THURSDAY January 24
Creation in the New Testament
Read Acts 17:22-31.
17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, [Ye] men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by [that] man whom he hath ordained; [whereof] he hath given assurance unto all [men], in that he hath raised him from the dead.
What were the circumstances of this sermon? After Paul had introduced his topic, what was the first topic he brought to these learned men? Vss. 24, 25. What does Paul say is the relationship between the Creator God and humans? Vss. 26-28.
The audience here no doubt included the two groups of philosophers known as Stoics and Epicureans. The Stoics affirmed the reality of design in nature, while the Epicureans denied it. Neither had a knowledge of the true God, but their arguments about design were similar to many of the arguments still discussed in our day.
The important point here is that, in his witness to these pagan thinkers and intellectuals, Paul reverts directly to the argument of the Lord as the Creator of all things and all humanity. Paul had little in common with these people; so, he went right to what they did have in common—the fact that they existed—and from that undeniable reality he sought to build his argument. Hence, we see Creation as, again, a crucial theme in Scripture.
Look at the following texts:
Matthew 19:4-6
19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female,
19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mark 2:27
2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Luke 3:38
3:38 Which was [the son] of Enos, which was [the son] of Seth, which was [the son] of Adam, which was [the son] of God.
John 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
2 Corinthians 4:6
4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:4
4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
James 3:9
3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
2 Peter 3:5
3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Jude 11, 14
1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.
What’s fascinating is that each one of these New Testament authors either directly or indirectly made reference to the Genesis Creation account, more evidence proving just how universally accepted the Genesis account of origins was to all the Bible writers.
Read Revelation 4:11 and 10:5, 6.
4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
What do the heavenly beings say about God’s creatorship?
Creation was not an accident but occurred by the will of God. The second passage contains a clear allusion to Exodus 20:11. "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Once again, as in John 1:1-3, John shows his familiarity with, and confidence in, the Creation story. How foolish for us to do anything less.
Amen! To do anything less would be to reject the Bible as truth. The lessons this quarter will be a blessing to those new to the faith. It is demonstrated from the Bible that God is clearly the creator of the Earth and of all creation. There are indeed others in the church who are not new to the faith who reject the plain statements of fact regarding creation. We leave them with God. Another blessing comes from better understanding ways in which we can present to those who are not in the church and who have been deceived by the false teachings of evolution. As did Paul attempt to persuade, we too may do so. In the end, Paul understood that spiritual things are spiritually discerned and he decided to work in a different manner. His work in Athens did not produce the results he had hoped for.
After leaving Athens and in Corinth he exclaimed "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.
We may be tempted to think that enticing words of man's wisdom and eloquence may suffice to convince others of the truth, but it would be better to understand as did Paul that conviction will come when the power of God's Spirit is relied upon to convince those who hold a wrong understanding. We need to keep Jesus in our hearts and minds as we labor with the erring. We need to be filled with His Spirit and ask that the Spirit open hearts to receive the truth. The harvest field is white and the workers are few. Let us pray that the Lord of the vineyard will send workers that we may hasten the soon coming of Jesus.