PAPER NO. 87

SCRIPTURE

INTRODUCTION

  1. Scripture is redemptive revelation. It assumes the rejection of the Word of God in man as reason and in the creation as clear general revelation.
  2. Scripture is the Word of God written. It reveals how God is both just and merciful to man in sin.
  3. Scripture focuses on the person and work of Christ, the Word of God incarnate, who restores mankind to life in the knowledge of God.
  4. Genesis is the book of beginnings, of creation, of sin and of redemption; and of continuity and increase of covenant blessing in the midst of apostasy and judgment.
  5. In Genesis 1–3 is given the foundation of Scripture in organic seed form. Scripture builds on, is to be understood by, and is the development of what is revealed here.

GENESIS CHAPTER 1: CREATION

  1. Original creation is ex nihilo; it is the origin of the clarity of general revelation.
  2. Subsequent creation is by forming and filling what is without form and empty.
  3. God’s purpose in creation is revelation. This is so necessarily and intentionally.
  4. Creation of life is each after its own kind rather than of no kinds or all from one kind.
  5. Creation of man is in the image of God. He is ruled by God and is to rule the creation.
  6. Original creation was very good; there was no natural evil.
  7. The completion of the work of creation is sealed in the Sabbath.

GENESIS CHAPTER 2: CREATION OF MAN, THE IMAGE OF GOD

  1. Man is created of one kind. Man is finite, temporal, and changeable in all his attributes.
  2. Man is created in triune personhood, in knowledge, in holiness and in righteousness.
  3. Man is created a body-soul unity.
  4. Man is created a male-female unity.
  5. Man is created a temporal being whose nurture is historically conditioned.
  6. Man is created each with a unique personal identity.
  7. Man is created in a corporate unity centered in Eden.
  8. Man is created with unity in purpose, for dominion and the knowledge of God.
  9. Man is created with the moral law written on his heart, with the choice of good and evil.
  10. Man is created in covenant unity, to be established in righteousness by representation.
  11. Man is created changeable: in innocence, in sin, in regeneration, and in sanctification.
  12. Man in the Sabbath-hope is to complete dominion as God completed the work of creation.

GENESIS CHAPTER 3:1-7: THE FALL

  1. The temptation of man reveals the state of man in the pursuit of good or evil.
  2. Sin as unbelief and not understanding is revealed in man’s rejection of God’s Word.
  3. Sin as unholiness is revealed in man not seeking the knowledge of God.
  4. Sin as unrighteousness is revealed in man’s eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
  5. Sin as autonomy is revealed in man’s choosing to determine good and evil for himself.
  6. Sin at root is revealed as the denial of God as infinite, eternal and unchanging creator.
  7. Sin at root is revealed as man’s denial of being finite, temporal and changeable creature.
  8. Sin is revealed as the denial of the clear difference between the finite and the infinite.
  9. Sin is revealed as the denial of human nature in denying reason to avoid what is clear.
  10. The consequence inherent in sin is spiritual death: meaninglessness, boredom and guilt.

GENESIS CHAPTER 3:7-24: REDEMPTION

  1. The first call to repentance is through shame. Man covers it up through self-deception.
  2. The second call is by a question for self-examination. Man avoids it by self-justification.
  3. The third call of promise and curse reveals God’s goodness to man in hardness of heart.
  4. The promise brings spiritual warfare, age-long and agonizing, until good overcomes evil.
  5. The curse brings toil with nature, strife with man, and old age, sickness and death.
  6. Man’s response to the third call is repentance and faith shown in obedience to be fruitful.
  7. God’s first response is to justify man by covering his guilt through an atoning sacrifice.
  8. God’s second response is to sanctify man by expulsion, to be cleansed through suffering. 

This paper was originally developed for a Philosophy of Religion course.


© 1999 Logos Papers Press