Creation: Animals and Man

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AStudying God’s Word

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Studying God’s Word

Introduction

In last week’s lesson we looked at the first four days of God’s creative work. If you filled out your Days of Creation activity in your Student Guide from last week, turn there and let’s quickly review what we learned.

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  What did God make on day one? Earth, light, day, and night.
• What did God make on day two? The atmosphere (firmament or expanse), which separated the earth from the heavens.
• What did God make on day three? The dry land appeared from under the waters to form land and the seas surrounding it, and then the plants were created with seeds to produce more of the same kind.
• What did God make on day four? The stars, planets, sun, and moon were created to mark signs and seasons and to give light to the earth.
  • Don’t forget! Review the Optional Supplements and determine where you can use them.
  As God created, his commands were immediately followed by the formation of what he had spoken. His omnipotence was put on display as he spoke the entire universe into existence and now continues to sustain it—holding every atom together by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:1–3; Colossians 1:15–17).

  Today, we are going to continue to look at God’s creative works through the rest of the creation week. We will look at the creation of all the animals and then at what distinguishes man from the animals.

Days 5-6 of Creation

Last week we went through the first four days, and today we will do the last two days. Like last week, I will read the verse that describes each day and then pause for you to fill in on the chart the things created on each day.

Read Genesis 1:20–23 and then pause for the students to fill in the following for day 5: sea creatures and winged creatures.

Read Genesis 1:24–31 and then pause for the students to fill in the following for day 6: livestock, creeping things, beasts of the earth, male and female humans.

As we think through this passage, we are going to try to understand the answer to two basic questions: is the idea of the evolution of the animals consistent with Scripture, and is man just an animal?

• What two groups of creatures appeared on day five? Flying and sea creatures.
• What specific kinds of creatures would be included in the winged birds? All different types of birds: parrots, doves, herons, sparrows, flamingos, etc.
• What other types of flying creatures can you think of? Bats and extinct pterosaurs like pterodactyls and pteranodons.
• What phrase is repeated in this passage? “ According to its kind” is repeated.

Let’s look at a cross-reference to help us understand this a little better. The Hebrew word used in verses 20–22 is owph. It is most often translated as “bird,” but let’s look at Leviticus 11:13–19 to help us understand what is included in that category. This passage is describing the unclean birds for the Israelites at the time of Moses.

• Scan through the list. What appears out of place? The bat is listed at the end, but it is not a bird in the modern sense.
• What other phrase is repeated several times in the Leviticus passage? “Of any kind” is similar to “after its kind.”
• What conclusion about what is included in the “winged birds” category can we draw from this cross-reference? All flying creatures are included in this list including birds, bats, and extinct flying creatures like pterodactyls and pteranodons.

  A better translation of this Hebrew word would probably be “winged creature” or “flying creature” as many translations have it.

• Continuing with day five, what other category of creatures did God make? The sea creatures.
• What types of animals would be included in this category? Whales, dolphins, all types of fish, crabs, shrimp, jellyfish, etc. All of this is summarized in the phrases “great sea creatures” and “every living thing” that moves in the water.
• On day six, the land animals were created. What are the three basic categories listed? Livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth.
• What kinds might we find in these categories? Deer, antelope, cows, lizards, alligators, elephants, cats, dogs, insects, dinosaurs, etc. These three categories encompass all of the land-dwelling animals from creeping insects and crawling snakes to large mammals and the wide variety of extinct dinosaurs which ranged from very small to truly gigantic.
• What was the last thing created on day six? Man’s creation is described in 1:26–28.
• What distinguishes the creation of man from the creation of the animals? Man was created in the image of God, they were defined as male and female, God blessed them, and he gave them commands. We are going to discuss this in more detail next week.
• What commands did God give to the man and woman? They were commanded to multiply to fill the earth, subdue the earth, and have dominion over all of the animals.
• What do verses 29–30 tell us about the diet of the original creatures? All animals and man were vegetarian.
• How did God describe the creation at the end of days five and six? On day five he called it “good,” and on day six he called it “very good” after surveying all he had created.

