CWV-301 Topic 2 Overview

Creation (God-Centered God; God-Centered Universe)

Introduction
This topic begins our journey of looking at why Christians have the core worldview
beliefs that they do by going through the four major acts of the Bible. The first act of the
Bible is creation, so we begin there. What one believes about the origins of the universe,
life, and humanity affects, supports, or influences all six core worldview beliefs.
However, in Topic 2, we will focus on ultimate reality, human nature, and human
purpose.
For atheists, the universe (consisting of all matter and energy) has existed in some form
or another for eternity. For the pantheist, the universe and god are one and the same,
an impersonal force that just is. For theists whose ultimate reality is an eternal Spirit
who exists apart from the universe, God is responsible for creating all there is, and there
is a spiritual dimension that is beyond the natural realm.
Our focus in this topic will be on the Christian view of the origin of all there is: creation.
Creation is the first of four biblical acts, the others being the fall, redemption, and
restoration.
As Proverbs 9:10 states, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and
knowledge of the Holy One is insight" (ESV). For the Christian, this verse accents that
God is not only ultimate reality, but is the very essence of wisdom and understanding.
Paul was compelled to write, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Rom. 11:33). So
the origin of all there is began with God—and began with great wisdom.

The Nature of God: Sovereign Creator

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). God the Creator
existed before his creation and, therefore, is sovereign, having supreme authority and
absolute power over all things. By this act of creation, ultimate reality for Christians is
further defined. God, the sovereign Creator spoke the word, and by his will all things
were created. Logically from this, some important traits of God are seen.
God has many characteristics or attributes. Some of God's attributes are reflected to
some extent in humanity, his highest creation, though perfected in him. These would
include love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, compassion, justice, and holiness (Exod.
34:6; Isa. 6:3). Some of these are also referred to as fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-
23. Other attributes reveal God's transcendence, that he is eternal (Ps. 90:2), infinite (1
Kings 8:27), omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-12), omnipotent (Gen. 17:1), omniscient (Ps. 139:1-
6), immutable (Ps. 102:25-27), and incomprehensible (Ps. 145:3).
God, in the Christian view, is best described as the Trinity, or Godhead: God the Father,

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God the Son (Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man), and God the Holy Spirit. God is
one being in three persons, each of the same substance and the same will. Importantly,
in Christianity, the Father is not and does not become the Son, and the Son is not and
does not become the Holy Spirit and vice versa. God is one being existing eternally as
three persons. As is pointed out in The Beginning of Wisdom, all three persons were
involved in the creation (Diffey, 2020, para. 11-12; see Gen. 1:2; John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17;
Heb. 1:2).

The Nature of Creation: God's Good Work

What one believes about origins affects, supports, or influences all six core worldview
beliefs, but especially ultimate reality, the nature of humanity, and human purpose. This
is true of the Christian view of creation as well. One area that the Christian
understanding of creation affects is the nature of knowledge. The Creator can also be
known through his creation. God has revealed himself both through special revelation
as well as general revelation. Special revelation is God revealing himself and spiritual
matters through spiritual means such as through the life of Jesus Christ, the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, and revealing himself through the inspiration of the Bible. General
revelation is God revealing himself and spiritual matters through natural means such as
through philosophy, reasoning, and the study of history. Since general revelation
includes creation, the physical sciences are viewed in the Christian worldview as an
element of knowing God. The Christian worldview sees science, history, sociology, and
other disciplines as ways to better understand God and his creation and does not see a
divide between science and the sacred.
Genesis 1 gives a broad overview of the account of creation, then Genesis 2 zooms in
on the end of day six and the creation of humanity to reveal more detail. It is clear from
the creation account of Genesis 1-2 that God was orderly in his creation as he spoke
everything into existence. And the result was that everything was "very good" (Gen.
1:31). The only "not good" came when God pronounced that "it is not good that the
man should be alone" (Gen. 2:18 ESV), and so Adam and Eve were created.
Christians hold different opinions on how God accomplished his work of creation. They
agree that God created the world and everything that exists in the universe (Gen. 1-2)
by an act of his will and command (Ps. 33:6), from nothing (Heb. 11:3), for his glory (Rev.
4:11), with great wisdom (Ps. 104:24) through Christ and for Christ (Col. 1:16). Christians
agree that God's creation clearly shows his design and reveals his character (Rom. 1:20).
And Christians agree that God's days of creation and rest were given as a pattern for our
own days of work and rest (Gen. 2:2-3; Exod. 20:9-11).
So although there is much agreement about the creation story, Christians disagree on
exactly how God may have brought it about. There are three major approaches to
Genesis 1-2, and many sub-views within these three, but for the purposes here, we will
only look at the three major views.
Young Earth Creationism

