Credo
17 June 2024
Many people think that evolution and Biblical creationism are incompatible. Others do not think so. Old Testament scholar John Collins explains that Genesis 1:1 can be understood as describing the initial bringing into existence of the cosmos, verse 2 gives the condition under which the first day (v.3) began and allows for a gap between verses 1 and 2, and the six days are analogical for six durations of time, during which God shaped physical reality to provide a suitable habitat for humankind.[1] This implies that the Genesis account does not say when the universe began, and therefore does not exclude a beginning at the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
As for the phrase ‘according to their kinds’ (Genesis 1:11, 21), this means that God created various kinds of creatures, without implying that each plant and animal reproduced exactly as what preceded it.[2] Therefore, it does not exclude the view that God allowed certain kinds of creatures to evolve into other kinds so as to bring about various kinds of creatures.
Concerning the creation of humans in the image of God, this refers to God’s election of humankind to function as God’s representatives: humans were given the power to share in God’s rule over the earth’s resources and creatures. It does not mean a bodily resemblance between God and humanity, which is false given that God is a spirit (John 4:24). Concerning Genesis 2:7 ‘the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground,’ this indicates that the body was made of the material to which it shall return after it dies (Genesis 3:19). Concerning the Hebrew word yatsar which is translated as ‘formed’, this word and the Hebrew word asah are also used to ‘describe God’s forming of embryos in the womb, and God’s forming of plant and animal life…The use of these words implies (or at the very least, does not rule out) that God’s forming of humankind was a process and not an instantaneous event.’[3] Thus, it does not rule out the view that God used the process of evolution to form the human body, and specially created the human soul in his image (this is one way to understand the phrase ‘breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life’). This is the view held by the Catholic church. As Pope Pius XII states,
The teaching authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions . . . take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—[but] the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God. (Humani Generis 36)
Concerning Genesis 1:30, ‘the reference to vegetarian animals is placed after the focus on the creation of humans (Gen. 1:26-30), rather than after the focus on the animals (Gen. 1:20-25)…this lends itself to the interpretation that these vegetarian animals are those of the humans’ world, i.e., Eden and its environs, rather than the larger planetary world.’[4] God can miraculously cause the lions in Eden to be vegetarian, just like the lions in the new heaven and new earth (Isaiah 11:7). But the environment outside Eden and before its establishment was a different situation, that is, lions were originally created as meat eaters as implied by Psalm 104:21-24. This was also the view of Augustine (Commentary on the Letters of Genesis I:3:16) and Aquinas (Summa Theologiae 1.96.1).
Romans 8:22 mentions the groaning of creation, but does not say that it began after humankind sinned. On the contrary, Genesis 1:2 refers to the earth being ‘without form and void,’ which implies that a state of imperfection was already present before humankind sinned (this imperfection might be related to angelic sin, which may also account for the presence of ‘evolutionary evils’[5]). After Adam was created he was placed in a divinely protected environment (Eden) which occupied a limited geographical area on earth, and after he sinned the ground on which he lived was cursed in the sense that it no longer had that divine protection and humans have to labour hard in order to survive (Genesis 3:17). Romans 5:12 refers to human death which began as a result of human sin, it does not mean that there was no death of living things before humans sinned. On the contrary, the eating of plants in the Garden of Eden implies that death of plants existed before humans sinned. The Hebrew words for “very good” (ṭôb mĕʾōd) in Genesis 1:31 does not mean perfect; the same words are used of the land in Palestine in Numbers 14:7, though the land is filled with enemies and wicked inhabitants,[6] and death of animals, plants, etc. was present too.
While many have thought that the theory of evolution has removed the need for a Creator, others have argued the opposite. As Charles Kingsley explains, ‘our understanding of divine activity had been enhanced by Darwin’s theory; it indicates a God so wise that He could make all things make themselves.’[7]
To illustrate: if I can make a thumb drive and a computerized robot, you would think that I’m pretty intelligent. But if I can make a thumb drive that can evolve into various kinds of computerized robots, that would provide even more evidence of my intelligence.
Therefore, it is a logical fallacy to think that the discovery of evidence for evolution disproves design, or vice versa. This is a false dilemma which underlies much of the so-called creation versus evolution debates, which fail to consider the possibility that it could be both: evolution by design.[8]
Now the theory of evolution does not explain how the first life came into being or where the laws of nature come from. The Cosmological and Teleological Arguments show that they ultimately came from a First Cause which is uncaused, beginningless, has freedom, intelligence, and power, i.e., a Creator God.[9] The theory of evolution has provided additional evidence for the existence of this Creator, by showing that the First Cause is so wise that He could bring about a series of events that resulted in the formation of the first life that evolved into various kinds of creatures that are more amazing than robots (butterflies, dogs, dolphins, eagles, etc.), including human beings whose brains are more sophisticated than computers.
Therefore, the more we study evolutionary biology, the more we should worship God.
[1] John Collins, Reading Genesis Well (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018).
[2]http://biologos.org/blog/the-meaning-of-min-part-1; http://biologos.org/blog/the-meaning-of-min-part-2
[3] Joshua Moritz, ‘God’s Creation through Evolution and the Language of Scripture,’ Theology and Science 11 (2013): 1–7.
[4] Gavin McGrath. ‘Soteriology: Adam and the Fall’. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 49 (1997): 252–63. Available at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1997/ PSCF12-97McGrath.html .
[5] Andrew Loke, Evil, Sin, and Christian Theism (London: Routledge, 2022), chapter 4.
[6] John Walton, The Lost World of Adam and Eve (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academy, 2015), p. 57.
[7] Charles Kingsley, The Natural Theology of the Future (London: Macmillan, 1874), xxvii.
[8] Rope Kojonen, The Compatibility of Evolution and Design (Cham: Springer Nature, 2021).
[9] Andrew Loke, The Teleological and Kalam Cosmological Arguments Revisited (Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2022).
Dr Andrew Loke is a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion and Associate Professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University. He did his PhD at King’s College London which covered the disciplines of systematic theology, analytic philosophy of religion, and historical-critical studies. He is the author of The Origins of Divine Christology (Cambridge University Press), God and Ultimate Origins (Springer Nature), A Kryptic Model of the Incarnation (Routledge), and Investigating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Routledge, forthcoming).