In the Beginning God by L. F. Starr

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1911

In the Beginning God

By L. F. Starr

L. F. STARR

The first qualification for a great religious teacher is a radiant conception of God. Has he no such conception, no clear-cut and positive view of his personality, no experimental knowledge of his love, grace, power, and truth, no matter what else he may have, he is disqualified as a religious teacher. He has no saving message, no divine authority, no enduring power. All the ancient religionists, save those to whom were committed the oracles of God, failed here. They had philosophy, science, art, literature, history, and religion. They could build temples, rear altars, and offer sacrifices. They could go through all the forms of worship. They could think logically, and carry out well-laid plans and purposes. Their intellectual ability was not a whit behind that of any of the most brilliant of God’s servants; nevertheless they failed. Their religion is no more, their temples are in ruins, their altars are broken down, the teachings of their leaders are dead, simply because not one of them had a radiant conception of a personal and living God.

Many to-day are denying the sinfulness of sin. Sin is generally considered as not being very sinful. Sin, some argue, is simply “an error,” “a defect,” “a disease.” Men are not “wicked” but “sick.” “The race has not gone astray.” Why do not the Bible writers talk after this fashion? As revealed in the Word of God, sin is a terrible thing. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” It is rebellion against God, a collision with the will of the Creator, an open crime against the Eternal. Hence “the wages of sin is death.” This is the testimony of all the Bible writers,—not of one or of two, but of all. Whence did they get it? Whence did Paul get it? Whence did Isaiah get it? (Read Isaiah 6 and Romans 7.) It was Isaiah’s vision of God, high and lifted up, sitting on his throne, that caused him to cry out, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” It was Paul’s new conception of the law of God that led him to see himself a “wretched man.” Those who would have a radiant vision of God must remember that “in the beginning” he “made the earth by his power, he hath established the earth by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion;” “he reigneth; . . . he sitteth between the cherubim.” If men could ever remember that God is in the beginning, and seek light in his light, the light of the personal God who, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth would shine upon them.

God was in the beginning. This is the teaching of the Bible; and in teaching thus it has a marvelous influence over the thoughts and lives of men. If God is in the beginning, then atheism is folly. If God is before all things, then pantheism is unthinkable. If God occupies the first place, then everything else is secondary. Not only does the Bible open with this thought, but it carries it right through to the end. In the setting forth of the true God in the ten commandments and the Lord’s prayer, he is not proclaimed as an essence that pervades all nature, but as the personal, living God, the Creator of all things. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” says Christ, “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself.”

God before self, God before our neighbor, God before everything. He must have the first place in every thought, every desire, every purpose and effort. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Churches in their missionary efforts are not as successful as they should be. What is the cause? We preach, we pray, we give, but the results are not so encouraging as we would like to see. Something is evidently wrong. What is it? Let us think a moment. Have we not put something before God? Have we not given him the second place, when he demands and should have the first place? All our efforts are sure to fail unless we give our first and best love to God. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” “And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

Here is the true ethical principle. Here is that which distinguishes Christianity as a system of moral truth. The love wherewith we are to love one another is not primary, but secondary. It does not precede love to God, but it comes after it. If we love God, we shall love one another. If we give God the first place, and let him in his own effulgent light rise over our souls, love for humanity will flow out from our hearts like honey from the honeycomb.

God is light, righteousness, and love; a merciful Father, who made man in his own image, and after his own likeness. We have to do with God; and in him is no darkness, neither shadow of turning. “This is God’s way of beginning both the old and the new creation,—the light of order from the darkness of confusion; the light of knowledge from the darkness of ignorance; the light of holiness from the darkness of sin.” Let there be faith in a personal God, and light will shine forth on a holy church. “Let there be light.” This is what the world most needs, and this is what we give the world when, in the light of inspiration, we declare God to be the Creator, Redeemer, and only wise God.

Garland, Wyo.