I love the first chapters of Genesis. When I was pretty young, I received an illustrated children’s Bible, and I remember reading about Creation and the Garden of Eden over and over. As I got older, I read them with concern because they didn’t align with what I was learning in school about the age of the earth and human evolution. Then, as I became a missionary and was tutored by my Mission President, the stories became precious to me for different reasons.
In my opinion, these two stories are among the most important stories for us to understand. They are discussed not only in these chapters but also in other sacred scriptures and are a foundational part of our temple rites as Latter-day Saints. My three reactions to the stories over my lifetime are a precursor to this post, and one of my scripture rules is that when God tells us something at least three times, we know we need to pay attention. So, pay attention, we shall.
The first step in approaching these scriptures is to identify the genre of scripture we are reading. These two stories are both oral traditions and temple texts. This means not only that they were meticulously repeated for thousands of years, but also that they were likely recited alongside temple rituals and covenant-making.
To make our approach brief and helpful, I plan to approach each of these stories from two perspectives:
- What the story is not saying
- What the story might be trying to say
I think this is a great framework for us, but you’ll notice that in the second one I use the word’might’. This is important because in symbolic texts, what is trying to be said is meant to evolve as we evolve, and so hopefully over your life, you will see new ways to learn something very important from the story.
Creation Story – Genesis 1
What the Story is NOT Saying
To ancient audiences, scientific natural law was completely unknown and unnecessary. No one was concerned about the chemical composition of the world around them or about the scientific processes that made it function. There was no conception of “billions of years,” so the story of Earth’s creation was not meant as a timeline or a scientific recounting of how it all happened.
“Genesis 1 is not intended to answer questions about the material origin of the universe… The creation narrative, like other ancient Near Eastern texts, is about function and purpose — not about mechanism or material origins.”
— John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One
When reading this story, we tend to seek ways to align it with our current scientific understanding, which leads to all kinds of inferences that only make less sense when scrutinized carefully. In fact, thousands of years after the story was first recited and passed down, people realized that it was impossible for the earth to be created in six days, so they proposed that 1 day in God’s time equals 1,000 years on Earth! This kind of thinking doesn’t help us much because it still tries to entertain the idea that the story was meant to give us a scientific recounting, which it most certainly was not.
If we remove the need to merge the story with scientific thinking, then we can engage with the story in a more meaningful way, both because it would have been more in line with what the story’s importance was to the ancients and also because it will help us see why it is still valuable to us, even today.
What the Story Might be Trying to Say
Margaret Baker, a renowned scholar of ancient Israel, has published many books on the Old Testament, and one of her foundational ideas is that the creation story is, in fact, the story of how the Earth was prepared to be a temple for Elohim’s children. A place where function was in place for them to fulfill the measure of their creation, which is to create an opportunity for all of God’s children to learn, progress, and become like Him.
So while the Earth required billions of years to form and has trillions of scientific processes and systems that make it work, the primary purpose of the creation story was to reveal its functions to God’s children as a cosmic temple where they would evolve into exalted beings.
“The Temple was a model of the creation, and the liturgy of the temple preserved the creation. Genesis 1 was not an account of the historical process of creation…”
— Margaret Barker, Creation Theology
Genesis 1 is not written to explain how matter came into existence, but how the world was ordered to function as sacred space where God’s children could live, learn, and progress in His presence. The text assumes material existence and focuses instead on purpose, order, and relationship.
Formless, Empty, Darkness, and the Sea: Non-Order
When Genesis begins, the earth is described as “formless and empty,” covered in darkness and chaotic waters. In the ancient world, this did not mean “nothing existed.” It meant nothing, yet had meaning or purpose. The material world was present, but it was not ordered in relation to humanity or God’s presence.
In ancient Near Eastern thinking, order equals holiness. Chaos is not evil, but it is unsuitable for sacred presence. God’s work in Genesis 1 is the transformation of non-order into sacred, functional space.
Throughout scripture, sacred space is always the place where God’s presence dwells. When God brings order, He makes a space holy—not by removing material things, but by assigning them roles and relationships.
Genesis 1 shows God turning the earth into a cosmic temple, a place where heaven and earth meet and where humanity can interact with Him.
The six days of creation are structured as three days of ordering functions, followed by three days of assigning those functions to participants.
Day 1 & Day 4: Time
- Day 1: God names Day and Night. This is not the creation of light particles, but the establishment of time as an ordered system.
- Day 4: The sun, moon, and stars are given purpose—to govern time for daily life, seasons, and religious festivals.
Function: Time is now meaningful and usable for God’s children.
Day 2 & Day 5: Weather and Life
- Day 2: God organizes the waters—above and below—creating a structured weather system.
- Day 5: Birds and sea creatures are assigned to live within those systems.
Function: Weather becomes a life-giving system, not chaos, and living creatures are sustained by it.
Day 3 & Day 6: Food and Stewardship
- Day 3: Dry land appears, and vegetation is assigned the role of food production.
- Day 6: Animals and humans are placed within this system. Humans, created in God’s image, are given stewardship over plants and animals—but not over time or weather. Those remain divine tools that serve humanity, not the other way around.
