- The Triune God is the creator of everything in the universe.
In the beginning (Gn. 1:1), God made “the earth and all that is in it” (Neh. 9:6). He made his creation perfect, “good” (1Tm. 4:4), “very good” (Gn. 1:31), and “everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc. 3:11). “Good” precludes anything evil in creation before the Fall. The living God created the world ex nihilo, out of nothing (Gn. 1:1), without any pre-existing materials (Gn. 3:21).
He did so by a “word” (Hb. 11:3). He “spoke and it came to be” (Ps. 33:9); he “commanded” and the world was created (Ps. 148:5). The creation of the world was immediate, similar to the way Jesus instantly turned water into wine (Jn. 2:1-11) and fed the five thousand (Mt. 14:13-21). God also created the world with maturation, such as fully grown trees and Adam and Eve with the appearance of age.
Each member of the Trinity had a role in creation. The Father “made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them (Ac. 4:24). He made the world and everything in it” (Ac. 17:24). God the Son is not created but is the Creator, as all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made (Jn. 1:3, 10; 1Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Hb. 1:2). Since Christ existed at the beginning of the universe, he must be eternal and uncreated (Col. 1:17). God the Holy Spirit was “hovering over the face of the waters” at the dawn of creation (Gn. 1:2). Elihu said: “The Spirit of God has made me” (Job 33:4).
God not only created the world but keeps it running. “He upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hb. 1:3). He makes all of the seasons pass one after another for the good of mankind (Gn. 8:22). “In him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). God made humanity in his image as either male or female (Gn. 1:26-27), making evolution impossible since man cannot gradually be made into God’s image.
2. God’s creation should move us to worship, not doubt.
Psalm 148:5 says we should praise the Lord because “he commanded and they were created.” In heaven, the twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne, claiming Christ was worthy of worship because he “created all things” (Rv. 4:11).
We see his wisdom in how he created the woodpecker with special cartilage in his beak and with lighting fast reflexes to open and close his eyes. We see his majesty (Ps. 8:3) in how he created a chicken egg with 10,000 tiny pores (allowing the chicken to breath) yet strong enough to withstand the strongest human hand. We see his creativity in giving the angler fish a glow-in-the-dark fishing rod at the end of his nose to catch his prey, and the body to withstand the pressure in his home a mile deep in the ocean.
We see his power in creating the giraffe with a heart pump two feet long to drive blood up a long neck, or making the heavens with billions of galaxies, or designing the body with 60,000 miles of blood vessels. We see his love in designing the gecko with millions of microscopic suction cups on his feet, so as to trek upon the ceiling upside down, or giving the beaver built-in goggles—transparent eyelids so as to see underwater. All of this should cause us to sing: “Let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker” (Ps. 95:6)!
3. Creation has been damaged by sin.
Work itself is not a consequence of evil but because of Adam’s sin, the ground had been “cursed” by thorns and thistles and only through pain and the sweat of one’s brow can mankind enjoy its fruits (Gn. 3:17-19). Sin brought the once perfect creation into a terrible condition (Rm. 8:20), meaning there could not be years of animal death before Genesis 1:2. Despite this, old-earth advocates believe there were millions of years of violence, carnage, and natural disasters before the Fall. All moral and physical evils in the world are a consequence of sin.
4. God gave humans the task of caring for and preserving his creation.
God told his creatures to “subdue” the earth and have “dominion” over it (Gn. 1:28), like using catalytic converters to cut down on pollution. We are to care for the earth (Gn. 2:16), meaning we mow the law, build dams, plant trees, make babies, harvest honeycomb, collect the suns rays for power, avoid littering, and tame bucking broncos (Jms. 3:7).
Man’s dominion over the earth means he eats its animals (Gn. 9:1-3) and not the other way around. Vegetarianism may be a personal choice, though all foods can be eaten with thanks and God’s approval (Ps. 8:6-8; Mk. 7:19; 1Tm. 4:4).
