Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Why Genesis is THE FOUNDATION of Your Faith | Biblical Worldview Every Christian Needs | Paul Twiss and Jonny Ardavanis

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Discover why the book of Genesis is absolutely CRITICAL to understanding your identity, purpose, and the entire Bible!In this powerful conversation with Dr. Paul Twiss (Professor at The Master's Seminary), you'll learn:Why Genesis is the "backbone" of all Scripture What it truly means to be made in God's image How sin distorts our role as image bearers The prophetic thread of the coming King from Genesis to Christ Why understanding Genesis transforms how you read the entire Bible How this biblical worldview changes everything about how you liveDr. Twiss breaks down complex theological concepts into practical, life-changing truths that will revolutionize your understanding of:Your identity and purpose as an image bearerThe nature of sin and redemptionChrist as the perfect King and image bearerHow the Gospel fulfills God's original mandateWhether you're a new believer or have been walking with Christ for years, this episode will give you fresh eyes to see the beautiful drama of Scripture unfolding from Genesis to Revelation.

Genesis lays a foundation for the rest of Scripture, the rest of redemptive history. The first five books of the Old Testament, think of that as the skeleton, and the rest of the Bible is adding the flesh, the muscles to that. I would say Genesis is the spine. Genesis gives to us a worldview, a biblical worldview. Yeah, you can't understand who you are unless you understand God's intention for making you in His image. Right. One of the lies that I think a lot of people believe is that they will be most satisfied and happy if they minimize their responsibilities in life.

And nothing could be further from the truth. Because I'm an image bearer and God blessed me specifically by saying, take up responsibility, ruling, exercising dominion over the earth, representing me. That's my fulfillment. I find happiness and joy by moving towards responsibility as an image bearer. You could say like this, when Adam and Eve transgress,

when they sin, it's as if they've become image bearers of themselves. And we're going to be the ones who decide what is good and what's not good. Any sin is a decision, an action, a thought, a word that is refusing to represent God and what He deems to be good. And it is a decision to represent God and what He deems to be good, and it is a decision to represent myself. I'm deciding here what is good.

Welcome to the Dial in Ministries podcast. I'm sitting here with Dr. Paul Twist, who is a professor at the Master Seminary, also a pastor. Is it Bethany Bible Church? That's right. And Thousand Oaks. Paul, so thankful for you and everything that you've done ministerially and the way that you continue to shape and train young men today, as well as your own local congregation.

Thanks for having me. It's a privilege to be here. Well, I'm grateful. You know, one of the things that I want to talk with you about is why understanding the book of Genesis is so critical to our one of the things that I wanna talk with you about is why understanding the book of Genesis is so critical to our understanding of the entirety of scripture, the character of God, the nature of man, who we are, our need for a savior,

and even the story of how this world is moving towards a certain end, a terminus. We find ourselves not at the end of the Bible, but really in the middle of scripture because there's still a drama that's unfolding. And in light of understanding Genesis, that's also gonna determine our understanding of sexuality, of being made in the image of God, of marriage,

all the different things that maybe are ripple effects of the life that we live are grounded here. But maybe just start with, if someone was to ask you, why is understanding the book of Genesis so critical to our understanding of scripture and life as we live it? How would you respond? It's a great question. Genesis lays a foundation for the rest of Scripture, the rest of redemptive history. It gives to us the foundation for key doctrines that we see throughout the Bible that then shape the way that we live.

So if you think of the Torah or the Pentateuch as the skeleton on which the rest of Scripture is built. It's the first five books of the Old Testament. First five books of the Old Testament. Think of that as the skeleton and the rest of the Bible is adding the flesh, the muscles to that. I would say Genesis is the flesh, the muscles to that.

