Creation account in Genesis 1 and 2
This is about the question prompted by Genesis 1 & 2. What is WELS' explanation of the narrative of creation in regard to the order of creating animals and man? Genesis 1 explains animals were created first. Genesis 2 prompts man first (in verse 7) and again in verse 18. Is this an intentional typo? I feel God wants us to focus on life, he wants us to love life. And the pursuit of knowledge (i.e. creation) is something that can cause more harm than good. I would reach out to my own pastor but I feel embarrassed to cause chaos so directly and out of the blue.
What will be helpful is keeping in mind that Moses presents the six-day creation account in Genesis 1. In the following chapter, in Genesis 2, Moses goes into more detail of the creation of Adam—and then Eve. It is clear from the inspired record that God created animals before he created man.
The closest thing I can come to with a “WELS explanation” is what we state in This We Believe, a statement of belief of our church body:
“1. We believe that the universe, the world, and the human race came into existence in the beginning when God created heaven and earth and all creatures (Genesis 1,2). Further testimony to this event is found in other passages of the Old and New Testaments (for example, Exodus 20:11; Hebrews 11:3). The creation happened in the course of six consecutive days of normal length by the power of God’s almighty word.
“2. We believe that the Bible presents a true, factual, and historical account of creation.”
This link will show you those paragraphs in the context of the statement of belief.