The author of Hebrews now arrives at the

famous portion of his letter in which he vividly

illustrates the active, persevering faith he has been
encouraging his readers to retain. The point of the
entire chapter is self-evident: true faith does not
turn back from following' Christ in the hour of
testing; it perseveres unto the saving of the soul.
The history of the Church is filled with men and
women who have endured afflictions and trials for
the cause of Christ, and the true character of their
faith has been vindicated by their steadfastness.
OUf author joins examples from the previous 4,000
years in order to prove his point. From the very
beginning of the world, God's Word has called for
and produced faith in the lives of those whom he
has graciously drawn unto himself through the
gospeL Through this chapter, OUf author encour-
ages these Hebrew Christians to bear up under
their current trials,and to realize present .
sufferings for Christ' s sake do not give them
reason to leave the battlefield. Like those who
have gone before, they are now called upon to
endure courageously the afflictions of evil men. It
is important to note that chapter 11 is not an
extended discourse on the natnre of justifying faith.
It is an inspired account of how faith works (what
faith produces) in those who are justified from
their sins through Christ's righteousness and blood.
As the Lutheran commentator Lenski wrote, "It is
more exact to say that we have the essence of
true religious faith, the heart of what the Scriptures
call saving faith." .
I . to the Hebrews' Hall of Faith
. . . ' . . .
A. Savilig faith does not draw back from
its pursuit of God's .promises 00:37 .. 39)
In quoting Habbllkuk, author Was
directed by the Holy Spirit to see a parallel be
tween the two situations. Habbakuk was wrestling
with the question, "Why are the righteous some-
times punished along with the wicked? Why is their
present condition so often marked by hardship and
suffering?" God's answer came along two lines:
the wicked oppressors of God'speople will be
punished, and the righteous must submit them-
selves to the will of God. Suffering is part of
God's plan to purify them from sin, draw them
closer to himself, and to accomplish other holy and
just ends, which the Lord mayor may not choose
to reveal. The important thing is that the justified
man lives in his faith, He does not give in under
the pressures of tribulation. He knows trials
proceed from the hand of his loving heavenly
Father, who has everything under control, and who
works all things together for good to those that
love him (Romans 8:28). Therefore, he does not
draw back. This is the context of chapter 11. The
men and women of fai th discussed are illustrations
of this principle. Each of them were given great
and precious covenant promises, and each had to
endure enormous hardships and testings as they
sought to inherit them. In many instances, they
never received what was promised, yet they
continued in faith and obedience throughout their
lives, counting God faitbful and his promises sure.
B. Saving faith is identical to the Old and
New Testaments: Christ centered
To feel the full force of this point, we must
remember our author's purpose. He demonstrates
New Testament faith from the Old Testament (cf.
Romans 4). This is certainly a compelling argu-
ment for the essential unity of the Old and New
Testaments (contra Dispensationalism) (Luke
24:24-27, 44-45; John 5:45-47; Galatians 3:26-29;
Hebrews 3: 1-6). It is not as if old covenant faith
was focused upon works and reward While that of
the new is more esoteric and intangible, focusing
on Christ, heaven, and the afterlife. The faith of
the godly in both testaments received its
strength to endure through the Messiah.
Moses, the man in the Old Testament, left
Egypt because he would rather endure suffering
for the cause of Christ than enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season. Abraham, the greatest of the
patriarchs, and the father of all who believe, looked
ahead to and rejoiced in Christ' s day (John 8:36).
Chapter 10 concludes by reminding us that the
4 TIiE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon August/September, 2000
promise for which all of these great men and
women hoped was not fulfilled in their lifetime, the
implication being that the Messiah had not yet
been born. They enjoyed many glorious privi-
leges, revelations, and visitations from Jehovah, but
the greatest of his promises, life and salvation
through the Messiah, was not realized. The author
then draws a poweIful ethical implication from the
expectancy of Old Testament faith. If their hopes
are to be realized, if their labors, sufferings, and
patience are to be vindicated, believers on the
other side of the Messiah's advent must pick up
where they left off. If they were able to undergo
so many trials and testings, and patiently bear with
so many delays and obstacles in the realization of
their faith before the Messiah's glory and grace
was fully revealed, how much more should we,
who now possess the fullness of salvation bless-
ings fOJ" which they longed, persevere in faith and
obedience dnring the many sufferings and tribula-
tions which God places in our way. Like them, we
will endure only as the eyes of our faith are
focused on the Christ, who now is more than a
promise. He has conqnered sin, Satan, and death,
and he now reigns at God's right hand, angels,
principalities, and powers being made snbject to
him.
C. Saving faith is OBEDIENT, PATIENT,
and PERSEVERING.
In each of the histories before us, it is the
active obedience, patience, and perseverance
of faith that is commen.ded to us. Faith shows
itself in obedience to the revealed will of God. At
God's command, Noah built an ark in an age when
it had probably not yet rained (at least as it does
now). At the command of God, Abraham left his
family and journeyed 1,500 miles to an unspecified
location. Moses confronted the most powerful
world ruler in his day because of faith in God's
promise to deliver Israel. Samson slew thousands
of Philistines with his bare hands. Jehovah made
many promises to these individual s, and they
believed them, enjoyed tlJem, and lived in their
light. Moreover, they patiently endured many
del <lYs in receiving their fulfillment. Abraham
waited many years before Isaac, the child of
promise, was born. Moses waited 40 years in the
wilderness before returning to Pharaoh's courts to
secure Israel's deliverance. As a riation, Israel
endured 400 years of slayery in Egypt before they
obtained the lalld of promise. Throughout the.
delays, these men and women remained obedient
to God, lived patiently, and continued in faith until
they died.
From these moving examples, we learn a great
deal about the type of faith that will enable us and
our families to endure the pressures of our age,
remain faithful to the triune God, and obtain the
victor' s crown. It is a faith that obeys God even
amidst the pressures of living in an apostate
culture. It is a faith that retains its hope though
surrounded with occasions for despair an.d
doubt. It is a faith that never draws back.
Faith's response to wickedness, doubt, and despon-
dency is to overcome them all by the Word and
Spirit of the living Christ (Hebrews 12: 1,2). It is
able to endure and conquer not because of any
inherent strength in the heart of God's people, but
because its daily object is the living and reigning
Christ, who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and
bestows his aU-sufficient grace during our mo-
ments ofgreatesttrial (2 Corinthians 12:9).
of this chapter to these Hebrew
Christians demonstrates the unfathomable wisdom
ofthe Holy Spirit. These professing believers
were facing innumerable hardships in livingfor
Christ. They bad already endured a great fight of
afflictions some years previous, and were now .
facing the same, perhaps worse. Some were likely
being tempted to draw back to JUdaism, a step that
would not only make them guilty of apostasy from
Christ, but also render them the objects of Christ's
terrible judgment against apostate Israel in A. D.
70. Our author would have these brothers step
back with him in a brief perusal of their own
history. Was the evil of their culture any greater
than that faced by Noah in the years preceding the
worldwide flood, when God called him to be a
preacher of righteousness and build an ark? Were
their tntils any more severe than those patiently
endured by Abraham, when God called him to
leave his homeland and family, and live 60+ years
in a land he would never call his own? Would their
choice for Christ impose any greater deprivation
and hardShip than when Moses chose to give up
everything, perhaps the Pharaohship in Egypt, in
August/September, 2000 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon. 5
order to suffertvith God's people? And what
about those who bad endured torture, cruel mock-
ing, scourgings, and martyrdom for the faith?
These Hebrew Christiaiu. had not yet been called
upon to give that final token ofloyalty to the cause
of Christ. So while our author seeks to encourage
them through their history, he meekly chides them
as welL They have not yet endured quite as much
as they may think. They need to stop pitying
themselves, living in fear, and recover their ancient
zeal for the cause of Christ and his Church. For
their profession admits of no retreat, no treasonous
abandonment of principle, no fear of man. Their
faith, if real, will enable them to follow in the
footsteps of these men and women of faith, and
patiently endure sufferings for Christ's sake.
The lessons for us are no less compelling. As
the evils of the day have increased, our faith in
God's promises of kingdom expansion and victory,
andin his plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus
Christ simply and powerfully preached, have
lessened. Our individualism, materialism, and
selfish aims are more pronounced. Compromise,
defeatism, and despair are rife throughout the
Christian community. Very few are undertaking
great works of missionary endeavor, planning for'
the next millennium of the establishment of the
kingdom of King Jesus over ,all the earth, or
expecting Christ's enemies to be defeated in our
day and God's promisestothe Church fulfilled.
