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Discipleship Workbook Lesson Ten

From the Field · Africa · Gospel for Life

Discipleship Workbook Lesson Ten

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D I S C I P L E S H I P W O R K B O O K Lesson Ten by Jay Wegter

Creation (part one)

I. THE GREAT ‘END’ OR GOAL OF CREATION IS GOD’S GLORY.

A. The Scriptures assert that God’s glory is the chief end of creation.

  1. “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him” (Col 1:16; See also Prov 16:4; Rev 4:11; Rom 11:36).
  2. It is the duty of every person to view the entire creation as existing for the glory of God. If God created all things for His glory; it is our duty to do all things for God’s glory (1 Cor 10:31; 1 Pet 4:11) (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 440).

B. God’ works (His creation), and God’s Word (the Bible) are equally revelations of God.

  1. In theology we refer to the creation as God’s general revelation; and to the Bible as God’s special revelation. Both are God’s self-revelation; and both alike are sacred, and are to be treated with reverence (A. A. Hodge, Outlines in Theology, pp. 244-245).
  2. When general revelation and special revelation are interpreted accurately; there won’t be a conflict between the two. Special revelation corrects our wrong interpretations of God’s general revelation. For example, Darwinism suggests that death has existed as long as there has been life. The Bible, God’s special revelation, corrects this false interpretation by telling us death had a moral cause—man’s sin—death is a destructive force and an intruder; not a creative force as evolution would have us believe.
  1. How a person treats God’s general revelation is inseparable from how he treats God’s special revelation. God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature are clearly seen in the creation; therefore when men refuse to acknowledge the glory of God in the creation (general revelation); they are without excuse (Rom 1:18-23).
  2. Mishandling God’s general revelation leads to mishandling special revelation (the Bible). Those who refuse to see God’s power, wisdom, and goodness in the creation will also reject the truth of special revelation. They will distort the clear teaching of God’s Word (Rom 1:21-25).
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C. God’s glory is the object of all knowledge. Unbelievers come to conclusions which are opposed to God’s purposes in the creation. Only believers think God’s thoughts after Him.

  1. Only believers think God’s thoughts after Him because they have had their minds reset by regeneration—they have the ‘mind of Christ’ (1 Cor 2:12-16). Only believers use general and special revelation correctly: that is for the purpose of knowing and glorifying God.
  2. The highest goal of the creation is to reveal the Creator. Therefore the highest end of mankind (who is the moral portion of creation) is to know the Creator (Jer 9:23-24; Is 43:7) (Jonathan Edwards, “The End for which God Created the World,” Works of Edwards, vol. I, pp. 106-108).
  1. The fact that God created us for His own glory answers the question, “What is our purpose in life?” Our purpose must be aligned with God’s purpose—we must fulfill the reason God created us: to bring Him glory. The blessed news is that we glorify God by knowing Him in a personal relationship (1 Pet 1:8; Ps 27:4; Jn 10:10).
  2. Fullness of joy is the result of knowing God—communing with Him and taking delight in His perfections. God takes glory and pleasure in His covenant people; He rejoices over those who know Him, obey Him, and trust Him (Zeph 3:17; Is 62:5) (Grudem, pp. 440-442).

II. GOD CREATED ALL THINGS EX NIHILO—OUT OF NOTHING!

A. The doctrine that God created all things out of nothing is based on faith in His Word.

  1. The doctrine of creation ex nihilo is a matter of revelation; it is not arrived at by human reasoning. “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things which are visible” (Heb 11:3).
  2. God and matter are not co-eternal. There is no hint in Scripture that God had pre-existing material to work with during creation week (Ps 33:6; 148:5; Rom 4:17).

