AACE - "Bible Teaching on Creation"

This paper was distributed by the Association of Australian Christadelphian Ecclesias Inc. to all member ecclesias in May 2020.
See also Alternative "Bible Teaching on Creation" from Lampstand Magazine published online by "The Lampstand" on 2 May 2021.

Background

(awaiting volunteer to write this)

Covering Letter

From: Secretary AACE <secretary at aace.info>
Sent: Wednesday, 6 May 2020 5:59 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Bible teaching on Creation - Final Paper

To all Australian ecclesias

Dear Brothers & Sisters

Final Paper: “Bible Teaching on Creation”

The Urgent Motion (referred to as ‘Motion 8’) passed by the Business Session of the 2018 Brisbane Conference was subsequently adopted in a ballot of all Australian ecclesias.

As a result, two actions were requested of the AACE:-

1. That the AACE “formulate a document detailing Bible teaching on creation (with associated support material) for Australian ecclesias to consider”.
2. That following publication of a final document the AACE is “to consult Australian ecclesias on further action they might wish to take on this matter in an endeavour to promote ecclesial harmony and cooperation”.

In line with point 1, the AACE has now finalised a document for ecclesias to consider – please see attachment.

The process

In formulating this document, the AACE has attempted to follow as closely as possible the wording of the Urgent Motion (referred to as Motion 8) and the process set out in the document “Implementation of Motion on Creation Agreed to by Australian Ecclesias”. The Process document was circulated to ecclesias in November, 2018.

A Subcommittee made up of brethren who were not members of the AACE Committee was formed to assist with the document development process. The Subcommittee steered us through the Stimulus Paper stage but from 1st Draft onwards the AACE Committee produced the documents. We again thank the Subcommittee for their invaluable assistance in the early, formative stages of this process.

The 149 ecclesias listed in the AACE’s Master List of Australian Ecclesias meeting on the Unity Basis were invited to comment at each stage of the process. The process began with the circulation of the Stimulus Paper at the end of February 2019. Ecclesial and individual responses (42 ecclesial and 41 individual) to that paper assisted in the formulation of the 1st Draft which was circulated to ecclesias early in September 2019. Feedback on 1st Draft (28 ecclesias; 16 individuals) assisted in the development of 2nd Draft. Responses to 2nd Draft (23 ecclesial; 10 individual) informed formulation of the final document.

As noted in the covering letter to 2nd Draft, ‘Motion 8’ defines and limits what the AACE is to produce and the Committee has endeavoured to work within those limits. At the outset the Committee determined that since this was to be “a document detailing Bible teaching on creation”, references to science would not be included. The Committee also considered that ‘Motion 8’ did not give it a mandate to prepare a paper that establishes formal positions of fellowship. As noted in the cover letter to 2nd Draft, “demands for fellowship-directed language cannot be accommodated”. Consequently, we have avoided statements and conclusions that might be applied in a fellowship context.

The next stage

We have now reached the final stage of the ‘Motion 8’ process. In line with point 2 above, we encourage careful and prayerful consideration of the document and invite ecclesias to suggest actions that will promote ecclesial harmony and cooperation.

The AACE Committee extends its sincere thanks to ecclesias and individuals for their assistance in this process and particularly for the constructive approach apparent in responses. We pray that our Heavenly Father will continue to guide us as we respond to this challenging issue.

Fraternal regards
Wayne Levick
AACE Secretary

Complete Text

[link to pdf to come]

Complete text with discussion

Note re Discussion: Insert your comments in the usual way in the white space. If your comments are more than linking, please sign them using "~~".

Introduction
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1-3 describes the essential details of creation, Adam and Eve and the origin of sin and death. The Bible then reveals Almighty God’s purpose of filling the Earth with His glory and reconciling sinners in Christ. Throughout the Bible, inspired writers draw on the reality of the Genesis creation.

The Bible is our reference source for all doctrine and behaviour. While the Genesis account of Creation may not answer all our questions, it is a simple and direct account with which both the Old and New Testaments are in agreement, for these are “the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15).

  Discussion re Introduction

See my comments on the term "Genesis creation" at User:Bruce/Notes on AACE's "Bible Teaching on Creation". — Bruce

The Age of the Earth
Whatever may have been the state of the earth prior to what is recorded in Genesis 1-3, this has no demonstrable relevance to salvation in Christ Jesus.