Discover the Truth

As God created, he spoke the parts of his creation into existence. This is a reminder of the power that God possesses over all creation. All of this creative work was accomplished by the members of the Trinity working in concert—an idea confirmed by the rest of Scripture as we have talked about previously.

In the first lesson on the creation account, we mentioned that all three members of the Trinity were involved in the process. Verse 1:26 gives another indication of the Trinity working in the creation of man where God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Now, we shouldn’t use this verse as proof-positive that God revealed himself clearly in a Trinitarian form in the Old Testament, but it is confirmation of what is revealed over the span of biblical revelation.

• This may be something that you have never considered, but did God have to make man any different from the animals? Did God have to create mankind at all? This question is part of the doctrine of God’s independence. God is complete within the Godhead and does not need anything outside of the Trinity. The decision to create was not in order to make God more complete or to add anything to his character. Man was made to bring glory to God through a free choice of God. Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 43:7, and Acts 17:24–25 can be used to support this idea if time allows.

  God made man in his image. You may have heard this in its Latin form: Imago Dei. But we need to understand what this phrase means.

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  We can learn what this term does not mean by looking at John 4:24. Turn there and tell me what we learn about God. God is a spirit. Also see Colossians 1:15.
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  So that means that we are not made in the physical image of God since God does not have a physical body. (Some religions, like Mormonism, deny this teaching and insist God the Father has a physical “body of flesh and bone.”) Jesus came to earth and took on a physical body, and we will see manifestations of Jesus in human form as we study the Old Testament. But being made in the image of God has nothing to do with our physical bodies.

  We have been made to reflect portions of God’s attributes like creativity, emotions, love, thinking, mercy, wisdom, morality, and faithfulness. All of these are parts of God’s character that we see reflected in mankind.

  Communicable attributes: God’s character reflected in humanity
  These are often referred to as the communicable attributes of God—God has shared (communicated) these attributes to us.

  However, the image of God in mankind today has been marred by sin. We will talk more about that when we describe the entrance of sin into the world—Corruption.

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  Look back at Genesis 1:26–28. What allows us to say that mankind is absolutely distinct from the animals that God created? Man alone was created in the image of God and has dominion over all of the created order. Nothing else is described as being created in God’s image—man is unique.

  This is one more strike against the idea of evolution. Mankind is not just a highly evolved animal, but a unique creation of God—the crowning act of his creative work. This gives all humans value since they are created in the image of God and are not merely highly evolved animals.

• What moral problem is often the result of telling people that they are nothing more than highly evolved animals? There is no more value in a human life than there is in a monkey’s or a rabbit’s value. Often, evolutionists look to the natural world to justify immoral acts, especially of a sexual nature.

  Sadly, much of the Western world has adopted this evolutionary view, and human life is not valued above other animals. Actions like abortion, slavery, genocide, and segregation are manifestations of man’s sinfulness, based on evolutionary ideas about humanity.

  Don’t get me wrong. Evolutionary thinking is not the source of these social problems—sin is!

  However, these actions have been justified for the last 150 years and supported by the writings of men like Charles Darwin. If people are just highly evolved apes, then why should we think that there is any specific moral code that we should follow? A rejection of the Creator has led to such moral corruption, just as we see in Romans 1 where the creatures are exalted and worshiped instead of the Creator.

  Understanding the value of each person who is made in God’s image must be an important point of discussion as we engage other people over issues like abortion, euthanasia, immigration, and other areas. Pointing to Christ the Creator and Savior as the hope to remove people from this sinful condition should be at the front of our minds as we share the hope that Christ offers.

Kinds of Critters Activity

This video clip will introduce our activity for today. Listen for the ideas of God’s creativity displayed in the different kinds of living things he has made. Show the Kinds video.

