FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Being Firm in the Foundations of the Christian Faith
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Gripping The Sword
Proofs & -isms
Abba Father
Saviour not Super-star
Who ? not What?
The Bible
The Trinity
God The Father
God the Son
God the Spirit
-
GW
GW
AG
GW
GW
Mar
Apl
May
June
July
In The Beginning
Creation
God's Image Smudged
Missing the Mark
God’s Plus Sign
Man
Sin
The Cross
- AG
- GW
- AG
Oct
Nov
Dec
God's Image Salvaged
God's People Together
Jesus Returns
Salvation
The Church
The 2nd Coming
- GW
- GW
- AG
Jan
Feb
Mar
Matt Frost
Know Who You Believe………………
………………Know What You Believe
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 1
The Bible
The Scriptures were not given to
increase our knowledge
but to change our lives
•Dwight L. Moody
.
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 2
The Trinity
sufficiently understandable
but ultimately incomprehensible
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 3
God the Father
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 4
God the Son
Jesus
Saviour…….
....Not Superstar
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 5
God the Holy
Spirit
The Holy Spirit
Who?...
….not What?
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Study 6
Creation
“In the
Beginning
God....”
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
- ‘How’ of creation
- ‘Why’ of creation
- ‘Who’ of creation
• God’s Glory
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
- ‘How’ of creation
- ‘Why’ of creation
- ‘Who’ of creation
• God’s Glory
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Hebrew title: ‘In the Beginning’
Greek Title: ‘Genesis’ (origin)
Author: Moses (mainly)
Date of Writing: c. 1280-1240 BC
Location: Mesopotamia
• No time to address all ‘contextual’ issues (see
John H. Walton – NIV application commentary)
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Genesis 1v1: “In the beginning God created (‘bara’) the
heavens and the earth”.
“And God Said….and God saw that it was good. And there
was evening, and there was morning, the nth day”.
1 Light and dark
2 Sea and Sky
3 Earth, vegetation and separation of water.
4 Sun, moon and stars
5 Birds and Fish
6 Animals and humans
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
7 God rests.
Genesis 2 – retelling - role of humans
Genesis 3 – Fall (Adam, Eve, Serpent)
Genesis 3–11: remaining section different to Genesis 12 - 50
Charles Darwin
Origin of Species
(1859)
Descent of Man
(1871)
• Myth
• Age day theory
• Gap-theory
• Revelatory Day theory
• Literal (Young-earth creationism)
• Framework (literary) approach
MYTH
• popular understanding of ‘myth’ (Walton, J)
• Not ‘how we fell’ but ‘how we fall’.
• Removes apparent conflict
• Still speaks of human condition (& need for
redemption?)
• New testament understanding (Jesus / Paul)
Age-day (concordist)
• Day (‘yom’) = ages / period of time.
• Broadly similar progression:
matter
life
complex life
• But……
 Earth with no sun and moon?
 Trees before marine life
 Birds before land animals?
Humans
Gap Theory
Thomas Chalmers
v1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth”.
GAP
V2: “Now the Earth was (became) formless (‘Bohu’) and
empty (‘Tohu’).
Revelatory days
• Gods revelation to Moses over 6 days.
• P. J. Wiseman (1948)
v1: “In the beginning God created (‘made known’) the
heavens and the earth”.
Literal (Young-earth creationism)
•
creation occurred about 6000-1000yrs
ago.
•
days are 24 hour periods
Omphalos: an Attempt to Untie the
Geological Knot (1857)
Flood Geology
Origen (2nd century AD):
“What man of intelligence, I ask, will
consider a reasonable statement that the first
and second and the third day, in which there
are said to be both morning and evening,
existed without sun, moon and stars, while
the first day was even without a heaven? And
who could be found so silly as to believe that
God, after the manner of a farmer, ‘planted
trees in a paradise eastward in Eden’…I do
not think anyone will doubt that these are
figurative expressions which indicate certain
mysteries through a semblance of history.”
