How to Teach Genesis to Young People

15/04/24

If you have ever tried to teach Genesis 1–11 to young people, you’ll know this part of Scripture raises more questions than any other: Did God create the world in six literal days and why did God need to rest? Were Adam and Eve real people and did they have belly buttons? Who did their sons marry? Did people really live for hundreds of years? Who were the Nephilim and are their descendants in the NBA? Was there a global or local flood? How did all the animals fit on the ark? Was God really threatened by the tower of Babel?

It is tempting to skip to an easier part of the Bible and leave young people to study these chapters later in life. As adults, they might be polite enough to not ask such difficult questions! But as we shall see, there are good reasons to persevere in teaching Genesis 1–11 to children and teenagers.

Here’s how to tackle these chapters:

1. Consider the Context

Although the Bible was written for us (1 Corinthians 10:11), it was not written to us. That is to say, we are not the author’s original audience. We do not speak his language (Hebrew), nor do we come from the same time and place (the ancient Near East). English translations help us to cross the language barrier, but the cultural distance remains.

We see this cultural distance in the way that Genesis 1–11 critiques and challenges prevailing ancient Near Eastern beliefs. This is obvious when you compare it with Mesopotamian creation and flood stories like Enuma Elish and the Atrahasis Epic—stories that the original Israelite audience was almost certainly familiar with. Such a comparison reveals a series of intentional contrasts. Genesis 1-11 presents one God, not many. Creation is distinct from its creator, rather than continuous with it. Humanity is made with care and dignity, not as slaves to do the labour of the gods. Humanity’s greatest problem is its sinful rebellion against its maker, not being too noisy or populous.

Unlike the original audience, we live in a world that increasingly believes in no god. Since the Enlightenment (17th–18th century Europe), people have been more interested in how our world came to be, rather than why it came to be or who is behind it. This means that Genesis 1–11 may not provide direct answers to all our questions.

2. Consider the Genre

The Bible is composed of a variety of writing styles, each with its own rules and features. Without an appreciation of genre, readers are prone to misinterpret Scripture, or at best confuse what is of primary and secondary importance in the text.

Genesis 1–11 is not a science textbook, modern historiography, or even historical narrative like we find in Genesis 12–50. Rather, these chapters are best read as ‘primeval narrative’—stories from the distant past that make sense of our world. These stories tell us about real events but are told in a figurative style. Tremper Longman (2019) likens the way Genesis 1–11 speaks about the distant past to the way that Revelation speaks about the distant future (pp. 39–40). For example, the new creation is a real future reality, but it is unlikely to be in the form of a cube (Revelation 22:16).

Although real events lie behind Genesis 1–11—God did create the world, humanity did rebel, there was a catastrophic flood—these events are told in a highly symbolic way to serve the author’s purposes. Pressing the details of these stories—like who Cain and Seth married—is not something they were written to answer.

3. Consider the Purpose

The reader who considers the context and the genre of Genesis 1–11 is well-placed to identify its key message. Genesis 1–11 was written to answer the big questions of our existence. Who is God and what is he like? What is God’s relationship to the world? What does it mean to be human and what is our relationship to God? Why is there death and suffering in the world? What is the nature of sin and what is the solution to it?

Here we have arrived at the reason we ought to persevere in teaching Genesis 1–11 to young people. There could hardly be more important questions for children and teenagers to wrestle with as they explore God, themselves, and the world. A biblical, Christian worldview starts with Genesis 1–11.

4. Consider your Audience

I’ve spent most of this article focusing on the challenges of Genesis 1–11 but teaching it to a young audience provides challenges of its own.

On the one hand, young minds struggle with abstract thinking and, depending on age, may not be equipped to reflect on context and genre. This is likely to emerge only in the later years of high school. In most cases, then, context and genre are for the Bible teacher in their preparation and not the young person. They serve as checks and balances to interpretation, even if we don’t end up ‘showing our working’ to a younger audience.

On the other hand, children and teenagers are capable of thinking bigger thoughts than we give them credit for! We ought to aim higher than teaching the superficial (concrete) details of the passage, like merely listing what God made on each of the six days of creation.

Regardless of whether we are teaching preschoolers or university students, the purpose of our teaching ought to align with the author’s purpose in writing. In the case of Genesis 1–11, this means thinking big thoughts about the sovereign creator God, the specialness of humanity, the universal problem of sin, and God’s commitment to act in justice and mercy towards his creation.

Andrew Spalding is Academic Dean and Lecturer in Old Testament at Youthworks College

References:

Longman, T., III. (2019). Confronting Old Testament Controversies: Pressing Questions about Evolution, Sexuality, History, and Violence. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.