Most of you have probably not taken the time to sit down and make an inventory of the different creatures God has made and on which days they were made. Take a few minutes to work through the worksheet questions with a partner, and then we will discuss the answers in a few minutes. Have the students work in pairs to complete the Kinds of Critters worksheet.

Once the students have finished filling out the worksheet, go over the answers and discussion questions on the Kinds of Critters answer key with the class. If you are unfamiliar with any of the animals on the worksheet, take time to look them up and be prepared to explain what they are.

Connect to the Truth

From a biblical perspective, a cat can never change into a dog, and a reptile can never change into a bird. There are clear biological limits to the amount of change and variation that can exist within a created kind, and those limits were established by God. This makes biological evolution, what Charles Darwin suggested, an impossibility. As we look at these ideas through biblical glasses, the diversity within the created kinds and between the created kinds becomes clear.

If someone rejects the Bible, it is easy to see how the idea of biological evolution would be an appealing explanation for how the organisms we see around us originated. While there are many gaps and holes in the overall idea, it is really the only thing that makes sense if you don’t have a biblical worldview. The various genetic mechanisms and the process of natural selection cannot account for the information needed to change a fish into a salamander into a lizard, let alone the origin of that information.

Natural selection and observed genetic mechanisms can explain how populations can adapt to their environment—snowshoe hares in the north and jackrabbits in the deserts, for example. But that change happens within the rabbit kind, not changing one kind into another.

Application

Now that we have talked about what God created on days five and six of creation week, I hope that you can see two things clearly. First, God created the different living things by simply speaking them into existence. They were created in specific groups that reproduce only within that group and can be called a created kind. One kind can’t change into another, nor can two different kinds interbreed. These animals did not evolve from an ancient common ancestor.

Second, man was a special creation of God, created distinctly from the animals. Man was made in God’s image and given dominion over the animals. Because of this, God has a unique relationship with mankind that he does not have with the rest of the earthly creation. All of the creation brings God glory, but God has chosen mankind to have a special relationship with him and share some of his attributes.

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  Many evolutionists would suggest that humans are simply apes who have evolved the ability to reason and to communicate with speech. How would you explain to someone that this idea is absolutely incompatible with the Bible? Bible?Man is described as a special creation of God and made in his image, unlike the animals.
• What social implications does an evolutionary view of mankind have? Guide the discussion around topics like slavery, abortion, eugenics, euthanasia, and racism. The value of human life is based on the fact that people are created in the image of God. As people reject this truth, sin comes out in various forms of discrimination and often leads to the death or oppression of people made in God’s image.
• How could you use Scripture to sit down with someone who does not believe there is a conflict in the biblical and evolutionary accounts of the origin of life and show them the conflicts? Sit down and draw out a chart that shows the points of contradiction. Lead the person to realize that the two views cannot be reconciled without doing much harm to one or the other. Since the Bible is the Word of God, we should put our trust in it. If we allow “scientific” conclusions (many of which are based on unbiblical assumptions) to sit as an authority over the Bible, we are putting our faith in man’s ideas about the world rather than what God has revealed to us.
• How could this discussion, the biblical explanation of the creation, lead to presenting the gospel to this person? If we leave the discussion at evolution vs. creation, we have neglected to share the hope that Christ brings (2 Peter 3:14–17). God created this world and has the authority to establish the rules that mankind should follow. Using the Seven C’s of History, you can walk through the creation of man in a perfect world, the entrance of sin, and on to the hope of the Creator who stepped into his creation to take the penalty for sin upon himself.
• How does knowing that Jesus is both the Creator and the Savior of the world help you to love him more? Discuss various answers, helping people understand the absolute care he exercises over his creation—including his willingness to die for our sin.

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class and take requests if time allows.

• Praise God for his kindness in choosing to make man in his image.
• Ask God to clear any confusion over these issues in the minds of the students and give them boldness to proclaim the gospel.
• Thank God for the clarity and sufficiency of what he has revealed in the Bible.