Did God Really Say. . . .?

It is the height of irony that so many Christians have succumbed to the attacks by the secular-humanist society around us when their game plan has been

"clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world....So [we] are without excuse."
Romans 1:20 (ESV, paraphrased, used out of context for a point)

What do I mean by that, exactly? Well, from the very beginning, the attack on humanity has been rooted in the subtle words of the serpent in the Garden:

"Did God actually say..."
Genesis 3:1 (ESV)

You see, the attacks on our faith today are just as subtle now as they were then. And believers everywhere have fallen for it, including many evangelical leaders! The world has taken fallible Man's interpretation of the things around us and tried to force it to fit the biblical account! And over time, likely in order to keep the proverbial door open to discussions about the Gospel, we've acquiesced on these foundational principles of our faith.

For example, Oxford Hebrew scholar James Barr, in a letter to David C.C. Watson, April 23, 1984, wrote

"...probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that: 1. creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience; 2. the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story; 3. Noah's flood was understood to be world-wide and extinguish all human and animal life except for those in the ark."

Naturally, Barr doesn't believe Genesis, but he understands the writer's intention. Consider Exodus 20:11, which often gets overlooked any debate on what the writer of Genesis meant to say:

"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy." (ESV)

The appropriate hermeneutic for Scripture in general, and Genesis in particular, should be exegesis, not eisegesis. God has revealed Himself to us through His word. I do not find the need to force it to say what I find to be more "reasonable" in light of what origins science, rather than observational science has determined about the "truth" of history. Genesis is God's first and best source of information with regards to the beginning of history as He was the one and only eye-witness to the events contained within it.

So yes, God really did say...

Why Genesis?

Why is Genesis so important? Why do I believe it's necessary to take it so seriously?

Let's get one thing straight and out in the open first thing:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

...at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

Philippians 2:10-12 (ESV)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)

So a literal interpretation of Genesis is obviously not required for salvation. It is my belief that you can believe that the Universe is billions and billions of years old and still be saved. Your only real issue is one of consistency.

You see, without a literal, historical Genesis, it becomes almost insurmountably difficult to justify our faith. I mean, if the theory of evolution is in fact a fact, and if there was no first man and first woman who truly sinned by disobeying God, then why was it necessary for Christ to come at all?

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Romans 5:12 (ESV)

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV)

The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45 (ESV)

Clearly, if Genesis 1-4 is allegory, if there was no real Adam, then a universalist position that a real savior isn't necessary and the above passages are actually allegorical as well naturally follows. It's also clearly NOT what most Christians believe. Jesus was an historical figure. He did come and die on a cross to save us from our sins. He did rise again and ascend to the Father. And the Bible itself tells us that he did it because Adam did have a choice to obey or disobey God; and that Adam did choose to disobey; and that Adam did condemn us all to death.

Genesis is so foundational to the Gospel story, that, in order to be intellectually honest, I don't think you can cavalierly sweep it under the rug of Theistic Evolution or the Gap Theory.

In the coming days, I'm going to be post some thoughts on the first 11 chapters of Genesis. I hope you'll come back, read what I have to say, and leave your comments or thoughts!