Creation Beyond Genesis or What the Rest of the Bible Says About the Origin of the Universe and Life on Earth

While Genesis gives the first account of God’s creation of the universe out of nothing by the power of His Word, the entire Bible speaks of the origin of the universe and the creation of life on earth in many places. Many Biblical doctrines are based in some way or to some extent upon the fact of God having miraculously created all material reality directly and in its current and constant form. Hundreds of passages refer to God having formed the earth by His word, of placing the heavenly bodies in their proper places, of setting the bounds of land and seas, of creating various life forms in and for their proper environments, and having created plants and animals according to their specific kinds.

The following are important points of teaching or consideration regarding the essential truth of God’s creation of the universe out of nothing, from beyond Genesis:

1)     The New Testament uses creation as the basis of defining proper sexual relations (Mat 19, 1 Cor 7, Rom 1, etc.) An allegory cannot be validly used to justify a real-life argument. Jesus and Paul would render all of their teachings suspect by using this support if Genesis has no historical basis.

Using Genesis 1 – 3 as the basis for arguments in favour of marital fidelity and continuance, for Sabbath, and against homosexuality become invalid and meaningless if these chapters are spiritual allegories rather than historical facts.

2)     The historical consistency of a 7-day week throughout ‘recorded” history bears witness to the testimony of the original 7-day week.

3)     100% of teaching on the Sabbath is based upon a literal 7-day creation event.

4)     If the creation days were really just long periods of time, portions such as Exodus 20:11 become meaningless.  Must man work without ceasing for six “long ages” then rest for an undefined, immeasurably long time as the seventh “day”.  This absurd, as well as Biblically and historically indefensible.

5)     Genesis 11 – 50 are universally acknowledged as intended to be historical.  There is no difference in the manner of writing of Gen 1 – 11.  Gen 1 – 2:4 is written in the standard form of genealogies, and the rest of the book to chapter 11 is written in the form of an historical account.  If we must discount the historical value of Gen 1 – 3, or 1 – 11, how can we arbitrarily assign historical value to the rest of the book?

6)     Numerous other passages of Scripture refer to God having created the world and the heavens directly, and some refer to creating the “things in it”.  Clearly other Biblical authors understood God to have literally created things as they were at the beginning, rather than an indefinable mass of “stuff” that He acted on to cause the development specific things.

7)     Ps 33:6 “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”  Is this true, or did they evolve? (Cf. v.9, Heb 11:3; 2 Pet 3:5; Jn 1:3)

8)      In Luke’s genealogy of Christ, he goes back to being “the son of Adam, the son of God”. Did Adam come directly from God, or did he evolve from primates?  If he did evolve, what does this do to the value of the account by Luke, who named as his purpose for writing the assurance to Theophilus of the truth of those things, of which Luke claimed to have “perfect understanding”?  If he establishes his “true story” by a falsehood right at the beginning, it doesn’t bode well for the integrity of the rest of his account. (cf 1 Chron 1: – another genealogy from Adam to Abraham, presupposing a literal Adam)

9)      Evolution is necessarily racist, since it declares that the darker-skinned peoples are the less-evolved within the species. Yet the Bible declares that God made men from one original pair, and “[He] has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth…..” Acts 17:26. There are no races, only differences of appearance and life circumstances. (cf Gen 11:1 – 8 –Babel)

10)   The Scripture states that sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam. (Rom 5:12, 14; 1 Cor 15:21-22.)  Evolution requires death of successive generations.  If indeed man “evolved” over millions of years from other creatures, which themselves evolved from unrelated creatures, death, disease and suffering existed in the world for many years before Adam, and the statement that sin and death entered through Adam is false.

Moreover, Scripture states that death is a direct consequence of sin.  If reasoning beings did not exist for millions of years before man, yet millions of things died before man, death was obviously not a consequence of sin. Romans tells us that all of creation was subjected to death and suffering as a consequence of sin, so an argument limiting that effect to mankind after he evolved is Scripturally indefensible.

11)   Death is identified as an “enemy”, rather than a natural, reasonably expected partner to our existence. (1 Cor 15:26)

12)   There is neither doctrinal nor literary justification from the Scripture itself to view Genesis 1-11 as anything other than an historical account, and sufficient support for it as historical.  In fact, the only reason to consider that Gen 1-11 might be other than historical is to accommodate the ideas of those who have rejected the possibility of God having created, and have sought support for their ideas in “science”.  Since science does not contradict the Scripture at any point, and much of the ‘evidence” claimed to support other than a creative act ex nihilo as described in Genesis, has been shown to be inaccurate, false, or misinterpreted and indeed is generally more supportive of such a creative event, there becomes not only no reason to question the Genesis account, but many reasons to accept it.

Romans 1:19-20 states that the entire created order demonstrates to man the existence and nature of God, and that men specifically chose to reject God and His testimony because they did not “like to retain God in their knowledge”.  In their quest for emancipation from the necessary response to the knowledge of God, men have spent generations seeking ways to justify their rejection, by misapplying the knowledge they do acquire, and by lying.

Jeremiah 29:13 states “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” When men are honest, they will see His testimony in all His works, and recognize that He has indeed told us the truth about Himself.

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