Simply stated, creation refers to everything that exists that has not always existed. It refers to all that God has brought into existence, which is everything apart from God himself—including angels and, eventually, Satan and his demons—since God is the one and only thing that has never been created.
There are a variety of ways to understand how creation happened—or at least how it has come to look like it does now. While these views can differ slightly or substantially, all Bible-believing Christians will agree on the following points:
1) God created it by, through, and for Christ.
- For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)
2) God created it by his word and out of nothing.
- By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)
- And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
3) It was corrupted through man’s sin.
- For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)
- And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life … ” (Genesis 3:17)
4) It will be replaced with a glorious, new creation when Christ returns.
- For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1)
My understanding of Scripture leads me to believe that the world was created in a literal six days, putting me squarely in the traditional 24-hour calendar day view.
This is the third installment in a series on theological terms. See previous posts on the terms theology and Trinity.
