Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Friday, January 21, 2011 6:07:27 AM
'And God called the firmament Heaven' [Genesis 1:8].
Some theologians that we would identify as '
enemies of the cross' have claimed that the idea of propositional revelation is nonsense because human language is inadequate for communicating divine truth.
How shall we respond to this claim other than it is a convenient justification for unbelief. Fallen men will not submit their thinking to the word of the self revealed God; they must judge for themselves what is truth based on their limited knowledge and finite understanding. This is the fruit of depravity.
But how does the Infinite and Personal I AM communicate truth to His finite image bearers?
Concepts of which men are thoroughly ignorant can be communicated truthfully with words that can be understood. But men cannot help but bring their own biases to an understanding of the Bible. We must be on guard against reading into the text ideas derived from our own extrapolations of what we think we know.
It is unfortunate that men of ancient times and also in this present day have imposed their own concepts of what is true upon the texts of the Bible. Nowhere is this more readily seen than in Genesis 1. The ancient cosmologies are considered scientifically naive compared with what we think we know today.
Will we approach Genesis 1 as myth and a reflection of the ancient understanding of the cosmos as having a solid dome over the earth, or will we come to the text with an expectation of finding truth? How did Jesus and His Apostles come to it? But some may object that they did not have the benefit of modern cosmology. To that we reply that the modern theories may be more of a hindrance than a benefit. Let's take another look at Genesis 1 and see what the rest of the Bible has to say about it. Then let's see how the biblical framework fits into what we think we know about cosmology.
Does the Genesis 1 text reflect an ancient cosmology or are the ancient cosmologies a misrepresentation of the text? This is the question we will explore. Our presupposition is that the Creator of the cosmos cannot lie and that He revealed truth through Moses in Genesis 1; therefore, real science and biblical cosmology must be consistent. Neo-science will be exposed as an anti-biblical framework based on fallible autonomous reason.
The basis of our presupposition is that Christ prays to His Father and testifies that,
"Thy word is truth" in John 17:17. In the same prayer He acknowledges the link between saving faith and the apostolic testimony...
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word" [John 17:20].
The Apostles affirmed the Old Testament writings and brought them to full light in their New Covenant fulfillment. Jesus also affirms the Mosaic writings in His rebuke of the Pharisees...
"How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” [John 5:44-47]
Here Jesus also gives us the truth about unbelief and the propagation of false paradigms...men seek the approval of other men rather than fearing God.