The Natural Revelation of God! Evolutionary Creationism:

Introduction:

There are many ways to understand the relationship between science and Christianity. One of them is to understand material existence as revelatory of God. In this article, I will articulate the doctrine of general revelation and how it relates to the creation debate. First, we need a good definition of our terms.

The doctrine of general revelation refers to “what is known about God through the natural world” (Schreiner, 2008, P. 2158). This view has sometimes been called the 67th book of scripture. A good analogy might be the artist and the art. I had a friend who could look at my drawings and make accurate judgments about me. It was not magic but the ability to read people. This doctrine argues a similar thing. Science can be a difficult thing to define in a way that covers everything that is called science. It is likely that science, as a whole, cannot be precisely defined (UC Museum, 2024). That said, there are a couple of working definitions I will draw from. Carrol et al, (2023) states,

"Science derives from the Latin word scire, which means to know. Therefore, we can expect that science will delve into knowing all about the natural world, which indicates two major branches of scientific knowledge: making models of the natural world and evaluating those models. In other words, cognition and metacognition," (Para. 1)

The Science Council defines the term as: “the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence” (2024). These definitions are slightly different but work for this analysis. I define science as “a systematic and methodological study of the material and social world”. This definition incorporates elements of both prior definitions.

Biblical Data

One of the preeminent Old Testament verses for this is Psalm 19. The psalmist tells us: "The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. (19:1-4, NRSVUE).

The translation I cited uses the term firmament or dome based on the possibility that ancient Israelites believed there was a giant dome over a flat earth. The NET has a footnote stating that verse 2 “refers to the splendor and movements of the stars… the ongoing testimony of the sky”. In this passage, glory means “power, wisdom, and worthiness of honor and worship” (Collins, 2008, P. 961). So this Psalmist is stating that the movement and ways of the stars bear witness to the fact God is at work and he is wise, powerful, and so on. The “voice” of creation that proclaims knowledge of God is available to all people. It is like the artist and the art. The crown jewel for this doctrine in the New Testament comes from Romans. Paul tells us, "Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse," (Rom 1:20, NRSVUE).

I will focus on a few things here. Firstly, “eternal power” is about God's attributes of omnipotence and immortality (1 Tim 6:16, Gen 18:14). According to Kruse (2012), the term “divine nature” refers to “...the quality or characteristic(s) pertaining to deity, divinity, divine nature, divineness” (P. 92). The expanded Bible (EXB) puts it simply by stating, “all the things that make him God”. The characteristics of God are invisible, yet we “see” and “understand” them through what he made. Notice the oxymoron here. What is not seen (invisible) is not only “seen”, but “understood”. Kruse concludes,

"Paul intended his audience to conclude that God’s invisible qualities are to be understood, in the first instance, by seeing with their eyes what he has created, and then by considering its significance," (2012, P. 92)

Kruse includes a fascinating footnote which states, “Paul clearly affirmed the epistemological truism that knowledge (even of God) occurs through the conjunction of reflection and sensation” (P. 93). In essence, Paul, agreeing with the OT background, says that material existence reveals the attributes of God once one sees material existence and reflects on it. Material existence is revelatory of the creator.

Implications

The implications of this understanding are massive. If we see science and general revelation as I have articulated it, then Science is the study of God's revelation! Science is a theology! God's revelations cannot logically disagree because if they did, God's revelations would be a contradictory mess. That does not cohere with the kind of God and understanding of the Bible Christians have.

Therefore, appreciate just how problematic science denial is. Allow me to give a practical example. Say that the world is round, not flat. This statement, understood scientifically and theologically, means that God made the planet round. We know the Christian God created the earth through special revelation (Bible), and God made it round through general revelation (nature, science). Same puzzle, two pieces.

But there are still flat-earthers proponents out there. Some are even Christians. While they affirm special revelation (God made the earth, bible) they deny God's general revelation (Earth is round, science). That is not to say they reject the doctrine, I am saying they deny the revelation through nature regarding what shape God made the earth. Flat-earthers, in some sense, are revelation deniers as much as they reject science.

The analogy relates to the creation debate among Christians because it is the Young Earth and Old Earth crowd who, to varying degrees, deny science. They cannot trust general revelation because if they did, they would have to affirm evolution and the old Earth. They will claim otherwise (some YECs have PhDs from a science field and posit YEC as an accurate scientific view. The Same goes for OECs.), but ultimately fall short of affirming what the scientific literature says.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Christians should trust Science as a valid way of studying the Holy One's general revelation to the world. You should not affirm 66 books of scripture but reject the 67th. Science denying and Christianity should be antithetical. Unfortunately, it is far too customary to put those words together. This entire article begs one essential question. What does God's general and specific revelation say about what and how he created? In my sequel essay, I will argue that evolution is part of the general revelation of God.

References:

Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 19 - new English translation. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2019&version=NET

Carrol et al. (2023). Philosophy of science | overview, examples & proponents—Lesson. Study.Com. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-philosophy-of-science.html

Collins, J. C. (2008). Notes on Psalm 19. In ESV study Bible. Crossway.

Image by NASA on Unsplash

Kruse, G. C. (2012). Pillar New Testament Commentary: Romans. Eerdmans

Schreiner, R. T. (2008). Notes on Romans. In ESV study bible. Crossway.

The Science Council. (2024). Our definition of science. Retrieved from https://sciencecouncil.org/about-science/our-definition-of-science/

UC Museum of Paleontology Understanding Science. (2024). Science—Understanding science. Retrieved from https://undsci.berkeley.edu/glossary/science/

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