The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself in relation to his creation and especially in relation to human beings. Scripture is theological in that it provides for the study of God and it is also anthropological in that it provides for the study of human beings. But more specifically, the Bible provides information for the study of theological anthropology which deals with human beings and their special relationship with God in light of the revealed word of God. Theological anthropology seeks to understand human beings (anthropological) in light of Scripture (theological). This kind of study requires an understanding of the God of the Bible and His relation with human beings.
Human beings are unfulfilled apart from God. The Bible teaches that human beings were created in the image of God. And they can have a proper self-knowledge only when they understand God. John Calvin was aware of this when he wrote “it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he [has] previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”[1]
The scriptural account of the origin of man is found in Genesis 1:26, 27 which states:
Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26, 27
In Genesis 2:7 we find then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God revealed to human beings through Scripture that they were created in the image of God, by God, for God, to be with God. God created human beings as complete adult creatures. God created the first two humans from the earth and breathed life into them creating a living higher cognitive being at once.
Human beings did not begin as sea squirts (class: Ascidiacea, commonly known as ascidians), as Charles Darwin speculated,[2] arising from the primordial slime nor “from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits.”[3] Human beings do not have a common ancestor with other lower animals. In fact, God also created all animals originally as fully formed adult animals. They didn’t develop from a common ancestor to other animals either.
So, the Bible teaches how and where human beings were created and that they were created by God. Scripture also reveals that God provided human beings and the lower animals with the capability of biologically procreating their own kind.
But what about Charles Darwin and the evolutionists who deny the divine creation of humans. Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man wrote the following:
The main conclusion arrived at in this work… is that man is descended from some less highly organised form. The grounds upon which this conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close similarity between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, as well as in innumerable points of structure and construction… are facts which cannot be disputed… The great principle of evolution stands up clear and firm… man is the co-descendant with other mammals of a common progenitor.[4]
Charles Darwin, From so Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin (W. W. Norton and Company 2006): 1236-37.
Darwin based his conclusion on “the close similarity between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, as well as in innumerable points of structure and construction.” He calls this facts which cannot be disputed. Darwin presumes that this similarity in structure and construction is the result of all animals having a common ancestor. His conclusion is wrong.
The close similarity between man and the lower animals in embryonic development, as well as in innumerable points of structure and construction that Darwin cites is not due to a common ancestor but is in fact evidence of a common creator. Let’s look at an example that may help with understanding this biblical fact of a common[5] creator.
Artists create many different paintings throughout their careers but each individual artist has his or her own style. In painting, style refers to the way artists use their own techniques, colors, creativity, expression and abilities. So, when an expert, an aesthete of paintings, looks upon a painting to certify that the painting was, in fact, painted by a particular artist, he or she looks for similarities in technique, colors, expression, etc. in the painting to be certified that is ordinarily found in all of that artist’s work. The person who creates a work of art will leave similar style marks in all of his works.
I’m using this artist example as an earthly example to help the finite human mind better understand the concept of a common creator but in no way seek to equate the creation of a finite human work of art with divine creation. The example is just for teaching purposes to help in understanding the concept.
Regarding God’s creation of human beings, the similarities in the embryos of lower animals and humans are not because they all descended from one common ancestor. Instead, it is because they all were created by the same creator, God. What one sees in God’s creation are his style marks, so to speak. The similarities of animal embryos are merely God’s style marks in His creation, not evidence of some putative common ancestor.
Of course, human beings do have a common ancestor with other human beings―the first humans, Adam and Eve.
[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion,Tran. Henry Beveridge: (Hendrickson, 2008): 5.
[2] Charles Darwin, From so Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin (W. W. Norton and Company 2006): 1239.
[3] Darwin, 1239.
[4] Darwin, 1236-37.
[5] The word common is being used here to indicate something shared by individuals or groups or things. Common is not being used here to indicate a creator who is elementary or ordinary or lacking refinement or simple or frequently appearing. The creator spoken of here is one creator shared by two groups, humans and lower animals.