Environmentalists and global warming alarmists are misguided in their attempts to preserve creation. They oppose biblical ideals like capitalism, technological advancement, and large families and promote their real goal of increased government restraint through socialism, abortion, and population control. They perfectly capture Snowball the pig’s mantra “four legs good, two legs bad” in Orwell’s Animal Farm.
5. Jesus’ words in the New Testament recognized special creation.
The Son of God identified Genesis as history (not poetry or mythology) by acknowledging the book’s historical events like Adam and Eve’s marriage (Mt. 19:3-6), Abel’s martyrdom (Lk. 11:50-51), and Noah’s flood (Mt. 24:28-39).
Jesus showed he was a young-earth creationist when he stated “from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female” (Mk. 10:6). This verse cannot be true if man came millions of years after the formation of the universe and animals. “From the beginning” refers to the beginning of the whole creation, not just the human race, as this is the normal use of the phrase (2Pt. 3:4; Rv. 3:14).
6. There is a deeper motive as to why people deny immediate creation.
It is not for lack of evidence. God has made his created world “plain” (Rm. 1:19) and “clearly perceived” (v. 20), such that to deny it is actually to suppress the obvious truth (Rm. 1:18). Atheists and those who embrace evolution are “without excuse” (Rm. 1:20).
General revelation refers to the way God reveals himself in creation (Ps. 19:1-2), in contrast to special revelation, in which God reveals himself in the Bible (2Tm. 3:16-17). General revelation gives enough information to prove God’s existence, power, and majesty but it is not enough to explain the way of salvation, meaning it can damn but it cannot save. This is why missionaries are needed. Romans 10:14 says: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” The answer to all three questions is: “They can’t.”
Both Christians and evolutionists need faith for their position. Both begin with a bias. Though God’s creation handiwork is plainly observable, the act of creation is still accepted by faith, as no one was alive when the world was formed, nor were evolutionists around during the supposed “Big Bang.” “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God” (Hb. 11:3).
The main reason people embrace evolution is that they do not want to be accountable to a Creator. The main reason people embrace theistic evolution is that they feel compelled to reconcile the evolutionary theories in academia. The church’s retreat from the plain, calendar day interpretation of the creation account is a step toward compromising inerrancy and eventually the gospel message—because without a historical Adam, there is no sin and no Savior. Simply acknowledging that Darwin was wrong and believing in Intelligent Design is not enough, as only faith in the cross work of Jesus Christ can bring sinners eternal life .
7. Young-earth creationism is the best way to explain how the world began.
There are three primary views regarding the formation of the universe. (1) Darwinian evolution. This view denies the existence of an all-powerful God, stating that life emerged naturally from pre-existing, non-living matter. Darwinian evolutionists believe that any change can happen given enough time. Consistent Darwinian evolution always leads to atheism, communism, racism, lawlessness and the majority of harmful practices in society.
(2) Old-earth creationism. This views has dominated the church since the early 19th century and teaches that the earth is millions or billions of years old. Theistic evolution believes God used evolution to bring about life. Progressive creationism, similar to the Day-Age Theory (Machen, Hodge, Warfield), mixes evolution with creation and believes the days of creation are periods of infinite length. The Gap Theory (Chalmers; Scofield Bible) teaches that God created a fully functioning earth in Genesis 1:1 but a gap of millions of years existed before 1:2, whereby Satan fell and God destroyed the earth and started over again with the six days of creation.
(3) Young-earth creationism (sometimes called sudden, fiat, special, or calendar day creationism) teaches that God created the world in six, literal, consecutive days and that the earth (based on the genealogical record in Gen. 5 and 11) is around 6,000 years old, not 14 billion or so as others believe.
