God created humanity in His image and gave them moral obligations to obey His laws and care for creation. He enacted these laws for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and later wrote them on stone tablets. As their Creator, God is entitled to establish moral rules for humanity and hold them responsible for obeying or disobeying these laws. All people are equal in God's sight regardless of differences. Christians should reflect God's love for all people by showing kindness to neighbors of all backgrounds.

1. Lesson 5

2. “And the Lord God commanded the man,
‘You are free to eat from any tree in the
garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for
when you eat from it you will certainly die
” Genesis 2:16-17
Key Text
2

3. “So God created man in His own image; in
the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them” (Genesis 1:27)
“And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being” (Genesis 2:7)
Since we were molded by God’s hands
and we were created in His image…
 God is entitled to enact laws.
 We were given a moral conscience to
distinguish good from evil.
 All men and women are equal before
God.
That means that…
 We are responsible for our
neighbors.
 We are responsible before God.

4. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every
tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall surely die”” (Genesis 2:16-17)
What right has God to enact laws for man?
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us
kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our
God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the
sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:6-7)
Which must be our attitude to
our Creator and Legislator?
The right of creation. The same God that got
His hands dirty when He created Adam is the
One who holds our lives (Psalm 3:5)
Those same hands wrote the Ten
Commandments on tablets of stone; that’s
the moral law that must rule our lives.

5. “Endowed with high mental and
spiritual gifts, Adam and Eve were
made but “little lower than the
angels” (Hebrews 2:7), that they
might not only discern the wonders
of the visible universe, but
comprehend moral responsibilities
and obligations” E.G.W. (“Education”, cp. 1, pg. 20)
“You have made him to have dominion
over the works of Your hands; You have
put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:6)
Which moral obligations do we
have because of being created in
the image of God?
 Obeying the divine laws (Genesis
2:16-17). God gave us the ability to
distinguish good from evil to do so
(Genesis 4:7)
 Looking after everything God
created (Genesis 1:28)

6. Man has been discriminating against people from
different sex, race, social or economic class… since sin
entered the world. Creation eliminates any
discrimination against human beings.

7. “The same agencies that barred men away from Christ eighteen
hundred years ago are at work today. The spirit which built up the
partition wall between Jew and Gentile is still active. Pride and
prejudice have built strong walls of separation between different
classes of men. Christ and His mission have been misrepresen-
ted, and multitudes feel that they are virtually shut away from the
ministry of the gospel.
E.G.W. (The Desire of Ages, cp. 43, pg. 403)
But let them not feel that they
are shut away from Christ.
There are no barriers which
man or Satan can erect but that
faith can penetrate…
Caste is hateful to God. He
ignores everything of this
character. In His sight the souls
of all men are of equal value”

8. What is the reason for loving our neighbors according to
Jesus in Matthew 5:38-48?
“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun
rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the
unjust… Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect” (Matthew 5:45-48)
We are sons and daughters of God;
we are made in His image. Jesus
invites us to imitate our Father and
to reflect His image.
God looks after the men and
women He created, so we are
responsible for the way we treat
our neighbors (and the creation He
left in our care) before Him.

9. Let’s discuss the
next statements:
1. God is entitled to enact
laws for the human
beings.
2. Those laws were given
to Adam and Eve and
God wrote them on
tablets of stone.
3. God created the man
able to distinguish good
from evil.
4. Man is free to choose
between obeying or
disobeying the laws
God enacted.

10. That involves man
being responsible
before God for obeying
or disobeying His laws.
That also involves God
having the right to
judge men and to
punish or reward them
according to their
choices.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books
were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.
And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which
were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12)
“For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no
mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13)

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