Sabbath School for Adults: How To Interpret Scripture: Lesson 9: Creation: Genesis as Foundation—Part 2

Thursday May 28

Creation In Scripture

Read the following texts and write down how each writer referenced Genesis 1-11:

Matt. 19:4, 5

Mark 10:6-9

Luke 11:50, 51

John 1:1-3

Acts 14:15

Rom. 1:20

2 Cor. 4:6

Eph. 3:9

1 Tim. 2:12-15

James 3:9

1 Pet. 3:20

Jude 11, 14

Rev. 2:7; Rev. 3:14; Rev. 22:2, 3

Jesus and all of the New Testament writers refer to Genesis 1-11 as reliable history. Jesus refers to Moses’ writings and the creation of male and female (Matt. 19:4). Paul often uses the Creation account to substantiate the theological points he makes in his epistles. He declared to the learned men of Athens, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24, NASB). 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 Romans 5. More than half a dozen times, Paul makes a link from Adam to Jesus (see Rom. 5:12, 14-19). That is, he assumes the literal existence of a 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?