We hear many stories of moral defeat and doctri-
nal error, but scarce few of victory over tempta-
tions, faithfulness to duty, and passion for Christ
and his Word. But this is exactly to what this
chapter calls us. It calls us to plan for victory
in an age of defeat and compromise. It de-
mands that we be firmly persuaded of God's
promises when our, faith is assailed by the
hordes of godless men on every side. It
encourages us to give our all in living the
Christian life, making disciples of the nations,
and extenditi
g
tite borders of Zion even
though the battle calls for our blood, sweat,
and tears. In short, this chapter calls upon us
to realize that our earthly experience is not
about personal comfort, ease, and affiuence,
or even the peaceful enjoyment of God's
covenant , promises. It is about warfare,
obedience, hard work, and perseverance
through sufferings. This is the sort of faith God
had been giving his people for 6,000 years. The
coming of his Messiah 2,000 years ago does not '
release us from our obligations to suffer with
Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David; it intensifies
them. And yet, glory be to God, because we live
in that great day of the Messiah for which they
longed, we can also expect greater grace and
victory in establishing the kingdom of Jesus Christ
over the face of the entire earth (Isaiah II :9).
II. The Confident Expectation of Saving Faith
(Hebrews 11:1-2)
A. Faith is confident of the truth
of God's promises.
Hypostasis (substance) implies "essence or
fundamental reality", i.e., that which is real.
Faith persuades God's people of the reality
and certainty of his promises. It reveals with
startling vividness what cannot necessarily be seen
with the eyes, i.e., verified with the senses or as
yet completely experienced (not fide ism or
existentialism). This great truth is implicit
throughout the chapter. Faith enables the Christian
to embrace the unseen, unfulfilled promises of God
with an assurance and confidence that strengthens
'Tairh enables the Christian IU
embrace the unseen, unfulfilled-
promises of God with ari assurance
and confIdence that strengthens
him to triumph over the Hesh, rhe
world, and the deviL"
him to triumph over the flesh, the world, and the
devil. Our New'Testament translators usually (and
properly) translate the word "confidence" (cf. 2
Corinthians 9:4; 11:17; Hebrews 3:14). {The single
other appearance of the word is in Hebrews 1:3,
where the Son is called "the express image of the
Father's hypostasis. There, essence is proper '
referent of the WOrd. For our author is declaring
that the Son possesses the fullness of the divine
essence in himself: autotheos.} What enables
faith to overcome the many obstacles which our'
heavenly Father is pleased to place before it? A
6 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - August/September, 2000
Spirit-wrought assurance that God's promises
cannot fail. Regardless of what we see with
our eyes, God's Word is more trustworthy .
than our experienc.e and deeper than our
understanding. It is this conviction that it
lighted in the subsequent histories of God '.s people.
Now what gives faith this character and thus
enables it to persevere?
1. Faith enables man to submit to God's Word.
All men do not have faith (2 Thessalonians 3:2).
It is exclusively God's gracious gift and sovereign
prerogative to place it in the hearts of his people
(John 3:3-8; Ephesians 2:8,9). By nature, man is
enslaved to his unbelieving views of God, himself,
and the world (Romans 1:18-23; 3:10-18). In this
fallen condition, he will always reject the Scrip-
tures, and life and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Yet when the Word and Spirit of God regenerate
man, he undergoes a supernatural, radical transi-
tion from death to life, darkness to light, sin to
righteousness, ignorance to knowledge, to
faith (Acts 2:37; 10:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Eph-
esians 5:8; Colossians 3:10). He is enabled to
receive, understand, and believe whatever is
revealed in Scripture as coming from th.e true and
living God, who canDot lie. He therefore rejects
his own sin dominated outlook on life. He now
assents that there is no higher authority than the
voice of God spealdng i.n the Scriptures, and that to
live on the basis of his own principles, ideas, and
experiences, is the height of creaturely arrogance,
irrationalism, and impiety. Recognizing his own
depravity and alienation from a holy and just God,
he accepts, receives, and rests upon Christ alone
for salvation, as he is freely offered in the gospel.
He then dedicates himself to walk in obedience to
God and his law out of love for tbe risen Son of
God. The point here is quite simple. The very
nature of saving faith, being the creation of God in
tlle heart of his elect,joining them to Christ, and
introducing a radical reversal of the governing
principle inman, guarantees its perseverance.
Faith, then, is a transfer of allegiance from man to
God and his Word. Where faith is genuine, submis-
sion to God is certain.
2. Faith overcomes all objections
against God's Word.
God does not give us everything he has prom-
ised all at once. There are many for
blessings" which as yet remain unfulfilled (lCorin-
thians 15:50ff; Hebrews 2:8; John 3:2). A startling
contrast often exists between our present experi-
ences and what God has revealed in Scripture.
God promised Abraham the land of Canaan yet he
never enjoyed title to one square foot of it (except
the Cave at Machpelah, which he purchased:
Genesis 23:17,18). Isaac was the seed of promise,
yet God commanded Abraham to sacrifice him.
We currently possess eternal life in Jesus Christ,
yet we continually struggle with SiD and face
inevitable death. God proclaims in Scripture that
we are now just, innocent, and righteous in his
sight through Christ's imputed righteousness and
shed blood, yet we struggle with sin. God has set
Christ at his right hand, there to triumph victori-
ously over all his enemies, but today we see his
enemies proliferating on every side, and his Church
scattered and confused. These dilemmas are tests
of faith. Will we continue believing God's Word
when our experience seems to contradict those
promises? The ability to view life from God's
perspective as revealed in Scripture, and to
count upon his Word even when our 'daily
experience may seem to contradict it, is the
essence of persevering faith. The man of faith
has forsaken his own depraved and man-centered
views of life, and now contents himself with being
God's humble servant, and thereby confidently
awaits the fulfillment of those promises fOl' which
he hopes. He knows that he is a mere creature,
Witll a very limited, mostly selfish perspective, and
that he will always stray if he makes his own
experiences and views the guiding principle of his
life. Saving faitll will thus overcome all objections
against God' s Word, whether Illey spring from our
own unbelief and lethargy or are introduced by the
darkened minds of unbelief.
B. Faith enables us to possess and enjoy
promises not yet fulfilled.
The two phrases in verse 1, things hoped fOl;
and things not seen, are parallel, Both refer to
the many great and precious promises God has
revealed in his Word, which though we currently
possess and enjoy by faith, we do not fully possess,
understand, or enjoy them as we one day will.
This condition is what theologians have called the
AugusUSeptember, 2000 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 7
now but not yeti aspect of our present Christial1
experience. On the one hand,in ,Christ we possess ,
all.things, On the other hand, we are strangers
and pilgrims in t1!is world. We are from all
our sins, ,yet we still need forgiveness. In Jesus _'
Christ, we hav.; been made the heirs of aU God's
promises, but we have not yet experienced their
consummation. That full and final salvation
experienc.e must wait for the dawn of the per-
fected kingdom of clirist. The delay. does not
make the promises any less' preCious ,oi' ,
1. It'embraces God's promises as its
God's promises. He is delighted by the mercies of
God revealed in them and i s through '
them to continue in fafth and obedience. It is, the
quality of God's promises; the hope they produce in
the soul, that enables the just mim to persevere ' :'
through affiicti9n (philippians 3:7-i 1), Whe,D we
survey the'lives of the godly in eVery epoch of the
Church, God's promises have always been the'
means of grace' by which they were enl\vened to
undertake dangerous and energetic exploits' in
. Christ's name .. -It wa:s t1Je promise of Christ's'
Spirit and presence that strengthened the apostles
and Christian brothers' to read the gospel'of
. own present possession'. .
Jesus Christ with such zeal and faithfulness , '
Faith enables a man to possess.apd enjoy with thfoughout Palestine, Asi!! MinOr, Rome, and from
confidence wh,athehas not yet fullY' realized in hi,' s
there to the uttermost parts of the then known
oWn personal experience. ' The fact that we world. It was the hope of the martyr's crow'n that
struggle 'wiih sin does not weaken our righteous enabled so many millions of Christians to go to
standing in.Jesus Christ. Thetwo millennia sepa- their deaths with composure, confidence, andjoy . .
rat;ing Abraham and Christ did not keep the former It was the hope of a refoirmid Church, it godly and
from believing God's promises, and joyfully antici- secure state, anda :hristianiZed that
pating the, great day of the Messiah. The fact that encouraged the ReformetHo undertake such a
we see evil men going fron;ibad t9 worse all , dapgllrouswork. ' An4 it. Will the promise.of ,'
aroand gaining authority andpowe.t, does not., : christ's yictoriousxdgn at 'Ciod;s right ,hand and ,
negate the;"'leof CIirist over tht'earth,a:rid the ' :: . theex'tension 6fliis\dng'dom flll th,e-earth that
Father's promise to mni'of the. of " will enable' (0 fe]nice.onthdield of battle, and
the nations'. ,For 'our cqnfidence in God's promises, enter our Own great fight of FtffJictions with ,ihe
once again, is never upon purper.soilal '. , . " zeal, aijd power necessary to
experiences', and it is certainlyl1oi'based upon the ' "ecutethe against Satan t(') itsfullest..
