How did God create the world? Did God create every different kind of plant and animal directly, or did he use some kind of evolutionary process, guiding the development of living things from the simplest to the most complex? How quickly did God bring about creation? Was it all completed within six twenty-four hour days, or did he use thousands or perhaps millions of years? How old is the earth?
From the aspects of creation that are most clearly taught in Scripture, and on which almost all evangelicals would agree (creation out of nothing, special creation of Adam and Eve, and the goodness of the universe), to other aspects of creation about which evangelicals have had disagreements.
We may define the doctrine of creation as follows: God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and he created it to glorify himself.
The Bible clearly requires us to believe that God created the universe out of nothing. This means that before God began to create the universe, nothing else existed except God Himself.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The phrase “the heavens and the earth” include the entire universe. Psalms 33 also tells us, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth…For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded and it stood forth” (Psalms 33:6 and 9). In the New Testament, we find a universal statement at the beginning of John’s gospel: “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). The phrase “all things” is best taken to refer to the entire universe. Paul in Colossians1 when he specifies all the parts of the universe, both visible and invisible things: “For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities; all things were created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16).
That God created both the heavens and the earth and everything in them is affirmed several other times in the New Testament. For instance, Acts 4:24 speaks of God as the “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” One of the first ways of identifying God is to say that he is the one who created all things. Barnabas and Paul explain to the pagan audience at Lystra that they are messengers of “a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them” (Acts 14:15).
The creation of the entire universe includes the creation of an unseen, spiritual realm of existence: God created the angels and other kinds of heavenly beings as well as animals and man. He also created heaven as a place where his presence is especially evident. The creation of the spiritual realm is certainly implied in all the verse that speak of God creating not only the earth but also “heaven and what is in it” (Revelations 10:6), but it is also affirmed in a number of other verses.
The Bible also teaches that God created Adam and Eve in a special, personal way. “The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). After that, God created Eve from Adam’s body: “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to man” (Genesis 2:21 – 22).
While there are sincerely held differences with respect to the plant and animal kingdoms, these test are so explicit that it would be very difficult for someone to hold to the complete truthfulness of Scripture and still hold that human beings are the result of a long evolutionary process. This is because when Scripture says that the Lord “formed man of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7), it does not seem possible to understand that to mean that he did it over a process that took millions of years and employed the random development of thousands of increasingly complex organisms.
Another aspect of God’s creation is the creation of time (the succession of moments one after another). When we speak of God’s existence “before” the creation of the world, we should not think of God as existing in an unending extension of time. Rather, God’s eternity means that he has a different kind of existence, an existence without the passage of time, a kind of existence that is difficult for us to imagine. The fact that God created time reminds us of his lordship over it and our obligations to use it for his glory.
It should also be noted that creation is distinct from God, yet always dependent of God. The teachings of Scripture about the relationship between God and creation is unique among the religions of the world. The Bible teaches that God is distinct from his creation. He is not a part of it, for he has made it and rules over it. The term often used to say that God is much greater and creation is transcendent. Very simply, this means that God is far “above” the creation in the sense that he is greater than the creation and he is independent of it.
God is also very much involved in creation, for it is continually dependent of him for its existence and its functioning. The God of the Bible is no abstract deity removed from, and uninterested in his creation. The Bible is the story of God’s involvement with his creation, and particularly the people in it. Job affirms that even the animals and the plants depend on God: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind (Job 12:10). In the New Testament Paul affirms that God “gives to all men life and breath and everything” and that “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25 and 28).
God created the universe also to show His glory: It is clear that God created his people for his own glory, for he speaks of his sons and daughters as those “whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). But it is not only human beings that God made for this purpose. The entire creation is intended to show God’s glory. Even the inanimate creation, the stars and sun and moon and sky, testify to God’s greatness, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaim his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge” (Psalms 19:1 – 2).
What does creation show about God? Primarily it shows his great power and wisdom, far above anything that could be imagined by any creature. “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jerimiah 10:12).
It is important that we realize that he did not need to create all that he did. We should not think that God needed more glory than he had within the Trinity for all eternity, or that he was somehow incomplete without the glory that he would receive from the created universe. This would be to deny God’s independence and imply that God needed the universe in order to be fully God. Rather, we must affirm that the creation of the universe was a totally free act of God. It was not a necessary act but something that God chose to do. “You created all things and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelations 4:11)
If God created the universe to show his glory, then we would expect that the universe would fulfill the purpose for which he created it. In fact, when God finished his work of creation, he did take delight in it. At the end of each stage of creation God saw that what he had done was “good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25). Then at the end of six days of creation, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). God delighted in the creation that he had made, just as he had purposed to do.
Even though there is now sin in the world, the material creation is still good in God’s sight and should be seen as “good” by us as well. Though the created order can be used in sinful or selfish ways and can turn our affections away from God, nonetheless we must not let the danger of the abuse of God’s creation keep us from a positive, thankful, joyful use of it for our own enjoyment and for the good of His kingdom.
This hymn contains the entire content of Psalms 148 set to music. It summons all creation, including “things visible and things invisible,” to worship God our creator.
Hallelujah, praise Jehovah, from the heavens praise His Name; Praise Jehovah in the highest, all His angels, praise proclaim. All His hosts, together praise Him, sun and moon and stars on high; Praise Him, O ye heav’ns of heavens, and ye floods above the sky.
Let them praises give Jehovah, for His Name alone is high, And His glory is exalted, and His glory is exalted, And His glory is exalted far above the earth and sky.
Let them praises give Jehovah, they were made at His command; Them forever He established, His decree shall ever stand, From the earth, O praise Jehovah, all ye seas, ye monsters all, Fire and hail and snow and vapors, stormy winds that hear His call.
All ye fruitful trees and cedars, all ye hills and mountains high, Creeping things and beasts and cattle, birds that in the heavens fly, Kings of earth, and all ye people, princes great, earth’s judges all; Praise His Name, young men and maidens, aged men, and children small.
Author: William J. Kirkpatrick, 1899