Introduction

As we discussed last week, apologetics has two major battlefields: philosophy and science are two fronts where Christianity is attacked and where Christians must dig in so they can bring every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Central on the science battlefront is the question regarding the origin of the universe and man within it. In various ways, modern science targets the opening chapter of the Bible for utter destruction. What kind of stand should the Christian take regarding Genesis one? This question takes in the fact that Genesis one is part of the Hebrew Bible. One could dodge the attack of science here by saying that that is the old covenant and Christians belong to the new covenant. However, as we have seen, the OT is Christian Scripture. On the authority of Christ, Christians are bound to the authority of the OT.

The science/Genesis challenge is a challenge to Christian faith. To orient ourselves to this field of battle, we will do well to begin with a Christian approach to Genesis one. That is where we begin today. There are three things that I want to develop regarding a Christian approach to Genesis one: Genesis one gives us a sacred worldview, it opens a wide door to natural science, and it assures us of glory.

1A. Genesis one gives us a sacred worldview

Although simple and straightforward, Genesis one introduces the entire canon of Holy Scripture in sublime fashion. All of Scripture is profitable for instruction and correction in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16), and Genesis is foundationally profitable as the book of beginnings. The opening verses of the Bible are therefore distinctively important. They raise the curtain of the written drama of history and of redemptive history. Surely, a sound grasp of the introduction to the history of the world and of redemption is essential to a correct assessment of the overall message. How else can the Christian build his life on "every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God"?

Furthermore, every study of Genesis one develops a renewed consciousness of the world as God's creation. Reflection kindles a fresh awareness of God's majesty and goodness. The reader is given this blossoming outlook in very "earthy" terms. God is introduced in relationship to everyday things. He is introduced in relation to the heavens, the earth, the waters, and light (1-3, the first day), the sky (6, the second day), dry land and vegetation (9, 11, the third day), the sun, moon, and stars (14-16, the fourth day), fish and fowl (20, the fifth day), and land animals and man (the sixth day). Nothing is common; nothing is ordinary or secular. Therefore, man's "secular" world of flesh and bones, mountains and valleys, is shown to be sacred at bottom. Some specific things here show how the sacred worldview emerges. For now we can hook our thoughts on these specifics by looking at the text with a gradually widening lens.

1) Let's begin with the statement, "God said." Everything in the created world is the result of God's speech. Note how often Genesis one mentions God speaking: "God said …and there was light… God said … and it was so… " (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14-15, 24, 29-30). We also have "God said… so God created" (20-21, 26-27). The things of the created order are what He uttered into existence. Hence, there is a close and indivisible tie between the statement, "Let there be light" and the light that came to be. Both are utterances, both are God's speech. Scripture does not simply say that God created x, y, and z. It tells us that x, y, and z are the products of the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6).

So we have a communication of knowledge and a sharing of knowledge for intimate personal fellowship (Ps. 19:1-6). In this way, God shares what is on His mind, His thoughts, His intentions, and thus His plan. What God had in mind (His plan for the world) is initially realized in this creation week. Creation is the first step in the realization of God's plan. An inseparable relationship is established between creation and God's eternal plan. Creation is one of the ways, the initial way that God is working out His plan for the ages. For a Christian, Genesis one cultivates that kind of sacred worldview: the created order is the initial realization of God's plan and a personal communication that invites us to personal fellowship.

2) God said and it was so. Everything in the created world exists by divine command. God commanded and it was so; God created by speaking a word of command. "The universe was formed at God's command" and "what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Heb. 11:3). He commanded the light to shine out of darkness (2 Cor 4:6). "He spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm" (Ps. 33:9). The visible things of the heavens and the earth (of the universe) stand under God's command to do His will. He spoke and it was so.

Therefore all facts are shown to be the effectual outworking of God's plan (cf. how creating is associated with the outworking of God's plans in Ps. 33:9-11, what He commanded stood firm and His plans stand firm). This is a very rich notion of authority and of authoritative speech. His relationship to factuality is such that all the facts are under His control as communications of His wisdom.

3) God spoke and thus created in day by day stages. All events are therefore stages in the realization of His plan being worked out by His will day by day from the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth. We get this intuitively from the days of creation. Creative power and an authoritative word set everything in place. The Almighty Lord of heaven and earth rules all created facts in their unfolding from day one to day six when He completed the works of His hands (1:31; 2:1).

History is therefore the realization of God's plan. We are given a look at history in the miniature form of a week of workdays. This teaches us that events are stages in the outworking of God's plan that was in place before the foundation of the world. Providence is now added to the picture. Genesis one is about creation and providence, which give realization to the eternal plan of God. Consequently, the world in total in all its dimensions of spatial factuality and their temporal relationships is sacred at bottom. History is His story unfolding according to His sovereign governance. This suggests one final widening of the lens.

