In 1967, my dear father Dr. O. Talmadge Spence wrote The Lexicord of the New Testament. His introduction gives a brief presentation on the Greek parts of speech in the light of the Scriptures. He notes that the oldest part of speech in the Greek language is the noun. He speaks of the noun, either the subject or object of a sentence, as “king of speech”: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”(emphasis added). That which follows the noun is the verb, describing the noun’s action. Before God can act, God must exist.
The Noun God and the Verb Created
In the prologue of John 1, we find another noun: Word. The prologue also declares the action of this noun: made or created. The revelation of Jesus Christ became God’s noun to bring to all men the knowledge of God’s existence. The noun proceeds to proclaim the other various parts of speech, grammatically, which are needed for a right understanding of His full salvation. Coming out of this Word are all the thoughts necessary for man to know the full revelation of God. We have these collected thoughts as the revealed Scriptures.
Creation is presented at the beginning of the Bible setting forth the King of the nouns (God) and declaring His action (created). John’s prologue declares that the Word was with God “in the beginning” and that all things created were “with” and “by” that Word. God created the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo); God used no pre-existing material to create the universe. The false theory of evolution demands that everything evolved from something previously in existence.
However, there are some things in creation that God used to make other things: e.g., dirt to make the body of man and water to bring about fish and fowl. Yes, in some initial things the word created (Heb., bara) declares there was nothing and God brought something. But in saying this (to protect from any implication of evolution), we must also acknowledge that God created all things not so much “out of nothing” but “out of His Word.” His words from His Word became solidified, and the vast creation is the Word of God made solid, firm, and substantial.
All Creation Came From God’s Word
Five times in Genesis 1 we read, “And God said . . . and it was so” (1:6,7; 1:9; 1:11; 1:14,15; 1:24). All of creation came from the logos (the essence and fullness of thoughts) and the rhema (the spoken word) of God according to John 1:3 and Hebrews 11:3, respectively. The psalmist said, “For He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). And all things are upheld by the word of His power. From an apologetic perspective it must be made clear that God brought the universe into existence out of no pre-existing materials or of things which appear. But, the eternal Son of God is the outspoken Word of the Father, so the creation of the universe is the active expression of the Son of God by the word of His power.
We are told the Father made nothing alone; He made all things by His Son, so that the Son of God stands in between the created universe and the person of the eternal Father. The Son of God is the connecting link between the Father and the universe.
Nevertheless, we must make it clear that His creation is not God Himself; creation exists separately and apart from the person of God, because it is a product of His work and not an essential part of His being. There are those thinkers today (and have been for centuries) who do not distinguish between the eternal existence of God and the created universe. They are called pantheists. A pantheist believes everything is a part of God. The Bible, however, is very clear that creation and God are not one and the same, nor are they an integral part of each other. We also must remember that though God and His creation are separate entities, God pervades all things and upholds all things by His presence, Word, and power.
God never created sin. He created an archangel named Lucifer; that archangel made himself the Devil and became the father of lies and the first sinner in the universe. God formed the constitution and faculties of Lucifer, but God did not form sin. Therefore, we must distinguish between God creating the universe and His creatures forming a sinful character contrary to God and against His will and pleasure.
God created the universe with His Word, and He chose to create and make this world (the earth) in six days according to the concept of time. This creation was completed at the end of the sixth day. We read that God rested from His work of creation on the seventh day. He will not add another creation to this creation. Everything that is on the planet today came from this initial creation. It is estimated that not one drop of water has been added to the planet since creation. Everything has come from what God created. He created and He alone continues to sustain.
The Physical Body of Jesus
In saying that nothing new has come since the days of creation, we must also declare there was another creation that God wrought apart from that of Genesis chapter one. He created a body for His Son. There is a great mystery that surrounds the incarnation of the Son, the second person of the Trinity. An incarnation means something that pre-exists and at a point in time comes into flesh. This word incarnation can only be used of Christ Jesus. He pre-existed eternally as God and came into flesh in time. The avenue God used was the Virgin Mary. The mystery lies in the fact that Jesus will be of the seed of Abraham, from the loins of David and of humanity, yet He will possess no principle of sin from humanity. This will be part of the great mystery, that He will be of the nature of man but not of the pollution of man.
The seed (theologically) carries both the nature and sin principle of man. However, God bypassed the seed of man. Matthew 1 and Luke 1 clearly express that that which was conceived in the womb of Mary was of the Holy Ghost or out of the Holy Ghost. Hebrews 10 reveals that the body of the Lord was formed and fashioned by God the Father; this was a creation. Jeremiah 31:22b states, “For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.” Philippians 2:7 shows that the Son entered or took on this new creation that became a part of Himself. This creation stands apart from all other creations of God.
The New Creation
Although implied in certain passages in the Old Testament, there is a third creation revealed in the New Testament. The New Testament reveals both the principle and nature of this new creation. Note 2 Corinthians 5:17,18:
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Galatians 6:15 declares, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature [or creation].”
