The Southern Presbyterian Journal/Volume 13/Number 28/Creation
Articles on the Westminster Confession
by Gordon H. Clark
The Word of God (WCF 1)
Creeds
Knowledge and Ignorance
The Trinity (WCF 2)
A Hard Saying (WCF 3)
Providence (WCF 5)
Creation (WCF 4)
Healthy, Sick, or Dead? (WCF 6)
The Covenant (WCF 7)
Christ the Mediator (WCF 8)
Justification (WCF 11)
Sanctification (WCF 13)
Free Will (WCF 9)
Effectual Calling (WCF 10)
Adoption (WCF 12)
The Law of God (WCF 19)
Assurance (WCF 18)
Saving Faith (WCF 14)
Repentance (WCF 15)
Good Works (WCF 16)
Christian Liberty (WCF 20)
Perseverance (WCF 17)
Worship and Vows (WCF 21, 22)
The Sacraments (WCF 27)
Baptism (WCF 28)
The Church (WCF 25)
The Civil Magistrate (WCF 23)
The Lord's Supper (WCF 29)
Censures and Councils (WCF 30, 31)
Resurrection and Judgment (WCF 32, 33)
In opposition to pantheism and naturalism, Chapter IV of the Westminster Confession gives the Biblical teaching on creation. "It pleased God . . . for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning to create, or make of nothing, the world and all things therein . . ."
Secular or pagan thought has regularly denied that the world had a first moment and that it began suddenly. Recently, the eminent physicist, Professor George Gamow, in his book The Birth and Death of the Sun, said that "the elements were formed in not more than half an hour." This is interesting in that its admission of a sudden unique event contrasts with previous views of a slow, gradual, evolutionary uniformity; but it can hardly be said that Dr. Gamow has proved the truth of the Biblical account.
That the Bible is not a book on science is often given as an excuse for its many alleged mistakes. The assumption seems to be that science books do not make mistakes. But over the centuries scientific theories have come and gone. Even in the last half century physics has been almost completely altered. Professor Gamow has a new theory and his successor will have another. Of course, the Bible is not a science textbook, but when it mentions natural phenomena, it speaks the truth.
Destructive Biblical critics have proposed to translate Gen. 1:1, "When God began to make the heavens and the earth." This wording obscures the idea of a sudden act and a creation out of nothing. It should be noted, however, that the Hebrew verb, Bara, in the form or "voice" used in Gen. 1:1, never refers to human productions. Even the other "voices" in which a human subject cuts down a tree or kills an enemy are extremely rare. Verbs of doing and making occur hundreds of times in the Old Testament, but this verb with a human subject occurs less than five times. Its characteristic use is to express divine production.
That God created out of nothing is seen negatively by the absence of any mention of a preexisting matter, and positively by the all embracing extent of the sphere of creation. God is said to have created all things: Neh. 9:6; Col. 1:16; Rev. 4:11. The expressions are so universal that no possibility remains for anything uncreated.
The most important part of creation was the creation of man. The heavens and the earth, grand as they are, are, as it were, nothing but the stage setting for the actors in the Divine Comedy. Therefore God created man alone in his own image; that is, he made man a rational and moral creature. By his sovereign power God wrote the moral law on man's heart and added a special revelation, permitting man to eat of other trees, but forbidding him to eat of one.
Such was the skill of the Westminster divines that they were able to outline these marvelous themes in less than 150 words. In two short paragraphs they summarized the main burden of the Bible on this point. A Presbyterian ministry that fails to preach these Westminster doctrines would be unfaithful to its ordination vows; and any other ministry or any communicant member who neglects the Confession is thereby deprived of the best brief guidebook to an understanding of the Bible.