Discussion re the Age of the Earth

See Proverbs 8:22-31 — Scripture is explicit, unlike this timid "may have been". BP.

Discussion re the Genesis Creation Account

1. Why does AACE limit discussion of this passage of scripture to consideration of God's "purpose"? What is neglected in this approach?

2. See discussion of the meaning of "Heaven" and "mankind" elsewhere in this wiki, and follow the links to all of the Bible references cited, for a range of translations and further discussion in most cases. — Bruce

Other Old Testament Creation Accounts
The significance of God’s creative work is underscored by the fact that accounts of creation recur throughout the Old Testament.

In Nehemiah a group of Levites attest to the creative work and care of their God. “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you” (Nehemiah 9:6).

Discussion of citation from Nehemiah

In Job 38 and 39 Yahweh answers Job with an account of his creative work in earth and heavens. This majestic account is unsurpassed in its reflection of God’s might and power and his care for His creation.

Discussion of citation from Job

The Psalmist frequently extols the might, the wonder and the scope of Yahweh’s creative works. Yahweh has made him. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). He has given him dominion over all that He has made. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:3-8).

Yahweh spoke and creation proceeded. “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:6-9).

Yahweh is the creator not only of living things but of the heavens and all their host and the geography and geology of the earth. “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host .... He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth... O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great” (Psa 104:5-9; 24-25).

God’s creation “spoke” to David. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world ...” (Psa 19:1-4).

Discussion of citations from the Psalms

Psalm 104:3 is an important creation text. Why leave it out when other parts of the Psalm are included? See discussion in this wiki at Psalms 104:2-3, 68:4,30-31, Isaiah 19:1, Deuteronomy 33:26 and elsewhere. —Bruce

Solomon echoes the thoughts of his father, David, in acknowledging God's wisdom and creative work. "Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth" (Proverbs 8:25-29)

Discussion of citation from Proverbs

In the prophets too we see acknowledgement of the grandeur of God’s creative work and his work in sustaining His creation when we read in Isaiah: “Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: ‘I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. . . ’” ([[Isaiah 42:5-6) and “I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. . .  For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the LORD, and there is no other. . . ” (Isaiah 45:12,18).

Discussion of citations from Isaiah

Creation in the New Testament

Genesis creation is woven into New Testament teaching. The examples are many. Luke takes the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam (Luke 3:23-38). Jesus reinforces the order created in Eden in relation to man and woman and marriage. “But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female’”(Mark 10:6). In warning of troubled times to come Jesus reinforces the fact that God is the creator — “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of 'the creation that God created' until now, and never will be” (Mark 13:19). Paul highlights the order of the creation of man and woman. “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man” (1 Corinthians 11:8-9) and “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (1 Timothy 2:13-14). James finds relevance in the Genesis creation account when writing about the tongue, “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people 'who are made in the likeness of God' (James 3:9).

Discussion of citations from the Gospels, Paul and James

Comment on the term "Genesis creation": There is a difference between "Genesis creation" and "the Genesis creation account" which leads to confusion if not equivocation. See my comments about this at User:Bruce/Notes on AACE's "Bible Teaching on Creation". — Bruce (talk)

Paul in his speech to the men of Athens makes direct reference to Genesis creation and how the creative work of his God sets Him apart from and above all other so-called gods. “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “’In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “’For we are indeed his offspring’” (Acts 17:24-28).

Discussion of this interpretation of Acts 17

John in his Gospel and first letter highlights God’s intention from the beginning to make Christ the centre of a new creation in which His plan for mankind will be fully realised. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.. . .  All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). “. . .  you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Paul echoes this to the Colossians: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17). In 2 Corinthians Paul brings out the personal, individual side of this new creation — “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Discussion of these citations from John and Paul

In Hebrews we find a number of references to creation. “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (Hebrews 1:10) and, “For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works’” (Hebrews 4:3-4). It is “by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

Discussion of these citations from Hebrews

In Romans and 1 Corinthians Paul writes of Adam as the first man, a man of dust, and the one who brought sin and death. “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). “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). Adam brought death; Jesus brings life. “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). (Jesus) “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26).