This view has several strengths. First, it follows the plain, literal, first-impression interpretation of the text, which differs from the allegorical interpretation of old-earth creationists. Second, it maintains that there could be no animal death before sin entered the world, which all the other views insist on. Third, it takes the Genesis account as history, not poetry, though there are poetical accounts of creation elsewhere (Ps. 104). Fourth, it recognizes that virtually every time day (yom) is attached to a numeral (e.g. “fourth day”), it refers to a 24-hour, solar day. “Evening and morning” makes it even clearer it is a 24-hour day. Fifth, it understands the correct timeline. Genesis 1:1 is an introductory statement of all creation (i.e. “At the start, God created everything”). The rest of Genesis 1 explains the six days of creation. Satan fell some time after Gen. 1:31. Genesis 2 zooms in and gives details about the creation of man and woman and life in the garden. Sixth, it doesn’t care about being accepted by the modern, scientific elite, whose scientific conclusions are constantly changing. Seventh, it finds Darwin’s theory of natural selection absurd, as though (for example) a partially formed eyeball can work at less than peak performance. Rather, it cannot function at all.
8. There is a biblical defense for the arguments leveled against creationism.
Here are just a few. (1) “The Bible isn’t a science textbook.” While the Bible was not written primarily to address science, whenever it does speak about science it is true. Creationists do accept all true science, including micro-evolution (genetic variations over time within a type or kind).
(2) “Light was created before the sun.” It is not difficult to explain how light was created on Day One and the sun was created on Day Four. God, in Himself, provided the light (2Cor. 4:6) because he is light (1Jn. 1:5). Jesus is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12). Light and darkness are alike to him (Ps. 139:12). He doesn’t need the sun to give light and is free to work without secondary causes. In the new heavens and new earth there will be no sun because God will provide the light (Rv. 22:5). John Calvin said that God purposefully created the light before the sun to bear “witness that he holds in his hand the light, which he is able to impart to us without the sun and moon.”
(3) “Creationists embrace blatantly unscientific ideas like a flat earth.” Most creationists do not believe in geocentrism or a flat earth. They are not hyper-literalists, but hold to a literal, grammatical hermeneutic, which allows for estimates, round numbers, figures of speech, and phenomenological language in certain contexts. We don’t believe “ends of the earth” (Dt. 13:7; Ps. 19:4) teaches a flat earth, that the world is a square with “four corners” (Isa. 11:12), or that the heavens literally have “windows” (2Kng 7:2), “doors” (Ps. 78:23), or “gates” (Gn. 28:17).
9. The majority of those in Church History have embraced a young earth and literal days.
While a majority does not prove something to be true (e.g. Athanasius was the minority on Christ’s deity; Luther was the minority on sola fide), a church consensus on a doctrine over nearly two millennia makes a strong case. Old earth is a novel view, as the church has held an almost universal position for young earth creationism for eighteen-hundred years. The difference is hermeneutical, between a literal and allegorical reading of the six days of creation.
In favor of a literal interpretation of the meaning of “days”, William Tyndale said: “Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense.” Proponents of young-earth creationism include Basil, Ambrose, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Berkhof, Sproul (at the end of his life), Robert Reymond, Douglas Kelly, MacArthur, Beeke, and Ken Ham. The Westminster and Baptist Confessions almost certainly affirm calendar days, saying that God created the world “in the space of six days, and all very good”, referring to a definite space of time.
Early church fathers like Origen and Augustine did not take the days literally, nor did J. Gresham Machen later on. The predominant evangelical view over the past two centuries has been old earth, with some criticizing young-earth creationism (e.g. Noll, Grudem, Dobson, Colson). The Protestant Reformation was a return to a literal reading of Scripture, as the Reformers explicitly refuted Augustine’s allegorical approach to days.
10. One day, the present creation will be destroyed and replaced by the new heavens and new earth.
Because of the Fall, the present world is waisting away (Rm. 5:20). Humans are not evolving but devolving. The foundations of the earth will perish (Ps. 102:25-26) and one day God will destroy the earth in an explosion (2Pt. 3:10-12). “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus said (Mt. 5:18).
One day the creation will be set free, as it stands on tiptoes and groans for the new heavens and the new earth (Rv. 22:1-3). The curse will be lifted (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2Pt. 3:13), all things will be restored as they should have been (Ac. 3:21) and God will recreate everything, including resurrecting the bodies of Christians (Dn. 12:2; Rm. 8:23; 1Cor. 15:51).