For centuries Christians believed the universe was created “in the space of six days, and all very good” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 4:1) as did our Reformation Fathers. But we no longer believe this, unitedly, as they did.
God said, to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (or more literally: dying you will die) [Gen. 2:17]. Did God express himself clearly? Was this a statement that Adam could understand without help from anyone outside himself?
I believe the correct answer to be ʻYes,ʼ with no ʻifs, ands or buts.ʼ But right away, as we all know, Satan claimed that this statement was not clear. He said it was not necessarily the case that eating from that tree would result in death, and that it was more likely to result in God-like knowledge. Eve was attracted to this idea of different possible interpretations of the original statement that God made. She immediately thought of several different possibilities. Perhaps it would be good for food, a delight to the eyes, something that really would make her wise. And we all know the result!
But is this not still the primary problem today? I heard the other day about a pastor who had an excellent Reformed Seminary education who has decided to chuck it all in and return to the Roman Catholic Church. Why? Because the Roman Catholic Church says that it alone has been given, by God, the power and the authority to give the right interpretation to what God has said in his word.
It is my conviction that in saying that, the Roman Catholic Church has made an enormous concession to Satan. It has said, in effect, ʻYes, Satan is right about one thing. God is not able to speak the truth in such a way that ordinary people can understand him. No, there has to be an interpreter who can do what God himself can’t do; namely, speak in a completely intelligible manner.
Well I, for one, remain more convinced than ever that when any institution speaks like that it really speaks for the Devil. Why? Because it is not true that God can’t speak the truth plainly, so that you and I can understand the meaning without the need of a third party. And the fact is that the Bible is full of such statements. Let me give you a few.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life; and no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). Now what is there in that statement that needs qualification or explanation? He also said “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Do I need the Roman Catholic Church to tell me what that really means?
Or how about this: “…in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11). Again, we ask, what is there in that statement that is not clear? Do I need some present-day Reformed theologian to tell me it does not mean that God created the universe in six days? Yet that is what we are up against today. Even in churches that claim to hold to the historic Christian – and historic Reformation faith – we permit a variety of interpretations that were never heard of before the rise of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
It has been my privilege for the past few years to regularly visit widows and widowers of the Sanborn, Iowa, United Reformed Church. Several of them have now gone on to be with the Lord. And one of the things that has impressed me very much is the fact that these old saints of God still believed in six-day creation (and by the word “day” I mean the same thing that you would think of if I told you what happened to me “yesterday.”
I’ve taken the time to talk with these ʻold timersʼ about this very subject of creation. And what has impressed me greatly is not only the fact that all of these people still believe in six-day creation, but also the fact that they can’t understand why any other view is even considered to be possible. “If I can see clearly that this is what the Bible plainly says,” they will say to me, “then why can’t the theologians see it too?” Haven’t we always been taught that humble believers can read the Bible for themselves and understand it? Is it not true that God hides his truth from the wise and prudent while revealing the truth to simple, ordinary, people?
All of this has driven me, reluctantly, to conclude that we who claim to be conservative Reformed Churches are no longer upholding the precious teaching of Chapter 1, section 7, of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which says that “not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of” the word of God.
For centuries Christians believed the universe was created “in the space of six days, and all very good” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 4:1) as did our Reformation Fathers. But we no longer believe this, unitedly, as they did. So I have at least a little sympathy for the Reformed pastor who has decided to go back to the unreformed church. After all, if all these various theories are given equal standing — the day-age theory, the framework hypothesis, the analogical view, and so on — then it is easy to see how the Roman Catholic claim can sound appealing.
But the right answer is really quite simple — simple enough that the aging saints of the Cornerstone United Reformed church have immunity to such a feeling. They are immune because they read the Genesis creation account for themselves, and they understand it. They believe as I do, that God not only can speak clearly, but has actually done so. He gave a straight-forward account of creation so that even his ʻlittleʼ people can understand it. Therefore, even the obscuration provided by present-day Reformed theological speculation (and toleration) does not prevent them from understanding Gods simple, accurate, and straight-forward account of his work of six-day creation.
G. I. Williamson, 86, is a retired minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, living in the Orange City, Iowa area. He is the author of study guides on the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the Heidelberg Catechism.
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