The Doctrine of Creation
Psalm 98:1–9
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Psalm 98:7
The psalmist is suggesting that nature is not yet all that God has predestined it to be and is in a sense waiting for its true fulfillment. This understanding of creation is radically different from the way the world looks at nature. The world makes either one of two errors where the cosmos is concerned. Either it deifies nature, virtually worshiping it. Or the world regards nature as evolving toward perfection, accompanied by the human race, which is also evolving.
The apostle Paul in Romans 8:19–21 gives us a very different picture. He pictures something staring off into the distance. But it is not man who is on tiptoe looking off into the distance. It is creation itself, and what creation is earnestly looking for, as it looks beyond itself, is the “freedom of the glory of the children of God,” which it will share. Creation wants to praise God, and will, according to Paul’s teaching and this psalm.
The other error of the world is seeing in nature some kind of perfecting principle, almost like saying, “The world is not God yet, but it is on the way.” In cosmic terms this is the principle of evolution. In human terms it is the principle of inevitable perfection: “Every day in every way I am getting better and better.” In other words, I may not be God yet, but I will be, given time. Of course, a lot of time has gone by and man seems to be as much unlike God as he ever was.
The Christian’s perspective is far more balanced and more mature than this or anything the world can devise. The Christian doctrine of creation has three parts.
1. This is God’s world. God made it, and it is his. As a result, we must respect the world and not abuse it. We must treat it responsibly.
2. The world is not what it was created to be. It has been subjected to troubles as the result of God’s judgment on man at the time of the fall. It has been subjected to frustration, bondage, and decay, according to Paul’s teaching in Romans.
3. The world will one day be renewed. I think of the way C. S. Lewis developed this idea in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In the first section of that book, when Narnia was under the power of the wicked Witch of the North, the land was in a state of perpetual winter. Spring never came. But when Aslan rose from the dead, the ice began to melt, flowers bloomed, and the trees turned green. It is poetical writing but it describes something that will happen. The rivers will indeed clap their hands. The mountains will indeed sing. And we will all join in. Hallelujah!
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.