17 Reasons God Made Man in Gen 1-3

I had my kids go through Genesis 1-3 on their own and find at least 3 reasons why God made man (or woman for the girls) in just those three chapters. They each found about five. It was a good exercise for them. I did it also and came up with seventeen. I’m sure there are more. I’m just amazed at how much you can learn in the first three chapters of the Bible.

1. To reflect the image of God (“Let us make man in our image” 1:26)
2. To be like God (“after our likeness” 1:26)
3. To have dominion (“let them have dominion” 1:26)
4. To be fruitful and multiply (“Be fruitful and multiply” 1:28)
5. To work the land (“and there was no man to work the ground” 2:5)
6. To be a temple of the Holy Spirit (“breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” 2:7)
7. To have eternal life (“The tree of life was in the midst of the garden” 2:9)
8. To obey God’s law (“the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” 2:9)
9. To enjoy good food (“every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” 2:9)
10. To keep or protect (“put him in the garden of Eden to… keep it” 2:15)
11. To have relationships (“It is not good that the man should be alone” 2:18)
12. To exercise authority (“whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name” 2:19)
13. To have and to hold a wife (“man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife” 2:24)
14. To be pure (“the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” 2:25
15. To walk with God (“they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” 3:8)
16. To be the head of the family (“the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” 3:9 – Eve sinned first but God went to Adam first as the head)
17. To be forgiven and clothed with Christ ("the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them" 3:21)