‘equipping the church
on origins’

Biblical creation

Along with Christians down the ages we believe that the Bible is the foundation for understanding ourselves and the world around us, including its past.

Modern science developed out of a biblical worldview and we want to continue in that tradition as we seek to understand the history of life in the created universe. In particular, our belief that the Bible provides reliable historical information, including that relevant to building scientific models of origins, is what we call ‘Biblical Creation’.

The Bible is not a modern textbook of science providing detailed technical or complete models, but its God-spoken testimony to events such as Noah’s flood means that a worldwide global flood in human history (for example) must be included in any scientific model that is true to the earth’s past. Biblical Creation is also concerned with how teaching on creation integrates with the rest of the Bible.

We believe that our understanding of origins has a direct impact on how we articulate the Bible’s story-line, the gospel. Three doctrines, central to Biblical Creation and established from numerous passages of the Bible, highlight the gospel implications of origins:

  • Adam was a historical individual from whom the whole human race is descended.
  • Physical death entered the world after Adam’s fall.
  • Noah’s flood extended over the whole globe, bringing destruction to all air-breathing land animals outside the ark.

Further explanation of these key doctrines can be found in Stephen Lloyd’s chapter in Debating Darwin (Paternoster, 2009) and will be explored further in different articles (whether in our Origins archive or other publications) appearing on this site.