Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

elation in which he stands and should stand to God. It recognizes Scripture only as its
source, and reads the teachings of human experience in the light of God’s Word.
B. SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF ORIGIN OF MAN.
Scripture offers us a twofold account of the creation of man, the one in Gen. 1:26,27,
and the other in Gen. 2:7,21-23. Higher criticism is of the opinion that the writer of
Genesis pieced together two creation narratives, the first found in Gen. 1:1—2:3, and the
second in Gen. 2:4-25; and that these two are independent and contradictory. Laidlaw in
his work on The Bible Doctrine of Man 1 is willing to admit that the author of Genesis
made use of two sources, but refuses to find here two different accounts of creation. He
very properly denies that in the second chapter we have “a different account of creation,
for the plain reason that it takes no account of the creation at large.” In fact, the
introductory words of the narrative beginning with Gen. 2:4, “These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created,” seen in the light of the
repeated use of the words “these are the generations” in the book of Genesis, point to
the fact that we have something quite different here. The expression invariably points,
not to the origin or beginning of those named, but to their family history. The first
narrative contains the account of the creation of all things in the order in which it
occurred, while the second groups things in their relation to man, without implying
anything respecting the chronological order of man’s appearance in the creative work of
God, and clearly indicates that everything preceding it served to prepare a fit habitation
for man as the king of creation. It shows us how man was situated in God’s creation,
surrounded by the vegetable and animal world, and how he began his history. There are
certain particulars in which the creation of man stands out in distinction from that of
other living beings:
1. MAN’S CREATION WAS PRECEDED BY A SOLEMN DIVINE COUNSEL. Before the inspired
writer records the creation of man, he leads us back, as it were, into the council of God,
acquainting us with the divine decree in the words, “Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness,” Gen. 1:26. The Church has generally interpreted the plural “us” on
the basis of the trinitarian existence of God. Some scholars, however, regard it as a
plural of majesty; others, as a plural of communication, in which God includes the
angels with Himself; and still others, as a plural of self-exhortation. Of these three
suggestions the first is very unlikely, since the plural of majesty originated at a much
later date; the second is impossible, because it would imply that the angels were co-
1 pp. 25f.
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