What is this new creation? When Adam disobeyed God and became the first human sinner, it then required a plan of redemption to recreate in man a good, holy, spiritual life. It is as impossible for a sinful soul to evolve a holy nature and life out of itself as it is for the dust to evolve out of itself a living man. No one can have a life of Christ in him except by a new creation. This new creation demands a new heart, a new fountain from which life flows; the fountain polluted in Adam is entirely impotent. The new birth and a clean heart must be by divine creation and not by evolution from the fallen Adam. We read of David in Psalm 51:10 crying out to God: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” This hope cannot come, apart from God Himself.
First Peter 1:16 states, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” No man can make himself holy, and God does not require it. Yet God can bring holiness into our lives. We are to be recreated in righteousness and true holiness.
Dear reader, we want to come to know this new creation that is found in God through Christ, through the Word and Spirit of God. Are we willing for Him to make us what we ought to be? We were products of the old creation and Adam’s fall. God is wanting to bring us into a new creation, with a new man and the death of the old man. We are not seeking a “new lease on life” where the old life is merely passed away; we are seeking a new and transformed life that is ever anticipating the coming of the Lord.
The Power and Mystery of the Gospel
Oh, the revelation of the mystery of the Gospel! Note the great declaration of the apostle Paul in Romans 16:25, 26:
Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
And in 1 Corinthians 4:1 the Apostle declares, “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” In Acts 26:18 Paul gives his testimony of why Christ sent him to the Gentiles:
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan, unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
One of eleven mysteries found in the unfolding of the Gospel is the “Mystery of the Divine Indwelling of Christ.” This is Christ in you, the mystery of the new birth and the divine presence of Christ within the life. But how does this mystery come about in the human life?
What is this new creation and to what extent in life is it to be my life? We have seen in detail two creations and have mentioned a third one. We have noted the creation of the universe and this world; we have seen the creation of the body of Jesus Christ in the incarnation; and now we see a new creation that commences in the new birth. We must observe in Scripture that this new creation was imperatively needed because of severe damage, a fall, a death of the image of God in man that came in the first creation of man. When man fell into sin, the image of God was marred and blighted; the creation of the natural man and His relationship with God brought about a separation of man from God.
To what extent did Adam see God, hear Him, fellowship with Him before the fall? We are not told many details, but there was an intimacy between God and man before that fall. That image was pure, holy, clear, and full. However, when man fell, that image of God was damaged. As a result, an infinite distance came between man and God; man was now in his own image rather than in the image of God (Gen. 5:3). His world now was to be made by himself, without its God and love for its Creator. Man’s fall into sin required a plan of redemption to recreate in man the holy, spiritual life that God intended in His creation. In the natural, this could never happen; so what is the hope for man?
The new birth and a clean heart must be by divine creation through the Son of God and not by evolution from the fallen Adam. The demand of Scripture is “Be ye holy”! How is this possible for fallen man? No man can make himself holy, but God requires that we must be willing for Him to recreate us in holiness and righteousness.
In revisiting 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15, the Bible speaks of this new creation with a hope that somehow there can be a restoration of the reality, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” We find words such as Colossians 3:10: “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” We read in Ephesians 4:23, 24, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We must ask, “What is this new creation? To what extent is it to be known?”
Conclusion
Five precious words that marked the burden of the beginning of the Foundations Ministries were law, order, design, purpose, and beauty. We have pressed these words in our ministry in Ghana, Africa, among the pastors and teachers. If these principles could ever lay hold of a person, of a school, and of a ministry, they would bring a great product of life. They are wonderful words, expressing wonderful principles and idealism even for human existence. But how does one come to this in life?
Our founder also brought three other words to us: Christ, character, and culture. These three words must ever come to the life in this order. When Christ controls the life, character will control the living, and the outworking of that character will be an evident culture. More specifically, Christ must Himself bring biblical character and biblical culture.
One of the great problems in our time is this matter of the Christian life. The church is so far away from Christ that it no longer sees that the power is within God; the church believes the power is within man. Neo-Christianity has basically become a “self-help” religion leaning heavily upon contemporary psychology and self-improvements of the End Time. The outward image has become more important—how we are before others and what is the image of success. Huge investment is placed upon the outward man: his manner, his appearance, his clothes, his presentation, and his portrayal of self. Sadly, this outward image can easily be far from the true inner life of that man.
In the Revivalist period of the Philadelphia Church Age, the burden was upon the life within, the heart, the conscience, the thought life and meditation, the motives of the inner man. But this present Laodicean Church Age has had no spiritual remedy for the life of sin. It has left the Lord and designed an alternative of the flesh in the place of the Spirit. It is consumed with fixing up the old man rather than the breaking of his power and influence; or it tries to create a victorious life when there is no life present to bring to a victorious existence. One of the great problems today is that people identify with the church and with Christ but do not have a life for Him. They have an occupational life; they have a family life; they have a vacation or pleasure life; some may even have a church life, but there is no Christ life that pervades every aspect of their living.
Our burden in this Straightway issue is to deal with this new creation that is found only in Christ, Who is to take the place of even myself.