condition of world at, any P3Jticular time in ' , " ,
. _ . .' .. 3. Itpatieritly end,tires per&(mal
history_ It is upon 904's infallible akn d ' ' I d ' I' ,
. . d' S" H' , G d ' we ess an tempora e ays.
prormses contame in cppture. as, .o prom-' .... ' ' .. ' '. ' " ,
ised some particular to the Church"? ,Does ' . ' - ' Faith fiXes our gaZe upon the wonderful ,
it appear impossible that it can Let ises of so that' we are at
God be true but every man a liar. It the . God's gracious Qrovisions to'us, his)<iveanq.
mini's confidence in the Wordoc'God that; ' goOdJ;less, and his faithfulness than We are at our ',
enables enjoy Gmt's promises, oWJ!wea)Cnessesand the tri3J.s facing us. This,will '
though -he does not see his. ' corn.e-outexpJiciti
y
in the life 6f AQraham" Abra-
immediate lifetinie. For he God' is' hai)!. was not ignorant 6fthe physical limitations of.
faithful, and that the only p'rope, response tq such ' his wife. or of his own advanced age. Yet, 'faith
promises is fititnfulness to God an4liis covenm.t. , ' taught him not to fix his eyes-on his
So the man and woman offaith, animated by Dod's fears, and the obstacles of the fulfillmento.fthe
promi'ses, plan, live, imd work for the day (lftheir promise, but upon the:powet ofthe One who made ,
fUlfilhnent. He c.anbe about the the promise.(Rorriims 4: +8ff). And therefore .. he
because.bis'lifeis grounded upon the certail)lY of " was strengthened 'to overcome his fears and
patiently end\lre the delays in the fulfilltllent:of
God's in the present. '
God's promises:. And it will be the saine with us.
2. It rejoices in theirgoodness and power. Whenever we pegitlto ask wh1\t God mayor may
'The man of faith derives great comfort:from not do in our lives ot lifetimes, let us never limit his '
. . . , " . ',' .. " ' .'
'", .
8 -_ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedim' - AUgUstiSeptember, 2000
. , . ; .
.
'will, promises,' and power by ihe measure of our
own puny and finite understanding. He is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or
imagine. If this is to be our attitude, however, we
must have more confidence in God's promises than
we do in our' personal experiences. This does not
mean that we go through life as blind optimists, but
that we ground our entire confidence in the bare,
power of the spoken Word of our covenant keep-
ing God. His' grace is sufficient for us; not one
good word of all hi,S promises can eyer fall to the
ground.
C. Faith is the wellspring of hope
(Romans 8:24).
Faith is the foundation of hope. It is faith in the
unshakable promises of God that produces hope
within us. Hope is not wishful thinkiIig. "I hope
we can go on vacation this year." Biblical hope
is that Spirit-produced that what
God has said, he will also do. So central is hope
to the Christian life that Paul could say, "We are
saved by hope" (Romans 8:24), Hope has been a
frequently recuiTing theme in this epistle. In living
for Christ, we are to show the full assurance of
hope unto the end (6: 11). , We have been born
again unto a better hope than even the Old Testa-
ment patriarchs enjoyed (7: 19). Hope inspires the ,
Christian to obey God zealously throughout the
entirety of his life, and to undertake great works
for'hiskingdom (1 Corinthians 9: 10; Colossians
1 :5). Hope motivates us to believe God's Word
when everything around us seems to undermine its
truthfulness, authority, and relevance, Hope gives
us the ability to rejoice during trials (Romans 5:2-5;
12: 12; Hebrews 3:6) and patiently submit to God's
will during them (1 Thessalonians 1 :3). It is hope
iu God's faithfulness that keeps us from sinking
into despair as we endure the trials (Psalms 33:18,
19; 42:5,11; 43:5). Without hope in God's prom-
ises, that he will fulfill them, that he rewards our
obedience arid honors our faith; there is no incen-
tive to live the Christian life. It is faith that in-
spires this hope, keeps it enflamed, and motivates
the believer to come to Christ and to seek in him
all necessary grace (Matthew 8:10; 9:2; 15:28).
D. Faith achieves the victory and is
therefore rewarded by God (8:2).
Verse 2 motivates us to follow in the footsteps
of the men and w(jmen of faith he is about to
discuss.: The alwients are commended for their
confident trust in God' s,Word that enabled them to
persevere courageously througbout life. What
makes Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samson, and
Rahab such sterling examples of faith to us? They
took God at his Word, embraced his promises, and
refused to limit his power by the bounds of their
own understimding. They confidently anticipated
the fulfillment of his Word and did not draw back
from that faith in the hour of testing. It was this
faith that was rewarded throughout tbeir lives,.as ,
they .enjoyed material prosperity, deliverance from
enemies, and many descendants. It was this faith '
that-was when the Messiah entered
upon the scene of human history 2,000years'ago
and obtained the eternal redemption of his Chinch.
III. The Foundation of Saving Faith: The
Genesis Creation Account (11:3)
, In beginning his illustrious roll call of faith, our
author begins where the Bible does, with the
creation of the physical universe by the spoken
word ,of God. The book of Genesis not only
contains the creation narrative, but it is also the
source of the majority of the faith biographies in
this chapter. More importantly, if faith, as he has
already written, is unshakable confidence in the
unseen, unfulfilled promises of God, then
Scripture's testinlony concerning the creation of
the world is a fundamental proving ground for true
faith. Will we accept God's Word concerning the
origins of this world? Will we trust him even
though we were not present when he created the
world? Will we continue to submit to his revelation
in the face of so many attacks against biblical
creationism by unbelieving scientist and professing
friends of Christ? If not, we will be in no position
to accept his word concerning the recreation or
redemption of the world through Jesus Christ. For
in both instances, saving faith ,SUbmits to God's
Word, distrusts man, overcomes objections, aIld
believes God. This verse is' not only foundational
for all tbat follows in this chapter, but for the entire
Christian worldview, and therefore, we must seek
to understand its richness and saving power in our
lives.
The simple point of verse 3 is that God did, by
the power of his own word, create everything we
August/September, 2000 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon-9
see around us. The biblical doctrine of creation
affirms that when there was nothing but the triune,
self. existent, all-sufficient God, he created the
matter from which this universe waS constructed,
and beautifully and wisely ordered it all as it now
appears. In. the words of our Confession; "It
pleasecre God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for
the manifestation of the glory of his .eternal power,
wisdom, llI1d goodness; in the beginning; to create,
or make of nothing, the world, and all things
therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of
six days, and all very good" (4.; 1). Both the
substance and farm of the universe originated with
the eternal God. Man, however, will never be able
to understand or accept this account. of the origin
of the uni-verse unless and until he is regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit, submits his reason
to God, and surrenders his heart to Christ. Let us
begin by considering the implications of this verse
for a Christian view of history, God; man, Scrip-
ture, and Christ.
A. Faith is based upon the
biblical doctrine of creation.
1. The biblical doctrine of creation means
that human history had a definite
beginning and purpose.
Contrary to the evolutionists; cultural relativistS;
and every other garden variety of unbelief, human
history is not an unconnected hodgepodge of
random, meaningless events, and this orderly
universe did not spring from chaos plus incalcu-
lable eons of time. The living and true God,
according to the Scriptures, is the Creator of this
universe and therefore of human history. This
wotld and its history sprang into a sudden, defined
(exhaustively known and interpreted by God before
it existed), and meaningful existence around 6,000
years ago. According to the Christian worldview,
history has meaning and purpose because!t
originated in the mind of an all-wise, poweiful,
good, and just God, who created man to serve and
glorify himself. History thus becomes the unfold-
ing of God's providential, covenant dealings with
man, and reaches its destination in the person and
work of Jesus Christ, the second and greater
Adam who rescued fallen man from the abyss of
sin and depravity in which Adam's wretched
choice plunged him. Only biblical Christianity,
"According 1:6 the Chriitian worldview,
. ' . .. , . 1 . . :
hiswry:his me;illing and purpose because it
"II - , ' " . , ,.,' , , .
ip. the IIlind of an pO,wer-
ful, good, and Qod, wh.()!createdman' j
to serve and glorify himself." .
; : ';
therefOre, preserves true meaning and purpose in '
history, provides hope forman's deliverance'from
his rebellious, destructive tendencies, and pre-
serves human ratiotlality, experience, and science.
Negatively stated, if God did not create this
universe, then there is no rational explanation fat
its origin; no reason for its existence, and no
purpose to history. We are left with an utterly
unexplainable existente. Our experience is
, reduced to a chaotic accumulation of unrelated
facts to 'which arty: meaning at allmay be assigtied.
