First Principles

Lesson 2

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:1-5

Genesis 1:1-51 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.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.

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:1-5

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:6-9

Genesis 1:6-96 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.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.

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:6-9

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

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:10-13

Genesis 1:10-1310 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.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.

Lesson Text—Genesis 1:10-13

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.13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Focus Verse—Romans 1:20

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him

from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the

things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;

so that they are without excuse.

Focus Thought

The doctrine of Creation is the

foundation

of all other truth.

I. Creation of Principalities and Powers

Creationism or Evolution: What

difference does it make?Why should it matter to us whether we

arrived on planet Earth via some prolonged evolutionary process or by creation by a supreme Deity? Some might say, “We’re here, so what’s the point?” The difference is twofold: (1) accountability and (2) relationship.

B. A Living SoulFirst is accountability. If there is no

God responsible for creating mankind, then he is morally, practically, and spiritually “off the hook,” unaccountable to any other entity for his conduct and choices in life. This idea belies practical reality and common sense. Without the fundamental principle of accountability, what kind of world would this be? There must be some basic code to govern conduct and actions in life, and all notions of any measure of accountability point to the Scriptures and the Creator

who fashioned us.

B. A Living SoulSecond is relationship. Why are we

here? What is the purpose and what is the meaning in life? Evolution fails to answer these fundamental questions for humankind, but Creation answers them succinctly: we were created by God to have relationship with Him. Everything about life—from how we arrived here to how we depart here—is all about our responsibility toward the Creator and having a relationship with Him, the One who loves us supremely and who is intimately interested in the quality of our lives.

B. A Living SoulSomeone suggested that after

Genesis 1:1, everything else in the Bible is commentary. There might be some truth to this. After reading the statement, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” what else is there to say? From that point forward, the rest of the Bible is the story of what happened in the realm of creation, how God interacted with His creation, and His plans to restore what He created to its original condition.

Contemplating the Topic

B. A Living SoulQuite interesting are the parallels between the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis and the last chapter of the Book of Revelation.

However, Genesis 1:1 is not the only verse in the Bible that refers to God as the Creator of all things. Although the Hebrew Scriptures were given to the people of Israel, Paul pointed out that the Gentiles also received revelation. This general revelation involves what humans can understand about God simply by observing what He has created. (See Romans 1:20.)

Romans 1:20

“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his

eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse”

(Romans 1:20).

B. A Living SoulA person can clearly understand the invisible things of God—his eternal power and Godhead—by considering the things He has made. Creation itself so clearly reveals the eternally powerful God that those who reject Him have no excuse. In his letter to the Romans, Paul referred to the Gentiles who rejected the knowledge of God in spite of the evidence of Him in creation (Romans 1:28).

B. A Living SoulToday, these words have

significance for those who embrace the theory of evolution and reject the idea that God created all things. For a person to accept the idea of evolution requires him either to dismiss or to radically reinterpret the scriptural account, the legitimacy of which many evolutionists discount. Even theistic evolutionists insist that one should not take the biblical account literally in any meaningful sense, and that it is merely poetry or a metaphor.

B. A Living SoulTo reject the biblical account of

Creation is to reject the idea that Creation testifies to the Creator’s eternal power and Godhead. Even apart from scientific arguments against the theory of evolution, this is one more reason believers must reject the theory. It not only minimizes or dismisses what the first two chapters in the Bible have to say about the subject, but it also rejects what Scripture has to say about its revelatory value.

B. A Living SoulIf God did not create all things as the Scripture says, the universe does not declare the glory of God. This notion contradicts not only what Paul wrote, but also the magnificent words of David. (See Psalm 19:1-6.)

Psalm 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth

his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto

night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where

their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the

world. In them hath he seta tabernacle for the sun”

(Psalm 19:1-4).

Psalm 19:5-6 “Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strongman to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the

ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat there of” (Psalm 19:5-

6).

