Part 4 in a series of Sunday posts celebrating the glorious Truth we believe as Christians. The readings are quoted from the Elder Affirmation of Faith, of my church, Bethlehem Baptist (Pastor John Piper). I’m doing this because every few weeks our congregational reading is an excerpt from this document, and every time we all read aloud the truths we confess, my soul rejoices. I pray these posts will aid you in worshiping our Lord on His day.
God’s Creation of the Universe and Man
We believe that God created the universe, and everything in it, out of nothing, by the Word of His power. Having no deficiency in Himself, nor moved by any incompleteness in His joyful self-sufficiency, God was pleased in creation to display His glory for the everlasting joy of the redeemed, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
We believe that God directly created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from his side. We believe that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of the entire human race; that they were created male and female equally in the image of God, without sin; that they were created to glorify their Maker, Ruler, Provider, and Friend by trusting His all- sufficient goodness, admiring His infinite beauty, enjoying His personal fellowship, and obeying His all-wise counsel; and that, in God’s love and wisdom, they were appointed differing and complementary roles in marriage as a type of Christ and the church.
*Taken from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith, paragraphs 4.1 – 4.2. You are free to download the entire affirmation [pdf] complete with Scriptural proofs for the above statements.
Cool. Does one need to believe this to be a Christian?
Christian,
Short answer: see last paragraph below. More nuanced answer, read the rest of this comment. 🙂
This is what our particular church believes. Belief in this is not required for us to acknowledge someone as a Christian, though.
The “complementary” comment at the end, as well as some of the comments dealing with God’s motives are either denied or not expressly stated by many true Christians. Yet we view these elements as very important.
A Christian follows Christ by definition, and Christ upholds Adam and Eve as historical figures and Creation as an actual event. Further other NT passages affirm that God through Jesus Christ created all things.
If someone doesn’t believe God created all, I would doubt he is one who takes God at his word, as all Christians would (whether or not they explicitly affirm inerrancy).
You’ll notice that the debate between 6-day creation/young earth creationists and old earth”day age” or “gap theory” creationists, nor even the question of theistic evolution are addressed in this affirmation. One can believe God created and yet view Genesis 1-2 in various ways.
Denying Adam and Eve and the historicity of the Fall account has important theological ramifications, however. Original sin, and many of the statements in the NT about sin and Adam are called in question.
So after all those qualifications, I would say “yes and no”. Virtually all Christians would affirm this (if you take out the complementary part). Yet I can envision some differing with it to some degree. In general if you believe in God (required for being a Christian), you will believe that God created the world (in some sense).
Thanks for asking, and I welcome further dialog.
Blessings from the Cross,
Bob Hayton
Thanks. I would say that;
A. I believe in God.
B. I believe that Jesus was the Christ and Son of God and the crucifixion is the pivotal point of history in that he gives us the means of overcoming our separation from God.
C. I believe that God created all that there is.
D. I believe that the creation account in Genesis is metaphorical and allegorical yet true in that it conveys the essence of God, his creation and mans flawed nature.
Would that fly?
I believe so.
My only qualm would be with B. I agree with all you’ve said there. However, Jesus doesn’t help us save ourselves by our obedience. Jesus very obedience is necessary as well as his atoning death and that is given to us freely in the gospel.
Protestants affirm salvation is by faith alone, but us Reformed are quick to add not a faith that is alone. There must be good works/obedience, but it is worked in us by God on account of the faith that joins us to Christ, making us recipients of all the gospel blessings purchased on the cross.
I would say in one sense, Catholics are “Christians”. But I can’t in good conscience affirm them as true believers, those who will be saved. They have a lot of good doctrine, but their ritualistic emphasis, emphasis on Mary and saints, as well as their transubstantiation views on communion, and their emphasis on earned merit, put them in a place where being consistent with their doctrine would lead them to not trust in Christ alone by faith and through grace alone for ultimate salvation. That some do trust Christ alone, in spite of their doctrinal affirmations, I freely admit. But that in spite of official church teaching.
At the end of the day, I’m glad I don’t have to adjudicate and determine who’s in and who’s not. Jesus will do that. And I want to be frank that tons of Protestant Christians may sadly be excluded from the kingdom as those described in Matt. 7:21-23. Just mentally affirming Protestant orthodox doctrine on justification, and salvation, does not make one a true believer at heart.
That may well have been a rabbit trail, you may well affirm Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, God’s Glory Alone, and Scripture Alone (the 5 “sola”s of the Reformation).
Back to Creation. On point D, I believe someone can affirm that as a believer in the Bible, yet I don’t think its the Biblical position. I think Adam and Eve were historical. However I am ready to be much more metaphorical and allegorical in my interpretation there than Answers in Genesis people–at least at this point. See this post of mine which delves into some of these matters. And I think too that it is Reformed people who have historically been proponents of the “day age” view or different versions of the “gap theory”. And I think most Reformed people are Christians, yet open to the Matt. 7 shock if they don’t prove to be persevering as all truly elect will.
Sorry for being so long winded here. I’m trying not to be misunderstood. Although I’m sure I’m not being precise enough somewhere.
Again I have great faith in God’s goodness and His Spirit’s power to work in people in such a way as he did with Lot. Lot and Esau look about the same to human eyes, as we read their stories in Scripture. Yet the NT tells us Lot was vexing his “righteous” soul, while Esau was a “profane” man, who was unable to repent (Heb. 12). So one was truly regenerate and saved, and the other wasn’t.
I can hope the best for Christians who are imprecise in their theology, and I have hope that God is doing a work in groups that I have major doubts over.
But with regard to me and the safety of those I love, I must be faithful to Scripture on the gospel and try to be clear in what it is and isn’t.
I don’t want to sound like I’ve arrived and no one else has. I am growing and learning, and I hope we are all in Christian communities where we can be “sharpened” by others for our eternal good.
Thanks for your questions.
All the best from Christ’s Cross,
Bob Hayton
Now that I can agree with. Amen.
hi,
Were Adam and Eve (“the historical parents of the entire human race”) white people? If so, how did black people (I know for 100% that they exist) came on earth?
greetz
Franky,
Most ethnologists today claim all the races developed from a single clan of humans. That is not far from saying they developed from a single pair.
Now actually, assuming Noah’s flood was worldwide, we actually have Noah & wife, plus his 3 sons and their wives — a clan of people, from which all the races developed from. I would argue that we don’t know how many years ago that flood was, and so there could be thousands of years — the very time that ethnologists and other scientists tell us was needed for the races to develop as they are now.
Some strict, young earth creationists stick to just 6,000 years or so, for the age of the earth and everything. They might see God’s work with spreading the peoples of the earth at the Tower of Babel as involving the creation of race distinctions, I’m not sure.
Sorry I took so long to respond, I’ve been under the weather lately.
Blessings,
Bob Hayton