I would say Genesis is the spine. Genesis is the backbone. It's the first book and it introduces us to issues of who God is, issues of creation, issues of personhood and identity, the problem of sin, the idea of salvation, of redemption, all of these things, they get their beginning in the book of Genesis. So it's just so important that we are found there, that we're reading Genesis, that we're understanding what God is communicating to us

through this book in particular, in order that we will grasp more fully and see more clearly the implications for the rest of Scripture. Yeah. Why do you think the book of Genesis has been maybe largely maybe shoved to the peripheral corner of the way that many Christians approach the Word of God today? It's seen, I mean, I think you've mentioned this in one of your sermons I was listening to that the book of Genesis is not just so that we know how old the universe is. And I think that's what many people believe.

Oh, there's something about creation. There's a story about Joseph. And not to say that's not important, but like why is it maybe shoved to the corner of our Christian maybe pursuits? Yeah, I think honestly, because it can be difficult to read. It's Old Testament narrative. That's one genre in the Bible that can be particularly difficult to understand and to draw life application from.

So there are quite honestly some strange stories in Genesis. The Nephilim and, you know, yeah. And so to have an episode, different time. Exactly. Not today, but to have a meaningful quiet time in the book of Genesis, I think is just harder than being in Philippians and memorizing some really encouraging verses there. So perhaps that's one reason why we tend not to give it as much attention as perhaps we should. Yeah, so you maybe, I think you told me

two things kind of beforehand of what Genesis grounds us in, either the understanding or expectation that there's a king coming and you're tracing that through scripture and then what it means for us to be an image bearer. Yeah. Maybe expound on those two things so that, you know, someone would be able to understand why is it just so important. You said understanding personhood. Right. You can't understand who you are unless you understand God's intention for making you in His image. Yeah.

Yeah, so those are just two examples of how Genesis shapes our worldview. Genesis gives to us a worldview, a biblical worldview. So let's talk about, first of all, the idea of image bearing, of purpose, of identity. When God creates Genesis chapter one, the primary focus of that chapter is to set on display the glory of God. Before Genesis 1 talks about issues of creation, it shows us who God is, that He is a glorious, magnificent God who when He speaks, creation obeys exactly in accordance with His command and creation is brought into existence by His Word. And what you see is this wonderful drumbeat throughout Genesis 1 of God speaking and creation being responding and then God sees and that He declares it to be good.

And then you get to day six and the creation of humanity and everything slows down. So that metronome, that drumbeat through Genesis 1, all of a sudden it slows down. And that is an indicator in the narrative that something really significant is about to happen. Specifically, the creation of humanity. And God sets us over and above everything that He's created thus far.

And what we see is this wonderful truth that we are made as his image bearers. What does it mean to be an image bearer of God? If you look at other things being written within that same cultural milieu of the day, what we can infer is that image bearing is primarily a job of representation. So to be an image bearer is first and foremost to be a representative of God. Other cultures

testified to the idea of image bearing and it was always reserved for a king who is on earth to represent his God. And Moses says, and humanity is that we are God's image bearers, we are his representatives on earth. Is it true that we share certain attributes with God? Yes. But that's not actually what's primarily in focus when he says, you're my image bearers. Theologically, it's true that I can love because God is a God of love. But when he says, you're my image bearers. Theologically, it's true that I can love because God is a God of love. But when he says, let us make man in our image, he's saying, let's put humanity on earth

to be our representatives. So our job here, my job description on planet earth is to represent God. Now here's what's fascinating. When God sets us up as image bearers, we then read in the text, God bless them. What is the content of that blessing? How did God bless us specifically as image bearers? The next few words tell us He gave us a mandate to fulfill, which is fill the Earth, have

dominion, subdue it, rule over it. Which in a sense is exactly what we saw God just do in Genesis 1. So God in Genesis 1 is a God who creates order from chaos, he rules over his creation. And then he says, now you're my representatives and I want you to do likewise. Be like me, be my representative and there's blessing in that God blessed them and Gave them this instruction So there are so many implications that come from that one of the lies that I think a lot of people believe is that they will

be most satisfied and happy if they minimize their responsibilities in life. And nothing could be further from the truth. Because I'm an image bearer and God blessed me specifically by saying, take up responsibility, ruling, exercising dominion over the earth, representing me. That's my fulfillment. I find happiness and joy by moving towards responsibility as an image bearer. Now, the specific way in which I do that is going to be different. It's different for you than it is for me because God has put us in different circumstances.