B. A Living SoulAccording to the theory of evolution,

the heavens tell us nothing of the glory of God, and the firmament—the skies—reveals nothing as well. All that is indicated by the vast universe, with its marvelous galaxies and swirling solar systems, is that blind chance has been at work. This we cannot accept. To do so would require us to discard yet another biblical witness to Creation: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things

which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3).

I. Creation of Principalities and PowersCreation of Principalitiesand Powers

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,

visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or

principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).

Searching The Scriptures

A. The Invisible ThingsA. The Invisible Things

The God who was manifest in genuine, authentic human existence, Jesus Christ, is the God who created all things. (See I Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-3, 14; Hebrews 1:2, 8-10.) Creation involved not only the visible things that can be seen by the human eye, but also those things that are invisible. Apparently these visible and invisible components include thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. In other words, there are visible and invisible

thrones, dominions, and powers.

B. A Living SoulIn The Message of Colossians and Philemon, David K. Bernard writes, “Jesus is the Creator of ‘all things,’ whether heavenly or earthly, visible or invisible, spiritual or physical. This verse specifically lists thrones, dominions (lordships), principalities (rulers), and powers (authorities) as originally created by Him. These designations cover all beings or forces, whether now good or evil.”

B. Angels, Spirits, and SoulsB. Angels, Spirits, and Souls

Although it is beyond the scope of this lesson to discuss in detail the various aspects of the invisible realm—especially as it pertains to evil or fallen thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers—we should note that angels are included in this realm as spirit beings. God made “his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7).

B. A Living SoulAlthough angels appear in various biblical accounts, this is apparently due to their ability to appear much like theophanies, which were temporary visible manifestations of God.

The theory of evolution makes no provision for the invisible spirit realm. In other words, the acceptance of evolution truncates reality only to the tangible and leaves no room for angels or invisible thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers—whether good or evil.

B. A Living SoulFurthermore, it renders inaccurate and meaningless the vast number of biblical references to the invisible realm. People of faith should reject such a theory for that reason alone. If angels do not exist, then Gabriel did not appear to Daniel, Zacharias, Mary, or Joseph, which would also mean the story of our Lord’s conception and birth is false.

B. A Living SoulThe foundational accounts of the Incarnation and the plan of redemption would be reduced to nothing more than fiction or, at best, mythical tales using metaphorical language to express something less than the literal meaning.

II. Creation of the World and the Universe

Creation of the World and the Universe

While students of the Bible hold varied understandings of the first chapter of Genesis, it is not the purpose of this lesson to fully explore these views. Instead, we are pointing out the incompatibility between the biblical account of Creation and the theory of evolution.

B. A Living SoulTo do this, we need look no further than the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This statement sets forth two essential elements of biblical faith:

Transparency 2

B. A Living Soul1. There was a beginning. Before God created, nothing existed; when He began creating, the measure of time began. The theory of evolution cannot point to a specific moment of beginning. It can only theorize about something that happened in the unknown past. Furthermore, it cannot answer the question of how something came from nothing. To believe the biblical account certainly requires faith, but to accept the evolutionary hypothesis also requires faith.

B. A Living Soul2. There is a God. Some theistic evolutionists agree that some unknown deity initiated the evolutionary process through which everything that exists to this point came into being. However, this is not the God that the Book of Genesis describes.

The Hebrew verb bara, translated as “created,” is in the perfect tense. Strictly speaking, the Hebrew language does not have tenses, and this would simply be called the perfect.

B. A Living SoulHowever, it is quite common to refer to the perfect and imperfect as tenses. The most common usage of the perfect is to note the completion of the action. The point is that Genesis 1:1 is not about God beginning creation; it is about Creation as completed by God. This will not work with the idea of theistic evolution nor with evolution that rejects the existence of God in favor of the notion that evolution is ongoing.

B. A Living SoulGod’s creative work included the

heavens (the universe) and the Earth, which encompasses the entirety of all material existence. In other words, Genesis 1:1 is a summary statement that precedes the more detailed account beginning in Genesis 1:3.

