Welcome back to our Genesis to Jesus series.

If you’re just joining us, it might feel a little like you’ve jumped into season four of a Netflix series. The characters are established, the plot is unfolding, and it can take a few episodes to work out what’s going on. But before we hit play on this next chapter, there’s actually a more important question to ask:

Genre matters because if you watch The Office thinking it is a documentary, you wouldn’t just miss the jokes - you’d miss the point. You’d misunderstand the awkward silences, the exaggerated characters, the camera glances. You wouldn’t just miss the comedy; you’d miss the meaning - the reason the show was written in the first place.

The same is true when we open the Bible - especially when we open Genesis.

If we read it thinking it is a scientific text book, a devotional or even a moral grab bag, we will miss the point.

Genesis is one of the most debated books in Scripture. Conversations about creation, evolution, gender, identity, and purpose often circle back to its opening chapters. And that’s not accidental.

Beginnings matter.
Origins matter.
Where we come from shapes how we understand why we’re here and where we’re going.

But when modern debates become the lens through which we interpret Scripture, something important is often missed. The biblical authors weren’t primarily trying to give technical explanations to modern questions. They were concerned with giving theological explanations to unpack the meaning of life - not just what exists, but why it exists, and what it reveals about God and our place in his world.

To help us read Genesis well, here are three guiding principles that shape this series.

The Bible isn’t a collection of disconnected texts. It’s one unfolding story, moving forward through history, with Christ at its centre. Not you and me — but Jesus. That’s why this series is called Genesis to Jesus.

Genesis wasn’t written into our 21st-century world. It was written into the world of the Ancient Near East, with different assumptions, symbols, and questions. While it wasn’t written for us, it was written to us. God’s Word is timeless, but it comes to us through history.

And that means reading Scripture requires a certain posture. The philosopher Paul Ricoeur called this a “dispossession of the ego” - a setting aside of our default ways of seeing the world. In biblical language, it’s a kind of dying to self. Letting go of our modern assumptions and bias so we can receive God’s perspective.

That means two things.

First, it’s meant to be read slowly and repeatedly. We live in a world trained to consume information quickly - we speed up podcasts, double-speed videos, and scroll endlessly just to get through content. And that works if all you want is information.

But Scripture isn't only about information in your head - it's about transformation of the heart. And that takes time.

Second, because Scripture is literature - which just means that it's a written text that uses words - how the message is communicated is a key part of what is being communicated. The order of the words matters. The hyperlinks matter. The repetitions matter. Meaning isn’t just carried in the meaning of the words, but the way they are used.

These ancient writers have a unique style of writing that uses repeated images, recurring themes, and carefully structured stories to carry weight and significance. Like a musical motif - the melody stays the same, but the orchestration grows richer as the story unfolds in variations on a theme.

In that sense, Scripture is less like a viral clip and more like a Christopher Nolan film. You don’t just watch it once. You return to it - noticing details you missed, connections you didn’t see, depth you hadn’t yet appreciated. Scripture is designed to be revisited, reflected on, and lived in.

Following Jesus is about walking with him together. The best way to read Scripture is in community!

1. Genesis 4 is written to be meditated on, not skimmed
Genesis 4 isn’t a simple moral story - it’s meditation literature. The text is designed to be read slowly, revisited, and reflected on, revealing deeper layers over time. “Genesis 3 and 4 are mirror stories… the next generation is replaying and intensifying the failure of their parents.” — Tim Mackie (BibleProject)

2. Eve’s words at Cain’s birth may hint at human overreach
When Eve says, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD” (Gen 4:1), the Hebrew word qanah (“to acquire / create”) closely echoes Cain’s name (Qayin). Some scholars suggest Eve’s words carry the sense, “I have created a man” — subtly echoing God’s creative role and foreshadowing humanity’s ongoing struggle to grasp what belongs to God alone. — John Sailhamer

3. Cain’s name echoes forward through his descendants
Cain’s name is likely connected to metalworking, which becomes significant later when his descendant Tubal-Cain is introduced as the ancestor of bronze and iron workers (Gen 4:22). Cain’s identity doesn’t end with him — it shapes the trajectory of his family line.

4. Cain’s offering wasn’t rejected because it lacked blood
Both Cain and Abel bring legitimate offerings. In the Torah, grain offerings are valid expressions of thanksgiving (Lev 2). The text intentionally does not explain why God rejects Cain’s offering — shifting the focus away from the offering itself and onto Cain’s response. The real issue is not what Cain brings, but how he responds when God’s favour doesn’t go where he expects it to.

5. Cain is an insider — not a rebel
Cain worships. Cain obeys. Cain brings an offering. His problem isn’t unbelief — it’s entitlement. He obeys God to secure favour, not to know God.
This places Cain closer to the older brother in Jesus’ parable (Luke 15:11–32) than to a moral outsider. — Tim Keller (via Matt Smethurst)

6. Concentric Zones of Divine Presence in Biblical Sacred Space

"Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden."
- Genesis 4:16