B. Since God made all things out of nothing; He is owner of all that He has made (Ps 50:12).

  1. Since God made all things out of nothing; there is not a thing in the universe that has an existence apart from God. All things are presently upheld by God. The entire creation continues to be utterly dependent upon God for its existence (Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:3; Job 37:1-13; Ps 104:30; 135:5-6).
  2. If we are to use the doctrine of creation properly; we must remain aware that the universe is the ‘theatre of God’s glory’. Only when we interpret the creation to the glory of God are we employing ‘right reasoning’ about the universe (Paul Helseth, Reasoning rightly about contingent Reality: On the Implications of a Sacramental View of the Universe, 2007).
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  1. Let’s consider the conclusions which are drawn from right reasoning about God’s creation:
  • As creatures of God, we have no power of self-existence (Acts 17:25-28).
  • God is absolute Owner of us; He has the right to tell us what to believe and how to live.
  • No part of created reality is understandable apart from Him who made it.
  • No one knows something in creation as it truly is unless he knows its part in God’s plan.
  • This is our Father’s world—as Owner and Maker of all things, He gets to assign meaning to what He has made; we don’t (Ps 36:9; Prov 1:7).
  • Only those who have been regenerated will appraise all things truthfully—according to how and why things exist in the plan of God (1 Cor 2:15-16).
  • Sin and rebellion do not create a new reality. If a person is not living for his created purpose—the glory of God—then that person is utterly out of touch with reality.
  • The glory of God is an infinitely higher value than the good of the creature. But God has interwoven the two: God’s glory and our highest good are perfectly joined in the Person of Christ and in the Gospel of Christ (2 Cor 4:4-6; Col 1:27; 2:2-3).

III. GOD CREATED MANKIND IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS (GEN 1:26-27). A. The ‘image of God’ certainly infers that man possesses aspects of human nature not shared by animals.

  1. Those aspects which differentiate us from animals include: moral consciousness, the ability to think abstractly, an understanding of beauty and emotion, an eternal soul, and above all, the capacity for worshipping and loving God (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, p. 74).
  2. Though God does not have a corporeal form (a physical body, see John 4:24); the design of man’s physical body nevertheless is God’s image in ways not true of animals:
  • Man is designed with an erect posture; with an upward gazing countenance.
  • Man is capable of facial expressions which correspond to our emotions.
  • Man is equipped with a brain which forms the thoughts and concepts which we communicate through our organs of speech.
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  • Man created in the image God points to the day when the eternal Son of God would come to earth as the perfect image of God and receive the human body prepared for Him by the Father (Heb 10:5; Luke 1:35; Col 1:15) (ibid. pp. 74-75).

B. The image of God is at the very core of our identity and purpose as human beings.

  1. Our identity as the image of God means we must know God in order to know ourselves. Thus to reject the knowledge of God is to completely miss our identity as His image-bearers (Rom 1:18-21, 32; 2:14-1).
  2. Because our identity is the image of God; our whole duty is to be the image of God. We are designed by God to reflect, or represent Him on earth.
  3. Our moral duty is to be like Him in holiness; to reflect His ‘moral majesty’ (1 Pet 1:15-16; Eph 5:1). Since man is the image of God; sin is always the misrepresentation of God. All unrighteous behavior is the misrepresentation of what God is like.
  1. This helps us understand the seriousness of sin in God’s eyes. God can not leave sin unpunished. We are the creatures made to represent His character and Person on earth; He can never be neutral or indifferent toward wickedness (Waldron, p. 85).
  2. Because sin entered through Adam’s transgression; fallen man bears a distorted image of God. The image of God in sinful man is no longer an accurate reflection of the Creator. That image, therefore, needs to be renewed through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24). God’s wonderful plan in the Gospel is to restore sinners to the true image of God through Christ who is the perfect image of God (2 Cor 4:4-6).

