Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath – Genesis 1: 26-31

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

²⁷ So God created humankind in his image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹ God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What to do with this educator’s commentary

This commentary invites you as a teacher to engage with and interpret the passage. Allow the text to speak first. The commentary suggests that you ask yourself various questions that will aid your interpretation. They will help you answer for yourself the question in the last words of the text: ‘what does this mean?’.

This educator’s commentary is not a ‘finished package’. It is for your engagement with the text. You then go on to plan how you enable your students to work with the text.

Both you and your students are the agents of interpretation. The ‘Worlds of the Text’ offer a structure, a conversation between the worlds of the author and the setting of the text; the world of the text; and the world of the reader. In your personal reflection and in your teaching all three worlds should be integrated as they rely on each other.

In your teaching you are encouraged to ask your students to engage with the text in a dialogical way, to explore and interpret it, to share their own interpretation and to listen to that of others before they engage with the way the text might relate to a topic or unit of work being studied.

Structure of the commentary:

The World Behind the Text

The Book of Genesis takes its name from the English translation of the opening word of the book in Hebrew, Be-re’shit, meaning ‘in the beginning’. Genesis is the first of the books in the Jewish Torah, the first five books of the Bible.

It is important to note there are two accounts of the creation of the earth and its inhabitants, and they are very different. Keep them separate in your study, don’t try and make them fit each other. They were written generations apart, by different authors, writing in different literary forms and in completely different circumstances.

It is also important to differentiate the creation accounts from science. Catholics do not believe that Genesis 1 and 2 describe what occurred, rather they say it offers an understanding of why it occurred. In study of either Genesis 1 or 2 remember that their truth lies in what they say about then earth, about creation and about the presence of God in all that exists. Most of all though, they both profess that people, from their very beginning, have found their potential and fulfilment in a relationship with God.

Students may ask if the accounts are true. If by that they mean are they are a scientific explanation of what happened, then no, theya re not true. But truth is more sophisticated that black and white dualism of true/false. The accounts explain an understanding of the world discovered and experienced by the Israelites over time. Genesis presents the truth: about how people have come to know God, find God in creation and depend on God for a sense of meaning. Genesis says, truthfully, that human beings have a particular role in creation, yet at times they fail and fall. Genesis says though that failure is not the end, that God’s goodness will always remain – true.

The placement of Genesis, and the passages found in it, is the deliberate work of an editor, who uses the book as a curtain raiser or prelude for what is to come. Genesis introduces the mighty patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the creator God, who makes a covenant with them. It therefore provides a primeval theological thread linking Israel’s patriarchal history, backwards to the origins of all peoples, and forwards to the Exodus, the promised land and the chosen people.

This passage is attributed to the Priestly (“P”) writers, probably edited during the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE). See also general Introduction to the Pentateuch. The Priestly author(s) wrote at a time when the exile in Babylon had stripped the people pf their connection to God. Believing themselves to be the chosen ones of God, they now found themselves in a foreign land, with people who did not share their beliefs. It was a time of loss, chaos and disbelief. Away from the land God had given them, their place of worship and their religious culture and customs, the people needed to know that god was still in control and that they were still God’s beloved people.

P’s love of structure (lists, repetition, cosmic rhythm) exudes a sense of calm and theological reassurance. The P writers reject Babylonian polytheism by portraying a single, supreme Creator, even subordinating celestial bodies (sun and moon) to the divine will.

Genesis 1 is best understood if as standing strong to assert its own faith and to counter the Babylonian creation account Enuma Elish.

The world of the text

Text & textual features

Genesis 1 is thought to be a hymn, used in Israelite liturgy.

Three features are easily visible in the text, each opf which makes it easy to remember and retell.

1. Repetition. Each day is described in predictable, repetitive ways. God speaks, it happens it is good and the day ends. Notice the goodness of each element of creation.
2. Parallelism. Days 1, 2 and 3 bring creation into existence. Days 4, 5 and 6 fill what has been created. Thus days 1 and 4, 2 and 5, and 3 and 6, run in parallel.
3. Change in the pattern. The creation of humans initiates a distinct change in pattern, making it notable. People are not created like other creatures – rather they are created in the image and likeness of God. This is stated repeatedly – so that the Israelites for whom this was written (and us today) get the very clear message: we are ‘like God’, creative and good.

Genesis 1 serves as a reminder of some basic theological principles:

• There is one God, one source of control, and it is the God that Israel worships.
• God has control over the cosmos, over everyone and everything.
• Israel must trust in God and live in harmony with God.
• P adds a serious tone with the different words that begin vs 26, different to the rest of the days of creation. It is like a heads up that this part of creation is important, it’s the climax. Note the use of plural words coming from the mouth of God. “Let us … our image …  our likeness”. Although there has been much discussion among Scripture scholars over many years regarding this, it does add solemnity and significance. By virtue of being created in God’s image brings with it dignity and responsibility. Human dignity and responsibility are inseparable. Humans are blessed or graced by the love of the creator God.

Literary Structure

The instruction to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, or to ‘subdue and have dominion over’ creation,  is potentially problematic. Read as theological and not biological, it is a call to participate in God’s life-giving creativity and responsibility. Humanity has dominion over the rest of creation; this does not infer a right to exercise exploitation through domination but infers the ancient view where a king ensures the wellbeing of all he rules. Having dominion over all living things and created in God’s image involves the personal element of humanity, to act as a co-creator, not an abuser.

God creates humans in the divine image, male and female together—emphasising equality, dignity, and vocation. God creates with love, and the rhythm of creation culminates here with the declaration that it is “very good.”

Questions for the teacher:

The world in front of the text

Questions for the teacher:

Please reflect on these questions before reading this section and then use the material below to enrich your responsiveness to the text.

Meaning for today/challenges

Recent Catholic theology, particularly Laudato Si’, picks up this theme to assert the order and giftedness of creation, emphasising that all creation flows from love, not chaos (LS, 65–67). This text remains vital in our scientific age: “Do we trust the God who made the universe in this way?” It speaks not in scientific terms but of spiritual truth—that creation is good, purposeful, and trustworthy.

It teaches that we today must live in harmony with the creator God and the cosmos. Catholic teachings align strongly here: Gaudium et Spes and the Catechism affirm that humans are the image of God in freedom, conscience, and communion.

Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si’ reiterated that the dignity granted in Genesis 1 demands a life of care for others and for the environment, rejecting domination and calling for integral ecology and fraternity. The Church draws on the belief in dignity of the human person created in God’s image to promote human rights, pro-life teachings, and ecological transformation.

In the Eucharistic, the “fruit of the earth and work of human hands” symbolises the human participation in divine creation, echoing this Genesis passage. This passage is often read at weddings, during the Easter Vigil, and in various catechetical contexts. It points to themes of covenant, human dignity, and sacred vocation.