Adam (and later Eve) were given work to do by the Lord God. After a beautiful description of the Garden of Eden that God had made for His children to inhabit, Moses records, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." So, Adam had work to do. Sorry, but we human beings are meant for work. We are meant to be good stewards, caretakers of God's creation, over which He has granted us dominion. That means that we treat this world as something that belongs to God, of which we are to be good managers.
So this garden that God has planted is a good place, full of plants for food. Yes, there was work to be done, but it was not onerous. Indeed, it was considered a joy by our first parents. They literally could reach out there hands and pluck food from the trees whenever they were hungry. God gave them but one command in relation to the trees in the garden, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
You who know your Scriptures know the sad story that is to come in Genesis 3. For Adam and Eve are later deceived by the devil into reaching out and eating fruit from this forbidden tree, casting them and all their descendants (including you and me and our children) into the darkness of sin and death. St. Paul writes of this in Romans 3:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As children of Adam and Eve, we each have inherited sin, which has corrupted our nature to be enemies of God and children of His wrath as Paul describes in Ephesians. The sinful nature we have inherited, which we sometimes refer to as the "Old Adam" (a reference to that First Adam – Man who rebelled against God), now leads us to go live our lives in slavery to sin—working as enemies of God—casting off His Word and His works—choosing instead to do what we want, when we want, however we want. We want to be our own gods. We do not desire to be slaves of God. We have eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and we like it! Yet Paul asks in Romans 6:21, "But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death."
That is what our sin gets us, dear friends. Death. And not only physical death and a depositing of our flesh into the ground from which we came, but spiritual death—an everlasting suffering of body and soul in hell for our wicked rebellion against God.
Which then leads us back to the great miracle that took place at St. Paul this morning—Holy Baptism. For God did not desire to leave us in our sinful state—to be swallowed by death forever—but rather He has come to grant us the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus, though sinless, went to the tree of the cross, so that by His cross we might have life. That the sin which took place by one tree in the garden, might be overcome by the tree of the cross in another garden! Jesus' blood poured out on the cross has paid the price for your sin—death! His blood has blotted out every spot, stain, or wrinkle of sin in your life, leaving you holy and blameless in His sight.
For the love of Jesus for His church is profound, as Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25-27, "…Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [that's Baptism, beloved!], so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, that she might holy and without blemish." Jesus' love and forgiveness that He manifested and earned for all people on the cross, is specifically applied to you in your Baptism.
Stella, a child of sinful parents, is herself a natural born sinner. But now in the waters of Baptism, she has been reborn a child of God—born of water and the Word. A miracle took place when the devil was cast out of her heart to make room for the Holy Spirit, who has entered in and made a home for Jesus within her. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we read, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Furthermore, Galatians 3:27 declares, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
So, dear friends, as you have been baptized, you have put on Christ, and now you are a new creation. This is why a white cloth or garment is often worn or given to the newly baptized—to recognize that as they have been baptized—so they are a new creation. They have had the breath of eternal life poured into them through water and the Word by the power of the Spirit—the breath of God! Jesus breathed out His last upon the tree of the cross, in order to breathe into each of you the gift of forgiveness and life, which you have freely received in your Baptism.
This is a miracle even greater than the first act of creation. For not only have we been granted physical life by our loving God, but we have now been given the gift of eternal life—for both body and soul—as the redeeming blood of Jesus has washed us clean of all sin and error. Now may we always look to our Baptism for comfort and peace in this turbulent and broken world. For in Baptism we know that we belong to Christ and have forgiveness and life.
So, dear friends, now may we praise our Lord for all His bountiful gifts, as our Hymn of the Day (LSB #819 st.1) put it: "Sing praise to God, the highest good, The author of creation, The God of love who understood Our need for His salvation. With healing balm our souls He fills And ev'ry faithless murmur stills: To God all praise and glory!" Truly, you baptized children of God are new creations in Christ. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Genesis 2:7-17
A New Creation
v.7 …then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Beloved, we were blessed to witness at St. Paul this morning a great miracle—an incredible act of God—whereby He brought someone from death to life! What was the occasion? Someone suffering a heart attack? No. Someone hurt from a great fall? No. Some sort of strange automobile accident? No. Rather, it was a Baptism of a little girl—less than two weeks old. She was baptized with water and the Spirit as God's triune name was poured out upon her—and the devil was driven from her heart. Her sins were washed clean away—and she was granted the gift of faith in Jesus, and made a child, along with every believer, of God's heavenly family. Welcome, dear Stella, to our Christian family!
Some may look at us with skepticism to be talking this way. After all, she's just a tiny baby. She couldn't make a conscious decision. We can't see any evidence of her expressing faith in Christ in any way. Surely, all that really happened was she got her head wet. But this would be to discount the mighty power of God's Holy Word, beloved.