Augustine of Hippo (4th century AD):
“..of what fashion those days were, it is
either very hard or altogether impossible to
think, much more to speak. ….That day in the
account of creation, or those days that are
numbers according to its recurrence, are
beyond the experience and knowledge of us
mortal earthbound men. And if we are able to
make any effort towards an understanding of
those days, we ought not to rush forward
with an ill considered opinion, as if no other
reasonable and plausible interpretation
could be offered”
Framework (literary) approach
DAY 1 Light and dark
DAY 4 Sun, moon, stars
DAY 2 Sea and sky
DAY 5 Fish and birds
DAY 3 Fertile Earth
DAY 6 Animals, humans
DAY 7 God rests.
Ultimately Genesis 1 is about ‘who’ not ‘how’.
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
- ‘How’ of creation
- ‘Why’ of creation
- ‘Who’ of creation
• God’s Glory
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
-Why did God create the world?
NOT because he needed us or because he was
‘lonely’: "The God who made the world and
everything in it … is not served by human hands, as if
he needed anything" (Acts 17:24-25)
“Creatures came into existence when the key of love
opened his hand.” (Thomas Aquinas)
Fulton Sheen, when asked why God created the
world, responds, “Love overflowed.” (see also the
divine romance by Gene Edwards)
Ultimately – we don’t know!
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
- ‘How’ of creation
- ‘Why’ of creation
- ‘Who’ of creation
• God’s Glory
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
“it [Genesis] explains in story
form the nature and character
of God, and the place of man
in God’s creation”
ESV study Bible (Ed. Wayne Grudem)
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
• Genesis1: 1 -25.
“This is not a passage about the
‘how’ of creation, nor even primarily
about the ‘why’ of creation. Rather, it
is a passage but about the ‘who’ of
creation....an overture that introduces
us to the Creator God”
Bible Speaks today: Creation. David Wilkinson
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
God as the creator
Gen 1v1 : In the beginning God Created
Heb 11v3: By faith we understand that the
universe was formed at God’s command,
so that what is seen was not made out of
what was visible (NIV)
Key doctrine: ‘ Creation ex nihilo’
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
God as the creator
Creation myths:
- Egypt: creator god Ptah uses waters (god:
nun) to create earth
- Ra and Toth (sun and moon deities)
- Mesopotamia: gods of watery chaos - Apsu,
Tiammat & Mummu. (‘Bara’ Gen 1v1, 21&27)
Monotheism NOT Polytheism
Scientific materialism:
- Big Bang (Quantum Vaccum) vs steady state:
- Multiple universes
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
God as sustainer
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory
and honour and power, for you created all things, and
by your will they were created and have their being”.
Revelation 4v11
“For in him all things were created: things in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been
created through him and for him. 17 He is before all
things, and in him all things hold together”
Colossians 1: 16&17
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
God as sustainer
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one
of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s
care. And even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more
than many sparrows” Matthew 10: 29.
Key doctrine: ‘God is immanent and
transcendent’
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
- ‘How’ of creation
- ‘Why’ of creation
- ‘Who’ of creation
• God’s Glory
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Key scriptures:
Psalm 104: “How many are your works O Lord, in
wisdom You made them all”
- Job 38 – 41: “Where were you when I laid the
earth’s foundations......”
- Romans 1v20: “For since the creation of the world
God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and
divine nature – have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men
are without excuse”
“The heavens declare the glory
of God; the skies proclaim the
work of his hands”.
(Psalm 19)
“That is the eternal question, is life all
there is of life or do we only know one
hemisphere before our death? Speaking
for myself I have no idea what the
answer is but the sight of the stars
always sets me thinking”
(Van Gogh)
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You’re beautiful
I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful
I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, you're beautiful
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, I see Your face
I see Your face, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful
FOUNDATIONS
OF THE
FAITH
Bibliography
David Atkinson. The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Genesis 1 – 11.
David Wilkinson. The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Creation.
John H. Walton. The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis.
Ernest Lucas. Can we believe Genesis today?
Denis Alexander. Creation or Evolution: do we have to choose?