The phrase “the heaven and the earth” is a figure of speech expressing the totality of the present world. (See Joel 3:15-16.) Thus, nothing exists that God did not create in the beginning.

III. Creation of LifeCreation of Life

Only God can create something from nothing. Even the most optimistic evolutionists recognize that something must exist in order for it to evolve into something else. Is it possible for scientists to create life in a laboratory?

B. A Living SoulOn the website Creation Ministries

International, Dr. Carl Wieland, past president of the Christian Medical Fellowship of South Australia, observes: “When considering how life began, there are really only two alternatives. Either life was created by an intelligent source or it ‘made itself’—i.e. evolved. That’s really what ‘evolution’ is all about—things making themselves, arising spontaneously from within nature—the material world—with no outside assistance.

B. A Living SoulSo if someone were to claim that synthesizing life in a test-tube wipes out the idea of creation, they would in effect be saying, ‘Synthesizing life in a test-tube proves that it evolved.’ Now substitute the italicized words in that phrase with others of identical meaning, and the absurdity of it becomes clear: ‘Using intelligence to make life in a test-tube proves that it made itself and did not arise through intelligence’” (creation.com/creating-life-in-a-test-tube, accessed February 17, 2010).

B. A Living SoulWhatever scientists may eventually be able to do by manipulating preexisting materials, it will not be the creation of life out of nothing as God accomplished in the beginning. God created everything that exists, including the materials that are used for experimentation in scientific laboratories.

A. Plant LifeA. Plant Life

We should note the biblical references to seed and kind: “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” (Genesis 1:12). The New Living Translation makes this very clear: “The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And

God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:12, NLT).

B. A Living SoulThis process of seeds producing after their kind has endured throughout the history of mankind. Although there can be mutations and grafting to develop new strains of plants, this is always within the kind of the original seeds. For example, roses will never become walnuts and horses will never become monkeys.

B. Plant LifeB. Animal Life

Seven times in Genesis 1:21-25 the phrases “after their kind” and “after his kind” appear. As with plant life, the idea is that the animals God created would reproduce their own kind. God commanded, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (Genesis 1:22). Multiplication has to do with reproduction.

B. A Living SoulAcademically qualified scientists who are also believers in the biblical account of Creation point out the importance of the fixity of the species:

The website Reasons states, “The species were specially created by God and began with their distinctive features already intact. We maintain descent with modification is not capable of producing new species regardless of the timeframe.

B. A Living SoulWe would concede speciation might occur with plants and with organisms at the level of microbes—bacteria, protists, fungi and viruses—(i.e., those species that have large population sizes with short generation times) but not to anything above that level. . . . “The fixity of species is what separates special creation from theistic evolution and Darwinian evolution.”

IV. Creation of Man and the Eternal SoulCreation of Man

and the Eternal SoulA. A Living Soul

The materialistic view of origins as set forth by the theory of evolution has no place in the life of faith. Not only does evolution reject the invisible spirit realm, but it also leaves no room for the existence of the human spirit. Evolution reduces human beings simply to the status of material beings without a soul.

B. A Living SoulIn evolution’s view, what is commonly thought of as soul is merely the animating principle inherent in all living things. In his book Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution, John Haught writes, “Darwinian science compels us now to reconsider what we mean by the ‘soul.’” Instead, we must reject the Darwinian view of the soul and recognize that God created mankind with a living soul. (See Genesis 2:7.)

Genesis 2:7

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a

living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

B. A Living SoulThere are different interpretations of

what Scripture says about the immaterial aspect of human existence. Some people believe that a human being is a trichotomy, consisting of body, soul, and spirit as distinct entities. Others believe that a human is a dichotomy, with the terms soul and spirit used as virtual synonyms. Yet another idea is described as conditional monism, with its focus on the integration of the material and immaterial aspects into one being.

B. A Living SoulRegardless of one’s view on this, it is clear in Scripture that human beings have an eternal destiny. In contrast to evolutionary theory, humans are not simply animals that cease to exist when they die. The soul of a person will live on forever somewhere.

