Is Genesis relevant today?
When Jesus was asked about divorce in Matthew 19:3-6 he replies with the line “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ a reference back to Genesis 1:27, how much more relevant can you make Genesis, the foundation of marriage being between one man and one woman is based on Genesis.
How many other references are there to Genesis?
The table below might help, it is part of Appendix 4 taken from “The Genesis Record” and should give you a start on places to look in the NT that refer back to Genesis 1-11.
| APPENDIX 4 | |||
| Quotations from or Allusions to Genesis in the New Testament | |||
| Reference Number | Genesis Reference | Topic | New Testament Reference |
| 1 | 1:1 | God in the beginning | John 1:1 |
| 2 | 1:1 | Beginning of the world | II Timothy 1:9 |
| 3 | 1:1 | Beginning of the world | Titus 1:2 |
| 4 | 1:1 | Creation of universe | Hebrews 11:3 |
| 5 | 1:1 | Earth and heaven in the beginning | Hebrews 1:10 |
| 6 | 1:3-5 | Light out of darkness | II Corinthians 4:6 |
| 7 | 1:5-7 | Earth out of water and in water | II Peter 3:4-5 |
| 8 | 1:11 | Every seed his own body | I Corinthians 15:38-39 |
| 9 | 1:11-12 | Earth bringing forth herbs | Hebrews 6:7 |
| 10 | 1:26-27 | Made male and female | Mark 10:6-7 |
| 11 | 1:26-27 | Made in image of God | Colossians 3:10 |
| 12 | 1:27 | In the image of God | I Corinthians 11:7 |
| 13 | 1:29-31 | All creatures good | I Timothy 4:4 |
| 14 | 1:31 | All things made by God | Acts 17:24 |
| 15 | 2:1 | All that in them is | Acts 14:15 |
| 16 | 2:1 | All things created in heaven and earth | Revelation 10:6 |
| 17 | 2:1 | First heaven and first earth | Revelation 21:1 |
| 18 | 2:1-3 | All things created | Colossians 1:16 |
| 19 | 2:1 | Works finished | Hebrews 4:3 |
| 20 | 2:2 | Rest on the seventh day | Hebrews 4:4 |
| 21 | 2:3 | Ceased from His works | Hebrews 4:10 |
| 22 | 2:3 | Created all things | Ephesians 3:9 |
| 23 | 2:3 | World made by Him | John 1:10 |
| 24 | 2:3 | Created all things | Revelation 4:11 |
| 25 | 2:4 | Creation which God created | Mark 13:19 |
| 26 | 2:4 | He that made heaven and earth | Revelation 14:7 |
| 27 | 2:4-6 | Things that were made | Romans 1:20 |
| 28 | 2:7 | Adam a living soul | I Corinthians 15:45 |
| 29 | 2:7 | Man formed | I Timothy 2:13 |
| 30 | 2:9 | Tree of life in paradise | Revelation 2:7 |
| 31 | 2:9 | Fruit of tree of life | Revelation 22:14 |
| 32 | 2:17 | Death by sin | Romans 5:12 |
| 33 | 2:18 | Woman for the man | I Corinthians 11:9 |
| 34 | 2:22 | Woman of the man | I Corinthians 11:8 |
| 35 | 2:23 | Bone of his bone | Ephesians 5:30 |
| 36 | 2:24 | Leave father and mother | Ephesians 5:31 |
| 37 | 2:24 | One flesh | I Corinthians 6:16 |
| 38 | 2:24 | Cleave to his wife | Matthew 19:5 |
| 39 | 2:24 | One flesh | Mark 10:8 |
| 40 | 3:1 | That old serpent | Revelation 20:2 |
| 41 | 3:1 | Subtlety of serpent | II Corinthians 11:3 |
| 42 | 3:4 | Father of lies | John 8:44 |
| 43 | 3:6 | Woman deceived | I Timothy 2:14 |
| 44 | 3:13 | Serpent beguiled Eve | II Corinthians 11:3 |
| 45 | 3:14 | Devil sinneth from the beginning | I John 3:8 |
| 46 | 3:15 | Made of a woman | Galatians 4:4 |
| 47 | 3:15 | Satan bruised under foot | Romans 16:20 |
| 48 | 3:15 | Enmity with the woman | Revelation 12:13-17 |
| 49 | 3:15 | That old serpent | Revelation 12:9 |
| 50 | 3:15 | Treading on serpents | Luke 10:19 |
| 51 | 3:16 | Saved in child-bearing | I Timothy 2:15 |
| 52 | 3:16 | Woman under obedience | I Corinthians 14:34 |
| 53 | 3:16 | Sorrow in travail | John 16:20 |
| 54 | 3:16 | Man the head of the woman | I Corinthians 11:3 |
| 55 | 3:17 | No more curse | Revelation 22:3 |
| 56 | 3:18 | Thorns and briers | Hebrews 6:8 |
| 57 | 3:18-19 | Bondage of corruption | Romans 8:21-22 |
| 58 | 3:18-19 | No more death, sorrow, pain | Revelation 21:4 |
| 59 | 3:19 | Work for your own bread | II Thessalonians 3:12 |
| 60 | 3:19 | By man came death | I Corinthians 15:21 |
| 61 | 3:20 | Mother of us all | Galatians 4:26 |
