Articles
“The Origin of Life”
How should Christians think about the origin of life, species and humanity? Obviously, Genesis 1-2 and John 1 must shape our views on the matter. But because Darwinian evolution has entrenched itself in our culture, religious people have taken three different positions on the origin of life.
Position #1: Theological Liberalism — Some people take much of the Bible to be mythical, coming from a scientifically ignorant age and thus irrelevant on scientific matters. They believe that the first eleven chapters of Genesis should not be regarded as history but merely as inspiring (but fictional) narrative. If we are to remain faithful to biblical inspiration and authority we must flatly deny this view. The Bible, properly interpreted, is true in all it affirms, whether statements about the nature of God, salvation, morality, history or the creation and design of the universe.
Position #2: Theistic Evolution — Others claim that while the Genesis account is true, it was not meant to speak of science but only to the “who” and the “why” of creation. Science, on the other hand, speaks to the “how” and the “when” of creation. Therefore, they claim, Christians should reinterpret the creation account in light of Darwinian evolution; God used the Darwinian mechanism to bring about the various species and the eventual evolution of human beings. Accounts of the Garden of Eden and a literal first couple should be taken as poetic and not historical. The Fall is not a literal event but a failure of the first evolved humans to meet God’s conditions for flourishing.
Theistic evolution teaches that God created the universe and let the inherent properties of the universe produce the first life and subsequent species naturally, without any direct evidence of a designing intelligence. As such, theistic evolutionists accept abiogenesis (the evolution of life from non life) and Darwinism as an adequate account of the development of species. Christians must also deny this view for several reasons:
First, the scientific evidence does not support Darwinian macroevolution or abiogenesis. Small changes within species (microevolution) can be explained by Darwinian mechanisms, but not the origin of all species (macroevolution or speciation).
Second, this interpretation of Genesis 1-2 is troubled. Genesis presents God as directing the natural order, not merely letting it evolve on its own. God creates animal’s according to their “kind,” indicating differences in nature between discrete forms of life, as opposed to a fluid development where one kind evolves into another. More importantly, God’s creation of human beings stands out from the rest of the living world because they are directly fashioned in the image of God. There are many texts besides Genesis that refer to the first couple as a literal, historical reality.
Third, it is inconsistent for Christians to believe that God supernaturally intervenes in history after evolution has done its role but that God fails to leave evidence of his design in life itself. Also, why should Christians adopt a view of life that Darwin formulated specifically to write off a Creator? Darwin wanted to eliminate the need for faith in a Creator by accounting for the development of life according to natural law and chance.
Position #3: Scientific Creationism — A coherent Christian worldview attempts to bring “the book of nature” (Psa. 19:1-6) together with “the book of Scripture” (Psa. 19:7-10; 2 Tim. 3:15-17). This is how leaders of the scientific revolution understood it. God is the author of both the Bible and creation, and since God is the God of truth, these two books will not contradict each other. When both books are interpreted correctly according to the appropriate principles, they only affirm and strengthen each other. This view can be summed up by the following:
- God created the universe out of nothing. (Gen. 1:1; Heb. 11:3)
- God created each “kind” of creature specially, not through a long naturalistic process of macroevolution. (Gen. 1:12, 25)
- Species may change and adapt to their environment in various limited ways, given the natures God has given them (microevolution).
- God created human beings uniquely in his image, not through a long process of naturalistic evolution. The first human couple existed in space-time history and sinned against God, leading to a broken world which God has promises to redeem through his Son.
What we think about the origin of life matters because it shapes how we view and treat ourselves, our neighbors, our world and our God. May God help us to see his fingerprints in the natural world, turn to him in humble, obedient worship and help others to see his glory.