But the point is, as we work out with wisdom and God's grace, what it means to fulfill that mandate, I know fulfillment because of my image bearing role. So what does sin do? Well, sin hinders us in our ability to be image bearers. So let's talk now a little bit about the nature of sin at a fundamental level. And all of this is just the first three chapters of the Bible.

Hey, thanks so much for taking time to listen to this resource. I want to make you aware of a few things before we continue on in this episode. First of all, I want to thank those of you who are monthly supporters that make the production of this content and the ministry that Dial-In does possible. If you sign up today for a monthly gift,

you'll receive a free Dial-in mug on the house. It makes even bad coffee taste good. Secondly, if you haven't already, you can sign up for our thrice weekly devotional, which is a three to five minute devotional read to ground your day in God's word. If you head to our website, dialinministries.org, you can just enter your email and you'll start receiving those on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. Third thing is I just wanna thank those of you who have reached out and offered encouragement regarding my recent book, Consider the Lilies,

Finding Perfect Peace and the Character of God. It's been really neat to see both individuals and church small groups walk through this book, which is essentially a book on the character of God and how it functions as the catalyst to peace and trust in a worried and anxious world. And then just last thing, we are always talking through different ideas for content that would be Lord willing a benefit to you to encourage you to potentially challenge you.

So if you have any ideas for future episodes or for future series, you can drop a comment in the section below. Thanks so much. We then move on in the narrative and we see that Eve sees that the fruit was good. It's pleasing to the eyes. And I think these familiar verses we can skip over so readily and not understand the significance of what's happening there. Consider in Genesis chapter one, all the way through, God sees that it's good. He's not discovering that what he's made is good. That's a declaration that what he's made is good.

But the point is the text says God sees that it's good over and over again. He's the one who's making the judgments as to what is good and not good in His created order. And when we read in the text that Eve sees that it's good, that's an alarm bell. That's a red flag hinting at the reality of Adam and Eve's readiness to take the position of God and start to make judgments for themselves independent of God as to what is good. And that's exactly what happens when they transgress the command that God gave them and they take the fruit.

So again, if we appeal to the cultural context of the day and we try and understand what was this tree and why is God concerned that they wouldn't eat from this tree. It seems that within the garden, the tree at the center is a tree of judgment. It's a tree from which decisions are made. The arbiter of good and evil, the arbiter of understanding in the world is God and God alone. So he says for their good, don't take from the tree. Don't put yourself in my position, acting independent from me. Don't be the one who decides what is good and evil. That's my job.

When they take of the fruit, certainly they're disobeying God. And that's sin. That's an issue. At a fundamental level, what they're disobeying God and that's sin. That's an issue. At a fundamental level, what they're doing is they're setting themselves up as independent arbiters of knowledge. They're deciding independent of the God who created them will decide what's good and what's not good. So now put that in the context of image bearing.

My role on earth as an image bearer is to represent God. You could say like this, when Adam and Eve transgress, when they sin, they are not representing God. They're not fulfilling their role as image bearers. It's as if they've become image bearers of themselves. They're saying we are going to represent ourselves now and we're going to be the ones who decide what is good and what's not good.

So the implications of that, we would say sin in all of its different forms always, always, always has an inward turning reflex at its core. Any sin is a decision, an action, a thought, a word that is refusing to represent God and what He deems to be good. And it is a decision to represent myself. I'm deciding here what is good. That's at the heart of every sin. That's in Genesis chapter three.

And that is consistent throughout the rest of Scripture. So in the light of the problem of sin, we might say, okay, so how are we going to respond to this? What do we do? We failed as image bearers. There's a whole lot we could say, but let's just fast forward all the way to the book of Colossians in the New Testament. And there's a reason why I go there.

