Thursday, May 28
Read the following scriptural passages and write down how each of these writers referenced Genesis 1-11:
Jesus and all of the New Testament writers refer to Genesis 1-11 as reliable history. Jesus refers to the writings of Moses and the creation of male and female (Matthew 19:4). Paul repeatedly uses the creation account to substantiate the theological points that he makes in his epistles. He declared to the learned men of Athens, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;” (Acts 17:24). In these ways, the New Testament writers built on the foundational nature of Genesis to show the modern reader the significance of this literal event.
Read, for instance, Romans 5. More than half a dozen times, Paul makes a direct link from Adam to Jesus (See Romans 5:12, 14-19). That is, he assumes the literal existence of an historical Adam, a position that becomes fatally compromised when an evolutionary model of origins replaces a literal reading of the texts.
If the New Testament writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself, viewed the creation account as reliable history, why would it be foolish for us — based on the claims of fallen, fallible human beings — not to do the same?
