Creation or Evolution?

(Material gathered from the writings of Mark Driscoll, Curt Daniel, & Wayne Grudem)

 

God Created the Universe.

The first verse of the Bible states one of the most important truths in the whole Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the Creator. He is our “Maker” (Isa. 54:5). The universe did not create itself; it was created by God (Psa. 100:3). God has revealed this great truth through the things which are created (Rom. 1). Each member of the Trinity was involved in creation (Gen. 1:1-2, John 1:3).

 

God Created the Universe out of Nothing.

Before creation, God alone existed. When He created the universe, therefore He could create it out of Himself (which the Bible denies) or out of sheer nothingness (which the Bible teaches). He merely spoke it into existence (Gen. 1; Heb. 11:3). This is the power of His word and the word of His power. We say He created all things “ex nihilo”, out of nothing. We cannot comprehend this; there is no adequate analogy in Nature. When an artist paints a picture, he does not really create it as such. God created all things. But not at once. He did it in stages.

 

God Created the Universe in Six Days.

Gen. 1 describes the period of creation as 6 days of “evening and day”. In the Hebrew way of speaking, sundown is the start of a new 24-hour day. While some Christians wonder if these were literal 24-hour periods or symbols of periods of much greater length, we point out several things. First, the Hebrew word YOM almost always means 24-hour days. Also, Gen.1 uses the normal description of evening and daylight markers. Perhaps most conclusive is that the time periods are equal in length – and Man was created on the 6th day. If the first 5 were millions of years old, then Adam would have to have been ancient indeed! Ex. 20:11 says that the 7th day became the pattern for the weekly sabbath.

 

God Created Things on Different Levels.

Gen. 1 describes how God created things from the more simple to the more complex. First He created the raw stuff of the universe; matter, light, energy. Then He created inanimate things. Then plants, animals, and finally Man. There are variations and sub-divisions within these categories, such as gases, sub-atomic particles, amoebas, etc. These levels display God’s “order” (cf. I Cor. 15:39). We might add that Gen. 1 is describing the creation of the natural side of the universe, not the supernatural. God created the angels first, for they were witnesses of the creation of the natural or physical universe (Job 38:4-7). God alone created the universe. The angels may have been messengers or assistants in the work of the natural part, but they were not creators, but created beings.

 

 

Creationism Disproves the Theory of Evolution.

The theory of Evolution is not merely a scientific theory; it has religious overtones and implications for theology. Simply put, it contradicts Gen.1 and is therefore erroneous. It suggests that before a “Big Bang”, there was nothing. Then amorphous gas, space foam, or something like it. Then by mere chance, it developed by itself into the universe and has been growing ever since. That’s not what God says. First, there is no such thing as chance. Second, God created things on several levels at the beginning and in a short period of time. Third, the order of Gen. 1 is different from the order suggested by all Evolutionists. Evolution is just a theory (and unscientific at that) whose main objective is to eliminate God. So-called “Theistic Evolution” is an erroneous attempt to say that God used Evolution in Creation. But this is also unbiblical on many points. 

 

God Ceased Creation After the First Week.

God rested on Day 7. This does not mean He was tired, for God has all power and had no less when He created the universe. He never tires. He ceased Creating, and so has not created any new levels. He began the work of sustaining His creation, which we call providence. Through providence, He keeps His creation in existence, develops it, guides it, and so on. But there are no new acts of creation, except in the spiritual realm. The new birth is called a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Even so, it is not creation out of nothing per se. It simply means that God does not save us by reforming the old man, but forming a new man within us by regeneration.

  

God Sent a Worldwide Flood to Judge Sin.

Sin proliferated at a rapid pace after Adam and Eve. Then there was an invasion of demons in Gen. 6. It got so bad that the cup of its wrath was filled, and God judged the whole world. He started all over, as it were, by flooding the Earth and making it resemble Gen. 1:2. Only 8 humans were spared to start the human race again, but they brought sin with them into the Ark. Two of every kind of animal were brought on the Ark, so God did not begin creation entirely anew as in Gen. 1. This massive Flood covered the whole world and caused enormous changes in the Earth’s landscape and weather, among other things. Thus, the Flood was unique. Such a Flood has never occurred since, nor ever will again. It was the greatest catastrophe since Creation.

 

What does the creation account in Genesis 1-2 reveal about God?

While the facts of creation in Genesis 1-2 are important, at least as important is what those facts reveal about God. As Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:20 declare, creation is a sermon preached by God to us about His attributes and nature. As we read the opening pages of Genesis we see the following aspects of God:

• God is eternal and exists before all of creation, which He made.
• God is independent while the rest of creation is dependent upon Him.
• God is living and life comes solely from Him.
• God is so powerful that He could make creation out of nothing by Himself.
• God is transcendent and separate from His creation.
• God is beautiful and creation reflects His beauty.
• God is orderly and His creation reflects His order and remains orderly until sin brings chaos.
• God is the Creator and all else that exists is His creation.
• God is sovereign and can do exactly as He pleases.
• God is a prophet who brings creation into existence by the sheer power of His word, and perhaps a poet who sings creation into existence.
• God is good as everything He makes He declares good.
• God is personal and because we are made by Him we have personhood, which would not otherwise be possible had we evolved from impersonal matter.
• God is gracious as He blesses His creation, including the man and woman.
• God is a King who rules in dominion over all creation.

Why did God make creation?

The Bible lists a number of reasons for God’s making of creation.

• God made creation to glorify Himself (Psalm 19:1).
• God made creation to show forth His love (Psalm 136).
• God made creation for Himself (Colossians 1:16).
• God made creation to show us His attributes (Romans 1:20).
• God made creation to worship Him (Revelation 4:11).