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Man - His Origin


The facts concerning the origin of man can be known only because God has revealed those facts to us in Scripture. It is through special revelation that we discover something about where we came from. Attempting to answer the question of mans origin apart from Scripture has only served to demonstrate that man has been incapable to ascertain these facts elsewhere. Only God, as Creator, can provide a complete and accurate account of man’s origin, and this account can only be found in His Word.

There are many passages in Scripture that clearly indicate that man was created (Gen. 1:1-2:25; John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 11:13). In the first chapter of Genesis alone, God is referred to as Creator about seventeen times, and about fifty other references can be found elsewhere in the Bible.

There are a number of biblical arguments that clearly support the immediate creation of man and the literal twenty-four hour day’s view of creation:
(1) A number of passages clearly teach that man was created directly by God (Gen. 1:27; 2:7; 5:1; Deut. 4:32). Genesis 1:27 is a general statement about man’s creation with Genesis 2:7 providing more detail about how He created man. In Matthew 19:4 we have Christ affirming the truth of the Genesis accounts.
(2) God created Adam a male and Eve a female (Gen. 1:27; 2:7; Matt. 19:4).
(3) Eve was created directly by God (Gen 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 11:8). No other interpretation is allowed because of the language used in Genesis 2.
(4) God created in six twenty-four days. Paul Enns states, “(a) The Hebrew word day (yom) with a numeral always designates a twenty-four hour day. (b) The phrase ‘evening and morning’ (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) emphasizes a twenty-four hour day. To suggest any form of a day-age concept involves denying the normal meaning of these words. (c) Exodus 20:9-11 emphasizes a twenty-four hour creation by analogy to the command for man to labor in six days and rest on the seventh day even as God did.”[1]
(5) Man is a unique creation of God. Genesis 2:7 tells us that man became a living being as a result of God breathing in him the breath of life. Why is man unique? Because no other creature received this special direct implanting of life from God. Man has intrinsic value and is distinct from every other living creature because of this nature that was given to him directly from the Creator. Evolution on its best day cannot in its wildest speculation produce a living creature that has in him the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen. 1:26).

[1] Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody, 1989), pp. 303, 304.

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