2 Corinthians 4.1-2
“Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”
As we saw last week, there are two competing views of life that oppose the biblical view. One is rational materialism, the other is subjective mysticism. Both views are prominent in our time, and each distorts the true design of life in a different way.
Rationalism appeals to the logical mind, but is disconnected from meaning and purpose. It diminishes the spiritual nature of man. Subjectivism, on the other hand, appeals to the spirit, but is disconnected from facts and reason. It diminishes the rational nature of man.
Historic Christianity embraces the whole—rational and spiritual—as elements of God’s design. As such, Christianity begins not with the universe or life or mankind, but with God. The opening words of the Bible say, “In the beginning God created …”. Everything follows from the fundamental reality that the infinite-personal God exists and is the Creator of all things.
God is the author of the physical realm and the laws that govern it, and God is also the author of the spiritual realm and the laws that govern it. The universe operates according to the laws of physics because that is the way God designed it to operate.
Genesis tells us that God created biological life on planet earth. This makes perfect sense. It would be irrational (and quite unscientific) to suggest that the nonliving, inorganic matter of the physical universe somehow produced living, organic matter. Nowhere in nature do we see non-life producing life. Science (and common sense) tell us that only life produces life. God is “the life” that produced biological life on planet earth.
But it goes beyond biology. The Lord created a special kind of life on earth: mankind. Genesis tells us that the distinguishing characteristic of human life is that mankind is endowed with unique characteristics found in the nature of God himself, and that the life that God has given us is intentionally designed for the Lord to fulfill his purpose in and through mankind.
Life begins with God. Any other starting point leads to a dead-end.
More tomorrow …