4) God's creative speech ended with rest on the seventh day. What does this contribute to the picture? By resting on the seventh day God set the weekly cycle of history in motion. Otherwise, days one to six would simply be followed by seven, eight, nine, and so forth. Instead, God blessed and sanctified the seventh day because on it He rested. He set the seventh day apart with a special honor because resting on it meant that that day was an inaugural day of Sabbath Kingship (Isa. 66:1-2). Therefore the seventh day is to be honored each time it occurs. In honoring the day, the King is honored. The day is honored by resting with the Lord in His rest. These things in Genesis 1:1-2:2 furnish the basis for the command to "remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8-11). Throughout all time on earth, there is to be a day set aside to honor God as Sabbath King who rules all that He created.

He is Sabbath king, Creator and Ruler over all facts in all their spatial and temporal relationships. By sinking our teeth into the first biblical steak we are nourished, awed, comforted, and challenged regarding our daily existence in our Father's world. Of course this involves reflection, meditation, study with counter-question and question. We have some meditative work to do on Genesis one to cultivate a sacred worldview that is geared to godly living. Precisely here we find the apex of a Christian approach to Genesis one because Jesus was made the Lord of the Sabbath by His resurrection (Acts 2:36; 4:10-11;13:33; Mk. 2:28). The sacredness of our world is such under His rule as Sabbath king. The one who sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven is the heir through whom God made the universe (Heb. 1:2-3).

2A. Genesis one opens a wide door to natural science

Since "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," then his hand is readily seen in the universe: "the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork" (Ps. 19:1-2). Therefore as Calvin has stated it, to know God we need both the spectacles of Scriptural revelation and the lenses of natural revelation.  We need both to properly know God.

God's speech in the created order is referred to as general revelation. Here God speaks indirectly, which means that His speech here is not in literal words but through the things that He has made. All that He created is speech; it is His speech that conveys knowledge regarding the glory of God (His wisdom, majesty, goodness, knowledge, truth, etc.). But it is indirect and thus not in literal words. But His speech in Scripture, which is called special revelation, is expressed in literal words that are written down and preserved for our instruction (thus it is called direct revelation in contrast to indirect revelation).

Do you see how this puts some teeth into the claim that learning in any field, learning in general, is part and parcel of the Christian life? We all have different gifts and callings but nonetheless as Christians we do need to learn more than biblical things. This is for better understanding of the Lord. For example, the three R's are vital to the Christian life in two ways: a) you need to learn how to read in order to read Scripture, but also, b) whatever we learn is God's indirect speech that is the context for fellowship with Him. Do you see how this fact throws the door wide open for Christian research in the natural sciences such as physics, biology, geology, chemistry, and astronomy? There is something very obvious, welcome, inviting, and wholesome about science then from the perspective of Genesis one. But this is not how it works out in either the marketplace or the university. There seems to be a clash between the implications of Genesis one and geological extrapolations; there is the Bible/science conflict in our schools and courts. So we need some perspectives on this wide door.

1) There is a harmony of the Bible and Science. Since God reveals himself in both special and general revelation, then there is a harmony and unity between them. Furthermore, there is an essential harmony between theology and science. Ideally speaking they should not conflict. In principle there is no disharmony.

However, theologians and scientists do disagree. They disagree with colleagues in their own respective disciplines and they disagree with one another across disciplinary lines. Thus, theologians have differences of interpretation from scientists, scientists differ with other scientists, and theologians differ with other theologians. Here it may be helpful to discuss the sense in which all the sciences including theology are fallible and the sense in which they are infallible. They are all fallible in the sense that they involve human interpretation. Theology is not excluded from this fact; theologians engage in human interpretation of the Bible and they are prone to error just as biologists engage in human interpretation of living things and are prone to error. Neither has all the facts; neither are omniscient (all knowing) and neither are capable of infallibility.

As we have seen in earlier studies, this point of fallibility applies to the history of church tradition, which includes the work of theologians as a group (called the Majesterium in Roman Catholic tradition) and to the work of any particular theologian such as the pope. If we do not frame any science within the principles given in Scripture that pertain to that science then we falsify the picture (Van Til).

Theology is infallible only in the primary sense as God's speech. Truth is given in the created order. The world is a universe not a multiverse. It is intelligible and can be interpreted because it is a coherent whole that gives expression to the mind of God. Truth is given in Scripture. On the authority and promise of Christ, infallible witness to His person and work is riveted to the apostles as eyewitnesses and thus to the sixty-six books of the Bible.

