Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 1:26-31
That which is very good is truly good. “Very” comes from the Latin word for truth. “Very good” joins two of the three transcendentals: Truth and Goodness.
In Genesis 1, God beholds his creations. Each time, “He saw that it was good.” Appearances deceive men. Could they deceive God? Could the Creator misapprehend His creations? Surely not, and yet, given man’s disobedience in Genesis 3, perhaps we must ask that question. Where did the serpent come from to beguile Eve? Was the serpent good? Were Adam and Eve good, if they were able to disobey God and then blame others for their disobedience?
On the sixth day, having created man and instructed him, God beholds creation in its entirety: “Everything he had made.” And behold, “It was very good.” Here, then, appearances do not deceive. God’s original apprehensions, and his apprehension of man, are confirmed on the final day of his labors. Truly, it was good.
If we accept the author’s claims of the goodness of creation and their affirmation in verse 31, this must be the premise that undergirds our understanding of Man’s fall. Every law, every story, everything that follows Genesis 1, exists in light of this: everything made by God was good.