Humanity – Past, Present and Future

Genesis 1:26
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

A straightforward reading of Genesis offers a very different story of humanity than does modern evolutionary science. Does the rest of the Bible contradict evolution too? Can Genesis and evolution be harmonized?

According to evolution, humans are the result of millions of years of life, struggle and death. Today, we are little more than a subchapter in that long story of endless struggle and death. Can this be reconciled with the Bible? Not if we let the Bible interpret itself. First, the Bible allows for only one day of history for animals before humans appeared on the scene. Second, humans were created not from some other creature but were handmade by God, in His image.

The most important difference between evolution’s story and the Bible’s story of humanity is the role death plays. According to evolution, death was already part of nature long before humans ever showed up. According to the Bible – for example, in I Corinthians 15:21 – death came upon creation because of the first man, Adam’s, sin. This is why it was necessary for another man, Jesus Christ, to do away with death.

For the Christian, the most objectionable part of evolution is that it separates sin and death from each other. This makes Christ’s death and resurrection for us completely redundant, since death has nothing to do with sin! There can be no harmony between this and the Gospel!

Prayer:
Dear Father, You specially created human beings because You desired to have a personal relationship with each one of us. As I consider my spiritual relationship with You, help me to remember that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died so that I might, through Him, have the forgiveness of sins. In His Name. Amen.

Notes:
Painting: God Judging Adam by William Blake (1757-1827).