| 62 | 3:22 | Fruit of tree of life | Revelation 22:2 |
| 63 | 3:23 | Man from the earth | I Corinthians 15:47 |
| 64 | 4:3-5 | Abel a more excellent sacrifice | Hebrews 11:4 |
| 65 | 4:4 | Righteous Abel | Matthew 23:35 |
| 66 | 4:8 | Cain slew his brother | I John 3:12 |
| 67 | 4:10 | Blood of Abel | Hebrews 12:24 |
| 68 | 4:11 | Blood of Abel | Luke 11:51 |
| 69 | 4:16 | The way of Cain | Jude 11 |
| 70 | 4:26 | Prophets since the world began | Luke 1:70 |
| 71 | 5:1 | Book of the generations | Matthew 1:1 |
| 72 | 5:1 | Similitude of God | James 3:9 |
| 73 | 5:2 | Created male and female | Matthew 19:4 |
| 74 | 5:2 | Beginning of the creation of God | Revelation 3:14 |
| 75 | 5:4 | Death reigned from Adam | Romans 5:14-19 |
| 76 | 5:5 | In Adam all die | I Corinthians 15:22 |
| 77 | 5:3-6 | Adam to Enos | Luke 3:38 |
| 78 | 5:12-21 | Cainan to Methuselah | Luke 3:37 |
| 79 | 5:18 | Enoch, seventh from Adam | Jude 14 |
| 80 | 5:24 | Enoch translated | Hebrews 11: 5 |
| 81 | 5:28-32 | Lamech to Shem | Luke 3:36 |
| 82 | 5:29 | Subjected to curse in hope | Romans 8:20 |
| 83 | 6:2 | Angels that sinned | II Peter 2:4 |
| 84 | 6:3 | Spirit striving with flesh | Galatians 5:17 |
| 85 | 6:4 | Angels left their habitation | Jude 6 |
| 86 | 6:4 | Marrying wives | Luke 17:27 |
| 87 | 6:5 | Days of Noah | Matthew 24:37 |
| 88 | 6:12-13 | The days of Noah | Luke 17:26 |
| 89 | 6:13 | God spared not old world | II Peter 2:5 |
| 90 | 6:14-16 | Ark preparing | I Peter 3:20 |
| 91 | 7:1 | Saving of his house | Hebrews 11:7 |
| 92 | 7:13-16 | Noah entered the ark | Matthew 24:38 |
| 93 | 7:17-18 | The flood came | Matthew 24:39 |
| 94 | 7:19-20 | Overflowed with water | II Peter 3 :6 |
| 95 | 8:21 | Sweet savour | Philippians 4:18 |
| 96 | 8:22 | Fruitful seasons | Acts 14:17 |
| 97 | 9:2 | All things subjected to man | Hebrews 2:7-8 |
| 98 | 9:3 | Everything meat for you | I Timothy 4:3 |
| 99 | 9:4 | Blood not to be eaten | Acts 15:20 |
| 100 | 9:6 | Life for life | Matthew 26:52 |
| 101 | 10:8-11 | Babylon, the mother of abominations | Revelation 17:5 |
| 102 | 10:32 | All nations on face of earth | Acts 17:26 |
| 103 | 11:4-5 | That great city | Revelation 17:18 |
| 104 | 11:10-13 | Shem to Cainan | Luke 3:36 |
| 105 | 11:14-20 | Salah to Serug | Luke 3:35 |
| 106 | 11:22-26 | Nahor to Abraham | Luke 3:34 |
| 107 | 11:31 | Abraham dwelt in Haran | Acts 7:4 |
| Observations | |||
| 1 | The references listed above do not include references to “Israel” as a nation, or to “Judah,” “Benjamin,” and so forth, as tribes, even though such names are first encountered in Genesis. | ||
| 2 | The references listed do not include verses in which there is merely a similarity in wording (e.g., John 2:5 with Genesis 41:55) unless there is evidence that the New Testament writer consciously was incorporating the Genesis phraseology into his own writings. | ||
| 3 | All books of the New Testament except Philemon, II John, and III John contain allusions to Genesis. | ||
| 4 | Of the fifty chapters in Genesis, only seven (chapters 20, 24, 34, 36, 40, 43, 44) are not quoted or cited in the New Testament. | ||
| 5 | More than half of the two hundred New Testament allusions to Genesis are found in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. | ||
| 6 | Sixty-three of the allusions are to the first three chapters of Genesis. | ||
| 7 | Fourteen of the allusions are from the “Flood chapters” ( 6, 7, 8) . | ||
| 8 | Fifty-eight references are related to Abraham. | ||
| 9 | None of the two hundred New Testament references to Genesis are explicitly ascribed to Moses as their author. indicating a probable recognition that he was editor and compiler, rather than author. | ||
| 10 | Twenty-five of the references were directly from Christ Himself (from chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,9, 17,18,19,28, and 31). | ||
| The Genesis Record, A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings | |||
| by Henry M Morris | |||
| © 1976 Baker Books, Grand Rapids, IM, ISBN: 0-8010-6004-4 | |||