Out of nothing, everything
CHAPTER 4: Of Creation
(Parts One through Three)
The third chapter of the Confession is a statement of foundational truths regarding creation. These foundations give sense to all that has happened since. Without these foundations, everything else is rendered unintelligible. The world is confused about so many things, in part, because the world rejects the foundational truths about creation.
The Confession explains the who, why, and when of creation.
Who? God did it (Genesis 1:1)—it didn’t happen by itself.
Why? God created all things to put His glory, His power, wisdom, and goodness on display (Psalm 19:1-3).
When? Although no date is known for certain, God created everything in the space of six days (Genesis 1:31-2:2), not millions of years.
The Confession also reminds us that at the beginning, God’s creation was all “very good” Genesis 1:31) Any and all corruption that exists subsequent to creation did not exist until Adam and Eve sinned, and God’s subsequent curse was pronounced (Genesis 3).
(Part Two)
God’s creation of man was the pinnacle of His creative works. God created mankind in the very image of God—the only created thing so made (Genesis 1:26-28). God created mankind, male and female (v.27), with reasonable and immortal souls. Man was created to know God, that we may live in righteousness and true holiness. Man was created with the innate knowledge of God and of His law, having the power to obey it and the ability to disobey it.
In addition to having God’s law written in their hearts, God gave our first parents one specific commandment: not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). As long as that law was kept, man would live in joyful communion with God, having a delegated dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:26 & 28). When that law was broken, however, man plunged himself and all his offspring into judgment.
Though this sin and the judgment that has followed us ever since is disastrous (Romans 5:12-21), it was part of God’s eternal plan to deliver man from sin, that God might reveal His mercy (without setting aside His justice); that He might showcase His grace (Ephesians 2:7).
(Part Three)
The Bible clearly teaches, and the Confession affirms, that God has always existed, even before time began. This is why the Bible begins with the words: “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1). Everything has a beginning. Everything but God, that is. He was already eternally self-existent when everything else that exists began.
Everything else began, when God created all things out of nothing at all.
The reason God created all things was to reveal the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.
God created all things “in the space of six days.” The only reason to distance oneself from a six-day creation, as recorded in the Bible, is to place so-called science above God’s Word. I say so-called science because the word science means knowledge. The world’s scientific knowledge, however, keeps changing, often contradicting its previous positions. The Bible has not.
God has revealed Himself in scripture and in creation. Since both are from Him—and He cannot contradict Himself—if they disagree, it is because we are misinterpreting either nature, or God’s Word, or both. Which has changed more in the last 2,000 years, science or the Bible? How about the last 100 or even 50 years?
Male and female, He created them!
CHAPTER 4: Of Creation
(Parts Four and Five)
The Confession reminds us that the Bible teaches that after God created all other creatures, God created man, both male and female. God made man different from the other creatures on the planet. God created human beings with immortal souls. God created human beings in the very image of God Himself. God gave man powers of knowledge and reason like no other creature on earth. Man was given the capacity for righteousness and holiness. Man was created with the knowledge of God and of God’s law in his heart, and he was given a clear command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first man and woman actually had the capacity to obey God, while at the same time having the capacity to disobey.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. As a result, they plunged not only themselves, but all their posterity (the entire human race) into a state of moral corruption (falleness). While God’s standards have not changed, the ability to obey God perfectly as He demands is no longer ours.
This is why fallen people need a Savior. God gave one. His name is Jesus.
(Part Five)
The Confession states: “After God hath made all other creatures, He created man, male and female.” Nothing more is said about gender in the chapter on creation. In the 1600s, there was no need. Back then, even without modern science, people knew that there was a difference between male and female. The obvious didn’t need to be stated. That has changed, however. Even though with modern knowledge of DNA, and X and Y chromosomes that prove that males and females are fundamentally different at the cellular level, modern man foolishly insists that: a) there is no difference between male and female, and b) we can choose our gender based on personal preference.
We seem to have lost our minds to the extent that, contrary to biological science, and what is obvious even to children, we actually insist that we can change genders with hormone treatments, physical mutilation, clothing, and a little makeup.
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” states Genesis 1:27. In other words, God created every person distinctly male or female, and God-ordained manhood or womanhood are equal components of how human beings bear God’s image.
Tinkering with gender not only defies biological science, it defiles the unique image of God that resides in God-ordained masculinity and femininity as revealed in His Word.
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