Genesis 5:3

As Adam was created in the image of God, so did he beget "in his own likeness, after his image;" that is to say, he transmitted the image of God in which he was created, not in the purity in which it came direct from God, but in the form given to it by his own self-determination, modified and corrupted by sin. The begetting of the son by whom the line was perpetuated (no doubt in every case the first-born), is followed by an account of the number of years that Adam and the other fathers lived after that, by the statement that each one begat (other) sons and daughters, by the number of years that he lived altogether, and lastly, by the assertion ויּמת "and he died." This apparently superfluous announcement is "intended to indicate by its constant recurrence that death reigned from Adam downwards as an unchangeable law (vid., Rom 5:14). But against this background of universal death, the power of life was still more conspicuous. For the man did not die till he had propagated life, so that in the midst of the death of individuals the life of the race was preserved, and the hope of the seed sustained, by which the author of death should be overcome." In the case of one of the fathers indeed, viz., Enoch (Gen 5:21.), life had not only a different issue, but also a different form. Instead of the expression "and he lived," which introduces in every other instance the length of life after the birth of the first-born, we find in the case of Enoch this statement, "he walked with God (Elohim);" and instead of the expression "and he died," the announcement, "and he was not, for God (Elohim) took him." The phrase "walked with God," which is only applied to Enoch and Noah (Gen 6:9), denotes the most confidential intercourse, the closest communion with the personal God, a walking as i…

This chapter is the only authentic history extant of the first age of the world from the creation to the flood, containing (according to the verity of the Hebrew text) 1656 years, as may easily be computed by the ages of the patriarchs, before they begat that son through whom the line went down to Noah. This is one of those which the apostle calls "endless genealogies" (Ti1 1:4), for Christ, who was the end of the Old Testament law, was also the end of the Old Testament genealogies; towards him they looked, and in him they centered. The genealogy here recorded in inserted briefly in the pedigree of our Saviour (Luk 3:36-38), and is of great use to show that Christ was the "seed of the woman" that was promised. We have here an account, I. Concerning Adam (Gen 5:1-5). II. Seth (Gen 5:6-8). III. Enos (Gen 5:9-11). Cainan (Gen 5:12-14). V. Mahalaleel (Gen 5:15-17). VI. Jared (Gen 5:18-20). VII. Enoch (Gen 5:21-24). VIII. Methuselah (Gen 5:25-27). IX. Lamech and his son Noah (Gen 5:28-32). All scripture, being given by inspiration of God, is profitable, though not all alike profitable.

5:3 just like him—in his very image: The image and likeness of God (see note on 1:26) is preserved in human beings despite sin. Adam’s sinful nature was also carried forward (Rom 5:12-14).