The Origin of Man - Antiquity of Man Part 1 — John Murray

O Lord our God, Thou who rulest over all, Thou hast created all, Thou hast created all things for Thy own glory, and all Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and they shall sing of Thy righteousness.

The Biblical Account of Man’s Origin and Evolution

May we, O Lord, have the joy of the light of Thy countenance, the knowledge of Thy revealed will, and the joy of obedience in disposition and in action. In Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Now I have just begun to deal with this topic of the relation of the biblical account of the creation of man's origin to evolution.

Creation of man's origin to the theory of evolution, or vis-a-vis. And I made the first point that there is no reason why we should exclude natural process from the preparation of the material stuff out of which man was born.

Natural Processes and the Formation of Man

There is no reason why we should exclude natural process from the formative action, which I do in Genesis 2 .7. But second to the biblical representation, conceivable man is formed by natural process.

Creation from God, the principle of animate life, started as an importation from His environment. Any other agency created reality. Then third to this importation, pardon me, it is to this importation that man owes both his specific identity as man.

Man, animate creature, is that also which constitutes him specifically man. This implies that man did not derive identity as man, form of animate life. Created the importation whereby he was constituted man.

The Special Divine Impartation That Makes Man Human

First principle of the evolutionary hypothesis as applied to man is that he evolved from a non-human animate life. He evolved from a non-human start. The preceding, the immediately preceding start that may have been, that is the first principle of the evolutionary hypothesis as applied to man.

And I submit that Genesis 2 .7 is in conflict, in conflict with evolutionary. They take into account Genesis 2 .7, but we must not only take into account Genesis 2 .7, but the total biblical representation.

Therefore we must take into account the cumulative effect of the various data. And this effect, this effect is to show radical line of demarcation between man, even, never other forms of a little lower than the angel.

Man’s Distinctive Identity and Relation to Creation

...reality, created reality by the evolution of potency's resident independent reality, or created into nature. The scripture is to the effect that this unique identity belonging to man came to be by special impartation on God's part, of impartation, conspicuously absent of other animate beings, conspicuously absent in the case of all other animate beings, so that you have to take into account not only the positive witness, but impartation of silence with respect to that impartation in every other instance.

It is by the inspiration of the Almighty that men have understanding. Inspiration of the Almighty, He gives them understanding. Now, why? He found man has affinity with his inanimate environment, animate creation, given dominion over both of which he is given dominion.

It is a congruity, a likeness between man and his total earthly environment. Congruity, a likeness. Consequently, we can expect the resemblances between man and the lower animate beings are so closely related to him in the life of this world.

Resemblances, I say, between him and the lower animate beings. In this, we can discover goodness, institution of the consciousness which he has given man in his environment. I say the wisdom and the goodness of God meet disparity between man and his environment.

The Wisdom of Man’s Affinity With His Environment

It would be intolerable to conduct his life in this world, which man sustains to the world. Animate and inanimate. The relation which he sustains to the world around demands a certain affinity. Demands a certain affinity.

And that affinity creates many respects. There is even affinity in respect, physical structure, as well as a physical constitution. There is an expectancy for various, and we do not need any theory of organic, genetic evidence to explain these resemblances.

Needed, really required, goodness of God, of the entire man himself, any other than by vocation between man and his environment. But he offers to him who is infinitely higher. If man is to exercise dominion, as in man, of course, we are it.

Man’s Likeness to God and His Vocation

So, like God, look at the direction. The order to which man belongs is in the opposite. But here is the truth. Heaven. Heaven is the most significant institution of man. Man occupies on the constitution with which he is endowed, in order to fulfill his vocation.

Genesis 2 .7. The two factors, the two factors, carrying into the origin of man, provide for this twofold, providing for this twofold act. 2 .7 .8. The Lord God formed the man, dust upon the ground, affinity with his earthly environment, and conferring upon him a constitution which he can fulfill his vocation.

Genesis 2 .7 .8. And breathed in his nostrils breath of life, in his origin, establishing affinity with 1 .26. Likeness to God. We are able to account for the other orders of life. ...belong. In fact, there would be a Ninkan.

A Ninkan Guru. Evolution. Reality. These two are in primeval chronology, primeval chronology, in Bibliotheca Sacra, Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 47, Volume 47, page 285. A fairly long article, a very competent one, that was dated 1890.

Volume 47, page 285. And then there is an article by B .B. Warfield, Equity and Unity of the Human Race. You'll find in one of his printed volumes, Studies in Theology, Theological Studies, I don't remember what it says, but that's the Antiquity and Unity of the Human Race by B .B. Warfield.

You'll find it at least in the volume Studies in Theology. And these are very competent articles by men of undoubted orthodoxy who believe in the preliminary explanation and in all the valuable treatment by William Henry Greene.

The Purpose of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11

Now, I'm not going to go into the whole subject of the interpretation of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11, because I will then be treading on ground covered by the Old Testament Department, and I don't want to be duplicating our efforts.

That is unnecessary. No doubt I will say some things that would not be said by the Old Testament Department, and the Old Testament Department will say many things that I will not say. There wouldn't be complete duplication, there would be so much duplication that I think it is superfluous.

I proceed on the assumption that Genesis 5 and 11 were not intended to provide us with a chronology of the period from Adam to Abraham. They were not intended to provide us with a chronology. You do have in these genealogies certain chronological details.

It is as if that these chronological details were not for the purpose of giving us a chronology of that whole period. It is a common pattern of scripture to give us condensed genealogies. Specious example of a condensed genealogy you have, of course, in Genesis, in Matthew 1, 1.

The whole period from Abraham to Christ, approximately 2 ,000 years, is covered by the son of Abraham. And, of course, you have also additional evidence of condensation in the succeeding part of Matthew 1.

It can be easily demonstrated from the Old Testament that that genealogy is condensed at certain points. It exists in the Old Testament itself. It can be proven by parallel collateral evidence. It can be proven that some of these genealogies are from the collateral evidence derived from the Old Testament.

So my thesis is that these genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 are not necessarily complete and that the chronological details were not intended to provide us with a primeval chronology. A very brief treatment of this topic is what is the purpose of the chronological data?

The First Purpose of the Genealogies: Individual Longevity

What is the purpose of the chronological data in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11? I want to say four things to that question. First, these genealogies are specters of individual lives, specters of individual lives.

You notice that in both genealogies the time lived before the begetting of a son and the time lived after the begetting of that son is mentioned. In Genesis 5, for a period of each man's life, two periods.

The time lived after the begetting of the son and the time lived after could not serve any purpose. The period, periods, came to the length of the time each patriarch lived. That suggests immediately that the purpose of the chronological data leads to the longevity characterizing life in these periods.

The longevity characterizing life in these periods should be about to reach.