Function: The Earth now sustains life and supports moral agency and growth.
God’s Image: More than Just Appearance
To be created in God’s image does not only mean humans look like God physically. In ancient temple language, an “image” represents:
- Role – Acting on behalf of the deity
- Identity – Belonging to God
- Substitution – Representing God’s authority
- Relationship – Living in covenant with Him
Genesis teaches that God ordered the world specifically for beings who bear His image, so they could act as His representatives within sacred space.
Day 7: God’s Rest — The Point of the Story
Day 7 has no matching pair because it is the climax, not an afterthought.
God’s “rest” does not mean He is tired. In temple language, rest means taking up residence. Once everything functions as intended, God moves in.
This is the moment the cosmic temple becomes a home.
A house is material.
A home is functional and relational.
Genesis 1 is not about building a house—it is about God preparing a home where He can dwell with His children and they can grow and evolve to be like Him.
The Fall of Adam and Eve
What the Story is NOT Saying
There is a lot to unpack in what this story is not saying, and so I think listing them out will be a little bit helpful:
- That biological evolution did not occur until Adam and Eve left the Garden.
- Adam and Eve were the only humans on the earth while they lived
- Adam and Eve arrived on the Earth around 6,000 years ago.
- That Eve made a terrible mistake and ruined God’s plan, forcing a change of plans
“I cannot agree with [the] conception that there was no death of plants and animals anywhere upon this earth prior to the transgression of Adam, unless we assume that the history of Adam and Eve in Eden dates back many hundreds of thousands of years. The trouble with some theologians – even including many of our own good people – is that they undertake to fix the date of Adam’s transgression as being approximately 4000 years before the birth of Christ and therefore about 5932 years ago. If Adam was placed upon the earth only that comparatively short time ago, the rocks clearly demonstrate the life and death had been existent and operative in this earth for ages prior to that time.” – Elder James E. Talmage
A quick set of questions in the chapters after Genesis 2-3 can help us recognize this truth.
Whom does Cain marry? How were shepherding (Abel’s role) and farming (Cain’s) already important, since they are roles needed to support large populations? Why did Cain need to get out into the “open countryside” to get Abel alone? After Cain kills Abel, how did he build a “City” with only himself?
The answers to these questions are all simple. Many people were already on the earth when these stories originated. The point of Adam and Eve being first was not about biological firsts but about covenantal firsts. They were God’s children because they made covenants to follow God, and the entire Old Testament goes on to tell us more stories about why covenants matter to the faithful and how they impact those who reject them.
What the Story isTrying to Say
In Genesis 2 and 3, the focus narrows from cosmos to garden, from structure to relationships, from universal order to individual human agency. The divine name shifts to YHWH Elohim—the Lord God—signaling a more intimate, covenantal setting. This is no longer about building sacred space. It is about living within it, and so we can now see this story as a window into the human experience.
In Restoration theology, Adam being called the “first man” is not primarily a chronological claim. As articulated in The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution, Adam and Eve are the first spiritual offspring of heavenly parents to receive divine instruction, enter a covenant, and be taught how to live before God.
This aligns with ancient temple thought. Adam and Eve are:
- Real people who made real choices
- More importantly, archetypes, representing all humanity
Their story is not about human biological evolution, but a different, more important kind of evolution. The evolution of our faith and relationship with God.
Eden: The First Temple
Eden is described as being “eastward,” the traditional orientation of temples. Rivers flow outward, just as life flows outward from sacred centers. God walks and speaks there. Eden is not merely a garden—it is the first temple in which God and His children occupy the same space.
Adam and Eve are placed there as naive and innocent priestly figures. Their charge to “dress and keep” the garden uses language elsewhere associated with priestly service. Sacred space does not maintain itself. It requires faithful stewardship and simple, unquestioning obedience. The innocence of Adam and Eve’s faith allows them to be completely unshamed by their nakedness (which to ancient Israelites would have been scandalous).
We could liken this type of relationship with God to the “Creation” or the beginning of our faith. When our faith is in this state, we see the world in black and white, based on simple precepts and certain obedience.
The Two Trees and the Necessity of Opposition
At the center of the garden stand two trees that pose a dilemma.
The Tree of Life represents:
- The shelter of God’s presence
- Order and fidelity
- Eternal life and Temple communion
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents:
- Moral opposition through knowledge and experience
- The risk of being separated from God forever
- Moral agency that provides the chance to learn and progress to become like God
These trees are not symbols of good versus bad, but of two necessary realities of our existence on earth. Faithfulness and obedience are essential to our relationship with God, but we cannot remain in the shelter of simple faith, as that innocence and naivety prevent us from achieving our divine destiny. However, when our eyes are opened to knowledge, there is a risk that our experiences and knowledge could permanently lead us away from God rather than remaining in the shelter of the garden.
