Essentials of the Christian Worldview
Creation
God created all that exists, which is part of God's self-revelation. The created order reveals truths about
God, His character, His power and His purpose for humankind. In Genesis 1-2, there are five foundational truths
associated with the doctrine of Creation:
- God is an uncreated, self-sufficient being distinct and separate from His creation. God's being is not
dependent upon the physical universe nor is it a part of the physical universe. This is important in order to
avoid the confusion of pantheism (the belief that God is everything and everything is God). All that exists and
all that is true ultimately has its source in God (Genesis 1:1-2), but there is a difference between being created
by God and being God.
- God is infinite, self-existing and self-contained, that is, there is no antecedent to His being and there is
nothing in His being that derives itself from something outside of God. To finite creatures like us, with the
limitations we have as part of our being, it is difficult to comprehend infinity. It is nearly impossible to truly
think beyond the limitations of time and space, which means that some things about God will always remain somewhat
incomprehensible.
- The physical world was created good because God created it (Genesis 1:31 - "And God saw all that he had created,
and it was very good.") The physical world and everything in it was created good, that is, it was created complete.
There was no scarcity, no disharmony and no corruptions of any sort. Everything functioned as it was created to
function. It is important to note that everything was good because it was the product of a good Creator. The idea of
good is a comparative — something is good in comparison to something else. God is the standard to which everything is
compared. The creation was declared very good by the One who is its good Creator.
- Human beings were created unique from other created beings — they are image of God (Genesis 1:26). More will be
said about human beings in Chapter Four, but for now, we need to understand that human beings are not creatures that
arose from nature, but they are special creations of God who exist to rule over nature.
- Human beings as divine imagebearers have been given the capacities and the mandate to serve as God's stewards or
vice-regents over creation (Genesis 1:26-28). Humans function as overseers of creation on God's behalf. This means that
humans "imitate" God — they carry out their management responsibilities as God Himself would.
- In Creation, God instituted a permanent pattern of work and rest (Genesis 2:1-3), with the principle of a Sabbath
rest to accompany humankind's stewardship responsibilities. While theologians disagree on whether the observance of the
Hebrew Sabbath applies to Christians, none can ignore the pattern of work and refreshment that God has built into
Creation, which is a foreshadowing of the eternal rest (shalom) that believers will enjoy when their salvation is
consummated (Hebrews 4:1-11).
- God created human beings as male and female (Genesis 1:27), which establishes their personal identity. There are
clear, God-intended distinctions between men and women; distinctions that were part of God's creative plan. To further
advance harmony in creation, God established the covenant of marriage (Genesis 2:24) to provide for the bearing and
rearing of children. In short, the biblical doctrine of creation entails a normative understanding of humans as male
and female in a heterosexual monogamous relationship. Although this was corrupted by the Fall (which we discuss in the
next section), the pattern remains unchanged.