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41. The Church's Prime Rule of Authority: Jesus Christ Is Lord of All

The principal reason, of course, that Christians should believe in divine special creation is that the Bible, God's word, teaches it. But let us consider the question in more detail.

The Apostle Peter, in his evangelistic sermon to the household of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, announced the prime authority for all Christians. After a brief introduction Peter said, "The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all..."(Acts 10:36) Note that he did not say, "He is Lord of all--except science." No, Jesus Christ is Lord of all, including science. Also, the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians gave the same rule: "And He[the Father] put all things under His[the Son's] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."(Ephesians 1:22-23) Again we have the principle that, for us who name the Name of Christ--He is Lord of all, Head over all things, including science.

The obvious question to ask at this point is, "Has the Lord Jesus said anything about science?" If He is for us Lord over science, we need to know what He has said about science. We can think of some things which the Lord Jesus said which have application to our understanding of science. For example, He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18) Thus, the Lord tells us that anything that the Bible says which touches on or relates to a scientific question is authoritative for the Christian. But this is a very general principle. Did Jesus say anything more directly relating to science? I think that He did.

In the closing verses of the fifth chapter of John the Lord Jesus was concluding a lengthy argument with the Jewish religious leaders, who prided themselves on their allegiance to Moses. He said to them, "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"(John 5:45-47) These were solemn words for those first century Jews, as they are for us. If we are to be believers in Jesus Christ, we are also to believe what Moses wrote. What did Moses write about first? About divine special creation, about the beginning of all things--the origin of the universe, of the earth and the solar system, of life and of species. And Jesus says that we are to believe it the way Moses wrote about it.

Well, what are so very many scientists concerned with today? With the beginning of all things. So they are trying to find out how the universe, the solar system, the earth, life and the species originated. Of course, they for the most part believe that these things all came into being without any Creator God. And they almost universally claim that all the things have their explanation in purely physical, undirected, purposeless processes, i.e., by evolution. This, they say, is what science teaches. But is the word of secular human science the final word.

No. The final authoritative word is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all; He is to His church Head over all things, and that includes science. And He says we are to believe in the divine special creation of all things just as His prophet Moses reported in Genesis, the first book of the Scriptures. Therefore, Christians are to judge science by the Bible, not judge the Bible by science. Where scientists disagree with the plain, unambiguous teaching of the Bible, scientists are wrong. The Bible is right. This is the faith of Christians, of the people of the Book.

So why should Christians believe in creation? Because of scientific evidence? No, but because of our faith in Jesus Christ and His word, the Bible. This faith commitment is basic to our Christian walk. "For we walk by faith, not by sight."(II Corinthians 5:7) Now it is true that God has graciously given us much scientific evidence which confirms our faith in His word, as we have shown in many of these Creation Essays. But regardless of how much we may learn about science, the Scriptures nowhere suggest that we will ever know so much about science--or anything else--that we will in this life be able to walk by sight and no longer have to walk by faith.

The Benefits of Honoring Jesus Christ as Lord of Science

God told Adam that he and his descendants were to subdue the earth as the stewards of their Creator. Adam was in a sense the first scientist. The essence of science is its method, which is the intelligent use of trial and error to learn about the natural order of things and to test critically all theories about the natural world. So God had Adam perform some of the initial steps of a scientific investigation of nature. Adam observed the animals and named them. This implies that he classified them in order to give them sensible names which corresponded to their differing characteristics. Of course, since Adam was in close and unhindered communion with God, he could always ask God for help. God is not a scientist and He does not need science, for He knows all things without making observations or experiments. But he ordered humans, as His stewards, to pursue the scientific study of nature. But very soon, after the fall of Adam in the Garden, Adam and his descendants lost intimate communion with God, cut off from God by their sin. So now all scientists must proceed strictly in accord with the scientific method--trial and error, making mistakes and discovering and correcting them, continually trying to achieve a more accurate understanding of nature.

Christians in science must proceed in the same manner, except for a couple of important advantages over secular scientists. First, they have divinely revealed truth in the Bible, where God informs us of facts about nature which could not be discovered by science. For example, He tells us that all things were created by God. He also tells us of the permanent separateness of the created kinds of plants and animals. He tells us that He is the Source of all of the marvelous designs we find in the millions of living species in nature. And He also tells us that all of His creatures were created for definite purposes. He also tells us that the earth and all things in it were created for the benefit of man. And, finally, He tells us that all things were created for His glory.(Revelation 4:11)

Knowing these facts about the world, Christians in science and other branches of scholarship have a great advantage over secular, unbelieving scientists. They know about the special creation of life and of the kinds. Therefore they need not waste their time trying to discover how life originated itself or how evolution transformed simple kinds into complex kinds--from amoeba to university professor in three billion years. Another advantage of Christians in science is their possession of the highest goal and motivation for science, i.e., the glory of the great Creator God. And they also have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to help them to be good scientists, to be fruitful in the scientific enterprise, to be benefactors to their fellow men through science.

Conclusions

Thus, there are numerous and important reasons why Christians should believe in creation. And the benefits of obedient faith in the Word of God are always great. Most important of all, simple faith in every word, every promise of God is the fundamental requirement for a Christian life which achieves the highest goal of life, the glory of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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