The Fall as a Sacred, Chosen Transition
Adam and Eve’s choice illustrates that, in the end, we all must face the choice of knowing things that make our simple faith seem blind or insufficient. Like the serpent, if we let the “opening of our eyes” lead to bitterness, feelings of betrayal, and skepticism, we will alienate ourselves from God and His believers. There is also the risk that our sins and mistakes can bring us shame, like when Adam and Eve realize they are “naked,” which can cause us to “hide” from God and separate ourselves from Him and the faith we once had.
However, we believe this progression into true agency was a sacred choice by Eve and later by Adam. That engaging in the risks of this conflict is how we progress and eventually experience God’s love in its fullness. In order for that to be true, we have a central figure of this story that is only in the background – available only to those who seek, knock, or ask. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Atonement Provides the Salve to Make a Return to God’s Presence Possible
In our modern temple worship, we are invited to see what Genesis 1–3 only reveal to those who have eyes to see. The story isn’t about how the world, or how mankind began; it is about why we are here, how we are meant to live, and why we need to make covenants with Christ.
When Jesus said, “Here am I, send me,” he did so knowing that his role as Savior would require a sacrifice that would encompass all the sicknesses, pains, and evils for all people and groups who would come to earth. The sacrifice would make it possible for us to enter into covenants with him that usher in the next progression of our faith, which provides the path home to God.
In this third stage of faith, we can grow beyond the skeptical, shameful version symbolized by the Fall of Adam and Eve. It can grow to understand that opposites, when viewed through the lens of atonement, can actually help us learn. This new faith can help us merge the simple faith of our creation with the version of our faith in which our eyes were opened. We realize that obedience is safe and provides us with the strength to face the challenges of our lives. It helps us see others’ mistakes and evils with compassion because we have been redeemed from our own. It helps us to see that we don’t always have to agree with someone to love them. Christ’s atonement, when blended into our faith and knowledge, helps us focus more on reconciliation as our response to the tension that comes from our knowledge and experiences, from our bitterness and our guilt.
Centering our new faith on Christ allows us to engage with the complexities of opposition while still having a simple faith to rely on. It allows us to learn and gain knowledge while still providing a return to the shelter of a God who loves us no matter what.
Jesus Christ is essential to our faith and its evolution.
Conclusion
I want to conclude with a reminder that the ideas in this post are just one way to read and interpret these ancient and important stories. I hope they provide food for thought, a new way to see your own beginnings, or new beginnings. The power of these stories is clear to me in my own life. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, for the faith I have now that helps me blend the knowledge, skepticism, and guilt I have felt from my own experiences with the power, peace, and redemption I have felt from the gospel.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Jewish Study Bible
A gold-standard study Bible that presents the Old Testament (Tanakh) from the Jewish scholarly perspective, with extensive notes, essays, and contextual insights — invaluable for understanding ancient context and covenant themes.
The Hebrew Bible: A Contemporary Introduction
Comprehensive, accessible introductory textbook covering each book of the Old Testament with historical, literary, and theological background — ideal for serious study.
Introduction to the Old Testament (Arnold)
A respected academic introduction that blends textual, historical, and theological insights to help readers engage deeply with the Old Testament.
An Introduction to the Old Testament (Carr)
Another strong scholarly introduction offering clear explanations of the formation, content, and interpretation of the Old Testament.
The Lost Language of Symbolism – By Alonzo L. Gaskill, this book teaches how to recognize and interpret symbolism in scripture and temple contexts — a powerful aid for reading the Old Testament in its own symbolic world.
Highly Recommended Lost World Series (Walton)
These are excellent companions for deepening your study of the Old Testament’s cultural and ancient context. The series doesn’t push one definitive interpretation but helps you read scripture in its ancient Near Eastern context, unlocking interpretive clarity.
- The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority — A great starting point on how ancient texts were produced and transmitted, enhancing how you read all scripture.
- The Lost World of Genesis One — Explores Genesis 1 in its ancient cosmological context.
- The Lost World of Adam and Eve — Offers a perspective on humanity’s beginnings in Genesis 2–3.
- The Lost World of the Torah — Helps modern readers understand the Law as covenant and wisdom literature.
- The Lost World of the Prophets — Clarifies the prophetic books and their messages for ancient Israel.
Podcasts
- Faith Matters Podcast: Encouraging faithful inquiry amid complexity.
- Comeback Podcast: Sharing Stories of those who left the church and came back.
- Unshaken with Jared Halverson: In-depth historical and doctrinal studies for those wrestling with tough questions.
- Leading Saints: Insights into modern leadership and discipleship, often addressing nuanced challenges.
Books
- Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days (Vols. 1–2): Thorough Church history, incorporating modern research.
- Planted by Patrick Q. Mason: A compassionate approach to faith challenges.
- The Crucible of Doubt by Terryl and Fiona Givens: Thoughtful exploration of faith reconstruction.
- Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman: A deeply researched biography reflecting Joseph’s certainty and complexity.
- Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants by Steven C. Harper: A summary of the history and context for each section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Blogs and Articles
- Gospel Essays: Accessible discussions suited for individual and group study.
- Faith Matters: Engages contemporary faith topics with candor.
Gospel Essays 