B. A Living SoulB. Eternal Destiny

Jesus declared, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29). Paul agreed by saying that he had “hope toward God . . . that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15).

B. A Living SoulThe last chapter of the Bible

indicates that a person’s spiritual condition at the time of the resurrection will be permanent and eternal: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11). Scriptural testimony of mankind’s future is diametrically opposed to the theory of evolution, which ascribes to no resurrection and no life beyond the

grave.

A. A Living SoulJesus promised a wonderful future for those who believe in Him: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

B. A Living SoulAs we await the return of Jesus

Christ, we have the assurance that upon our death we will enjoy the blessings of Paradise. When the thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom, Jesus answered, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

B. A Living SoulBecause Paul knew the certainty of

this promise, he proclaimed to the Philippian church, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). Some Bible students believe Paul wrote of his own experience of being caught up into the third heaven, which he also identified as Paradise. (See II Corinthians 12:1-4.) Perhaps this could be one of the reasons Paul was eager to experience the next world.

B. A Living SoulWe do not know for certain that Paul spoke of his own personal experience or of that of another person in this passage, but we can be confident of its truth regarding eternity.

Paul also wrote about the coming of the Lord to which Jesus had referred. (See I Thessalonians 4:15-17.)

I Thessalonians 4:15-16 “For this we say unto you by the

word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them

which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall

rise first”(I Thessalonians 4:15-16).

I Thessalonians 4:17

“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together

with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we

ever be with the Lord”(I Thessalonians 4:15-17).

B. A Living SoulThe belief that the immaterial part of humans awaits the coming of the Lord in Paradise and that the body will be resurrected along with living believers at the second coming of the Lord is foreign to evolutionary theory, which sees human existence merely ending at death.

B. A Living SoulIt is not only the righteous who will rise from the dead. As we have already seen, the resurrection will include the just and unjust—both those who have done good and those who have done evil. In the Book of Revelation, John described the Great White Throne judgment. (See Revelation 20:11-15.)

Revelation 20:11-13“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away;

and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and

great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another

book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”

(Revelation 20:11-13).

Revelation 20:14-15 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were

in them: and they were judged every man according to their

works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life

was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15).

B. A Living SoulFor the evolutionist, the ideas of

Heaven and Hell are fantasies. According to them, all people—regardless of how they lived their lives—experience the same fate: death followed by extinction. To them, no one experiences an eternal destiny based on how he lived. However, no person can reconcile this theory with biblical eschatology.

B. A Living SoulInternalizing The

MessageAtheistic evolution is at odds with

what the Scriptures say about Creation, the nature of humanity, and human destiny. Although theistic evolution tries to find a way to harmonize the idea of creation by God with evolutionary ideas, it can do so only by dismissing or radically reinterpreting the biblical accounts of Creation.

B. A Living SoulThere are many fully qualified

scientists who reject the theory of evolution in favor of what Scripture says about Creation—that things were created ex nihilo, which is “from or out of nothing” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary). There is nothing about authentic science that requires belief in evolution.

B. A Living SoulThe theory of evolution violates

commonly accepted scientific laws like the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics—the Law of Mass-Energy Conservation and the Law of Increasing Entropy, respectively. The first law says that nothing in the universe is now being created or annihilated, and the second law states that everything continues to become less and less organized. These two laws are the exact opposite of the theory of evolution, which promotes the idea that everything is progressing

upwards.

B. A Living SoulNot only is evolutionary theory

contrary to the creation account of Scripture, but it also denies what the Bible says about the invisible realm, including angels and spirits, the immaterial aspect of human existence, and life after death. Bible students may not all agree precisely on the interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis; however, any interpretation that proposes God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing at a specific time is irreconcilable with the theory of evolution.

B. A Living SoulSince the theory of evolution is accepted by faith rather than hard evidence, it is in a very real sense a religion of itself. For those of us who believe the Bible, the choice is clear. We accept the Bible’s account of creation as true and reject as false those notions that question or dismiss its witness. Without question, God created from nothing everything that exists.