The Beginning of Creation

The Origins Debate

Key Commitments

God’s Word is true.

Adam and Eve were real historical people.

God created the world out of nothing.

God’s creation was good.

Warnings

God doesn’t expect us to believe untrue things. What nature reveals to be true will harmonize with what the Bible says is true – with allowance for miracles.

Our reasoning abilities are corrupted by sin and weakness

Sin: Wrong motivations corrupt my reasoning

Weakness: Imperfect knowledge and thinking lead to faulty reasoning

Theological history and conservative, Bible-believing scholarship are far from consistent on this issue so arrogance and purity tests are not appropriate.

Theories of Creation

The Problem: The most natural reading of Genesis 1 lends itself to a young earth while the overwhelming concensus of science is an old earth.

There are many options and every single one of them has significant weaknesses.

The Bible’s Teaching on the Age of the Earth is Irrelevant/Wrong

Secularism

Religion-only

The Bible Teaches an Old Earth

Options

Gap

Intermittent-day

Day-age

7 days of speech with millions of years of fulfillment

Garden preparation

Evaluation

Strengths

Maintain the authority of Scripture while reckoning with the concensus of modern science

Weaknesses

Each option has serious exegetical shortcomings

None of these options arise from the text without the pressure to find an old earth in the text

The Bible Does not Teach About the Age of the Earth

The genre of Gen 1 is poetic and is intended to communicate the greatness of creator God without being a factual account

Options

Analogical Day

Framework

Evaluation

There are many markers of historical narrative present in the text. These views account for some of those markers, but ultimately the text reads as narrative prose with the intent to communicate historical ideas – though there are certainly poetic elements.

The Bible Teaches a Young Earth

Options

Young Earth that Appears Young

Young Earth that Appears Old – consistent, mature, man-referenced creation

Evaluation

Young appearance

Though the concensus of science is subject to errors, there are multiple indicators in the fields of geology and astronomy that point towards an old earth.

“Creation science” suffers from a similar weakness to the one it accuses secular science of suffering from – it assumes its conclusion and builds arguments to get there.

Old appearance

A mature creation includes records of events

God’s Work of Creation

Day 1: Light

Genesis 1:3–5 NIV

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Events

“Let there be Light”

It was good

Separated light and darkness

Evening and morning = first day

Observations

Instantaneous act of command and obedience.

God’s Word is so powerful that things that do not exist obey him by existing.

Light without apparent source – the radiance of his glory

Day 2: Sky

Genesis 1:6–8 NIV

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Events

Vault/firmament between the waters to separate water from water

Unclear what this is

Called the vault “sky”

Evening and morning = second day

Only day without declaration of good/beauty

Observation

This is only the first time God’s control over the water is demonstrated. Though he uses land to control the waters in our world – he doesn’t need even that

Day 3: Dry Land and Vegetation

Genesis 1:9–13 NIV

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Events

The water goes from everywhere to specific places

Another separation

He begins the next phase of creation – filling the created world

“According to their various kinds”

It was good

Evening and morning = third day

Observations

Creation is an act of God and is not duplicated by his creation. Reproduction is a lesser reflection of the creative work of God

Day 4: Sun, Moon, and Stars

Genesis 1:14–19 NIV

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Events

Another separation – day and night

Three functions

Separate day and night

Mark the times

Provide light

Evening and morning = fourth day

Observations

Unique to Hebrew theology – these are not gods in any sense. They are not even given names.

Light precedes “the lights” – even in doing their assigned jobs the Sun and Moon are ministerial

Day 5: Fish & Birds

Genesis 1:20–23 NIV

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Events

“Teem” - abundant creation

Great sea creatures, teeming life of the air, teeming life of the sea

According to its kind – reproduction v. creation

Evening and morning – fifth day

Observation

The “great sea creatures” – other cultures gods and enemies of gods were great sea creatures, God creates and controls the gods of other peoples

Day 6: Animals and Man

Genesis 1:24–26 NIV

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 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.”

Events

More reproduction

It was good

Mankind crowns the creation and rules over it

Observations

The creation of humanity gives us the first example of God’s thought process – “let us make”

The creation of man is distinct from every other aspect of creation – “in our image”

Conclusion

By beginning with the creation account, the Bible establishes the absolute authority of God over all things.

There is a contrast between the instantaneous, unquestioning obedience of the laws of nature and the immediate questioning and disobedience of the crown of creation – mankind

God’s authority over creation calls his creation to worship

Psalm 19:1–6 NIV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Psalm 95:1–7 NIV

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,

God’s authority over creation encourages us to rest in his care for us

Job 38:1–11 NIV

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?