Christian readings of Genesis 2, from Justin to Calvin
Says God “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Gen 2:3, BSB). The Lord God warns, “in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die” (2:17). Man and wife “will become one flesh” (2:24).
Justin links 2:17 with “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years”: Adam did not complete a thousand years (Dial. 81). Irenaeus finds it true in several senses: they died the day they ate, becoming death’s debtors; on the sixth day, the day of Christ’s passion; or, as some held, Adam died within the thousand years (Haer. 5.23.2). Theophilus places Paradise on the earth; tilling it meant keeping God’s command (Autol. 2.24). Augustine says the threat of 2:17 “includes whatever of death there is,” of soul and body, even the second death (Civ. 13.12); the soul’s death, when God forsook it, came first (13.15). Marriage, he holds, was instituted before sin, the two called one by their union or by the woman’s origin from the man’s side (Civ. 14.22). Calvin says God blessed the rest so that it “might be held sacred” in all ages, by “the whole human race”; the Law’s later Sabbath precept was peculiar to the Jews, for a season. On 2:17 in Romans see xref.Rom.5.12.Gen.2.17.heb; for Genesis 1, note.historical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31.early-christian-readings.
Uncertain The sense of “in the day” (2:17), the nature of the garden, and how 2:3 bears on later Sabbath law are open; no lean is taken, and these readings do not fix 2:3, 2:17 or 2:24.
Claims
- SaysGen 2:3 says God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; 2:17 warns that in the day the man eats of the tree he will surely die; 2:24 says man and wife will become one flesh.
- UncertainThe sense of “in the day” in Gen 2:17, the nature of the garden, and how 2:3 bears on later Sabbath law are open; no lean, and readings from Justin to Calvin do not fix 2:3, 2:17 or 2:24.
Citations
- BSB public domain Gen 2:3, 17, 24
- Justin, Dial. (ANF 1) public domain Dial. 81 (ANF 1; CCEL anf01.viii.iv.lxxxi), pp. 239–240 (n256–n257); read on the page images; “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years” quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Irenaeus public domain Haer. 5.23.2 (ANF 1; CCEL anf01.ix.vii.xxiv), pp. 551–552 (n568–n569); read on the page images; paraphrased
- ANF public domain ANF 2: Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.24 (trans. Marcus Dods; CCEL anf02.iv.ii.ii.xxiv), read 2026-11-10; paraphrased
- Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Civ. 13.12, 13.15, pp. 250–251 (n273–n274); 14.22, pp. 278–279 (n301–n302) (trans. Dods, NPNF¹ 2; CCEL npnf102.iv.XIII.12, npnf102.iv.XIII.15, npnf102.iv.XIV.22); read on the page images; 13.12 quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis (King, CTS 1847), on Gen 2:3, p. 106 (n115); read on the page image; quoted, otherwise paraphrased
2026-11-10
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