C. A summary of why the image of God is vital to our purpose and calling.

  1. Mankind created in the image of God distinguishes man from everything else in creation. The image of God defines what it means to be human—everything that makes man man is involved in being the image of God (ibid. p. 84). Man as the image of God answers ‘ultimate questions’ such as: Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I exist? What is my destiny?
  2. The image of God sets forth man as morally accountable to God—created to reflect God’s righteousness. Because man is fallen; he must be reconciled to God in order to reflect His Creator’s likeness (Col 1:20-21). Redemption alone restores man’s ability to reflect God’s moral majesty (Col 3:10).
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  1. We were created in the image of God in order to commune with Him; to reflect Him; to share His purposes, and to share His dominion. The image of God assures man that he is made to know God (Gen 1:26-28).
  2. The image of God is the basis for our moral free agency (ethical/moral responsibility in all our choices) (Rom 2:12-16). Creation in the image of God establishes the doctrine of man’s accountability and responsibility to God.
  3. The image of God means that man’s faculties of perception and reason are designed to receive divine revelation; both general revelation; and special revelation.
  1. The image of God is the foundation for man’s dignity, and for the sacredness of life. God established capital punishment as the penalty for destroying the image of God (Gen 9:6).
  2. The image of God defines man as the crown of creation. It gives content to man’s cultural calling as steward over the works of God’s hands (Ps 8).
  3. The image of God has a profound significance for ruined sinners—sinful man can only be redeemed by Jesus Christ who is the perfect image of God. Christ Jesus suffered in the place of sinners as a perfect substitute. Christ’s work will ultimately restore redeemed men and women to the perfect image of God (Eph 1:4; Rom 8:29; 1 Jn 3:2-3).
  1. The image of God places man in covenant relation to God; mankind is obligated to interpret all the works of God truthfully—to the glory of God (1 Cor 2:10-16).
  2. All rebellion against God is a function of preferring independence from God. Grasping for autonomy constitutes ‘war’ upon the image of God (Rom 1:18-24).
  3. Knowing we are created in the image of God is essential if we are to know God, and His purposes for us. Our present evil generation (in its delusion of independence from God) imagines that man can have meaning, purpose, value, and certainty apart from Christ. Only in Christ is our true humanity restored; for in Him the redeemed are taken from covenant-breaker to divine reflector.)
  1. Sinning does not create a new reality; it does not produce autonomy (or independence) from God. Unrepentant sinners will still bear a form of the image of God even in everlasting perdition.
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QUESTIONS:

(I.A.1-2) 1.) Read Romans 11:35-36, 1 Corinthians 10:31, and Revelation 4:11. Explain why God’s purpose for the universe also explains our purpose.

(I.B.1-4) 2.) Special revelation (the Bible) corrects the areas where man has falsely interpreted God’s general revelation (creation and providence). How does special revelation correct the common notion that evil has always been here; and will always be here?

(I.B.3-4) 3.) Read Romans 1:18-25. Explain how a willful mishandling of general revelation leads to a willful mishandling of special revelation. (Hint: what kinds of faulty conclusions do sinners choose when they reject the knowledge of God?—see especially verses 21-25.)

(I.C.1-4) 4.) What does regeneration (the new birth) do for a man’s thought processes? How does regeneration affect the way a man interprets God’s creation?

(II.A-B) 5.) Read Hebrews 11:3. What taught in the doctrine of creation ex nihilo? How does this passage of Scripture support the truth of creation ex nihilo?

(II.A-B) 6.) Prove from the doctrine of creation ex nihilo that God is owner of everything including all people.

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(II.A-B) 7.) Why is it true that the best scientist cannot know a fact as it truly is unless he knows its place in the plan of God? (Hint: remember, everything God has made has the purpose of revealing Him; therefore, do we really ‘know’ a thing if we do not know its purpose?)

(II.A-B) 8.) When Satan sinned; he imagined that he would rise above his creaturehood and be as God (Is 14:13-14). Explain why sin and rebellion do not create a new reality. (Hint: sin does not produce a new level of existence; it merely makes the creature a criminal under God’s moral government.)

(III.A-B) 9.) Explain why being created in the image of God is the reason why it is our duty to be the image of God.

(III.A-B) 10.) When we look at our identity as the image of God; and our duty to be the image of God; why is sin such an offense to God? (Hint: what does our sin say about God?)

(III.A-B) 11.) What does the sinner need from God in order to be restored to his created purpose and ability of reflecting of God?

(III.C) 12.) Read the summary of the image of God found in III.C. of the outline. Which points are new for you? Which points are most sobering to you? Which points move you to worship God?

(III.C) 13.) What have you learned about the image of God that you plan to share with an unbeliever next time you share the Gospel?

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