We lack any rational foundation for our knowledge .
claims and scientific enoeavors. The very fact
that man cannot live in terms of these unbelieving
foundations; but must instead bdrrow from the
Christian world view those necessary foundations
to think, speak, and reason, is proof, as Cornelius
Van Til so wisely statect, that Christianity is abso-
lutely true; because withQut it, one cannot prove
anything else. It is the necessary foundationior
everything else. The tragedy of fallen man is that
, he prefers to live in an abyss.of meaninglessness
and despair rather than admit his needof divine
wisdom, submit to God's Wo(d, and cQme to Christ
as the realization of God's plan for and in history.
2. The doctrine of creation gqarantees that God is
in sovereign control of all things.
In Scripture, creation and providence are
inseparable. God takes care of his creatures,
provides for their physical and spiritual needs imd
controls every single event, evil and calamity,
that occurs for the glory of his own name (Job
37:3; Psalm 36:6,104:24-26; 135:6; Proverbs 16:4;
Isaiah 45:6-8; Daniel 4:35; Acts 2:23; 17:25-28;
Matthew 10:29-31). Contrary to Deism, God is not
the master watchmaker who wound up the world, .
then left it to run according to certain natUral
principles. ' God the creator is God the Preserver
and Controller of all. He causes all things to
happen according to the counsel of his own will
(EpheSians I:II;Psalin33:10,ll). Eventhe
10 THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon , August/September, 2000
sparrow thaUlills to the grounil is' known and " , . . ' ,
guided by God (Matthew 10:29). The arrow that is
inadvertently shot into the air finds its r k ai, his ' '
command (1 Kings 22:34). The die thrown comes
up six at God's decree (Proverbs 16:33): The !" i'
thunder and lightening are his poweiful voices (Job:
28:26; 37:3). The doctrine of creation, therefore, is'
a great source of comfort to God's people', for Gqd
not only made the world, aod all things in it, but l1e .
watches over, preserves, protects, and provides',for
his creatures. Moreover, because God is in cqntrol
no natural disaster is going to occur which will . . '
wipe out mankind and destroy the planet. The
more man has lost his confidence in Creator God,
the more preoccupied he has become with cata
strophic asteroids, alien invasions, global warming,
overpopulation, and various other impending
disasters that threaten human existence as we .
know it. God, however, has sworn that nothing will
take place to threaten man's life on earth again:
Until his plans to restore fallen humanity through
Chris! and erect Christ's kingdom victorious over
all the earth are fulfilled, the s ~ s o n s will continue,
and no mOf(' worldwide natural disasters will occur
that will threaten that plan (Genesis 8:2022).
3. The doctriue of creation obligates all men to
worship and10ve the living and true God.
Because God created man in his own image,
man is obligated to worship and serve his Creator.
All men know this to be the case. We must not
allow unbelieving man to define himself. Godhas
revealed himself to all men through nature and in
man's heart, and therefore, all men know (in one
sense) that the God of the Bible exists, and that
they owe their lives to him, and that they are gUilty
of treason against heaven if they withhold praise
and obedience to him (cf. Romans 1:19ff). As .
Panl goes on to say, however, the unbelieving man
suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. The task
of the Christian, therefore, is not to ,convince the
unbeliever of things' he does not already believe,
but. to force him to face the truth of which he is
already convicted. Note how Paul does this at the
Areopagus (cf. Acts 17:22ff). He does not set out
to prove anything. He proclaims the troth that God
has made all mim, including the Romans, lhat they
are rebels frail). his law, and that their only hope is
repentance and faith in the Messiah, whom God
has raised from the dead. We must follow Paul's
. authodtative eXllmple and press the demands of
: creation upon the unbeliever's conscience. The
, Ul,believer is guilty of rebellion against his creator ..
; He enjoys so many good gifts from his hand, yet he
, does not surrender his life to him. If he remains in
. hi s. lost condition, ,that same Creator WIlD offers
, salvation from sin through Christ will become a
vengeful Godwho will punish him in hellfire
forever. To give up the biblical doctrine of ere .
ation, tberefore, is to wipe out any need for the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Redemption, as we shall
See, standS or falls with creation. If we acquiesce
to modem scholarship on the doctrine of
creation, we must succunlb to unbelief and
skepticism on the doctrine of redemption in
Jesus Christ. Finally, the godly cannot doubt that
the modern aversion to the creation doctrine stems
from the guilty conscience of the modern man,
who will do everything he can to escape the
consequences of his creation by God to love and
obey God.
4. The doctrine of creation is the foundation
for the rest of Scripture.
Scripture's infallibility, authority, arid allsuffi
ciency are inseparable from the biblical doctrine of
creation. In every major section of the Bible, the
biblical doctrine of creation is affirmed.
1) In the Pentateuch - Genesis 12; Exodus
20:11; 31:17; Deuteronomy 4:32.
2) In the Histories -2 Kings 19:15;2
Chronicles 2: 12; Nehemiah 9:6
3) In the Psalms - Psalm 104:2430;
115:15,16; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146:6
4) In the Prophets -Is'aiah 37:16; 40:12;
Jeremiah 32:17; 33:25; Amos 9:6
5) In the Gospels - Matthew 19:4; Mark
13:19; 10:6; John 1:3,10
6) In the Apostolic Writings - Acts 4:24;
14:i5; 17:26; 1 Corinthians 11:9; Colossians
1:16,20; 1 Timothy 4:3; Revelation 4: 11; 14:7.
One cannot subtract creationism from the Bible
and retain either Christianity or confidenct'; in the .
Scripturt';s. They stand or fall together. If the
God of Scripture is not the divine Creator of this
world, then not only is Genesis in errol', but the
August/September, 2000 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedonll
. '
entire collection of :>ritings we beliey,e to be
God's inspired Word is el\posed as fraudulent,(OJ; ,
minimally, as'providing no help in,
origin and purpose of the universe) as well. Fqr ,
not only ,does each portion of Scripture presuppose,
and tellch that God is the Creator and Goyerpor, ,
this universe, but each claims \0 be God' s inspired,
infallible Word to man, God' s creatures. But if God
is not the Creator, then they coptain error. A.t)d if{
the Bible is wrong at even one, i\ is wrong
at every point. Away with the Kantian dualism
that would saVe faith by relegating itto an un-
knowable realm of rationa)-
ity, and 'verbal propositions do not matter. The ,
Bible's claim iscoI]1prehensive. H clajms to spe,ak
with absolute authority concernjng everything .
about which it speaks, and it speaks about every,-
thing. Hence, We see how dangerous the cavalier ,
attitude is that many professing Christians demon-
strate towardqeatiopis
m
. They are wiling to
consign the creation account to myth, fiction, Or
poetic device. They want to appear respectable
before the "scientific community," They certainly
would not dream of questioning the so called
"scientific method." What they fail to under-
stand is that t"'e moment >lie cease believing and
defending biblical creationism, the source of
our faith is immediately overthrown, the Scrip-
tures of the Old and New Testament.
It is now evident why adherents of the various
natoralistic explanations of the origin of the uni-
verse, such as the older Darwinian evolution or its
modern cousins, i.e., 'Gould's punctuated equilib-
rium hypothesis, so arduously continue their siege
against the creation account of Genesis 1-2.
Animated by the father of lies, the devil himself,
they are persuaded that if they can ever overcome
Christianity's commitment to supernatural creation,
then the entire structure will corne tumbling down.
Like a lengthy siege of an ancient castle, if one
bombards the walls long enough, a breach will
eventually be created, allowing the entrance into
and pillage of the once' impregnable stronghold.
Creati()nism is the foundation of the entire
Christian system, the Scriptures, and as we
shall now see, of redemption itself. If the
us sprang from chance and time,
then Christianity, far from being a rationally
defensibkpositipn, Just another
, tioll that varjous.men I)ave heldil1tb.eirjourn.ey . '
from ro Qjgher forms pf.1jf!!. I
5. The doctrine of creation sets the fouiIda:tibn for
Christ's redemptive worle in'history.. h . i
The same ScriptiinJs rela.t'e nHm's fall futo sin,
, God's promise of a Savior, the various covenailts
God made prepatihg his people to embrace the I
Messiah; and tIle histo;icafevents of Christ;sbirth,
life, death, resurrection, and How shall
we trust Scripture at these' pOInts if we reject its
first and most fundam,ental doctrine, that the hving
.. " ..j -- - ' ,' - "_: '-'
and true God fonned this wide globe by his own
power and fot his own glory, to be the panoramIc
stagk upon which'ihe great drama of redemption
w6nld be If Gbd is not the' Creator of
" " " : . . , . / ' . . i '
the universe, then there is no sin that needs aton-
i1l;/1' Apart froIlithe of the origin ;
of the universe, Christ becomes an enigma, just
another strange spirit in it
,world of chance and mystery, 'but he IS not the Son
of God come down from heaven to save God's
elect froJll their sins. Biblic!l-l creationism shows
'", :.. " I ..
us that Christ is necessary because though man
was created upright, he has turned away froJll his '
Creator in unbelief and disobedience. It shows us
that our Savior is the eternal Son of God, the '
Creator of the world, Who is not only fullY God, but
also fully man in one person. It prepares is to
understand that the scope of Chris\'s work is I,lot
just to redeem us to God and heaven, but to
redeem and recreate the entire world, and bring
the blessings of salvation "far as the curse is
found."
