Baptist Doctrine #10
WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE ABOUT CREATION

Memory Verge: I John I:3

Prayer: That none of us might have doubts of God’s special creation of all forms of life and of all things seen and unseen.

Key Verses; Rom. 1:20; Col.1:15-17; 1 Jn.1:1-3; Gen. 1:26-28; Gen. 2;1-2.

I John 1:3″
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:
and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Romans 1:20
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

Colossians 1:15-17″
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Genesis 1:26-28″
26 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Genesis 2:1-2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 And on the seventh day God
ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

In the beginning God created” (Gen. 1:1) . This is the foundation truth of all theology. Get the truths straight that are
contained In this phrase and you will
have no trouble with the rest of the Bible.

Sufficient is expressed here to expose every fallacy which man has invented concerning the Deity and His works
(atheism-materialism-pantheism).

In our thinking we must begin with God and work down to man and not the other way around, as the evolutionists do.
We believe the evidence presented by God in Genesis 1-2 prove conclusively that the Universe, the
world and all life thereon, including man, were brought into being by Divine fiat;
and that this orderly progression of life on earth from the lower forms (microscopic
protozoa) to the higher forms, up to and including man, is not the result of evolution (“random changes,
“chance mutation, and “natural selection”), producing through long ages of time the gradual transfornation of one
genus into another — the lower into the higher —but is the result of special creation.

“According to the eternal purpose– Eph.3:11. The eternal God, the eternal Son,
the eternal spirit, the eternal purpose — these only are eternal. Angels and creatures are not eternal, they were
created by God. Matter is not eternal. Only God the triune God — and His eternal purpose have had no beginning and
shall have no end.

#In the beginning–#
When was the beginning? How far back into the past that statement take us? This has no reference to God creating the
earth in six solar days, the Bible makes no such statement. Certainly, the earth, on the morning of its creation,
must have been vastly different from its chaotic state as described in.

Gen. 1:2.
Between the first two verses of Genesis some terrible catastrophe must
have intervened.

Isa. 45:18
“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it,
he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”

Jer. 4:23
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.”

Some commentators talk of a Pre Adamic” race, “Ice age , and millions of years for man to have evolved from the
Adamic” race, the lower creatures.  Yet something did happen which destroyed the original creation, and
Satan was in some way connected with it; for he is called “the god of this world”

2 Cor.4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

What is found in the remainder of Genesis 1, refers not to the primitive creation but to the restoration of that which
had fallen into ruing.
“In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (Ex:20:11). There Is a wide difference
between “creating” and “making” to “create” to call Into existence something out of nothing; to “make” to form or fashion
something out of materials already existing. In “six days”, that is, literal days of twenty—four hours duration, the Lord
completed the work of restoring and re—fashioning that which had been chaos.

As to the details of the six days work of God, we will not say too much. Note
the orderly manner in which God proceded, the ease with which He accomplished HIS
work, the excellency of that which was produced, and the simplicity of the narrative.
Ten times we read, “and God said, let there,”  which may be termed the Ten Command—
ments of creation. Every line of the opening chapter of Genesis has stamped across
it the autograph of Deity.

The early history of this earth corresponds with the spiritual history of the be—
liever in Christ. What occurred in connection with the world of old, finds its
counterpart in the regenerated man. The original creation of the universe compares
to the creation of Adam. The first catastrophe of the earth describes the fall of
man. The Spirit moving on the waters is also what is needed in the soul of the lost
man. And God said, let there be light, so the Spirit of God and the Word of God
brings light to a darkened soul, bringing restoration and new Life from “God.

Of the seven special Beginnings In Genesis, we name two. The beginning of the
material universe — The sphere of the divine revelation of Grace. The beginning of
the human race — The subject of the divine revelation of Grace. We also need to know
what God did in each day of HIS’s work. First day, Light– Second day, Firmament —
-Third day, Land and Vegetation — Fourth day,  Sun and Moon Stars — Fifth day, Sea animals
and Birds — Sixth day, Land animals and Man.

Notice the seven activities in Genesis 1:2-,6-9,11, 14-19, 20-21, 24.
Genesis 1:6-7 Firmament. The firmament is the outer sphere of the earth or fluid air, some 40 miles deep.
It separates water from water. This makes possible all kinds of life on earth and living conditions. The dry land
appears verse 9, 14-18. We have here separation of light and darkness by the intervening atmosphere, separation of
land and sea.

God wants a separated people. There can be no fellowship between light and darkness. God is light; and darkness is
Satanic.
2 Cor. 6:17
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and
I will receive you,” All the animals and fowl were made by God from the lower to the higher, and this is declared
to be the direct work of God

Ps. 104:24—30
24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.

26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

All of the natural creation, animate and inanimate was made for man (Col. I:16;
Ps 8:5—8). No beast in all creation had anything in common with man. Man was made
in the Image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Therefore man is a spiritual being,
made to have fellowship with his God (Ecc 12:7; Zec. 12:1; Jn. 4:24; Prov. 20:27).

There is an infinite chasm between man and beast. Therefore, it is next to blas—
phemy to talk about man, “an animal” or having come from animals. Mlany men may act
like (or even worse) animals but he is a special creation separate and apart from
all animals. And remember there is no such thing as “pre—Adamic man.” Man was
given a commission to fill and subdue the earth, to have absolute dominion (Gen. 1:28;
Ps. 8:5-8; Heb 2:5-11.  Man has failed to exercise that dominion but during the 1000
years reign of Christ on the earth, that dominion will be completely exercised.

Let us give a few facts and arguments against evolution and in favor of Divine
creation. We need to let man have the dignity that GOD gave him, by creating him in
His own image and likeness!

Teach man that he is descended from the beasts he soon will act like a beast.

Teach man that he is a mere animal — a cog in the social machine — and communism will enslave him.
We need to teach man, that though he is created in the image of God, the race is fallen, and needs a
Saviour, and that men must turn to God, through Christ, for His salvation and His holiness.

1. Evolution has no explanation for the origin of the Universe.
“Nothing” cannot create  #something#.

2. All matter in the Universe’ — suns, moons, planets, etc. -—is in constant motion.

Inactive objects, like the stones lying on the ground, do not start themselves moving.

3. The stars, planets, comets, etc., in the Universe are under controlled motion,
kept in their orbits by the interplay of two Important laws: gravitation and inertia.
“Laws” demand a Lawgiver.

4. Between lifeless inorganic matter and life is a vast chasm that could only be
spanned by Divine creation. There is no such thing as “spontaneous generation,”
because the first forms of life on earth had to be preceded by highly complex “pro—
tein molecules,” and these from cells.

5. The observable law of life is not evolution, but entropy, the tendency of all things
to move toward more and more randomness—”run down.” This is called the “second law of Thermodynamics.”

Discussion Questions;
1. How do we account for the origin of the heaven and the earth?

2. Who was the creator of the heavens and the earth?

3. What was the order of the creation?

4. To what does the reference “in the image of God created he him” refer?

5. What number is most prominent in the history of the creation?

6. Give some references concerning God’s direct creation of the firmament.

7. Would you classify man as an animal? Why not?

8. Approximately how long has man been on the earth?

—
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.