THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION

A Look at what the Bible Says

 

 

            Since God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture, and the doctrine that He wants taught in His church is nothing other than what the Bible says; it should be obvious that those who refuse to teach what the Bible says, or affirm that it is true, do so because another authority has replaced the authority of Scripture in their lives.

GOD’S RECORD OF WHAT TOOK PLACE

Genesis 1:1-2:25

1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2  And the earth was without form, and empty; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 ¶ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4  And God saw that the light was good: and God separated the light from the darkness.

5  And God called the light Day, and called the darkness Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 ¶ And God said, Let there be an open expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7  And God made the expanse, and separated the waters that were under the atmosphere from the waters above the atmosphere: and it was so.

8  And God called the expanse Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 ¶ And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let dry land appear: and it was so.

10  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, plants yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12  And the earth brought forth grass, and plants yielding seed after their own kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, after their kind: and God saw that it was good.

13  And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15  And let them be lights in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17  And God set them in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 ¶ And God said, Let the waters team with living creatures that have life, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven.

21  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind: and God saw that it was good.

22  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 ¶ And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so.

25  And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind: and God saw that it was good.

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, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28  And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every seed bearing plant, that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, with seed in its fruit; to be your food.

30  And to all the animals of the earth, and to all the birds of the air, and to every living creature that creeps upon the earth, I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.

31 ¶ And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2: 1 ¶ Thus the heavens and the earth, and everything in them, were finished.

2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3  And God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy: because on that day he had rested from all the work he did in creating the world.

4 ¶ This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.

6  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

 

7  And the LORD God formed man from the molecules of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 ¶ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9  And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10  And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was divided, and became four river heads.

11  The name of the first is Pison: it flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12  And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13  And the name of the second river is Gihon: it flowed around the whole land of Cush.

14  And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: which flowed toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 ¶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:

17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you may not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.

19  And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

20  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but no helper was found for Adam such as he needed.

21 ¶ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and filled up its place with flesh;

22  And out of the rib, which the LORD God had taken from the man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man.

23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24  For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

25  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

 

[NOTE: Verse 7: In ancient Hebrew, the word, “dust’ signifies those minute wind-born particles stirred up by feet, individual units of which are often microscopic. For that reason, if we were translating the word, “molecules” into ancient Hebrew we would translate it as, “dust”.]

 

Exodus 20:11

11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and set it apart.

 

THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CREATION

 

Genesis 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Ecclesiastes 7:29  This only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Genesis 9:6  Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in God made man in His own image.

Ephesians 4:24  Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Genesis 1:31 ¶ And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

[Comment: These verses tell us that man was not created with a sinful nature.]

 

Isaiah 64:8  But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

Romans 9:21  Does not the potter have power over the clay?

Isaiah 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Romans 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

[Comment: These verses tell us that because God created us He has a right to judge us, and we are accountable to Him.]

 

THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CREATION

 

Matthew 19:4  And he answered and said unto them, Have you not read, that he who made them in the beginning made them male and female,

5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto wife: and the two of them shall be one flesh?

6  Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. Do no let man separate what God has joined together.

[Comment: These verses reveal the significance that creation has for marriage, and God’s will for it.]

 

Acts 17:24-26  God who made the world and all things in it… has made of one blood all nations of men to live over all the surface of the earth, and has determined their appointed times, and the boundaries they live in.

[Comment: Because all men are the descendants of Adam and Eve, one race is not genetically superior to any other, but we all belong to the same family.]

 

CONCLUSION

 

          The historical record of creation is just as much a doctrine of Scripture as anything else that the Bible says (2Timothy 3:16). Those who deny the truth of the Biblical account do not change that fact, nor do they change what the Bible says, they simply reject it.

 

“The pure doctrine is simply nothing else, absolutely nothing else, than the pure Word of God.” (Law and Gospel, page 349) “Neither ought any doctrine be taught or heard in the church but the pure Word of God, that is to say, the Holy Scriptures; otherwise accursed be both the teachers and hearers together with their doctrine.” (Martin Luther)

 

Gary Ray Branscome