Author: Pastor Paul A. Bartz
Creationists are often told that while their concern for the Bible’s teaching on creation is admirable, such a concern has little to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In reality, the other teachings of the Bible, most centrally the Gospel, lose their meaning if creation is not true. Scripture can be compared to Christ’s robe, which was woven of one strand. Nothing could be cut out of it without the entire robe unraveling. And nothing can be cut out of Scripture or ignored without doing damage to the Biblical message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Biblical teaching about creation is important because it is part of the Bible’s teaching on the Person and work of Jesus Christ. No place does Scripture make this more clear than in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. The first three verses of John Chapter 1 explain to us that the Word through which all things were created (“and God said…”) was none other than the Son of God Himself who took on our form. So His very first contact with man was in creating us. This helps us to see why He was so concerned about us that He would even give up His throne and His life on our account. Seeing this, we begin to see the incredible depth of His love for us. He made us to be perfect and to be in fellowship with Himself. But when, through our sin, we ruined that, He loved us so much that He was willing to submit to the greatest torture and degradation in order to make it possible for us to once again have fellowship with Him. The connection between the Bible’s teaching on creation and the Person and work of Jesus Christ is so intimate that they cannot be separated.
Nor can it be said that the important point here is that He created us – it doesn’t matter how, whether by evolution or some other means. To question the accuracy of Genesis’ account of creation also means to question the Person of Christ as the Son of God. Many places in the Gospels Jesus makes reference to the creating work as literal fact: Mark 10:6-8, Mark 2:27, Matthew 19:4-6, Luke 16:29.31 and Luke 24:27. Of special note is John 5:46-47, which ties in very closely with Luke 16:29-31. In both these instances Jesus ties faith in His saving work and Person to what Moses wrote. This amounts to a total validation by God of what Moses wrote, including the creation account, which Jesus accepts as literal in the other instances listed above. Nor is it valid to say, as some have, that Jesus was, in these instances, simply bowing to the understanding of His own day. In every instance where people’s understanding of the facts were wrong, Jesus taught them to correct their understanding. When people misunderstood Scripture, He was especially firm. Jesus not only accepted Moses’ account of creation literally, but He tied Himself and His work, the very object of our faith, to acceptance of Moses. If Jesus was ignorant of the truth in these instances, then He was not God; and not only are we still in our sins, but Scripture lies when it says that He was present at the creation, and that it was through Him that we and all things were created. To reject a literal understanding of creation is to reject part of Christ!
The above comments present examples of what the Bible teaches about Christ and salvation. Indirectly the Bible’s teaching on God Himself is involved in these. Often-times people who think that creation has little to do with the Gospel also seem to think that the Bible is a good book because it supports the idea that there is a God – and that misguided creationists are upset because they mistakenly think that evolution challenges the idea that there is a God. The truth is that the purpose of the Bible does not include proving that there is a God. Not one apologetic can be found in Scripture for the existence of God. Scripture simply assumes that there is a God, concentrating on the nature of His dealings with men. In fact, Scripture carries some very harsh condemnation for those who simply believe that there is a God without being concerned about the nature of His dealings with man in this world. James 2:19 compares those who simply believe that there is a God to devils who do better than that – they know that there is God, and they are terrified by that fact!
Evolution (especially as accepted by those who also accept that there is a God -theistic evolution) challenges the Bible’s teaching on the very nature of God and His intent toward man. This is what makes theistic evolution a dangerous, soul-destroying option. Theistic evolutionists accept that there is a God, and often they think that they accept the God of the Bible, but they believe that God’s action in the world is limited to His use of the natural laws He has created. But the central message of the Bible is that God’s most earnest desire is for a personal and individual relationship with each individual human being. Just as He individually hand-made the first man and the first woman, so we, too, are individually created by God to have a daily, personal relationship with Him.
God does not even turn lesser creatures over to automatic natural laws. He is aware of every personal tragedy of every sparrow on earth (Matthew 10:29-31), and He even gives each breeze its speed and direction (Psalm 148:8). It is the message of a personal God Who is daily, intimately involved with His creation that is the message of the Bible – His highest involvement with man being through His Grace in our lives! It is this Biblical teaching about the nature of God’s involvement in His creation which is the beating heart of the Bible and which is directly challenged by evolutionary naturalism of any sort. This is why creation is vital to Christianity!
Footnotes:
1984 Bible Science Newsletter.
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