Creation

 

Basic Christian Doctrines 16

 

1.   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).

 

2.   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.

 

3.   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.

 

4.   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.

 

5.   There is No Movement Between Created Levels.

The things on each level interract with each other, but there is no climbing the ladder of created levels. For example, a cow may eat grass, but grass does not evolve into cows. Man drinks water, but water remains water and does not evolve into Man. Hence, the idea of Evolution is quite wrong. Rocks don't become dogs, horses don't become humans, humans don't become angels. The New Age Movement, eastern religion and some aspects of Evolution theorize that all things are evolving upward along this ladder of existence, resulting in Godhood. This is very wrong. We were created by God, but not out of God. We were created for God, but not to become God. Reincarnation says we go up and down this ladder, but that too is quite wrong. Of course, there is variation within each level, and some forms become extinct (such as the dodo-bird, dinosaurs, etc).

 

6.   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. 

 

7.   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.

 

8.   Man's Sin Affected the Universe.

 

God created the universe and pronounced it very good. It reflected His glory and was free from sin. The sin of Satan had already occurred in the invisible, non-material supernatural side, but that did not affect the material universe - at least until he successfully led Adam and Eve into sin. This brought a curse on creation (Gen. 3:17, Rom. 8:20-22). This is why there are now storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, droughts, famines, wild animals, plagues, and death. None of these were part of the original creation. The levels of things below Man are incapable of sin, but suffer the consequences of our sin. Incidentally, Gnosticism wrongly said that matter itself is necessarily evil.

 

9.   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.

 

10. God Will One Day Re-Create the Universe.

The Flood was only a partial re-creation. Sin left the Ark and began to multiply again. The material universe was still cursed. God's glory in Nature is still marred by sin and its effects. But not for long. Jesus Christ came to save Man. Some men will be saved. Through that redemption, the curse on creation is lifted. One day, at the Second Coming of Jesus, the effects of the curse will be erased in the "new heavens and the new Earth" (Rev. 21:1, Isa. 65:17, Rom.8:21, Acts 3:21). It will reflect God's glory perfectly, far greater even than in Gen. 1.