When you get to Colossians, it is a letter that is saturated with allusions back to Genesis. One of the things Paul is doing in Colossians back to Genesis. One of the things Paul is doing in Colossians is showing how the gospel is fulfilling the mandate that God originally gave to Adam. So in chapter one, Paul writes to the Christians and he says, I'm so happy, I'm rejoicing of what I hear because the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing throughout the whole world. And that's an allusion back to Genesis one when God said to Adam, you represent me well.

And Paul says the gospel is doing that. And then you might say, well, how is it that the gospel is successfully bearing fruit and filling the world? And then Paul gives the answer in Colossians one, 1 he says because Christ is the image of the invisible God He is the true image bearer who is representing God Perfectly, so the first answer of what we do about the issue of sin understanding that sim is a departure from our Responsibility to represent God faithfully. It's always got this inward turning reflex whereby we're saying, I'm going to represent me instead of God.

If we understand that is what sin is, Colossians 1 and the rest of Scripture teaches us that as we anchor ourselves to Christ, as we're found in Christ by faith, we can now start to represent God faithfully. Yeah. And that's really the, basically the storyline of Genesis after the fall is the anticipation for the Messiah. I mean, you've traced this in your class and in your teachings. Maybe just touching that briefly, like you mentioned in the first three pages of the Bible, the rest of that storyline up until when you read that in Colossians 1.15 is, where is the Messiah?

Where is the Messiah? So maybe just trace the immediacy of that projection throughout the rest of the Old Testament regarding the coming King real quick. So in Genesis 3, as God explains the punishments for their sin, there is hidden in there a promise of coming King. He says there's going to be an individual who's going to fix the problem that you just created. And the promise, it's interesting because he says the seed will have victory over the serpent. Because he gives the promise while speaking to the serpent.

The seed is going to crush your head, but you will bruise his heel. And even as you look at the verbs there, there's a hint that this tension, this battle that God prophesies of is going to be drawn out over a long period of time. So what that does is it sets in motion a search in the book of Genesis and throughout the rest of scripture for the promised individual, the promised seed. And one of the things we understand is that he's going to be a kingly individual.

So even that picture of a victor in battle standing on the head of their enemy is a very regal picture. And that fits with the idea of image bearing because as I said before, in the ancient Near East, in that context, someone who is an image bearer, it was reserved for a king. So what God does in Genesis one is he establishes us as his regal representatives,

his royal representatives on earth. We fail, and then he promises an individual who will be a royal deliverer. And the rest of Genesis is searching for that individual. And that's why when you read the book of Genesis, one of the main themes that permeates through it is a kingly theme. So just think about Abraham, he isn't a king,

and yet strangely he interacts with kings as a peer. Yeah. He interacts with kings as an equal to them. In the covenant that God makes with Abraham, he says kings are going to come from you. When you get to the Joseph narrative, there is this strong regal emphasis. Jacob gives Joseph this coat. The only other place in the rest of scripture where the coat of many colors is mentioned

is in 2 Samuel 13, which is a very kingly context. So Jacob dresses his son like a king and the expectation is through his dreams, he's going to rule over his brothers. And then of course, when he goes down to Egypt, Pharaoh sets him up like a king, a quasi-king ruling over the nation on Pharaoh's behalf. And then you get to Genesis 49 and Jacob is blessing his sons on his deathbed. He blesses Joseph as foremost amongst his brothers, but he says eventually, and he gives this prophecy, Judah is going to rise up and he's going to receive worship, one from the tribe of Judah. And we can go to the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7, that promise is advanced through the house of

