In the first and second lessons of this series, we proved that God may be known through revealed religion. The prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the reliable and authoritative source of religious knowledge. Their sacred writings are collected in the Bible and the Koran.
The first chapter of the Bible declares God is Creator.*
We learn these facts from the Creation Story:
1. God created all things two by two.**
2. God was not alone in creating humankind.***
3. All things are good.****
4. God rested from His labors.*****
PRINCIPLE OF TWOS
The duality of nature created by God is one of complementarity rather than opposition. All things are good.
God did not act alone in creating humankind. Jesus Christ in the form of the pre-existent Word was an active agent in Creation.****** Jesus is depicted in the biblical record as both Creator and Redeemer.
The Principle of Twos suggests Jesus Himself is not alone in the pantheon of Creation and Redemption. This assertion is supported by the gradual development of the doctrine of Dual Messiahs.
Male and female elements are the standard of Creation. These same elements appear to be active between the Dual Messiahs in reflection of the complementary male and female images of God.***
PERFECT BUT INCOMPLETE
God pronounced His work good and without fault. His creatures are not static. The possibility of growth necessitated a conflict of moral choices.
The world is the training ground for the faithful.
Sin was not a defect of Creation. God is other-dimensional; He is the Lord of time, seeing at once the end from the beginning. God anticipated the Fall of humankind and made provision for their redemption through the Dual Messiahs before the foundation of the world.*******
CREATION AND REDEMPTION
The Plan of Salvation is a continuation of the act of creating the world. The Creation Account in Genesis is a theological framework regarding God's relationship to the created order rather than a scientific statement of biological origins.
The debate over Creation or Evolution is rooted in a misunderstanding of the intent of the Creation Story. When God charged Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28), He intended us to understand this in the same sense as when He told Noah and his sons, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Genesis 9:1). The Creation Account is not a statement about the age of the earth and even suggests the world had been populated before Creation Week.
The cycle of Creation Week terminates in the Sabbath rest of God, which in turn foreshadows the redemptive rest of humankind when the Plan of Salvation culminates in a new heaven and earth wherein dwells mature, informed righteousness.********
CONCLUSION
Creation contains the seed for Redemption. The complementary relationship between Creation and Redemption demonstrates God's integrity and purposeful foresight.
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* Genesis 1:1ff.
** "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night" (Genesis 1:16).
"And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18).
*** "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:26, 27).
**** Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25.
***** Genesis 2:1-3.
****** John 1:1-3.
******* Matthew 13:35, 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:8.
******** Isaiah 66:22, 23; Revelation 21:1ff.