B. Faith precedes knowledge.
In the first two words of verse 3, our author
makes an astouriding claim that has vast implica- '
tipns for every area of life. He writes, "By faith
we understand." The textual referent of his claim
is creatiOIi. It is through faith that we come to
understand and accept the original creation of this
universe by the spoken word of the living God.
That is, hibllcal creationism is embraced
through faith in the unerring, certain Word of
God. We believe it not because God has an-
swered all our questions, but because once he has
spoken, it is our duty to submit, believe, and adore.
12 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - August/September, 2000
After that submission to his Word, his Holy Spirit
opens OUf hearts (affection, will, mind) so that the
numerous evidences supporting creationism can be
embraced, and we can patiently await the resolu-
tion of all our questions.
The phrase itself, "by faith we understand," is
worthy of consideration on its own merits. Its
meaning is clear. As God's creatures, we must
first believe God's Word before we will understand
even one area of life correctly. Augustine, em-
bracing this as foundational to the Christian
, worldview (epistemology), wrote, "I must believe
in order to understand." The first step in coming
to understand the universe, man, and God, is to
recognize that we are God's creatures, unable to
arrive at any truth without his aid, and submit our
reason and experience to his infallible Word.
Reason and experience are necessary tools, but
they can perform their God-given function properly
only in submission to God and his revelation. The
modern man has completely twisted the biblical
order around, and the Church has gone along with
his skepticism. He refuses to believe unless and
until he understands completely, until all his ques-
tions, doubts, and criticisms are answered. "Prove
it to me," he cries, and I will believe it. While
there is nothing sinful about providing proofs for
the certainty of the Christian worldview and giving
an answer for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15),
there comes a point, however, when we must
challenge unbelieving thought. We can give
unbelieving man lengthy, inexhaustible lists of
proofs for the Christian worJdview in general and
creationism in particular, but until his eyes are
opened to the truths of God's Word, he will
a/ways misinterpret the evidence. The demand
for proof apart from submission to God's Word is
evidence of impiety and rebellion against God, and
the Christian must not give in to it for a moment.
For such a request is not objective science, it is a
presuppositional bias against the truths of God and
his Word. The duty of God's creatures is not to sit
back in doubt and judgment of God's Worp, but to
receive it as absolutely true, and await for God's
good providence in resolving all difficulties with our
understanding of its claims.
1. Sin has made man foolish in his thinking
(Ephesians 4: 17-24).
That man must believe in order to understand
necessarily follows from his fallen condition.
When mankind fell into sin, that fall affected every
part of man's being. It left his heart darkened by
sin and alienated from God. It determined his will
toward evil and lawbreaking. His
delighted in evil and hated the light. And his mind,
what of his mind? It became engulfed ill a
multitude of errors that rendered it inCapable
of understanding even one aspect of created
reality correctly; Scripture brings this out time
and again. The apostle Paul condemns the unbe-
lieving Athenian worJdview as ignorance of the
truth (Acts 17:23,30) . In Romans I :19ff, Paul
clearly teaches that because fallen man refuses to
submit to God's revelation of himself in nature, he
becomes futile in his 'thinking, i.e., by turning away
from the light and wisdom of God, he is immersed
in his own superstition and error. Later, Paul
writes that as a result of sin, there is not one man
who understandS (3:] 1). Sinhas rendered man
incapable of understanding himself, this World, or
God correctly. He will pick up on this theme (the
noetic effects of the fall) again,in his letter to the
Ephesians, All Gentiles, Le" unbelievers, walk in ,
the futility of their thinking and have their under-
standings darkened (4: 17,18), In turning away
from God, unbelievers reject the only sO,urce of the
truth, the living and true .God.
The world, defined by John as the portion of
mankind that remains in rebellion agaip.st God and
his Christ, hates this teachil)S of Scripture. "What ,
do you mean that no unbeliever can understand this
world correctly? How arrogant you Christians
are! You are the most bigoted and intolerant folk
imaginable, Look at the great buildings we have
erected, the schools we have established, the
scientific theories we have devised, the psychplogi-
cal analysis we have performed," Yet, the Chris-
tian must respond, which is more arrogant: to
require submission to the Creator's voice as the
necessary foundation for all inquiry, whether
religious, scientific, logical, Or otherwise, or for
man, God's creature, to maintain that hds doing
just fine in his rebellion against God, and that he
needs no help from his Maker to investigate,
understand, or subdue the earth? Moreover, the
Christian claim is not that the nnbeliever's intellec-
tual darkness makes him unable to build, tl1ink, and
August/September, 2000 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 13
reason, but that it turns his natural,
abilities to ungodly ends, the destruction of Christ's
kingdom, and hinders him from having a true
understanding of this world as God's creation,
dedicated to his glory. He can cohtinue to rnake
contributions to science and medicine, think, and
reason, bllt only because he borrows from the
Christian woddview, .and cannot really eScape the
light of the knowledge of God diffused throughout
creation and even in his heart. As long; however,
as the unbeliever rejects'the light of God's Word,
his thinking is futile; in biblical terminology, he is a
fool. He will misuse whatever scientific theories
God blesses him to discover to remove forcibly the
Creator from his throne, use education to train
generations to war on God, and philosophi-
cal systems designed to nullify, circumvent and
escape the truths of God's Word.
2. Regeneration restores man to correct thinking
(Colossians 3:10).
Only regeneration, i.e., the new birth, can
restore man' s ability to understand life correctly,
i.e., from God;s point of view as revealed in
Scripture (John 3:3). It is only the new man who is
renewed unto knowledge, has the blinders of sin
removed by the saving work of tIle Holy Spirit, arid
is given a heart that gladly submits to God's Word.
A consistently Christian worldview will maintain
that iegenerationnot only entitles a man to Christ's
righteousness and all the blessings of restOred
fellowship with God, but it will also insist that it
restores man' s lost ability to understand himself,
God, and the wotld.
3. Faith is the ability to submit to God's
thinking revealed in Scripture.
This renewed ability is not a fideistic leap into
the void. Philosophers of various stripes relegate
faith to the realm of mystery. Faith, they claim, is .
not really concerned with this world, rationality,
and is not subject to the same demands as science.
Therefore, it really doesn' t matter whether the
historical claims of the Bible are true, or if the
Jesus of the Bible.never really existed. Some
theologians have foolishly said that even if some-
one found Jesus' body, they would sill be Chris-
tians. On the contrary; the C.hristian.maintains that
faith is the most rational, most scientific and most
historical thing imaginable, and that it will never do
to separate history arid science from faith and
spirituality. For faith enables a: man to submit to
the sourCe of rationality, science, and historical . ,
trutli, the triune God of the Bible .. Christiariity must
expose unbelieving science, logic, and historiogra-
phy as miserably biased against t,b.eiJ1.tth; engulfed
in darkness, and unable to come to a knowledge of
the truth, because they refuse to begin,ad end
their pursuit of truth in self-conscious submis-
sion to the God of Scripture .. Any toning down of
this claim renders Christianity to the realm of make
believe, to the land ofNarnia. In maintaining it, we
are recognizing the Creator God of Scripture as
the only source of true knowledge about anything, .
and that apart from submission to him, darkness,
bias, and depravity are man' s only options.
4. Only the Christian, therefore, truly understands
,
the world and man's place in it.
Such a claim is terribly unpopular today, but it is
the onlyposition thatbiblical Christianity
Multiculmralism, eastern philosophyllogic, and
simple relativism have destroyed man's confi.dence
in <\bso1ute truth of any kind, much less that which
demands that ail men everywhere submitto it. Yet
the Christian Church must continue to assert that
the same God who created and upholds the entire
world and everything in it, has now redeemed the
world from its sin and depravity through the Lord
Jesus Christ, and has given every one a sure sign
by raising Jesus from the dead. It ison1ythrough
faith, however, in the Creator's absolutely infal-
lible, wise words thatwe are able to view life
correctly, to forsake our own darkened interpreta'
tions and outlooks, and to surrender our hearts to
him in love and adoration.
C. Faith is necessary in order to understand
the origin of the universe.
. '
1. Man on his own camiot discover the
origin of the universe (Job 38:4).
Man is completely incompetent to discover the
origins of the universe through his own rationality
or scientific investigations. He was not there at
the dawn of the universe, only God was. There-
fore, any attempt to discover the origins of the
universe apart from submission to God's Word is
doomed to failure. In Job 38, when God answers
14 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - August/September, 2000
Job out of the whirlwind, he says, "Where wast
thou when I laid the foundations of the earlh?
Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who deter,
mined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or
who stretched the line upon it? Whereupon were
the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the
corner, stone thereof, When the motning stars
sang together. And all the sons of God shouted for
joy?"(ASV) God is challenging finite man who
believes himse.1f competent to search out the deep
things of God. At the beginning of those deep
things is the creation of this universe. God' s
argument is masterful; man is not capable of
understanding the wonders of the created order
and the origin of the universe. How then can he
believe himself competent to understand the
workings of God's providence in 11istory and the
divine purpose behind pain and suffering? This
verse is an indictment of all scientific methods,
e.g., naturalistic evolution, that seek to determine
the origin of the universe apart from submissio!l to
God. Such methods demonstrate great rebellion
against God and terrible pride on man's part.
Autonomous science, i.e., science that does not
submit itself to God's revelation about the origin of
the universe, is based upon blind faith in man, his
theories and opinions, and is not true science at all.
For while claiming to take into account all the
facts, it ignores the most basic of all facts - man
was not present at the creation of the universe,
and if he is to learn anything about it at all, he must
believe the authoritative word of the Creator-God.
2. God alone can reveal the origin of the universe,
In The Early Earth, John Whitcomb wrote,
"God alone can tell us how the world began,
because no man was there to see it being created,
and even if a human observer had been present, he
could not have understood fully what he saw apart
from God' s interpretation." As the all-knowing,
all-powerful Creator of the universe, God alone is
competent to reveal its origins. Hence, we take
the Genesis creation account, Scripture' s universal
testimony to creation, and the passage before us,
as absolute facts revealed from the Creator. He
created the universe by his spoken word, in the
space of six days, and all very good; Such a claim,
it is admitted, is wonderful beyond our comprehen-
sion. It reveals a God of infinite power, glory,
greatness, and self-sufficiency, and One who
cannot be manipulated by man in the least. As
God alone, however, is the Creator of all that we
see, and as he has given us an authoritative ac-
count of his creative work in Holy Scripture, we
accept his testimony at face value. It is the only
option for God's creatures. Ifwerebelliously
refuse to accept his. word, then no explanation for
the universe exists, human rationality and experi-
ence are left with no foundation, and man is left in
ignorance, skepticism, and despair.
3. Faith teaches us to submit to God's Word.
Onr belief in the truthfulness and historical
accuracy of the Genesis creation account is based
on faith in the Word of God, our Creator and
Redeemer in Jesus Christ. Faith is confidence in
the Word of God, submission to it, and reliance
upon God that he will not deceive or mislead us.
Christians accept creationism first and foremost
because we believe God's testimony revealed in
Scripture. Yes, the facts and evidences 'validating
God's claims are plentiful and additional ones are
being discovered daily. Christian scientists, today
more than ever, are uncovering the secrets of this
created world that both support creationism and
give the Christian great reason to rejoice. Faith,
however, does not believe in creationism be-
cause man's scientific experiments back up
God's claim, but b ~ c u s e once God has spoken
his Word on the subject, it is the ultimate au-
thority for our lives and final resting place for
our faith. Hence, belief in creationism is more
than a scientific question; it is a moral one. Not to
believe in creationism is an act of rebellion
against the Creator, a refusal to surrender to
his Word in reverent awe' and obedience.
Such treason is what expelled Adam and Eve from
the Garden of Eden, and it will prevent unbelieving
modem science from attaining the heightsit could
if it submitted to God and his Word.
This is a distinctive of biblical Christianity and
vital element of true science. We do not accept
creationism because we have accumulated all the
available evidence and conclude that a Creator is
the best explanation for the origin of the universe.
Such a method begins with neutrality toward
God and hopes to establish his claims inde-
pendently of his Word. In accepting God's
August/September, 2000 - THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon - 15
claims in Scripture, we do not asceud from our
reason or experience to God. On the contrary,
according to this passage, we begin with God and
Scripture, which serve as the only reliable basis for
our reasomng and experience, and descend from
there to a humble investigation of the created
world. Only as we submit ourselveino God's
Word does our reason assume its rightful position
as the humble servant of God's truth and thinking,
and our experience"its place as the awed.investiga-
tor of God's wonderful world. Only then will we
see the evidences for what they re.ally are, certain
proofs of the glories of the triune God who created
all things by his own power. This is more than a
semantic difference. The method vie 'pursue in
determining that God is the Creator of the universe
wiU determine whether'we, like the various phi-
losophers, will base our faith upon human rational-
ity aud experience, or like the patriarchs and
apostles, upon the revealed Word of the Creator on
the basis of human rationality and experience. If
the former, then we w!llinevitably reject the claims
of Scripture that seem to contradict our reason and
experience, andemhtace only thosethat we have
independently verified. As Candlish wrote, "When
I d r ~ infeiinces for myself concerning the
Author ofcreation, ... whenI reaSOn out from his
works the fact of his existence, and the chief
attributes of'iUs character" .. 1 am conscious of a
certain feeling of superiority. The Deity becomes
almost, in a certain sense, my creature, " .. the
product of my o,,<n elaborate process of thought. I
am occupied more with my own reasonings than
with the transcendent excellencies of Him of
whom I reason., .But now, God speaks, and I am
dumb. He opens his mouth, and I hold my peace.
I bid my busy, speculative solil be quiet., I take my
station hl1mbly, submissively at his feet. I learn of
him. And What he tells me now, in the way of
direct personal commUlllcation from himself to me
(in the Bible), has a weight and vivid reality
infinitely suipassing all that aily mere deductions
from the closest reasoning-could'ever have"
(Studies in. Gen.esis),
This' method does not deny the relevance and
necessity of human reasoning and scientific
investigation. Onthe contrary, it establishes their
legitimacy as servan.ts of .God, 'designed not to
function independently of God and his revelation,
but as humble devotees thereto. For we must
never forget that man's ability to understand
this worldcorrectIy is directly related to his
willingness to surrender his thll)king and
searching to God and Scripture (psalm 36:9;
Proverbs 1:7). Once that fundamental,
. presupposition.a/ submission to God is achieved,
the mind and experience of manis 'established,and
science becomes the means through which the
glories of God in creation are both searched out
and understood.
4. Blind, irrational faith is the foundation of all
unbelieving theories of origins.
Unbelievers often pit faith against science, as if
Christianity alone were based upon ultimate faith
commitments, while "science" is truly objective,
evaluating the facts of this world as the;y appear,
without appealing to any "higher" authority to
explain them. This view has been sufficiently
debunked in our day; but it is valuable to remember
afresh that all science, Christian and non-Christian,
is based upon and conducted in theJight of ultimate
faith commitments. We must go on to point out,
however, that all theories of the origin of the
universe except the Christian one are based upon
blind, irrational faith. There is no empirical
justification for believing them,no adeqnate
authority, for believing them,and all of them
contradict the express testimonies of Scrip-
ture, the authoritative Word of the Creator.
Moreover, because no evidences to vindicate their
claims are forthcoming, they are forced to either
abandon their claims or reinterpret the evidence to'
make it fit their claims. The latter is most often
the path taken. For instance, Darwinian evolution
at its most fundamental level c,anbe vindjcated
only by the existence of intermediate or transitional
forms, i.e" "missing links," frOm lower to higher
stages of development, To the utter chagrin of
evolutionists around the world, no legitimate '
transitional forms have been found. Sensing the
precariousness of their claims, some evolutionists
in the early 20" century resorted to fraudulent or ,
misguided attempts to produce various specimens
of transitional figures: Peking Man. Piltdown Man,
etc. Darwin himself wrote that his theory is false .
if no such forms can be found. Yet does this lack
16 - THE COUNSEL of Chaicedon-.AugustlSeptemher, 2000
of fundamental proof for the evolutionary hypoth-
esis lead evolutionists to abandon their naturalism
and embrace the truth?' No. Not finding any
evidence to support the evolutionary development
of man,'they reinterpret the facts so that the)r fit '
the tbeory. Thomas Huxley anticipated rnore
modern versions of natural evolution by falling
back nponthe materialist's greatest safety net:
time. Huge amounts oftime are involved in the
entire procesS, and therefore, evidences of past
stages of development bave long since perished.
Stephen J. Gould, a leading Harvard scientist, says '
that this lack of intermediate forms is exactly what
we should find. He endorses a hypothesis called
"punctuated equilibril!m." This view states that;
natural occurs very quickly, within one or .
two generations, and that traCes of previous or
intermediate forms do not exist in great numbers.
Both of these theories are wonderful proof of the
presuppositiollai bias of all unbelieving science.
Finding that the facts do not fit the theory, evolu-
tionists do not give up their theory; they reinterpret
the facts to fit the theory. They remain convinced,
even though 11.0 evidence in any form exists
today, that evolution must be true. In other words,
they refuse to change their fundamental assump-
tions in the light of the evidence. They have
granted their presuppositions revisionary immunity.
They have attained the status of a holy faith.
Consider the faith commitment of unbelieving
science from leading 20"' century scientists. Some
ofthe following qnotations reveal that modern
evolntionary science is itself a religion, an.d its
adherents do not try to cover this fact.
