Mister Richardson’s
Bible Doctrine Class

Chapter 7: Creation

Thou, even thou, art LORD alone;
thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things therein,
the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all;
and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
- Nehemiah 9:6

A. God created the universe out of nothing.
  1. Bible evidence for creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) - Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3; Acts 17:24; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 90:2.
  2. Creation of the Spiritual Universe - Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:16.
  3. The direct creation of Adam and Eve - Genesis 2:7,23; 1 Corinthians 11:8,9.
  4. The creation of time.
  5. The work of the Son and the Holy Spirit in creation - John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16.
B. Creation is distinct from God yet always dependent on God.
  1. God is transcendent - greater than His creation - Ephesians 4:6.
  2. God is immanent - remaining in His creation - Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3.
  3. Wrong beliefs
C. God created the universe to show His glory.
D. The universe God created was very good.
E. The relationship between Scripture and the findings of modern science.
  1. When all the facts are rightly understood, there will be no final conflict between Scripture and natural science. (see Schaeffer’s No Final Conflict)
  2. Some theories about creation seem clearly inconsistent with the teachings of Scripture.
    • Secular (atheistic) theories
    • Theistic evolution
      1. There is a purpose in God’s work, not randomness - Genesis 1:24.
      2. God’s word brings immediate response - Psalm 33:6.
      3. Plants and animals reproduce after their kind.
      4. God forms all living things - Psalm 139:13; Exodus 4:11; Psalm 104:14.
      5. The special creation of Adam & Eve.
      6. Scientific problems with evolution.
    • Notes on Darwinian evolution.
      1. Current challenges to evolution.
        • Limited variation in breeding.
        • Survival of the fittest is meaningless.
        • Animal organs are too complex.
        • Fossil record is incomplete.
        • Common characteristics do not imply common ancestry.
        • Cannot explain how life began/begins.
        • Cannot explain why the universe exists - Although Science may solve the problem of how the universe began, it cannot answer the question: why does the universe bother to exist? - Stephen Hawking
      2. The destructive influences of evolutionary theory. - Racial superiority, Hitler.
  3. The age of the earth.
    • Gaps in Biblical genealogies?
    • Age of mankind.
    • Did animals die before the fall? Romans 5:12, Genesis 3:17.
    • Dinosaurs?
    • Does 6 days really mean 6 24-hour days? Exodus 20:8.
  4. Other Theories
F. Application

TERMS
Asceticism, creation, deism, dualism, ex nihilo, immanent, intelligent design, macro-evolution, materialism, micro-evolution, natural selection, old earth theory, pantheism, random mutation, theistic evolution, transcendent, transitional types, young earth theory.

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How does the Bible’s description of creation give special significance to the creation of man?
2. Why did God create the universe? Was it necessary that He do so?
3. Why is the theory of theistic evolution inconsistent with Scripture’s teaching on creation?
4. List four scientific arguments against the theory of evolution.

WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
Q7. What are the decrees of God?
A7. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Q8. How doth God execute his decrees?
A8. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Q9. What is the work of creation?
A9. The work of creation is, God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

ARTICLES
Answers In Genesis
Hodge’s Systematic Theology: The Decrees of God, Creation - CCEL
Creationism - Wikipedia
The Cost of an Old Earth - John Byl

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
God and Cosmos: A Christian View of Time, Space, and the Universe - John Byl
Green Eye of the Storm - John Rendle-Short
Darwin on Trial - Phillip E. Johnson
Creation and Change - Douglas Kelly
Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique
Genesis in Space and Time - Francis Schaeffer
The Genesis Flood - Henry Morris

QUOTES
In a world where a miracle-working God is deemed an anachronism, he is replaced by an even greater miracle worker: time or chance. I say these twin miracle workers are greater than God because they produce the same result with so much less, indeed infinitely less, to work with. God is conceived as a self-existent, eternal being who possesses intrinsically the power of being. Such power is a sufficient cause for creation. Time and chance have no being and, consequently, no power. Yet they are able to be so effective as to render God an anachronism.
- R. C. Sproul, Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt against Reason

The course which God followed towards His Church from the very first, was to supplement these common proofs [of creation] by the addition of His Word, as a surer and more direct means of discovering Himself. ...it is necessary to apply to Scripture, in order to learn the sure marks which distinguish God, as Creator of the world, from the whole herd of fictitious gods.
- John Calvin

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