David, and then the prophets pick up on that, and then you get to the New Testament and in the gospels, Jesus shows up as the Messiah, that is the Christ, the anointed King who has come to receive worship. Now going back to Genesis 3.15, the promise there that the serpent will bruise his heel, it's a metaphor for suffering. Something's going to happen in this battle. The promised deliverer will win, but it's not going to be without some kind of struggle. And we understand when we go to the gospels, we understand the passion of Christ, His crucifixion, His victory is won through His suffering. So now going back to Colossians, that's one of the reasons all of this filling language

in Colossians goes back to Genesis, fill the earth. But notice one of the things Paul says there, I fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, which is a really strange thing for him to say. Paul is not saying Christ's afflictions are lacking in their atoning worth. And I need to do more to make them sufficient for your salvation. He's not saying that. I understand that Paul is saying Christ's ministry

on earth was limited geographically. God has sent me out as a missionary. I'm filling up in a physical geographical sense where Christ's ministry didn't get to. But again, the point is, as Paul carries on the ministry that Christ began, it is one that is marked by suffering. It's marked by suffering. And so, so much of the New Testament teaches us

this is what it means to be a disciple of Christ. We take up our cross because He took up His. Our sufferings have no atoning value, but that's exactly what it means to follow Him. And that is the way in which God is working out the fruit of the gospel until Christ appears again. That's really helpful. You know, I think even sometimes I say when I'm preaching to my own church, I'll say, hey, when we're looking at the book of Genesis and the narrative portions of it,

it's not like we're looking at Gilgamesh or Beowulf. It's not. This is a narrative. This really happened. And I think even as you've mentioned, like understanding this is so critical to our understanding of the entirety of scripture. And I think sometimes, you know,

I grew up in an expositional environment, which means like my dad, my pastor, my entire life, teaching verse by verse, he's good at it. What you can lose sight of is sometimes the forest for the trees, that there is one story here, you know? And I think that's what's captivating is you're going, hey, God's doing everything for his glory.

It's not just how God made the world, it's displaying and showcasing the majesty and the holiness of God. I think you put it this way in your sermon, what other God speaks and things come into existence. No one, no one can do that. That's Isaiah 46 verse nine, you know, who is like the Lord, you know, in Exodus 15, 11,

no one, majestic and holiness. And so then you see this tracing of the seed and this coming King, which I think is just so exciting when you start to read the Old Testament, because generally speaking, there's a lot of illiteracy as it relates to the storyline of the Old Testament. And you're like, what am I doing over here with this weird and Noah got drunk?

And you don't really know what's happening, but it's highlighting the failures too, of even the most noble of men, like an Abraham, like a Jacob, like an Isaac. And then you're going throughout the entire Old Testament, where is this promised seed, where is this promised king? And that's why, like typically,

even on the Bible reading plan, if I do the Robert Murray McShane plan, you get to the first day of the year and you're confronted with Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And he goes 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the Babylonian exile, 14 generations from the Babylonian exile to Jesus.

And then it says, and here he is, the King of the Jews. That's right. And so I think that kind of like that excitement, you know, I was in the church my whole life and I think there was a certain point where you realize, oh, that, you think about the ways you start a book. You know, the New Testament is the most red piece of literature in human history, right?

And it starts with the genealogy. It doesn't start with it was the best of times, the worst of times, it's not catchy, right? You skip the chapter, typically. You have the tendency because you don't realize, oh wow. See what Matthew is doing there, he's pleading with his Jewish audience to understand the implications of this narrative

within the broader scope of Scripture. And history. And history. And they have the Old Testament. And it's the same for us as Christian readers of the New Testament. See that genealogy as the fulfillment of everything God has been doing that goes all the way back to Genesis. So then, let's just take that single idea and start to apply it to our lives.

And this is where, you know, my heart is so excited as I step back and look at the scope of redemptive history and all these lines that flow throughout the Bible. And as a pastor, I'm thinking, okay, so the so what for the person in the pew, how does this help them live in a way that represents Christ well? So here's just one thing we could say, Christ is the King. And Matthew in particular, he presents Christ with an emphasis on his kingship. And that kingship goes all the way back to Genesis chapter one.