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Young Earth Creationism holds that the universe, including all of life, was created by
God in six 24-hour days. Young Earth Creationists often point to Adam being created
with age—being a 1-minute old adult—and conclude that the Earth, too, was created
with age. This view believes that the Earth is 6,000-10,000 years old.
Old Earth Creationism
Old Earth Creationism holds that the biblical account of creation was an extended
historical event. Some Old Earth Creationists view each day as an epoch that lasted a
very long period of time. Other Old Earth Creationists see long periods of time between
the creation days. Because of this, they agree with the findings of mainstream science
that the universe and earth are billions of years old, and that life appeared in stages as
God gave the commands.
Evolutionary Creationism
Evolutionary Creationism is also known as theistic evolution. Evolutionary creationists
believe that God created the mechanism of evolution and guided evolution as a means
to his creation. Evolutionary creationists, therefore, believe that the earth is billions of
years old and that life evolved empowered and directed by God.

The Nature of Humanity: Divine Image Bearers

One of the most powerful concepts of the Christian worldview is the truth revealed in
Genesis 1:26-27 that humanity was created in the image of God. In Christianity, this
does not mean that God has fingers and toes, but rather that like God, humans are
reasoning, creative, moral, and spiritual beings. All humans were created with both an
immaterial soul and a physical body. This becomes even clearer in the New Testament
that one day we will be resurrected to new glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-53).
The image of God indicates that humans have remnants of his character within us and
may include the following:
• Capability to love (even those who seem unlovable)
• Capability to create for purpose or simply for beauty
• Ability to reason on a very high level
• Ability to explore the universe
• Capability to communicate with our Creator and to consciously worship him
• Ability to sacrifice for others
• Ability to be fair (a sense of justice)
• Innate ability to sense right and wrong (a sense of morality)
Being created in the image of God also means that every human has intrinsic value,
regardless of age, skill, appearance, or ability. Human value, in the Christian worldview,
is tied to the dignity and value of being created in the image of God. This is true for all

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people, regardless of one's worldview or religion or whether one believes in God or not.
As God's image bearers, humans also have a creational purpose. We were created for
meaningful work (Gen. 1:15, 26 ), for marriage and family (Gen 2:24, 1:28), and for
relationship with God. As God's image bearers, we were designed to be God's
ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). Importantly, while marriage and family are part of God's
purpose for humanity, individual people can certainly live a rewarding and full life as
single or without having children. The Apostle Paul was single and had no natural
children. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, he provided many positive aspects of the single life.
Importantly, as we will see in Topic 3, humans have fallen from their ideal. Yet, the
human value, dignity, and purpose we see here remains. Our creational purposes need
to be restored through Christ—to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)—a
process sometimes called sanctification, that takes a lifetime. The body is referred to in
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as such, we are to be purified,
being transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2).

Conclusion
What one believes about origins affects, supports, or influences all six core worldview
beliefs, but especially ultimate reality, the nature of humanity, and human purpose.
From the account of creation in the first act of the Bible, we can see several elements of
the Christian worldview. God, because he is the Creator, is all-knowing, all-powerful,
and ever-present. Each member of the Trinity was active in creation. Humanity is
created in the image of God, which not only describes humanity, but also reveals the
intrinsic value and dignity of humanity. Humanity was created to love as God loves, to
commune with him as he does with us, and to work as he works. Thus, humanity from
the beginning was engaged in good work and given responsibility and authority over
other creatures, to care for them, and to expand God's kingdom under his sovereign
rule.

Reference
Diffey, D. (2020). Wisdom in the beginning. In Grand Canyon University (Ed.), The
beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life (3rd ed.).
Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/cwv101/the-beginning-of-wisdom-an-
introduction-to-christian-thought-and-life/v3.1/#/chapter/3

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