In our text from Genesis 2:7-17, we see Moses take pains to expand upon the creation account given from Genesis 1:1-2:3 in which the creation story is related to us day by day, beginning with Day 1 and the creation of light to Day 7 and the day of God's resting from His work. Yet, here in these verses in Chapter 2, we see a little more of an in-depth look into the pinnacle of God's creation—mankind. And He provides us with the context of the placement of Adam into the Garden, and God's command to Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. More on that in a little bit.
But first, when the creation was still young (this takes place on Day 6, you'll recall), God took some dust of the ground and formed Adam (the first man) much like a potter might shape some clay into a vessel. But the man formed in God's image and likeness was not yet alive. Note that the Lord took special pains with Adam (and later Eve) to fashion them with His own hands, not speaking them into existence as He did everything else in creation. No, with human beings, God took a special interest. After fashioning Adam from the dust of the earth, the Lord "breathed into His nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." A tremendous miracle, indeed!
At first Adam was simply a lump of clay—dead and lifeless. But then the Lord breathed into his face the breath of life—poured life into Adam by breathing out His own life. Then Adam became a living creature—with a rational mind and soul—setting mankind apart from all the rest of God's good creation.
Indeed, Adam (and later Eve) were given work to do by the Lord God. After a beautiful description of the Garden of Eden that God had made for His children to inhabit, Moses records, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." So, Adam had work to do. Sorry, but we human beings are meant for work. We are meant to be good stewards, caretakers of God's creation, over which He has granted us dominion. That means that we treat this world as something that belongs to God, of which we are to be good managers.
So this garden that God has planted is a good place, full of plants for food. Yes, there was work to be done, but it was not onerous. Indeed, it was considered a joy by our first parents. They literally could reach out there hands and pluck food from the trees whenever they were hungry. God gave them but one command in relation to the trees in the garden, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
You who know your Scriptures know the sad story that is to come in Genesis 3. For Adam and Eve are later deceived by the devil into reaching out and eating fruit from this forbidden tree, casting them and all their descendants (including you and me and our children) into the darkness of sin and death. St. Paul writes of this in Romans 3:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As children of Adam and Eve, we each have inherited sin, which has corrupted our nature to be enemies of God and children of His wrath as Paul describes in Ephesians. The sinful nature we have inherited, which we sometimes refer to as the "Old Adam" (a reference to that First Adam – Man who rebelled against God), now leads us to go live our lives in slavery to sin—working as enemies of God—casting off His Word and His works—choosing instead to do what we want, when we want, however we want. We want to be our own gods. We do not desire to be slaves of God. We have eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and we like it! Yet Paul asks in Romans 6:21, "But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death."
That is what our sin gets us, dear friends. Death. And not only physical death and a depositing of our flesh into the ground from which we came, but spiritual death—an everlasting suffering of body and soul in hell for our wicked rebellion against God.
Which then leads us back to the great miracle that took place at St. Paul this morning—Holy Baptism. For God did not desire to leave us in our sinful state—to be swallowed by death forever—but rather He has come to grant us the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus, though sinless, went to the tree of the cross, so that by His cross we might have life. That the sin which took place by one tree in the garden, might be overcome by the tree of the cross in another garden! Jesus' blood poured out on the cross has paid the price for your sin—death! His blood has blotted out every spot, stain, or wrinkle of sin in your life, leaving you holy and blameless in His sight.
For the love of Jesus for His church is profound, as Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25-27, "…Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [that's Baptism, beloved!], so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, that she might holy and without blemish." Jesus' love and forgiveness that He manifested and earned for all people on the cross, is specifically applied to you in your Baptism.
Stella, a child of sinful parents, is herself a natural born sinner. But now in the waters of Baptism, she has been reborn a child of God—born of water and the Word. A miracle took place when the devil was cast out of her heart to make room for the Holy Spirit, who has entered in and made a home for Jesus within her. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we read, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Furthermore, Galatians 3:27 declares, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
So, dear friends, as you have been baptized, you have put on Christ, and now you are a new creation. This is why a white cloth or garment is often worn or given to the newly baptized—to recognize that as they have been baptized—so they are a new creation. They have had the breath of eternal life poured into them through water and the Word by the power of the Spirit—the breath of God! Jesus breathed out His last upon the tree of the cross, in order to breathe into each of you the gift of forgiveness and life, which you have freely received in your Baptism.
This is a miracle even greater than the first act of creation. For not only have we been granted physical life by our loving God, but we have now been given the gift of eternal life—for both body and soul—as the redeeming blood of Jesus has washed us clean of all sin and error. Now may we always look to our Baptism for comfort and peace in this turbulent and broken world. For in Baptism we know that we belong to Christ and have forgiveness and life.
So, dear friends, now may we praise our Lord for all His bountiful gifts, as our Hymn of the Day (LSB #819 st.1) put it: "Sing praise to God, the highest good, The author of creation, The God of love who understood Our need for His salvation. With healing balm our souls He fills And ev'ry faithless murmur stills: To God all praise and glory!" Truly, you baptized children of God are new creations in Christ. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.