“In the beginning, God created everything out of nothing, including people (who are unique among creation) and he declared that it was good and exists for his glory.”
Wayne Grudem’s 8 “closed-handed” issues in creation:
1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all at work together in Creation.
2. God created the universe out of nothing.
3. God created a spiritual universe.
4. God created time.
5. Creation is distinct from God but dependent upon God.
6. God created to show his glory.
7. God’s creation was very good.
8. God directly created Adam and Eve.
One man’s sin led to death (Adam) and another man’s death led to life (Jesus).
Verses that presume a literal Adam:
1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 22, 45
Acts 17:26
Romans 5:12-13, 5:18-19
Adam and Eve had a special relationship with God that was unique among creation. Created in the image of God, they were spiritual beings, with duties and authority, and diversity in their roles and relationships. Adam was to lead his home (like God) and Eve was created to help him (like God).
Genesis 2:4-25
Verses that describe God as a “helper”
Psalm 121:1-2
Psalm 46:1
John 14:16
“Incompatibility is one of the purposes of marriage! God has appointed conflict and burdens for lessons in spiritual growth…A successful marriage is not one in which two people, beautifully matched, find each other and get along happily ever after because of this initial matching. It is, instead, a system by means of which persons who are sinful and contentious are so caught up by a dream and a purpose bigger than themselves that they work through the years, in spite of repeated disappointment, to make the dream come true.”
-Dwight Harvey Small, Design for Christian Marriage
That dream and purpose that is so much bigger than our marriages was proclaimed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5:31-32
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were for the first time declaring to all creation the love that Jesus has for his church, a love that would ultimately lead to him laying his life down for her on the cross.
Additional Resources
Solitary Confinement Research
Sola13 Conference in Lansing December 6-7, 2013
