Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Question 10:
Q: How did God create man?
A: God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
Our subject today has been the cause of much speculation within the last few centuries. And we have to be very careful that we do not say either too little or too much on the subject.
Years ago in an English class where we were studying J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit, that particular myth became a little too real for one of my students. I was seriously asked if the Hobbits, Elves and the other intelligent species lived before or after Adam and Eve!
As gently as possible I described the difference between fact and fiction and showed how Tolkien's purpose was to comment on the interplay of good and evil.
In fact, according to the mythic novels produced by Tolkien, seven messengers were sent to Middle Earth to observe the course of history and when necessary mobilize the forces for good to hold the evil enemy and his minions under some form of restriction.
In this regard, Tolkien's tale was as true as the reality of earth's long and sad history.
My favorite passage in The Hobbit comes at the end when the "angelic" messenger Gandalf observes that the events of the tale had a purpose and while the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins had profited much from those events, something more than just his benefit was in mind from the beginning and the working out of history was indeed headed somewhere specific.
The real facts of Providence and Creation are not hidden in Tolkien's charming tale, but there are essential differences from the reality of history as we know it.
Obviously, we all know that Tolkien is fantasy literature. Less widely known is the fact that Charles Darwin is the greatest Science-Fiction writer in all of human history! Of his theories and myths the world has had more than its full measure of godless ignorance and downright stupidity!
Less widely known is one of John Calvin's observations on the sequence of human creation. At one time I accepted Old John's views completely. According to his speculation, man was created twice.
In chapter one of Genesis generic mankind in some numbers were raised up by the voice of God. Later in chapter two, he thought that God must have taken one of those human creatures and breathed the breath of spiritual life into Adam. Then not finding another human suitable for him, God created Eve from Adam's substance.
Unfortunately, this speculation can lead to assorted difficulties. One of the chief ones being the racist views of several white supremist groups who have come to the conclusion that not all of mankind was destroyed in the flood or bad genes were passed on through Noah's sons and wives.
Fortunately we can disprove any and all such notions from the field of science. A few years ago Newsweek magazine printed a lead story about medical anthropologists who had discovered in the blood samples of most of the world's cultural and ethnic groups that all of mankind has a common mother.
By logical extension that means all of Noah's sons and daughters-in-law could trace themselves back to Eve as well! Within the last two years, Newsweek followed up with another , shorter story that the same researchers had come to the conclusion that all of mankind could also be traced back to one Father.
Adam, they brazenly called him, much to the chagrin of letter writers who asserted that such knowledge, even if it were true should not be published!
One last theory which I heard only within the last couple of years. According to the speculation of one author, whose name I don't even remember, Adam/Eve were once the same creature.
Have any of you ever seen the film with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin who were forced to share a body? Of course the theorist was more serious than the comedy relief provided by Martin/Tomlin, however, like Calvin's speculat ion that theory too should be dismissed as well!
Okay, admittedly we are working with some difficulties to understand as much about the creation of the first humans as we should like to know. Remember, time wise, we are dealing with the World Before the Great Flood and of that era we can find nothing except perhaps the Great Sphinx which only possibly predates the Great Flood.
Even if we had any more records than we have, we would not be able to fully comprehend the perfect world that Adam and Eve lived in because our minds are contaminated with Adam's sin and only Adam and Eve fully comprehend the knowledge, righteousness and holiness that was lost when they chose to sin against the God of heaven.
What can we know for certain from the biblical revelation? Much as we may hate to agree with the secularists in this regard, our Confession and Catechism would affirm that the creation order implies a certain importance to man after all the rest of creation is considered.
Additionally, the dominion over the earth given to Adam and Eve suggests that man stands at the apex over creation with which he has been charged to manage. And finally at the dawn of creation man's original moral condition was upright.
But there, any similarities with the humanist agenda must end. In light of experience and the revelation record, we must acknowledge that the last point is no longer relevant.
Your everyday humanist today believes that children are born pure as the wind driven snow and that it is only in interaction with parents, families and pastors that they learn bad behavior.
If only we could stop the teaching of morality, there would no longer be any guilt, if there were no unreasonable parental expectations no student would ever fail! A few years ago the character Theo demonstrated this capacity when he explained to his father, played by Bill Crosby, that it was up to his parents to accept him for what he was instead of what they expected!
I loved Bill Crosby's answer: "That's the biggest bunch of bull I have ever heard in my life"!
After twenty years in the public schools I am convinced that there is no evolutionary improvement in the species! However, given enough ignorance of common morality and the stupidity of the public mythology, mankind can and will descend to new levels of depravity unthought of a short generation ago.
Certainly, in the doctrines before us today we can see the perfect estate of mankind before the fall. We can see the threefold image of God in Adam and Eve.
Look carefully in the ordering of the answer. See there the knowledge, righteousness and holiness? G.I. Williamson observes that just "as there is in God three persons in one essence, so in Adam's person there was the endowed capacity of knowledge, holiness and righteousness. ... In the Godhead it is characteristically the Father to whom knowledge and purpose is attributed, the Son who dedicates all to the worship and delight of the Father, and the Holy Spirit who carries into execution the determinations of the divine Being. In the complexity of human personality there is ... a reflection of this."
On a good day when the Spirit is working through us, we may still have a small hint of what Adam lost! And when we are careful in the ordering of our lives, and the property and animal resources placed in our care, we can order nature to some extent for the betterment of the good earth and the creatures who dwell therein.
Just this week I received an injunction and admonishment from some friends of the earth to return the envelope they sent me so that they could make this earth a paradise.
Now I have no idea how my returning an empty envelope is going to accomplish that, but if they want to pay the postage, so be it! If I was looking for trouble I would ask those tree huggers if they have planted over two thousand trees in their life time?
I would also ask them how many cats they have partially fed over the years to keep the rodent population under control?
Around our farm almost ten per cent of the land is set aside for preservation. The birds are thriving and the soil on our hillside is stable. We can even enjoy the wild blackberries and mulberries that have invaded our turf.
Around the world, quite a few species are coming completely under the care of humans in our time and it won't be too many years until all of the Pandas and Tigers are managed carefully within specific reserves.
Why in Norway, they now have huge Salmon cages off the coast where up to one third of your Salmon is raised.
And the Shrimp that people are learning to love, most of them are now farmed very carefully. In the wild, very few ever grew to adulthood and had a meaningful life. Now, with proper management, more shrimp lives are maintained for a much longer period of time before they are invited out to dinner!
I hope that my minimal attempts at humor in this regard are not offensive? After all the earth was created with a purpose, and that purpose was to serve as our earthly home. Certainly we should give this planet the kind care that God expects, but let us remember we must learn to manage the resources to provide for ever increasing numbers of God's favorite creation: man!
And as the Holy Spirit allows, let us who are redeemed carefully display the knowledge, righteousness and holiness that we are called to reflect for God's greater glory.
Resources Used:
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
Hodge, A.A. The Confession of Faith.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Watson, Thomas. A Body of Divinity, 10 Commandments & Lord's Prayer
Williamson, G.I. The Westminster Confession of Faith.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC010 30 Jun 96
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