1) D. H. Scott, in his presidential address in
Nature magazine (9129121) - "A new generation
has grown np which lmows not Darwin. Is even
then evolution not a scientifically ascertained fact?
No! We must hold it as an act of faith becanse
there is no alternative."
2) D. M .. S. Watson, Professor of Zoology at
London Univei'sity - ''Evolution is a theory univer-
sally accepted, not because it can be proved to be
true, but because the only alternative, 'special
creation,' is clearly impossible. "
3) W. T. Caiman, of the zoology section of the
British Museum - "We all, eventhe yonngest of
us, profess to accept the doctrine of evolution, if
only as a convenient weapon with which to meet
the fundamentalists."
4) Pierre Teilhard de Cardin, the Jesuit
paleontologist who discovered the Piltdown
and Peking Man':' "Is evolntion a theory, a syStem,
or a hypothesis? It is mnch more - it is a general
postulate to which alf theories, all hypotliesis, all
systems must henceforth bow and which they must
satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution
is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory
which all lines of thought must follow - this is what
evolution is."
5. Science is impossible apart from
submission to God' s Word.
From tlle Christian perspective, it is impossible
to do science of any form apart from submission to
. God al)d Scripture. They are the foundation apart
from which man is precluded from understanding
anything else in this world correctly. If we are to
. answer the fool as his folly demands, we must also .
affirm that science is impossible on the basis of the
unbeliever's worldview. For denying a sovereign
Creator-God who gives meaning and order to this
universe, and tbus serves as the foundation for our
rationality and experience, the nnbeliever is' forced
to do science upon the twin pillars of time and
chance. In short, he must build something upon '
nothing. There is no evidence snpporting his .
claims . . He has religious commitments that he .
refnses to give up becanse to do so would open
him up to the searching gaze of an all-knowing, just
Creator. Van Til gives a wonderfnl illustration of
the irresolvable dilemma facing all unbelieving
thonght that rejects God and his Word. "Suppose
we think of a man made of water in an infinitely
extended and bottomless ocean of water. He sets '
his ladder npon the water and then attempts to
climb out of the water. So hopeless and senseless
a picture must be drawn ont of the natnral man's
methodology based as it is upon the assnmption .'
that time or chance is ultimate. On his assumpt\on
even the laws of logic which be employs are
products of change. The rationality and purpose
that he may be searching for are still bound to be
products of chance."
6. Faith ill the Word of God rests Upon
two infallible testimonies.
In conclusion, we must not think that the
August/September, 2000 - THE COUNSEL of Cba\cedon -17
believer and the unbeliever are both left with
unjustifiable faith claims. On the contrary, the
Christian's faith in the Creator's Word is grounded
upon two absolutely certain foundations.
i. The Self-Attesting Voice of God
Speaking in the Scriptures
Our faith in God' s Word is based upon nothing
short of the authority of God speaking in Scripture.
There is no higher authority than God. He is the
Creator and Preserver of this universe. His voice
comes with unquestionable authority and absolute
certainty. This does not mean, however, that
Christians accept Scripture as a blind leap in the
dark. We do so upon the testimony of God himself,
who is truth itself. The authority of the Christian
faith rests not upon man or the church's testimony,
but upon the voice of the living and true God
speaking in Scripture, whose authority cannot be
questioned, and whose light is the necessary
foundation to understand even one fact in the
world correctly. To go beyond God and his
Word to vindicate the Christian system'is to
receive another authority with greater fear and
submission than God. As our Confession testifies,
"The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it
ought be believed and obeyed, depends not upon
the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly
upon God, who is truth itself, the author thereof:
and itis to be received becau'se it is 'the ,
Word of God" (cf. Proverbs 22:17-21; 2 Peter
1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 1 John 5:9; 1
Thessalonians 2:13).
ii. The Eternal Witness of the Holy Spirit of
God in the Heart of God's Elect
The only men who will be able to receive the
testimony of God with the faith that it demands are
those who have been regenerated by the Holy
Spirit, whose ultimate allegiances have been
changed from man to God. The certainty of the
Christian'Scriptures re'st in the fact that they are
the inspired Word of God; the persuasion 'that they
are so comes from the internal witness of the Holy
Spirit, taking our blinders off so that we might once
again recognize, love, and believe the voice of our
Maker speaking to us, and gi ving us the faith to
receive his Word in spite of all the criticisms and
doubts of fallen man.
D. Faith leaves us in ;lwebefore the creative
word of the omnipotent Creator. .
1: God created the woild by his word
(GeneSis 1::3,6,9,14,20,24; 3:3:6,9).
We nOW tumto the, specific words chosen by
the Hoiy Sl?irit to revealllle of this visible
universe. To create implies "ici or>ler, prepare,
dispose,frame." It is variously translated in the
NewTestament: perfect (Matt, 21:16; Luke 6:40; 1
Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11), prepared
(Romans 9:22; Hebrews 10:5), and restore (Gala-
tians 6: fl. It is the word sometimes utilized in the
LXX (the Septuagint) for God's original creative '
act by which he made the world and all things in it
(cf. Psalm 89':38(7). The perfect tense may be ,
used to stress the finished or completed n!\ture of
creation from the time God spoke; nothing was
missing, to make this world a fit dwelling place for
man and testimony of God's greatness and glory.
The word refers to the six day process wherein
God once for all fashio.ned and arranged the
universe to be'the dwelling place of man, and while
it would include the popular, concept creation ex
nihilo, its primary referent is the preparation and
arrangement of ttie entire universe. In Genesis,
we learn that God initially created a mass Qfraw '
material froni which he then formed each part of
the universe' on its appropriate day. This material,
though good in itself, was'described by Moses as
being "without form or void," implying that the
world was not yet inhitbitable until God so ordered
and fashioned it that "there remained, no want, no
defect, no imperfection (Gouge). The
fundamental truth here is that the liVing and true
God actively created every aspect of this world by
his oWn power, shaped in into the form we now
see, and continues to t ule and preserve it by his'
power and wisdom.
Accepting the Genc:sis creation, accoutit as
truthful, the writer affirms that God spoke or called
the world into existence.'God's here is the
powerftil, expression of his will to create' and order
this universe. Scripture repeatedly stresses that
the world and all its components were called into
existence and fashioned by the cOIIll11andof God's
voice. In the Genesis creation account, each day
begins with "And God said" (Genesis
1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24). David affrrms,that the heav-
18 THE COUNSEL of Chaicedon - August/September, 2000
ens were maoe "by the word of the, Loro, and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth"
(Psalm 33:6). By "the word of the Lord" is meant
that this entire universe came into existence and
was arranged by the sheer power and authority of
God's command (cf, 33:9). The Psalmist later
affirms the same in 148:5, when he writes, "For he'
commanded, and they were ' created." Peter also,
speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
and in complete agreement with the Old Testament
creation accounts, affirmed that the heavens were
made by the, word of God (2 Peter 3:5).
By "God" is meant the ttinne God of Scripture,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person in the
Godhead played an active role in the creation of
this world. Our author, complimenting John's
account in his gospel, previously affirmed the Son's
role in the creation of this world, stating that it was
through him thatthe worlds were made (cf. 1:3;
John 1:1-3). Moses testifies that it was the Holy
Spitit, who hovering over the face of the waters,
gave order and life to all things (Genesis 1 :4).
Scripture's message is, clear: when we contemplate
the work of God in creating this universe, we must
not do injustice to the work of any of the glorious
persons within the Trinity. God the Father spoke
the world into existeflce, through the power of God
the Sail, by the superintending presence of God the
Holy Spirit.
Scripture' s emphasis that this world camejnto
existence and was arranged in good order through
the command of the tTiune God is fundamental to
the Christian fruth. It implies that this world, and
everything in it, is wholly dependent upon God for
existence and sustenance, ,and that it sprang forth
from God's mind and hand at a definite time and
for a definite purpose. It presents to us a God of
infinite power, glory, resources, self-sufficiency,
and order. It obligates us to fear, adore, and serve
our great and glorious God. On a practical level,
biblical creationism impresses us with the glory of
God. As we stand in amazement before his
splendor and might, we come to view ourselves
properly, as creatures, unwDlthy of dod's thoughts
and goodness to us, wholly indebted to him, and
without hope except through his sovereign mercy
(cf. Psalm 8; Hebrews 2:5ff).
2. God created the world out of nothing when
there was nothing but himself.