Creation and our Statement of Faith

We recognise the Scriptures as the one and only authoritative source of information about God’s purpose in creation. Our understanding of the Scriptures is set out in the Australian Unity Agreement (AUA) which includes the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith (BASF), the Cooper-Carter Addendum (CCA), the Commandments of Christ, the Doctrines to be Rejected and Fellowship Clauses. These documents and their related scriptural references are the basis of fellowship among Central Fellowship Ecclesias in Australia.

Discussion of this introduction

Clauses of the BASF relevant to a consideration of creation include the following:-

CLAUSE 1. That the only true God is He Who was revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by angelic visitation and vision, and to Moses at the flaming bush (unconsumed) and at Sinai, and Who manifested Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the supreme self-existent Deity, the ONE FATHER, dwelling in unapproachable light, yet everywhere present by His Spirit, which is a unity with His person in heaven. He hath, out of His own underived energy, created heaven and earth, and all that in them is.

Discussion of Clause I

CLAUSE 4. That the first man was Adam, whom God created out of the dust of the ground as a living soul, or natural body of life, "very good" in kind and condition, and placed him under a law through which the continuance of life was contingent on obedience.

Discussion of Clause IV

CLAUSE 5. That Adam broke this law, and was adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken — a sentence which defiled and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity.

Discussion of Clause V

CLAUSE 10. That being so begotten of God, and inhabited and used by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, God manifested in the flesh-yet was, during his natural life, of like nature with mortal man, being made of a woman of the house and lineage of David, and therefore a sufferer, in the days of his flesh, from all the effects that came by Adam's transgression including the death that passed upon all men, which he shared by partaking of their physical nature.

Discussion of Clause X

The Cooper-Carter Addendum is also significant in that it clarifies Clauses 5 and 12 of the BASF.

The Cooper-Carter Addendum reads as follows with sections particularly relevant to creation in italics:

“We believe that Adam was made of the earth and declared to be very good; because of disobedience to God’s law he was sentenced to return to the dust. He fell from his very good state and suffered the consequences of sin—shame, a defiled conscience and mortality. As his descendants, we partake of that mortality that came by sin and inherit a nature prone to sin. By our own actions we become sinners and stand in need of forgiveness of sins before we can be acceptable to God. Forgiveness and reconciliation God has provided by the offering of His son; though Son of God he partook of the same nature—the same flesh and blood—as all of us, but did no sin. In his death he voluntarily declared God’s righteousness; God was honoured and the flesh shown to be by divine appointment rightly related to death. To share in God’s forgiveness we must be united with Christ by baptism into his death, rising from baptism dead to the past to walk in newness of life. The form of baptism is a token of burial and of resurrection and in submitting to it we identify ourselves with the principles established in the death of Jesus “who died unto sin,” recognising that God is righteous in decreeing that the wages of sin is death; and that as members of the race we are rightly related to a dispensation of death.

In all His appointments God wills to be honoured, sanctified and hallowed by all who approach unto Him. By His promises God sets before man a hope of life and a prospect of resuming those relationships that are lost by sin. With the setting forth of this hope there comes a new basis of responsibility. Times of ignorance God overlooks but with knowledge a man becomes an accountable and responsible creature with the obligation to believe and obey God.”

Appeal & Recommendation

We appeal to all brothers, sisters and young people to carefully consider the Scriptural account of the Genesis creation as it recurs throughout Scripture, to consider its relevance to us as an act of God’s love and power, its relevance to how we become reconciled to our Heavenly Father in a new creation and thus its relevance to our everyday lives.

The extent to which we can enjoy harmony within the Brotherhood depends on the extent to which we find agreement in relation to our understanding of Scripture. Let us work to find agreement in relation to God’s wonderful creation. When ideas apparently contrary to Scripture, to the range of views expressed in mainstream Christadelphian literature and to the Australian Unity Agreement on the origin and development of life on earth, the nature of mankind and the atoning work of God through Christ are promulgated, it is the responsibility of ecclesias to determine whether these ideas do accord with God’s inspired Word. In doing so, and in determining any action to be taken, ecclesias, with the full participation of those presenting such ideas, must consider the guidance contained in the Australian Unity Agreement and relevant sections of the Ecclesial Guide and engage in prayerful consideration of Scripture “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so” (Acts 17:11).

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