Gen 1: A good creation, and the creation of mankind

• v1-2: Describes the work of creation, and describes God as Spirit. We can assume that the heavens were created before the earth, but God decides to only tell us about how the earth, in its literal and material form was created. Through creation, we see great variety, great beauty, great exactness and accuracy, great power, great order, and great mysteries, which all reflect back on God's nature and character.
  
• v3-5: God said...and there was. The power of His Word is such that it can call things into being, and can bring life into a world devoid of one. Into darkness He speaks light; into chaos He speaks order. The division of light and darkness on earth reminds us that this is a world of opposing forces - peace and trouble, joy and sorrow. In heaven there is perfect and perpetual light and no darkness; in hell, utter darkness.
• v6-25: God provided all good things before creating Man, so that Man lacked nothing from the beginning
• v26: "Let us make man in our image" - The plurality of God and the Trinity is already evident from the beginning. Man was made last: God's order in creation was methodical. The 'separations' on the first three days creates 'spaces' which God then fills, with organisms of increasing complexity. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him.
  
• v26-7: of all creation, only man and woman are described as bein made in God's likeness. It sets us apart from the animals and establishes us in a special relationship with God. The likeness is so part of human nature that humanity's subsequent downfall did not destroy it. While it has been tarnished, people are still able to reason, be moral, can dream, imagine and take responsibility. Our likeness in God is our soul and spirit, our place and dominion on this earth, and before the Fall, purity.
• God made Man male and female, and
  
• Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28)
• v29-30: notice that before the fall, God gave man and every animal every green plant for food. While there was still perfection, there was to be no bloodshed.
• v31: God's six 'days' of work, followed by a 'day' of rest, sets the pattern for us now. Before He rested, however, He reviewed all that He had made, and only then declared creation 'very good'.