The Power of Creation

Oklahoma Pastors’ ConferenceOctober 14-15, 2013

What the Word Says

Fundamental Issues

Distinction between

• Science that is Observation and

• Science that is Historical (explanation)

Epistemology

• Absolute Truth from Absolute Authority

Our Oath

P: Do you believe and confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testament to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice?

R: Yes, I believe and confess the canonical Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Our Oath

P: Do you believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds, namely the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, as faithful testimonies to the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and do you reject all the errors which they condemn?

R: Yes, . . . (referring to the creeds and to the veracity of the Scripture.)

The Power of Creation

Oklahoma Pastors’ Conference

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

“. . .When we fence off (as we must) limited fields of knowledge for special study, the missing context must be remembered, or our knowing is precocious and distorted, as at the Fall, and we end by knowing less (Rom 1:21-22) NOT MORE.”

The Power of Creation

Oklahoma Pastors’ Conference

Dr. Stephen W. Boyd

He studied Genesis 1:1-2:3 to determine the genre and the hermeneutical implications.

When applied to Genesis 1:1–2:3, this probability is between 0.999942 and 0.999987 at a 99.5% confidence level that the Creation account is historic narrative.

Dr. Stephen W. Boyd

You can find that paper on line at www.icr.org. Just search Stephen W. Boyd or Statistical Determination of Genre in Biblical Hebrew.

Dr. Dean Wenthe

Dr. Wenthe was saying, “Yom” whenever it is connected with a cardinal or an ordinal, it always means a 24 hour day.

Day One

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Day Two

Gen. 1:6   And God said, “Let there be an expanse* in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Day Three

Gen. 1:9   And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

Day Three

Gen. 1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Day Four

Gen. 1:14   And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

Day Four

Gen. 1:17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Day Five

Gen. 1:20   And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Day Six

Gen. 1:24   And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Day Six

Gen. 1:26   Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Day Six

Gen. 1:27   So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

Day Six

Gen. 1:28   And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

Day Six

Gen. 1:30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Resources (just a few)

In the Beginning, God. By Dr. Joel Heck.

Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1, H. C. Leupold’s

Refuting Compromise. Dr. Joseph Sarfati

Genesis Commentaries by Dr. Henry Morris

Genesis 1:1

In the Beginning,

This is the Creation of matter out of nothing. 

Actually it is, "In the beginning" (namely the absolute beginning before there was matter.)

The question: Is Genesis 1:1 a dependent clause or is it an independent clause? 

Genesis 1:1

The old commentators understand 1:1 as an independent clause rendering the idea of an absolute beginning.

The verb 'bara' is never used with any subject other than God.

Scripture does not support the big bang!

Between Genesis 1:1-2

The so-called gap theory, proposed by Dr. Thomas Chalmers in 1814, and later popularized by the Scofield Bible, argues for this position against the normal, grammatical understanding of verse 2 which cannot describe the ruin of a once perfect earth, followed by a lengthy period of time between an original creation and its restoration.

Between Genesis 1:1-2

Merrill Unger stated that the twenty four-hour days were “generally recognized as untenable in an age of science.” Unger’s Bible Handbook (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966)

Chalmers and Scofield were more concerned about the acceptance of science than they were about the proper understanding of the Word.

There is no Gap indicated in Scripture.

According to its kind

Variations will occur within Groups to be sure, but they do not become another Kind.

Creation is “good”

If millions of years passed by then death had to occur before the fall.

. . . then God is saying that death, disease and decay were not only “good,” but that they were “very good.”

The word Day

2 Peter 3:8

Psalm 90:4

Genesis 1 (throughout)

None of these uses is close to the idea of “eon.”

The burden of proof is on those who adopt another meaning.

Reasons for the Normal Understanding of Day

1) In 2,225 occurrences, the word “day” is never used to mean a long period of time.

2) The word “day,” used with a number, is always twenty-four-hours.

3) When used in a number series, “day” always means a twenty-four-hour day.

4) Whenever the word “day” is used in the plural it always means a twenty-four hour day.

Reasons for the Normal Understanding of Day

5) Where the words evening and morning are combined with the Hebrew word for “day,” the reference is always to a twenty-four-hour day.

With all of these clear indicators pointing to twenty-four hours, and with no indicators pointing to long ages, the word “day” must mean twenty-four hours in Gen 1.

“How can there be light without stars?”

God is the source of light. 

Rev. 22:5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

The Word is still doubted

“But the Sun was not created until the fourth day; so was the first “day” really a day?”

Truth and deception cannot linger together without eventually impacting truth.

“It is apparent that the most straightforward understanding of the Genesis record, without regard to all of the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created heaven and earth in six solar days, . . .”

The Word is still doubted

“It is of course admitted that, taking this account by itself, it would be most natural to understand the word (day) in its ordinary sense; but if that sense brings the Mosaic account into conflict with facts, and another sense avoids such conflict, then it is obligatory on us to adopt that other.”

But then there is this . . .

“We must understand that these days were actual days (verso dies), contrary to the opinion of the holy fathers. Whenever we observe that the opinions of the fathers disagree with Scripture, we reverently bear with them and acknowledge them to be our elders. Nevertheless, we do not depart from authority of Scripture for their sake.” –Martin Luther

But then there is this . . .

“When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. But, if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are.

But then there is this . . .

“For you are to deal with Scripture in such a way that you bear in mind that God Himself says what is written. But since God is speaking, it is not fitting for you wantonly to turn His Word in the direction you wish to go.”

–Martin Luther.

But then there is this . . .

“Therefore so far as this opinion of Augustine is concerned, we assert that Moses spoke in the literal sense, not allegorically or figuratively. . . . If we do not comprehend the reason for this, let us remain pupils and leave the job of teacher to the Holy Spirit.”

Group Discussion

Discuss what can be learned about Creation in Scripture, apart from Genesis 1 and 2

The Power of Creation

Oklahoma Pastors’ Conference

A question for the Christian who advocates millions of years

If Genesis 1 is not true, then when does God begin to tell the truth?

Dr. David Menton

“If God had given me the privilege of standing on the Ark to see the flood for myself, that would be the second best evidence for the flood. Because the best evidence is the Word of God.”

The Power of Creation

Oklahoma Pastors’ ConferenceOctober 14-15, 2013