The central tenet of our church is to glorify Christ. If anyone has come to our church for any period of time they would know that we simply aim to preach Christ, please Christ, and become more like Christ. Everything in our life and mission runs from this. Jesus, as the revelation of God and the reconciler of sinners is the essence of our entire being and purpose. Without an absolute confidence in Christ, we are left with an uncertainty that demolishes hope. Something many Christians fail to understand is that the certainty we have in Christ starts from the very first pages of Genesis. We should ask the question, “Why does defending the history in the book of Genesis impact the confidence we have in Christ and his gospel?”
Sadly, I have often heard pastors and theologians suggest that the defense of Genesis as an actual historical account of God’s creation work in six days is an unimportant issue compared to the gospel. Of course we all agree that no message can be more important than the irreducible gospel that we find Paul preaching in 1 Corinthians 15 or in Galatians 1:3-5. No doctrine, no apologetic, no preaching or teaching could be more central than the simple gospel message that God uses to bring those he is calling into repentance and faith. In saying this, when we hear someone emphasizing that Genesis is a secondary issue, we often hear it (and sometimes it may even be meant) as if the gospel is somehow disconnected from its place in the real history of the world. We should always understand that Jesus came into this world in historical reality because of the biggest human problem: that we disobeyed the Creator of reality. Understanding and defending the historical setting for the gospel in Genesis is par for the course in defending the historical reality of the gospel. What is that history we are defending?
1. The very good creation.
When God finished his creation, he said it was very good (Genesis 1:31). One point that we must understand is that the work of Christ not only saves humans from sin in reconciliation with God, but Christ’s death and resurrection has also brought the hope of a completely reconciled physical creation (Colossians 1:20). That reconciliation, back to its former pristine condition, is described in the beauty of the perfect new heavens and earth outlined in Revelation 21-22. If we are to understand the comprehensive nature of Christ’s work of reconciliation, we can only do so in the understanding of a very good original creation that reflects God’s perfect character. To defend the very good creation is to defend the foundational history to Christ’s work of reconciliation.
2. The image of God.
In Genesis 1:27, we read the account of man being created in the image of God. Humans are distinct from animals and every other aspect of creation in this way. Our purpose is to reflect the very character of God in the way we live in this world. In Romans 1, the apostle Paul tells us that humanity rejected God’s glory reflected in us to worship images of his creation. Ever since sin entered the world, we have failed at being the image bearers we were created to be. In the cross, Jesus placed his perfect record of image bearing upon us and paid the price of our failure in sin. In Christ we can be again conformed to the image of God. Defending the historical reliability of Genesis and especially the special creation of humanity in God’s image is to defend the foundational history that helps us to understand Christ’s restoration of the image of God.
3. The comprehensive need for salvation.
If anyone knows the gospel, they understand that all humanity is sinful and is in need of a savior. In Romans 5 Paul describes this in the way that all who are in Adam die because since the original fall in Genesis 3, every human has been born with a sin nature under the condemnation of God. Defending the historical credibility of Genesis, especially that all humanity comes from Adam and Eve, specially created by God on the sixth day, is foundational to understanding why every human being needs saving.
4. The price of sin.
In Genesis 2:16-17, God commanded Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he would die if he did. Death, both physical and spiritual, is a result of the original disobedience against God in the garden. To reject the Creator is a death sentence. Jesus was placed on a tree (a cross) as he took our death sentence in our place. The reason Christ had to physically die and physically rise in overcoming the consequence of sin was in direct correlation to God’s warning for all mankind in Genesis 2. Defending the historical credibility of Genesis in seeing that all death is a part of our world because of sin is foundational to understanding why Jesus had to die.
These are only four of many historical foundations of the gospel in Genesis, but they are huge. Defending the historical accuracy of the account of the six days of creation, the pristine condition of the creation, and showing that the consequences of sin had no place in the original creation is foundationally important to defending the historical significance of the gospel. While God saves only through the gospel and not through our ability to defend Genesis, we can never disconnect the importance of the historical setting in which we understand that gospel. Yes, defending Genesis is important.