One of the great issues facing the Christian Church today has to do with the arguments between creation and evolution. Ever since Charles Darwin published his ideas in his book, On The Origin Of Species, in 1859, the story of creation as recorded in the book of Genesis is bein...
“One of the great issues facing the Christian Church today has to do with the arguments between creation and evolution.”
Begin Here
Original Lesson Introduction
One of the great issues facing the Christian Church today has to do with the arguments between creation and evolution. Ever since Charles Darwin published his ideas in his book, On The Origin Of Species, in 1859, the story of creation as recorded in the book of Genesis is being challenged, even within the Church.
This controversy is more than a scientific problem and definitively affects our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why is this so? Because, according to the good news of salvation, when Christ comes the second time to take the believers to heaven, the dead in Christ will be raised instantly with perfect glorified bodies (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
This truth flies in the face of what evolution teaches. If it took millions of years for man to develop to his present stage, then, obviously, it is impossible for man to be raised from the dust with a perfect body in an instant. Yet this is the clear teaching of the Bible.
While creation cannot be proven, neither has the scientific method demonstrated evolution. It is still a theory or idea awaiting confirmation. Therefore, both creation and evolution are today accepted by faith — the former by faith in God’s Word and the latter by faith in the opinions of scientific man.
In this study we will examine what the Bible says about the creation of the world, especially of mankind. We must keep in mind that every heresy that has crept into the Christian church is ultimately an attack on the gospel of Jesus Christ. This includes the theory of evolution which denies the creative power of God. Therefore, we will study the truth about creation in the light of the gospel hope.
Step 1 / Read the lesson
Read the lesson material and cited passages first. The questions and saved responses follow in the next step.
Study 1
Read the cited passage, write what you observe, and then open any source note provided with the lesson.
Scripture clearly teaches that God created this world in six days. He spoke and it happened. It is hard for our finite minds to understand how God could speak and things come into existence, but the Bible declares it so and we accept it by faith (read Genesis chapter one).
All through the Bible, the true and living God is distinguished from all false gods by the fact that He alone created all living things. He only is the source of life. In contrast, evolution teaches that life came into existence by chance.
While God may not be seen, one of the greatest proofs of His existence is creation. To believe that this highly complex world of ours came about by chance, as do the evolutionists, requires more faith than belief in an all-powerful God who created our universe.
While those who turn their backs on God today no longer worship graven images, they have created their own gods according to their own foolish reasoning. Evolution is based on man’s ideas contrary to what the Bible teaches. Therefore, the theory of evolution is a false, man-made god.
The Word is none other than Jesus Christ, who was made flesh in order to redeem fallen mankind (see verse 14). While all three members of the Godhead were involved in creation, it was Christ who spoke and brought our world into existence.
Study 2
Continue through the original lesson in sequence, letting Scripture lead your response.
Not only is Christ the one by whom God created our universe, but He is also our redeemer, intercessor, and, finally, will be our restorer. If we deny His act of creation, how can we accept Him as our Saviour?
Faith is taking God at His word, even though what He says in Scripture disagrees with our experience, our rationale, or the scientific method. Without this faith we cannot please God. In the Bible, Abraham is the father of all true believers. His faith is set as an example of what our faith must be (read Romans 4:16-22).
Reading through the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — it becomes clear that Jesus understood the Genesis account of creation as being a historical fact. Never once did He even hint or imply that the human race was the result of millions of years of the evolutionary process.
The one man who brought sin and death into this world was Adam. Sin is not the leftovers of our animal nature, as the evolutionists teach, but the result of the Fall. According to Scripture, mankind is not getting better and better but is going from bad to worse. The history of this world and today’s news media clearly reveals this Biblical fact.
Unlike the theory of evolution, the Bible teaches that Adam was created perfect, in the image of God (see Genesis 1:26,27). But by the Fall, Adam ruined the whole human race. If we deny this Biblical fact then we have to deny the reverse, which is that God redeemed all men in one man, Jesus Christ.
Study 3
Continue through the original lesson in sequence, letting Scripture lead your response.
The reason why Adam’s and Christ’s actions affected “the many” (i.e., the human race) is because all of humanity was in each of these two men — in Adam by creation and in Christ by the incarnation.
It would be impossible for these two facts to have taken place if the theory of evolution is correct. That is why anyone who denies the truth about creation, as revealed in Scripture, must deny the truth about the two Adams. Once that is done, the whole foundation of the gospel message is destroyed.
This blessed hope of seeing our redeemer with our resurrected physical bodies can only become a reality because of the creative power of Christ. Deny this power and we have to deny the blessed hope.
This wonderful change becomes impossible if the only power God has is to create us through the process of evolution. Not only is it necessary to believe in the six-day creation story to uphold the gospel truth, but the blessed hope becomes impossible if we deny the creative power of God.
As Christians, we look at death as a sleep because we have the hope of the resurrection. Therefore, when a believer dies, even though it brings us grief, we do not have to mourn as the unbelievers do. The Christ who created us is also the Christ who has redeemed us and conquered the grave for us. Remember, dear friend, science has no solution for the death problem, but Christ does!
Step 2 / Questions and answers
Read each passage, write your response, then reveal the lesson answer or source note to compare what you found.
Question set 1
Question set 2
Note: The one to come is none other than Jesus Christ. In an earlier study ( Lesson #1 ), we discovered that God created all men in one man (see ). That man was named Adam because the name means mankind. Likewise, Christ is called the second or last Adam because he represented all humanity in His work of redemption.
Question set 3
Step 3 / Personal reflection
What truth from The Doctrine of Creation most clearly deepens your understanding of the gospel, and how will you respond?
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