Creation, Evolution, and the Gospel by W. W. P.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1912

Creation, Evolution, and the Gospel

By W. W. P.

In the first verse of the Bible there is stated a truth which lies at the very foundation of the gospel: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The inspired record of the creative work which is found in the first chapter of Genesis was not furnished primarily in order to make known scientific truth, although it does give the only authoritative account of creation. The purpose of the whole revelation found in the Scriptures is to make known the gospel of salvation; and the enduring foundations of this gospel are laid in the opening chapter of the Bible. Concerning the truths based thereupon we submit a few observations:—

1. The true God is distinguished from false gods by the fact that he is the creator. This appeal is found in many places in the Scriptures. For example:—

“All the gods of the peoples are idols; but Jehovah made the heavens.” Ps. 96:5. “Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens, and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.” “The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.” Jer. 10:11, 16. “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” Isa. 45:18.

2. Worship is due to the true God because he is the maker of heaven and earth:—

“Jehovah is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker.” Ps. 95:3-6. “Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things.” Rev. 4:11. “Worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7.

3. Creation is an expression in material form of the working of the eternal will of God:—

“Thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.” Rev. 4:11.

This all-powerful will was revealed in creation through the eternal Word, the Son:—

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” John 1:1-3.

Order is preserved in the universe of God, not because of any force inherent in matter and not by virtue of impersonal laws, arbitrarily established in the beginning, but because of the continuous working of the same will of God to which all matter owes its existence:—

“He [the Son] is before all things, and in him all things consist [that is, hold together].”

The eternal Son “through whom also he made the worlds,” is set forth to us as “upholding all things by the word of his power:”—

“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.” Isa. 40:26.

4. The eternal Son of God is the mediator for the Father in the creation of all things and in the upholding of all things:—

“For in him [the Son] were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; andhe is before all things, and in him all things consist [that is, hold together].” Col. 1:16, 17. “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.” 1 Cor. 8:6.

5. The original heavens and earth overwhelmed by the curse of sin will pass away, and will be succeeded by new heavens and a new earth. So Isaiah prophesied:—

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind.” Isa. 65:17.

The fulfilment of this prophecy is referred to by the apostle Peter:—

“The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” “But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:10, 13.

The apostle John in vision beheld the fulfilment of this prophecy:—

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.” Rev. 21:1.

6. The inhabitants of the new earth will be new creatures, the product of the new creation:—

“Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” 2 Cor. 5:17. “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” Gal. 6:15. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10. “Put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” Eph. 4:24. “Lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Col. 3:9, 10.

7. The original creation is regarded as a birth and the new creation is otherwise spoken of as the new birth:—

“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth [were born], or ever thou gavest birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Ps. 90:1, 2. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he can not see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.

8. The eternal Son, who was the mediator in the original creation, is also the mediator in the new creation:—

“All things have been created through him [the Son], and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth or things in the heavens. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him.” Col. 1:16-22. “There is . . . one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.” 1 Cor. 8:6. “There is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2:5.

9. As the eternal Son mediates the will of God in guiding and upholding all material things, so he mediates the will of God for man (the moral law) by writing it in his heart. He is thus the mediator of the new covenant:—

“But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.” “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Heb. 8:6, 10.

10. Only he who was the mediator in the original creation can be the mediator in the new creation, the Saviour of sinners:—

“In none other [than Jesus Christ of Nazareth] is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

11. The eternal Son through whom the Father made the worlds, and who upholds all things by the word of his power, having been made priest, “not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life,” is the one all-sufficient mediator and Saviour:—

“Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25.

12. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which is both a memorial and a sign of the original creation (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:15-17), is also a sign of the new creation or sanctification:—

“Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth them.” Eze. 20:12.

The truths herein set forth constitute the very essence of the gospel of salvation from sin; and the foundation upon which they rest is the facts set forth in the first chapter of Genesis. He who begins by substituting the results of human research for this divine revelation concerning creation, will end by substituting human tradition for the divine revelation of the truths of the gospel, as has been abundantly proved during the present generation. So intimate is the relation between God’s work through his Son in the original creation and his work in the new creation that a wrong view of the former involves a wrong view of the latter. The new theology of the present day is the outgrowth of the acceptance of evolution as the true doctrine of creation. All the essential truths of the gospel, including the belief in the personal, literal advent of our Lord, have been repudiated as the direct consequence of the repudiation of the inspired record of creation. It may, therefore, be truthfully said that the rejection of the first verse of the Bible, which sets forth a personal God as the creator of the heavens and the earth, involves the rejection of the last verse of the Bible, the promise of the literal return of Christ to this earth. The gospel is the gospel of creation, and the sure foundation for it is laid in the first chapter of Genesis.

W. W. P.