Okay. goes all the way back to Genesis chapter one. Okay? So God set us up on earth as regal representatives to represent God and we failed and Christ does that perfectly. When Christ comes as the King, when the Bible presents Him as the King, we shouldn't think that He is simply the King of Israel, of these people here in the New Testament. The Bible is presenting the King of the cosmos, the King of the universe, that's His kingship. And I think one of our problems is we don't consider

just how much a King He is. He is the King of the universe. So then when, for example, in Matthew 11, Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest. And he says, my burden is light. I just want to understand what is Jesus offering here? Because no one else can say this. Because Jesus is the King of the entire universe, when He gives

commands for us to obey, they are expressions of His love for us. Every command of Christ is an expression of His love for me. And if I can get my life under that command and by God's grace, if I can obey that command, I am aligning my life with the purposes of God in the universe. This is not just a nice piece of advice. This is not just a good teacher saying, you would do well to do this. He's saying, I have the blueprint for the cosmos, right? I sustain everything, all things come together in Christ. And he says, with my understanding and my authority over the universe, let me give you an ethic

by which you can live and trust me. It's gonna be really good for your soul if you obey me. When I think of Christ commands like that, I just wanna run towards them, right? When I look at the Serm that, I just want to run towards them. Right? When I look at the Sermon on the Mount and he says, don't be angry. When I look at the Sermon on the Mount and he teaches me

to be a person of integrity who says what it is that I'm thinking and who does what it is that I say. I mean, integrity, that's a hard thing to be a person of integrity. And I know my flesh and I know the tendency to deviate from Christ's commands. And I can very easily feel that it isn't a light burden. But when I step back and look at the glory of Christ's kingship and just how much of a king he is. And I'm willing to trace that all the way back to Genesis and say, wow, now I want to

run towards those commands because now I start to see them in their proper place as an expression of love for me within the blueprint of the entire cosmos, trusting that as Christians obey Christ in some way through us, through the church, He is moving redemptive history forward. That's exciting. And one day, you know, in Revelation, that king is coming back. And I think even that's like another,

I think J. Max said at one time that a lot of people approach the scripture like the beginning doesn't matter and the end doesn't matter. All you gotta know is a little bit in the middle. And it's, no, there's a story here, the king. And then even reading 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, there's 42 kings in the Old Testament.

Only one of them is described as a man after God's own heart. And that guy failed. And so you're looking for a man, where is this perfect king? He arrives, and to your point, he's slaughtered. And he comes as a suffering servant, and Mark talks about that, and he came to serve and give his life for ransom for many, but when he comes back, he'll come in glory,

because he is the king of the cosmos. And you make that much clearer, and I think there's sometimes a general disinterest in the scripture because people don't, they lose sight of the story. Yeah. You know, it's not just propositional truth. Right.

It's a drama. And R.C. Sproul used to always say that, you know, and I was changed when I heard him say that. And I say it when I preach. That whenever you're looking to scripture, you're not just trying to find the context. And in the ancient Near East, you know, you're trying to find the drama of what's happening here.

Yeah. And that captivated me post-college, just going like, okay, there's a real story. Yeah. So you're talking about finding the drama. And I would simply phrase post-college, going like, okay, there's a real story. So you're talking about finding the drama, and I would simply phrase it as, we're very good at speaking the truth, and we think about the goodness of these things,

and what redemptive history shows me is the beauty of them. So we wanna understand the truth, we understand the goodness or the Christian ethic. It's when you put it in the context of redemptive history, the drama of scripture, that you see the beauty of these things. And that's where my heart just races and I love Christ all the more for who he is and what he's done. Yeah. And I love even that using that terminology of the beauty of scripture, because that's when you're going to be drawn to it. Because sometimes we want to push Bible reading habits on people, and they don't know that this is, it's beautiful.

You know, it's the story God is writing. Scumorious. Yeah, and so even, you know, in our next episode, I want to talk about marriage and why understanding the beauty of Scripture helps us to have an elevated perspective of marriage. It's not just a covenant between a man and a woman. It's the central metaphor in scripture for God with his people.

And in our world today, there's so many aberrations of what God declared to be very good. And so I wanna talk about that more, but Paul, thanks so much for sitting down. Looking forward to chatting more. My pleasure.