What we believe about creation matters for several reasons.  Most importantly,  it reflects one’s position on the authority of God’s Word.  Do we hold man’s theories or the Bible as a higher authority?   We need to understand that the debate about origins is a contrast of worldviews or belief systems – secular or Christian.  It is not a contrast of science versus religion because both require faith.  That’s because our evidence cannot be tested using the traditional scientific method. We interpret historical scientific facts through the lens of our belief system – either through man’s theories and assumptions or through the Word of God.  The Christian’s authoritative lens should be the Word of God.  Creationists are not refuting facts of science, they are providing a better explanation of those facts.

Creation also matters because it has a major impact on our young people. Young people give three main reasons for walking away from the faith.  First they can’t reconcile a loving God of the Bible with all the evil in the world.  This first concern must be answered in light of the origin of evil described in Genesis, chapter 3.  God is not the author of evil, but because He has given man free will, He allows it and orchestrates the circumstances surrounding evil for His good purposes.  The second reason is that they see too many hypocritical Christians.  One should never judge a religion or ideology by its abuses, but this concern should drive those of us who name the name of Christ to be genuine Christians – Christ-like in word and deed.  The third reason young people give for walking away from the faith is that they believe that science has invalidated much of the Bible.  Even in our Christian schools attempts to reconcile evolution with the Bible or promotion of “old earth” creation undermine the veracity of the Bible.  Although God has been systematically removed from most classrooms and humanism has a firm grip on our culture and particularly our public education systems, this third concern can be addressed by true science, which has not invalidated the Bible.  The culmination of all this is that our young people are developing a post-Christian worldview.  As 1 Peter 3:15 says, we must be able to answer their sincere concerns with a Christ-like attitude and sound scientific arguments or we will lose them altogether.

A third reason creation matters is that it anchors the unified narrative of the entire Bible – defining the history of the world and God’s dealings with mankind.  Without creation, the Christian worldview has no foundation. Creation is the first of Ken Ham’s seven “C’s” of history[1] or some scholars’ eight chapters[2] of world history.  Creation in Genesis is the complementary bookend to the consummation of world history defined in the Book of Revelation.

A final reason to take biblical creation as literal history and why it matters is that there are many Bible doctrines (teachings) which are based on the literal creation narrative.  The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in every one of these doctrines.  If we deny the historical events of creation, then we undermine the foundation of these doctrines; their associated pictures of Christ become meaningless.  Listed below are nine fundamental doctrines founded in Genesis and the creation narrative which picture Christ.

Doctrine of Creation: first of all, as the second person of the Trinity, Christ is God and was “with God” at creation – all things were made by Him.  He is the sustaining Creator (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3,14; Colossians 1:16,17).

Doctrine of Life: secondly, we see that God created animal life on days five and six, and human life, made in His image, on day six (Genesis 1:20-26a).  Human life is extremely important to God (Genesis 9:6).  It is sacred.  Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life…the resurrection and the life” (John 14:6, 11:25).  He is the Giver of life.  He gives us both abundant life on earth and eternal life for eternity (1 Corinthians 15:45, John 10:10, 28).

Doctrine of the Domain Mandate: third, at creation God gave Adam (and mankind by extension) dominion over the animals (Genesis 1:28). But this pictures Christ, the Son of Man, having complete dominion over the entire universe because He overcame the curse of sin and death and redeemed us with His blood (1 Peter 1:18,19).  He has a name which is above every name (Philippians 2:9-11) and is the only one worthy to unseal the title deed mentioned in Revelation 5:9.  He is our Kinsman-Redeemer, holding all dominion.

Doctrine of God’s Sovereignty: fourth, as our Creator, God has sovereign authority to set the rules. He gave only one rule to Adam – to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16,17).  But Adam disobeyed (Genesis 3:6) causing huge consequences.  We also are accountable to God as our sovereign Creator.  This is one of the major reasons people hold to evolution and reject a creator God.  They don’t want to be accountable to Him.  God the Father has given Jesus Christ the Son all authority to judge the world (John 5:22, Acts 17:30-31).  Christ is our sovereign Judge.

Doctrine of Marriage: fifth, when God brought Eve to Adam, He established the institution of marriage (Genesis 2:22-24). Throughout scripture, Christ is pictured as the faithful Groom/Husband – to the Church in the New Testament and to Israel in the Old Testament.  When the correct institution of marriage (one male husband and one female wife) is altered, minimized or rejected, this maligns the important relationship of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-28). Christ quoted from Genesis when he described the character of marriage (Matthew 19:4-6).

Doctrine of Sin: sixth, when we look at the important doctrine of sin introduced in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), we see the consequences throughout history.  This important doctrine shows how God is not the author of evil.  But because He has allowed man free will, evil continues unabated in the world through human actions (Romans 5:12). Christ was spotless, without sin, yet He bore the sins of the world (Hebrews 4:15, 9:28a).  He is the sinless Sin-Bearer.

Doctrine of the Gospel: seventh, when God cursed the serpent in the Garden, He gave us the promise of the Gospel, the Good News.  He promised to send the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15, Galatians 4:4) who would defeat Satan – with a fatal head wound.  Jesus, the Messiah/Christ, fulfilled this role as God’s virgin-born only begotten Son (John 3:16), who endured an excruciating yet temporary death (wound to His heel) on the cross.  The fact of a literal physical Adam who brought sin into the world and the fact of Jesus Christ dying a physical death to atone for sin is vital to the entire biblical narrative.

Doctrine of Husband-Wife Roles: eighth, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God judged them differently.  In doing this, He set up the pattern for husband-wife roles. Eve was placed under the authority of Adam and was to be the bearer and primary nurturer of the children (Genesis 3:16).  Adam’s role was to love, lead and provide for his family (Genesis 3:17,19), even though it would be hard.  These roles are underscored in the New Testament (Ephesians 5:22-25, 1 Tim 5:8), but men and woman are one in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Adam was a type of Christ, who is our perfect Servant-Leader example (John 13:15).

Doctrine of God’s Grace: finally, although Adam and Eve had to be ejected from the Garden of Eden, God sacrificed an innocent animal to clothe them (Genesis 3:21).  Here we see the doctrine of God’s grace, His unmerited favor.  The innocent animal represented Christ the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  The fig leaves Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness were inadequate, representing their self-righteousness (Isa 64:6).  But when we become Christians by receiving Christ as savior, we are clothed with Christ’s righteousness (Isa 61:10, Romans 10:3,4).

If we deny these important historical truths and events of creation, these doctrines lose their foundation and we make all these pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ meaningless. That’s what happens when we believe the universe evolved from some Big Bang event billions of years ago. That’s what happens when we relegate the first human beings, Adam and Eve, and the early events of world history to some prehistoric happenings of time and chance.  As Christians, let us honor God by confidently holding to the authoritative historical, grammatical, and literal interpretation of the biblical narrative – creation in particular.  Only then can we pass on to the next generation a strong biblical worldview.

 

[1] Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation.  Ham is CEO of the Answers in Genesis ministry.

[2] Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations, Chosen People, Savior, Church, Restoration.