Creation

--> In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world and all things in it both visible and invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.

--> After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasoning and immortal souls, rendering them fit to live that life for Him for which they were created;

• being made in the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and having the power to fulfill it;
• and yet living under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will which was subject to change.

--> Besides the law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. While they kept this command they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over all other creatures.

Today’s morsel is brief, and on the surface would seem to be a simple summary of the creation account in Genesis, but when read carefully, you see some deep theology boiled down very well. Note first, that we see the Trinity involved in creation. Also note that creation is six literal days, not six “time periods” as some would say.

Adam and Eve were created so that they could honor and glorify God. The next two bullet points pretty much stand on their own. Studying the idea of “free will” (not a good term to use, as it can mean different things to different people) or better yet “man’s responsibility,” is something that can take a lot of time and thought. The Confession here, boils it down as well as I’ve seen.

We don’t know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden before the fall, but it is important to see the state they existed in before the fall. Seeing this helps us to begin to understand the problems we face in our world today. The problems of society, and indeed in our personal lives, can all be traced back to this.

Seeing the original plan (“While they kept this command...”) helps us to begin understanding the problem of our depravity. What a great summary the Confession gives us of the creation account. Carefully boiled down theology of creation. For those who have been at SIX33 on Wednesday nights, the idea of “compressed theology” that James has introduced to us is done very well in this section of the Confession. It’s always good to take a look back at the beginning. (The next two sections will develop this further as we look at Divine Providence and The Fall of Man, Sin, and Punishment)

Rob

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