This Is Appendix 5 From The Companion Bible. The Introduction to Genesis (and to the whole
Bible) Genesis 1:1-2:3, ascribes
everything to the living God, creating, making, acting, moving, and
speaking. There is no room for evolution without a flat denial of Divine
revelation. One must be true, the other false. All God's works were
pronounced "good" seven times (see Appendix 10),
videlicet: Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31. They are
"great," Psalm 111:2. Revelation
15:3. They are
"wondrous," Job 37:14. They are
"perfect," Deuteronomy 32:4.
Man starts from nothing. He begins in helplessness,
ignorance, and inexperience. All his works, therefore, proceed on the
principle of evolution. This principle is seen only in
human affairs : from the hut to the palace ; from the canoe to the
ocean liner ; from the spade and ploughshare to machines for drilling,
reaping, and binding, etc. But the birds build their nests to-day as at
the beginning. The moment we pass the boundary line, and enter the Divine
sphere, no trace or vestige of evolution is seen. There is growth and
development within, but no passing, change, or evolution out
from one into another. On the other hand, all God's works
are perfect.
In the Introduction to Genesis (chapter
1:
It will be noted that the word "God" (Elohim, see Appendix 4. I.) occurs in this Introduction thirty-five times (7 x 5), the product of 7 and 5, the numbers of spiritual perfection, and grace. (See Apppendix 10.) There are also ten words connected with the word "God" ; this is the number of ordinal perfection (Appendix 10). There is only one verb used alone with the pronoun "He", instead of "God", and that is the verb "rested". This makes eleven in all ; for the significance of which see Appendix 10. The word "and" is repeated 102 times : thus, by the figure Polysyndeton (Appendix 6), marking and emphasising each separate act as being equally independent and important. Evolution is only one of several theories invented to explain the phenomena of created things. It is admitted by all scientists that no one of these theories covers all the ground ; and the greatest claim made for Evolution, or Darwinism, is that "it covers more ground than any of the others." The Word of God claims to cover all the ground : and the only way in which this claim is met, is by a denial of the inspiration of the Scriptures, in order to weaken it. This is the special work undertaken by so-called "Higher Criticism", which bases its conclusions on human assumptions and reasoning, instead of on the documentary evidence of manuscripts, as Textual Criticism does. |