Origin of Man in Relation to the Theory of Evolution — John Murray

God, glory, honor, praise belongs, belong to thy great name, for the privilege that belongs to us, and that we are permitted to go here to thy glory, honor, praise belongs, belong to thy great name, for the privilege that belongs to us, and that we are permitted to go here to thy throne of grace, that we are permitted to have those directions by which we may come to the throne of grace with confidence, and that we also have the provision of access by that new and living way which has been consecrated through the blood of Christ, and that we also have the great high priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the son of God, as the mediator and intercessor of thy right hand, glory be to thy name, we have the increasing understanding of the marvel of thy provision today in Christ Jesus, and may we appropriate more and more the riches of thy grace and the promises that are all gained of them in Christ, for his sake, amen.

Defining Creation and Evolution

Biblically, let's have some hands on it in the theory of evolution, and I need to give you a bibliography, there's some extensive bibliography on the scientific evolution, but I don't think I'll wait to give you that this year.

If you want one, I'll give it to you privately. Well, this first of all, we have to define the concepts with which we are mainly concerned, namely creation and evolution, the concept. And first of all, creation, and in theological usage, creation means the absolutely originative activity of God, the absolutely originative activity of God, by which he produces something which has no antecedent cause other than his will and triumph.

Now this, of course, this concept of creation is the correlate of the sole eternity of God. Without a truly creative act answering to the foregoing definition, we have to posit the eternity of something other than God.

Genesis 1 .1, 1 .90, 1 through 3, 1 .33, 6, 1 .1, 1 through 3, Colossians 1 .15 through 17, Hebrews 11 .3. If I may pause for a minute to remind you how good it is to memorize certain references when you are dealing with basic doctrine.

These are pivotal passages covering the wide range of different spheres of knowledge. Let me remind you, for example, of Psalm 90, before the mountains were brought forth. For ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Take Hebrews 11 .3. By faith we understand that the worlds were created by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made to appear. And importantly, I say that phenomena do not hold their qualities to phenomena.

The things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. There is something that is not a phenomena. It is the origin of phenomena. Now, there is a more modified concept of creation, a more modified concept of creation, which may sometimes appear even in the teaching of scripture.

And in the history of theology has been called mediate creation. Lutheran and Reformed theology, you find that concept of mediate creation. And this concept of mediate creation means that creation, creation denotes not only creatio ex nihilo, the activity of God by which He produces something, formed matter.

That is, of course, something we have to take into account. But I'm not going to develop that concept of mediate creation. If you are interested in discovering what it really is in the teaching of Protestant theology, you can find an article in the Westminster Theological Journal, WPJ, Westminster Theological Journal, volume 17, number one, called Calvin's Doctrine of Creation.

And the whole concept is set forth there and also evaluated. In Paul's Reformed theology, primary creation has distinguished from secondary creation, or immediate creation has distinguished from immediate.

I'm not at all calling in question the propriety of the concept of mediate. I am limiting my definition for the time being to that which has been called immediate, or primary creation. Namely, the absolutely original, the absolutely thought, the absolutely new, is produced that has no antecedent called other than the will and sight of God.

And every biblical exegesis has to take account of that concept. Now evolution, what is meant by evolution? Minimal, the minimal definition of evolution is the unfolding or development of something that already exists.

Unfolding or development of something that already exists. That is to say the development of something that is resident in an existing entity or complex when provided with the favorable conditions for their development.

The development of something that is inherent in or resident in an existing entity or complex when provided with the favorable conditions. It is not necessary that this progressive change, this progressive development, may unify evolutionists, or not all early evolutionists, but earlier evolutionists, often conceived of this development as taking place by minute infinitesimal changes over long periods of time.

Minute infinitesimal changes over long periods of time is not necessary to the evolutionary concept as such, because many evolutionists take account of discontinuity, discontinuity of abrupt variation, sudden mutation, so that such mutation is regarded as the very material of evolutionary process.

Evolution and the Exclusion of Supernatural Intrusion

First to take a very broad and inclusive view of the sum total of factors and conditions which are posited. I say we have to take a very broad view of the sum total of factors and conditions which are posited as the explanation of evolutionary process, the evolutionary concept very often makes large demands of time, will make very large demands on space.

The main point borne in mind is that evolution, evolution itself, cannot allow for any extra intrusion, that is intrusion from without, ab extra, any ab extra intrusion, intrusion which does not belong, an intrusion which does not belong to the sum total of factors, potentialities and conditions, the cosmos of evolutionary process.