The second half of verse 3 reveals the result of
the exercise of God's creative command. At his ,
command, the entire visible realm that we now see
around us came into existence. It sprang forth not
from previously existing matter, like the visible
materials which we now see around us, hut from
the instantaneous exercise of God' s creative
power. "What men see has come to he 'by means
,of God's spoken word,' it has received its exist-
ence in this way alone" (Lenski). When nothing
existed but the ever hlessed, all-sufficient God, he
called into existence everything that we now see
around us. Conservative theologians and creation-
' ists term tlus process creation ex nihilo, i.e. , out
of nothing. This visible world did not spring from
like visible elements. God did not make this
world's material from other materials that existed
earlier or were, as some have erroneously sup-
posed, eternal. The Bible's statements and the
philosophical commitment to the eternity of matter
are irreconcilable. God created this entire world
(the singular variant - that which is seen) from
scratch; when nothing existed but himself
We cannot avoid the truth that the origin of this
universe by the voice of the living God is not the
domain ofthe scientists and philosophers, but for
the pious, who will submit themselves to God's
sure testimony. Man will never be ahle to emhrace
biblical creatiDlusm until the word of God holds
more sway over his heart and mind than does his
fallen reason. It is not that the biblical creation
doctrine is unreasonable, or that it cannot be
lovingly investigated and explored by helieving
science. Yet, in order to receive God's Word, the
' Spirit of Christmust regenerate man's heart. It
should be evident now why in discussing faith our
author begins with c1eation. It is the first and
grandest proving ground of faith: will we bow our
hearts, check our investigations, and subdue our ,
wills to God's explanation of the origin and purpose
of this universe? If not, then we have not yet
learned our first lesson in the school of religion and
are not fit to pass out of the foyer into the more
. beautiful rooms of redemption and life in the
kingdom of heaven.
3. God created the world in the
space of six, 24 hour days
Faith in special creation by the spoken word of
August/September, 2000 . THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 19
the omnipotent God has been severely undermined
in the past century by various proponents of the
or theory. This view main-
tains that each of the .six days of the creation week
represent various ages ofnndefined length in
which this woFid gradually came into existence.
Not only is this view erroneous from a historical-
grammatica!.exegesis of-the relevant passages, but
also it exists primarily to accommodate discoveries
of "science" that are radically opposed to biblical '
creationism. We might say that this view is a ,
compromise, a half-way house between creation-
"1\1an will never be able [0 embrace biblical
creationism unrilthe " 'mel ofC",] holds
more sway over his he:lIT and mind than
docs his fallen reason."
ism and evolution, a place where the Christian can
ma,intain his formal allegiance to Scripture while
enjoying the respectability of modem science.
Because of the issues at stake, and the light
afforded by various texts, any treatment of biblical
creationism must give at least cursory justification
for the old, orthodox view. Simply put, it has been
the conviction of God's people for thousands of
years, and it is Specifically affirmed by leading
adherents of the orthodox faith, inclnding our own .
Westminster Confession, that God created this ' .
world iothe space of six, 24-hour days. Howmay
this view be justified froni Scripture? Though
many exegetical and theological arguments can be'
advanced to support it, we will confine our investi-
gations to Genesis 1-2.
1) The Genesis narrative presents itself as
straightforward narrative history; it is not myth.,
saga, or divine drama, and the language is not
metapliorical or allegorical. The framework
hypothesis is clearly imposed upon Scripture, not
derived from it: Jesus Christ viewed Genesis 1-3
as historically reliable (Matthew 19:4;Mark 10).
2) The Genesis narrative is the revelation of
the God of Scripture, of infinite power and glory,
who in this chapter reveals the origins of this world
to all who will snbmit to his Word. Such a revela-
tion will always be a stumblingblock to'those who
refuse to submit their scientific endeavors to the
word of the Creator.
3) The Genesis narrati ve does not allow for a':
gap theory or the existence of previously existing
material. Genesis 1:2 cannot be interpreted "And
the earth became without form and void ... " It is a
perfect absolute, i.e., a statement of existing fact.
When God created the physical materials from
which he formed the earth, it was 'originally shape-
less; i.e., uninhabitable. The events of Genesis 1:1-
2 occurred, therefore, on the first day along with
the'creation oflight. .
. 4) The Genesis narrative does not leave room
for multiple creation accounts between 2:3 and 2:4.
The book of Genesis is arranged in toledoths,
generations 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12;
25:19; 36:1,9; 37:2; Matthew 1:1). Moses tirst
gives a summary of the leading events of a given
person or era, then proceeds to reveal the outcome
and significance ot his life. Genesis i is a sum- .
mary of the events of the creation week, and
Genesis 2:4ff is the outcome of the creation week,
the history of Adam and Eve and the unfolding of
God's redemptive plan.
5) The "days" (yom and yamin) of the
Genesis narrative are not figurative for "ages."
a. Yom is clearly defined as "evening and
morning" at its first appearance (1 :5). If yom islo
be taken figuratively, so must "evening" and '
"morning." This cannot be justified according to
the principles of sound hetmeneutics.
b. Yom preceded by an ordinal adjective in
nonprophetic literature is never figurative.
c. Yom occurring in the plural in nonprophetic .
literature is never figurative.
d. Yamin (days) is contrasted to yeats in 1: 14.
e. Yom is ruled by the greater light, the sun
(1:15,19). How then can the day he a fignrative
one1 Is the sun figurative also? .
6) The Genesis narrative is presupposed as .
the foundation of the Sabbatical cycle: six days
work and one day rest. (Exodus 20:9-11; cf, Gen-
esis 2:2-3). If God did not create for six days and
rest for one, the divine example/incentive behind
the fourth .commandment is removed.
Because 'are cornmitted to a 24-hour
Genesis day, and to the reliability of the various
chronologies of Scripture which plaCe the time
20 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ,Augnst/September, 2000
from Adam to Christ at about 4,000 years, many
Bible scholars view this earth as approximately
6,000 years old. Now one might be tempted to
ask,",ooes the age of the earth really matter?"
The allswer is "absoluteiy." Though the Bible is
not a scientific text, wemust receive all of its
infomation with reverence and submission. To
reject its plain teachirig at one point by consigning
it to "myth" or "saga," is to question the authority
of God, set man up as judge over the text, and
remove the ultimate foundation of Christian tbeism:
a sovereign God who suddenly, for his own pur-
pose and glory, spoke thi s world into existence . . .
Moreover, to allow that the earth is billions of .
years old is not a matter of indifference. Many of
those maintaining this view do so to escape the
biblical account of the history of the earth and the
divine purpose behind history, the manifestation of .
redeeming grace in Jesus Christ. Other professing
Christians, by accepting the findings of so-called
science and history conducted by unbelievers On
the basis of philosophical atheism/agnosticism,
foolishly compromise tbe faith and accept presup-
positions and findings that are absolutely contrary
to orthodox Christianity revealed in Scripture.
4. God created the world very good.
God's assessment of the created order is that it
is good, very good (1: 10,12,18,25,31). An impor-
tant principle of the Christian worldview is founded
upon God' s pleasure in his world. Matter is not
evil . . In many phiJosophies, the realms of matter
and spirit are in constant competition with one .
another .. This creates an ultimate dualism in which
the tIiings of thi s life are considered evil, undesir"
able, or unimportant, while the really holy and
important things are spiritual, i.e., nonphYSical. It
was this principle that led Plato to view man's
body as. the prison house of tbe soul. Death thus
became an escape from prison and a return to the
ideal realm of pure form. The Gnostics (docetics)
of the first-third centuries adopted this principle
and therefore denied that Jesus could have had a
real physical body. There is about
the flesh that would have been unworthy of the
Son of God. They affirmed that Jesus' appear-
ance on earth was a phantasm; he looked like a
man, but he could pass through walls and was not
truly flesh: Throughout the Middle Ages, this
dualism produced a nature-grace dichotomy that
distorted art, impoverished the masses, and en-
riched the Roman Catholic Church. Today, the
view that somehow man's body, this earth, and our
daily lives are somebow less important than heaven
and the soul has led to an other worldliness in
many Christian circles that seriously undermines
our effectiveness in building the kingdom of Christ
on this earth.
From Genesis, we learn that God expressed his
original approval of everything he had made.
There is nothing intrinsically evil about the physical
universe. On the contrary, it is intrinsically good.
Moreover, man is not fundamentally a union oftwo
conflicting prinCiples, body and soul, but a union of
fles)l and spirit that is designated "a living soul"
(2:7). Hence, we must never thin]c the goal of our
fleshly existence is the escape from our bodies ..
Our bodies are not the source of the evil in our
lives; our hearts are (Matthew 15: 18-20). Paul
expressed that his desire for death was not his
anticipation of being freed from his body, but of
being in the Lord's presence (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Yet even then, he longed to be clothed with his
perfected body so that he might embrace Chris.t
with the whole man (5:2-5) . And then, we mnst
never entertain dualistic views of life on earth.
Reality is not divided into "holy" spiritual areas 'and
"common" or "secular" fleshly areas. All of
reality has been created good by God, anq Christ,
by his life and death, has made the redemptiQn and
reconstruction of all areas of life a glorious reality
(Zechariah 14: 10; Romans 8:20,21; 1 Corinthians
10:31).
1'0 BE CONTINUED
August/September, 2000 THE COUNSEL ofChaicedon - 21