UNDERSTANDING OUR FAITH:
THE GOSPEL IN CREATION
In the presentation of Scripture primary substance of faithful preaching and teaching is Law and Gospel. Law and Gospel is not neatly divided into Old Testament and New Testament. Law and Gospel are the substance of both Testaments.
The Law is the revelation of the holy will of God revealing what is pleasing to Him, but totally incapable of creating either the will or the ability within man to keep or fulfill the Law of God. The most that the Law can create is a Pharisee! The Law uncovers sin and condemns the sinner. But graciously the Heavenly Father has another will. It is His saving will revealed in the Gospel. The Gospel is the message of what God has done for sinful man in Christ Jesus, and is still doing. Jesus has accomplished our salvation. The Gospel the power through which faith is created within the heart to believe in Jesus. It is the power of God unto salvation, as well as the power unto the sanctified life. When we think of the Gospel, we think of the message of the cross, and correctly so. But the breadth of the Gospel is broader. Hence we speak of the Gospel in Creation.
If the Gospel is what God has done for us and is still doing for us, then it is clear that the creation is Gospel. In Genesis we read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Hebrews tells us that it is a matter of faith that we believe that He did so “by the Word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). Furthermore, the Creator did not and does not abandon that which He has made, but “upholds all things by the Word of His power,” (Hebrews 1:3). Moving from the lesser to the greater, Scripture tells us that the Creator God provides for the birds of the air, and therefore for man, the crown of His creation (Matthew 10: 29,30). This providence is an expression of His love.
We will allow that there is a place for discussing technical terms in the creation/evolution arena. But the fact is many among us are not able to comprehend clearly all the technical jargon in that debate. The Christian of faith, however, can comprehend, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
As we believe that creation is part of the Gospel itself, denial of creation (evolution) is a denigrating, and worse, a denial of the grace and love of God. In that it denies the reality of Adam and Eve as real in time historical people, evolution strikes at the very heart of the Gospel of salvation by dehumanizing the incarnate Son. If Christ was not Man than we have no Savior anymore than if one denies His divinity.
Romans 5 says, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one (Adam) many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, (Jesus Christ). Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Adam and Eve are created beings. If Adam and Eve were not created, that is, if they were not real humans, there is no explanation for the introduction of sin into the world. Scripture tells us that sin came “by one man.” But if the one man by whom sin came did not exist, then the contrast between the one man who introduced sin and the ONE MAN who restored righteousness falls! Those who would want to have it both ways can’t. One cannot deny creation or promote evolution on one hand, and still credibly claim to believe the Gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If the historical record of Genesis is wrong, then a case cannot be made for the historical integrity of the Gospel record, which is centered in Christ, for the same God claims to be, and is, the Author of the whole Scripture.
“I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and [I believe] in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin May, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead…”
God the Father Who created all things by His Word providentially keeps watch over that which He has created. He always has and always will, because He is gracious. He Who sent Jesus into the world for the sins of the world and Who accepted the sacrifice of Christ as payment for the sins of the world, likewise by His Spirit keeps us in the faith, and by the preaching of the Gospel comforts and sustains believers in the faith unto eternal life.
We may not be able to comprehend the technical debate relative to the creation/evolution debate. But deniers of creation do not comprehend the Gospel of salvation, because they don’t appreciate the Gospel in creation. We see the Gospel in God’s creative act, and in His Son, our Savior, without Whom, “nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3).
D.
Fleischer (February 17, 2002)