We lay hold of truth to the degree that our thoughts line up with the mind of God. We know there is truth to be found in the study of every aspect of the world because it is all God's speech communicating knowledge. It communicates His knowledge and reveals His mind. All learning in any science involves the awesome privilege of thinking God's thoughts after Him. To be sure of our grasp of truth we must go where the facts take us by trial and error, testing, comparison, contrast, and practical application for workability.

2) Scripture has priority in relation to science. And priority is to be given to Scripture. a) In this process, Scripture has a priority because it gives us the mind of Christ directly in words versus the indirect communication we have through creation. b) Scripture has priority because it is God's saving word that restores us from the fall and fits us to hear His voice in creation properly. By properly is meant at the least that there is no fragmentation of knowledge from what things are and how that ought to be pursued and used. Things are God's speech. Wherever He speaks He does so personally and with authority. So, as His image bearers we are to receive His word with thanksgiving to Him for the wonder of this privilege. We are to worship the Creator and glorify Him (rather than worshipping the creature, Rom. 1). Finally, c) Scripture has priority because it furnishes the structure that is needed to properly draw conclusions from general revelation given in created things (in thy light we shall see light).

Thus a Christian reading of Genesis one sees this text in light of the saving work of Christ. It calls for discipleship to Christ in the natural sciences (discipleship through His word in Scripture and through His word in the natural world). And it calls for humility in learning the natural sciences at the feet of Christ (with thankfulness and for His glory).

3A. Genesis one assures us of glory 

We are not only pointed to Christ as Sabbath King and ultimate teacher but we are also pointed to Him as the Word that saves with unbreakable power.

1) First, we must tie Genesis 1 with John. Ultimately, a Christian reading of Genesis one leads us to Christ because He was there in the beginning (Jn. 1:1). From the NT perspective we cannot help connecting Genesis 1:1 with John 1:1. That OT text of "beginnings" must be read in the light of Christ.

2) Furthermore, Jesus is God's speech par excellence. He is the Word that reveals the Father's love bringing light and life to needy sinners in darkness (Jn. 1:1-4). Therefore, the epitome of the Father's speech is the Son "through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory" (Heb. 1:3, like the sun in the sky declaring God's glory by pouring forth speech that is radiant and that warms the heart, cf. Ps. 19:1-6). The Son of God is the exact representation of God's being. He reveals God like none other.

3) And under pinning the events of history is the sustaining of all things by the Lord Jesus who sustains them "by his powerful word" (Heb. 1:3). All of the laws of the universe and the properties of matter are sustained, controlled, and directed by the authoritative word of our risen Lord. He is truly Lord of creation. All things are being worked together by Him for our good. His will is coming to pass by creation and providence.

Thus the context of Christ's work of providing for the purification of our sins and sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven as Sabbath King (Heb. 1:3) is His work as Creator and sustainer of all things. The power of His saving work is the power of the Creator and providential ruler of the universe. This is one of the ways that a Christian ought to read Genesis one. It points to Christ. He is what God said. He is God's utterance, God's Word of salvation. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. With creative power the Lord Jesus rules all of history and all of redemptive history. God said, God created, God commanded and it was so. God's creative power is cited as the power of His word as a command that is always obeyed. This is a majestic illustration of how our salvation is produced by God's powerful, efficacious, and saving word (2 Cor. 4:4-6).

Therefore the text points us to Christ and glory. Genesis one shows us that He is able to bring our salvation to full and complete realization. His word is the powerful word and creative word that commands and it is done. Genesis one points us to the Lord Jesus as God's Word of creation, revelation, and redemption. We cannot think of that beginning without thinking of Christ and how He will bring what was begun to its final destination. Genesis one promises that the Almighty Sabbath King will bring us home to rest and glory. And Genesis one gives us some hints of what that glory will be for those who on Christ have built their hope. This is so because we shall rest with the Lord in the works of His hands that will be unspeakably good and the Lord will say, "I give you" (cf. Gen. 1:29) a dwelling place perfect for you, for your good, and for my glory. He is taking us back to Eden and beyond (beyond what beauty of the Lord the fallen world still to and beyond what original creation revealed). He is taking us home to rest with Him in eternal Sabbath rest in the new heavens and new earth, to what was promised in that original six and one covenant.

Conclusion

Let's mediate on Genesis one in order to improve our worship of our Creator and Sabbath King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's get a good taste of the marvelous meal that is spread before us here. And let's do so to live for Him in earnest and thankful service.