This week in my course work on Salvation, the lesson took a bit of an unexpected turn. In the course of explaining the concept of regeneration—being born again—that many try to combine the evolution with creation, someone asked the question, “Couldn’t God create the world through an evolutionary process?” Of course the answer is yes, but the Bible tells us He didn’t. He created the creatures of land, sea and air, then He CREATED man … and then woman.
Dr. Lehman Strauss offered some interesting insights into the creation/evolution debate. Honing in on the “when we find the missing link…” Dr. Strauss said there isn’t a “missing link” instead there is a “screw loose.” It’s a funny comment but his point was that God tells us in His Word that He Created man and woman in His own image.
Genesis 1:20–31 (KJV 1900)
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 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.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God created each of us. He has given us each a purpose: To be transformed into holiness and reborn in spirit. The entire book of Genesis is about Birth, Beginning, and the start. It is the story of the generation (creation) of the world and man.
Salvation is our regeneration, our rebirth.
John 3:5 (KJV 1900)
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. We do not evolve into holiness. We accept it as gift of God, grace and salvation offered to each of us.
Titus 3:5 (KJV 1900)
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
God so loved us that He sent His Son to save us from a world of sin. We are born of man and reborn of God.
Author: Lea A. Strickland, MBA CMA CFM CBM GMC
Copyright ©2012 Lea A. Strickland
All Rights Reserved
