Our World

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Revelation 4:11

Evolution is Religion—Not Science

The Bible has crucial things to say...
...on the origin and diversity of living things
...on 'life' issues and the nature of man
...and the environment
Biblical guidelines on these and related matters are of supreme relevance to Christians, science and society today.

Genesis

Genesis is the book of beginnings. It records not only the beginning of all the heavens and the earth, and of plants, animals, and human life, but also of all human institutions and relationships. Typically, it speaks of the new birth, the new creation, where all was chaos and ruin.

With Genesis begins also that progressive self-revelation of God which culminates in Christ. The three primary names of Deity, Elohim, Jehovah, and Adonai, and the five most important of the compound names, occur in Genesis; and that in an ordered progression which could not be changed without confusion.

The Original Creation.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Elohim (sometimes El or Elah), English form "God", the first of the three primary names of Deity, is a non-plural noun formed from El = strength, or the strong one, and Alah, to swear, to bind oneself by an oath, so implying faithfulness.

But three creative acts of God are recorded in this chapter: (1) the heavens and earth, v.1; (2) animal life, v. 21; and (3) human life, vs. 26, 27. The first creative act refers to the dateless past, and gives scope for all the geologic ages.

Earth made waste and empty by judgment (Jeremiah 4:23-26).

Genesis 1:2

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Jeremiah 4:23-26, Isaiah 24:1 and 45:18, clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as a result of a divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting intimations which connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels. See Ezekiel 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:9-14, which certainly go beyond the kings of Tyre and Babylon.

The new beginning - the first day: light diffused.

Genesis 1:3

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Neither here nor in verses 14-18 is an original creative act implied. A different word is used. The sense is, made to appear; made visible. The sun and moon were created "in the beginning." The "light" of course came from the sun, but the vapor diffused the light. Later the sun appeared in an unclouded sky.

Genesis 1:4

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:5

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The word "day" is used in Scripture in three ways: (1) that part of the solar day of twenty-four hours which is light (Genesis 1:5, 14; John 9:4; 11:9); (2) such a day, set apart for some distinctive purpose, as, "day of atonement" (Leviticus 23:27); "day of judgment" (Matthew 10:15); (3) a period of time, long or short, during which certain revealed purposes of God are to be accomplished, as "day of the Lord".

The use of "evening" and "morning" may be held to limit "day" to the solar day; but the frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant the conclusion that each creative "day" was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending

The second day: vapor above, water below.

Genesis 1:6

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters for the waters.

Genesis 1:7

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Genesis 1:8

And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The third day: land and sea; plant life appears.

Genesis 1:9

And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Genesis 1:10

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:11

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

It is by no means necessary to suppose that the life-germ of seeds perished in the catastrophic judgment which overthrew the primitive order. With the restoration of dry land and light the earth would "bring forth" as described. It was animal life which perished, the traces of which remain as fossils. Relegate fossils to the primitive creation, and no conflict of science with the Genesis cosmogony remains.

Genesis 1:12

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:13

And the evening and the morning were the third day.

The fourth day: the sun, moon, and stars become visible.

Genesis 1:14

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be signs, for seasons, and for days, and years:

Genesis 1:15

And let them be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Genesis 1:16

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Genesis 1:17

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Genesis 1:18

And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:19

And the evening and the morning were the forth day.

The fifth day: the second creative act - animal life. (See Genesis 2:19)

Genesis 1:20

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Genesis 1:21

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

The second clause, "every living creature", as distinguished from fishes merely, is taken up again in verse 24, showing that in the second creative act all animal life is included.

Genesis 1:22

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Genesis 1:23

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

The sixth day: (1) the fecundity of the earth the creative work of the fifth day.

Genesis 1:24

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

"Creature", Hebrew nephesh, translates soul in 2:7 and usually. In itself nephesh, or soul, implies self-conscious life, as distinguished from plants, which have unconscious life. In the sense of self-conscious life animals also have "soul".

Genesis 1:25

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

The sixth day: (2) the creation of man (described in Genesis 2:7, 21-23).

Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl or the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Man. Genesis 1:26-27, gives the general, Genesis 2:7, 21-23, the particular, account of the creation of man. The revealed facts are:

(1) Man was created, not evolved. This is (a) expressly declared, and the declaration is confirmed by Christ (Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6); (b) "an enormous gulf, a divergence practically infinite" between the lowest man and the highest beast, confirms it; (c) the highest beast has no trace of God-consciousness: the religious nature; (d) science and discovery have done nothing to bridge that "gulf".

(2) That man was made in the "image and likeness" of God. This "image" is found chiefly in man's tri-unity, and in his moral nature. Man is "spirit and soul and body" (I Thessalonians 5:23). "Spirit" is part of man which "knows" (I Corinthians 2:11), and which allies him to the spiritual creation and gives him God-consciousness. "Soul" in itself implies self-conscious life, as distinguished from plants, which have unconscious life. In that sense animals also have "soul" (Genesis 1:24). But the "soul" of man has a vaster content than "soul" as applied to beast life. It is the seat of his emotions, desires, affections (Psalm 42:1-6). The "heart" is, in Scripture usage, nearly synonymous with "soul". Because the natural man is, characteristically, the soulual or psychical man, "soul" is often used as synonymous with the individual, e. g. Genesis 12:5. The body, separable from spirit and soul, and susceptible to death, is nevertheless an integral part of man, as the resurrection shows (John 5:28-29: I Corinthians 15:47-50; Revelation 20:11-13). It is the seat of the senses (the means by which the spirit and soul have world-consciousness) and of the fallen Adamic nature (Romans 7:23-24).

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.

The First Dispensation: Innocency (Genesis 1:28-2:13. The First, or Edenic Covenant: conditioned the life of unfallen man.

A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture.

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

The First Dispensation: Innocency. Man was created in innocency, placed in a perfect environment, subjected to an absolutely simple test, and warned of the consequence of disobedience. The woman fell through pride; the man, deliberately (I Timothy 2:14). God restored His sinning creatures, but the dispensation of innocency ended in the judgment of the Expulsion (Genesis 3:24). See for the other dispensations: Conscience (Genesis 3:23); Human Government (Genesis 8:20); Promise (Genesis 12:1); Law (Exodus 19:8); Grace (John 1:17); Kingdom (Ephesians 1:10).

The Edenic Covenant, the first of the eight great covenants of Scripture which condition life and salvation, and about which all Scripture crystallizes, has seven elements. The man and woman in Eden were responsible: (1) To replenish the earth with a new order - man; (2) to subdue the earth for human uses; (3) to have dominion over animal creation; (4) to eat herbs and fruits; (5) to till and keep the garden; (6) to abstain from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; (7) the penalty - death. See for the other seven covenants: Adamic (Genesis 3:15) Noahic (Genesis 9:1); Abrahamic (Genesis 15:18); Mosaic (Exodus 19:25); Palestinian (Deuteronomy 30:3); Davidic (II Samuel 7:16); New (Hebrews 8:8).

Genesis 1:29

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.

Genesis 1:30

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.

Genesis 1:31

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The Sabbath rest of God.

Genesis 2:1

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Genesis 2:2

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which God had created and made.

In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word qodesh is translated sanctify, consecrate, dedicate, and holy. It means, set apart for the service of God.

So there it is, open and easy to read, easy to understand. We don't claim that this is how mankind came to be. He did. God claims it in the words that we repeated above. If one does not like it or wants to dispute it. Speak with Him that makes these claims. He always has an open ear.

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