Do you want me to repeat it? Evolution as such does not allow for an ab extra intrusion, which does not belong to the sum total of factors, potentialities and conditions posited as the cosmos of evolutionary process.

And so evolution as such allow for the inter intervention of God's supernatural or super cosmic power, could not allow for the intrusion of God's supernatural or super cosmic power, which are evolutionary, which are evolutionary, need not, the evolutionary concept as I defined it, it need not deny the intrusion of new forces in order that these may coalesce, the resident exclude, the intrusion of new forces which may coalesce and cooperate with resident forces and therefore with the evolutionary process on the basis of these forces.

And so an evolutionary concept as such need not exclude supernatural intervention of God, even a truly creative intervention of God, even a truly creative act of God, which the evolutionary process itself to effect, you may, that is conceptually at least, conceptually, a coalescent evolutionary process created through the creative intervention.

And that is just saying, creative act may supervene upon an existing evolutionary process. However, to definition, this is what I'm doing now, in reference to definition, it is necessary, however, that line of distinction which there is between creative acts and evolutionary development.

Creation Is Not Evolution

Creation is not evolution. What is evolution is not creation. To speak of creation by evolution, creation by evolution, theological and scientific confusion, by evolution, theologian, the confusion which that formula.

Now, that in production is concerned with evolution in order that we may have our concepts clearly defined. Now I come to deal with evolution as such, and I'm going to deal with it first of all as it is concerned with cosmology as a whole.

The evolutionary concept in relation to cosmogony and cosmology, as we know, cosmogony has to do with the origin of things, cosmology has to do with the nature of character. And I want to state a few propositions that are indispensable in the history of cosmogony and cosmology, absolutely indispensable to a Christian cosmogony and cosmology.

Creation, Providence, and the Continuance of Reality

First, we must maintain creation in the strictest at the very beginning, the beginning, namely the absolute origination of dependent reality by the fiat of God. By the fiat of God. Surely that's apparent.

Then second, activity of God in the whole of dependent reality. This is simply saying that in God, or in Calvin's words, in this connection, quotation, a constant power is exerted on every distinct and particular movement of God.

He said in him we live and move and have our being. Scripture and reality has its being, I mean continues to have its being because of the constant pervasive presence and activity of God. But it owes its origin to the will and fiat of God, so it owes its continued existence, not at all of his organization, control and direction, but that likewise of vision and miraculous intervention of God in the course of history.

Now I'm not saying that this kind of intervention is continuous, but we have to prove it's continuous, uninterrupted. You have a continuous uninterrupted exercise of God's will and power in the maintenance of fear.

I'm talking about the fiat of money, occasional intervention. Now the supernatural means the potentiality of which does not reside in any powerful forces inherent in dependent reality. Potentiality of which does not reside in any powerful forces inherent in dependent reality.

We presuppose the operation of the forces of law but have already established a new reality. Creatures which God has made are endowed with power which are exercised within the providential control and agency of God.

The agency of these created entities by reason of the God has imparted to them. A Christian cannot allow the system, plane of creation and development, all forces, all agents to created reality. The whole of history is the incarnation of the son of God.

Supernatural Intervention and the Christian Worldview

It is surely apparent that evolution, modern era, good morning, an evolutionary process, thereby excluded from God's order of providence. There is what evolutionary development determined on the basis of the pertinent evidence.

That is the concept that is compatible with the Christian faith. Now we come to this subject, namely the origin of man, the evolutionary concept in relation to the origin of man. Now just by way of introduction before I proceed, you don't need to take notes on this, that's just by way of introduction in order to eliminate possible misunderstandings.

This is simply, you have these reverts to be mammals and in order to be carnivorous, cat-like animals, to be cats and a species to be domestic. So that's the classification, which is pretty normal in our discussion today.

The question is, yes or no, yes, positively, to a certain extent, in some tradition, which is useful. So when we are speaking, that's to be mean, but that's the image of God. You know, you have that word in Genesis, five times, you remember, in Genesis 1, 24 and 25, the mean of, the mean separation, to identify that with what we call a species.

In present day science, it may not be proper to identify it even with genus. We don't know what the term is meant to be. That is, we don't know how restrictive or how inclusive that term is. In terms of present day classification, in any case, it must refer to a well-defined classification, refer to some well-defined classification.

Not necessarily the classification which science today makes in terms of the species or genus. So that's just by way of introduction. Now I come more specifically to the question with which we are concerned, and I want to make several points.

Natural Processes and the Origin of Man

First, there is no reason why we should exclude natural process as a factor in the formation of man. There may have been a development under God's providential control and agency, potentiality, preceding what is called death from the ground.

I must stop this very moment.