Genesis 1-3

Early World
Creation to 2000 BC
Turquoise
(the color of the Earth viewed from space
115 - According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and
the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound
concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 - The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis,
following the rules of sound interpretation: “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.”

117 - The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of Godʼs plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the
realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

" 1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing
their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christʼs victory and also of
Christian Baptism.

! 2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says,
they were written “for our instruction.”

" 3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of
their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the
heavenly Jerusalem.

118 - A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses: The Letter speaks of deeds;
Allegory to faith;The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.
 Literal Sense

Literal (or historical): We better understand

salvation history by knowing the story itself and the
historical details about the chosen people. In the
story of the Exodus, the literal sense is the actual
crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites and the
drowning of the forces of Pharaoh.
Spiritual Senses
Allegorical
Moral
Anagogical
 Allegorical
How does this relate to Jesus Christ?
Christological (or allegorical): We better understand Christ’s death and
resurrection by relating it to the literal sense. Luke uses the christological
sense when he tells us that Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about his
"exodus" during the Transfiguration (cf. Luke 9:31). As God freed Israel from
Egypt at the Red Sea and honored them as the chosen people, he freed Christ
from the bonds of death and raised him to glory.
 Moral Sense
How does this text fit into my own spiritual growth?
How does it relate to me and my conduct?

Moral (or tropological): We better understand God’s will in our lives by relating
the literal sense to our lives in Christ. In baptism, Christ "drowns" original sin in the
waters.
 Anagogical Sense
How does it relate to the future; or heaven?

Anagogical: We better understand the hope of eternal life to which we are

called. In our own deaths, we hope to be freed definitively from sin and mortality
and raised up in glory. The destruction of death and Hades in the lake of fire
(Rev. 20:14–15) is an anagogical reference to the Exodus.
1909 Pontifical Biblical Commission
Creation of all things by God
at the beginning of time.
The special creation of man.
The formation of the first
woman from man.
The unity of the human race.
The original happiness of our
first parents.
The divine command placed
upon man to prove his
obedience.
 His transgression of that
command at the instigation of
the devil by the serpent.
The fall of our first parents
from the state of innocence.
The promise of a future
redeemer.
 Poetry
Story

Figurative language may have been used.

Mythical figures charged with true

meaning.
 ENCYCLICAL
HUMANI GENERIS
 OF THE HOLY FATHER
PIUS XII

38. Just as in the biological and anthropological sciences, so also in the historical sciences
there are those who boldly transgress the limits and safeguards established by the Church.
In a particular way must be deplored a certain too free interpretation of the historical
books of the Old Testament. Those who favor this system, in order to defend their cause,
wrongly refer to the Letter which was sent not long ago to the Archbishop of Paris by the
Pontifical Commission on Biblical Studies.[13] This letter, in fact, clearly points out that
the first eleven chapters of Genesis, although properly speaking not conforming to the
historical method used by the best Greek and Latin writers or by competent authors of our
time, do nevertheless pertain to history in a true sense, which however must be further
studied and determined by exegetes; the same chapters, (the Letter points out), in simple
and metaphorical language adapted to the mentality of a people but little cultured, both
state the principal truths which are fundamental for our salvation, and also give a popular
description of the origin of the human race and the chosen people. If, however, the ancient
sacred writers have taken anything from popular narrations (and this may be conceded), it
must never be forgotten that they did so with the help of divine inspiration, through which
they were rendered immune from any error in selecting and evaluating those documents.
 ENCYCLICAL
HUMANI GENERIS
 OF THE HOLY FATHER
PIUS XII

39. Therefore, whatever of the popular narrations have been inserted into the Sacred
Scriptures must in no way be considered on a par with myths or other such things,
which are more the product of an extravagant imagination than of that striving for
truth and simplicity which in the Sacred Books, also of the Old Testament, is so
apparent that our ancient sacred writers must be admitted to be clearly superior to
the ancient profane writers.
 Creation of all things by God at the beginning of time.

The special creation of man.

The formation of the first woman from man.

The unity of the human race.

The original happiness of our first parents.

The divine command placed upon man to prove his obedience.

His transgression of that command by the instigation of the devil by the serpent.

The fall of our first parents from the state of innocence.

The promise of a future redeemer.

Col. 1:15   He is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of all
creation; 16 for in him all things
were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or
principalities or authorities — all
things were created through him and
for him. 17 He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 2 He was in
the beginning with God; 3 all things
were made through him, and
without him was not anything made
that was made.
 Day

One longer period of time.

One segment.
Chaos into Cosmos
 Day 1
Time
Day and Night
Day 2
Space
Sky
Sea
Day 3
Life
Vegetation
 Day 4
Sun
Moon
Stars
Rulers of the Day and Night
Day 5
Birds
Fish
 Xnihilo
Bara
Out of nothing
 Day 6
Beasts
Man
Image and likeness
of God
The intellect governed the will.
The will followed wisdom.
The intellect informed the will.
We are created to love.
 Day 7
God rests
Man was not created for the
Sabbath but the Sabbath for
man.
6
 Till
Abad
Work the garden.

Keep
Shamar
Protect the garden.
Preternatural Gifts
Impassibility
(could not suffer)

Immortality
(live forever)

Perfect Integrity
(intellect informs the will)
Concupiscence

tendency to do wrong
Serpent
Nahash
Lucifer
You will not die
Did God say
 Call out to God for help.
Roll up his sleeves and fight.
Silence.
Proto-evengelium
(the first gospel)
Genesis 4-11