Creation: Meaning, Order, Purpose

Author: Robin Fish

Note: Creation Moments exists to provide Biblically sound materials to the Church in the area of Bible and science relationships. This Bible study may be reproduced for group use.

Creation is the doctrine which undergirds all other doctrines. It tells us about God, and what the word “God” means, at least in part. We know nothing about God if we know nothing about creation. If we know about creation, and believe, we can understand our basic relationship to God, who He is and what claim He has on our lives and how we live them. It is this understanding that gives us a sense of natural order in our lives, gives us the knowledge of a greater purpose in our lives and gives us meaning or value to our very being. In this study we will examine some of the biblical texts which reflect and reveal the order, purpose, and value our relationship to God as Creator brings to our existence.

1. There is a natural knowledge of God. Read Romans 1:20. We can see that God expects us to see evidence of Him in the world around us. This is not just a New Testament idea. In fact, it is even more forcefully stated in the Old Testament.

Turn to Psalm 19 and read the first four verses. This is speaking of the knowledge of God we can derive from seeing the things He has created. What things do these two passages describe as knowable from the creation around us?

God is a God of order. We derive that from I Cor. 14:33 and I Cor. 14:40. Do you think this is a valid, biblical conclusion?

Read Job 10:22. This describes the place of the dead as away from God. What is lacking without God?

2. The traditional theological proofs for the existence of God include the argument from the observed order in the world. Modern scientific knowledge has not diminished this evidence, but increased it.

As we learn about genetics, we have come to see an incredible amount of intelligent complexity and order in the world. The order in nature which is visible to the eye is impressive evidence, but the order found in the genetic code is of such a higher level that scientists are now calling it a “specified complexity” to indicate the unimaginable wealth of deliberate, coded information.

So great is the evidence of design and designer here, that the discoverer of the genetic code-bearing molecules of DNA, Sir Francis Crick, has abandoned the idea of earthly evolution in favor of the idea that life was delivered to earth from space. Of course, for him that moves the evolution question back to another planet, but it illustrates how the order in the world so readily reveals an Orderer.

3. There is a higher order than that found in nature. An example of this is found in Deuteronomy 6. Quickly skim this passage and see what kind of order is it?

Do we see this kind of order as flowing from God? Do we see a rise in disorder where men cease believing in God and accept chance evolution (such as in our society today)?

Read I Corinthians 11:2-12. What kind of order do we see here? Is it founded on God’s creation?

Turn to I Timothy 2:11-15. Is there order here? Is it based on creation? Discuss why men (or women) might prefer to escape at least some of the order God has revealed to them.

4. Just as the knowledge of creation gives us a sense of order (and the perceived order gives us assurance of Creation, Heb. 3:4), knowing we have a Creator opens up the possibility of purpose in our lives. Where would we get that purpose?

Naturally, our purpose would come from our Creator’s purpose. Read Jeremiah 1:5. Is this purpose? Whose purpose?

Notice that this last question can be answered in two ways: “Who purposed this?” and “For whom is it the purpose?”

5. Now turn to Genesis 1:28. Is this a statement of purpose? State that purpose in your own words. Is it purpose simply because it is a command?

Compare with Genesis 3:17-19. This is also a command. Is it also purpose? If not, what is it?

In today’s world, not many would find much sense of purpose in the command to populate and subdue the earth. There has been too much propaganda about overpopulation, and individually we each have too little power to subdue the entire earth. But do we participate in those purposes in any ways today (hint: gardening)? List ways we fulfill that original purpose by our activities.

6. Consider the exhortation in Psalm 33:8: Is this a purpose for man?

Does Romans 13:4 contain a purpose? For whom? What is that purpose?

Could Ephesians 5:15-33 be considered purpose? What purposes might we find in this passage? Do any of these apply to you, individually?

7. We know that God has a purpose for us: Romans 8:28 tells us that much. Ephesians 2:10 speaks of a purpose for us. What is it? Does it apply to you?

Do you understand Matthew 28:19-20 as a sense of purpose, God-given, for yourself? Each of us has a place in the plan of God.

8. Scripture will not list our individual purposes by name but it does give us the broader plan of God in which we are purposed to work and live. By following the broader purposes, and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us through regular use of His Word, we may come to know and fulfill God’s purpose for us.

Discuss: Would any of these purposes exist without creation?

If we forgot our Creator, what purposes would we have?

Where would our purposes come from?

9. The Bible is clear. It describes creation as the act of God. From God and from creation we receive or derive order. Knowing our Creator opens us to understand His purposes for us, and His right to plan for our lives. Creation, and salvation, reveal the value God gives to us – the love with which He loves us!

Yet none of these things would remain without the doctrine of creation. This is the significance of the battle between creation and evolution, and not only for us but for those yet to be born.

Close with a prayer for the blessing of God on His people to cling to creation, and upon ministries like Creation Moments which contend for God’s Word and His people in this battle. Pray for the workers to have wisdom and strength, and the people of God to be moved to support those who minister for them.

Footnotes:

1989 Bible Science Newsletter.