Sean C. Capparuccia

14 June 2026

Part 1 in a 12-part “Foundations of Our Faith” series

Colossians 1:15-20; Psalm 33; John 1:1-3; Genesis 1:1-5;

Methodist bishop Costen Harrell, in his 1961 book Christian Affirmations wrote, “Among the affirmations of the Christian faith, none is so bold and decisive as this: God is in control of His world… A Hand is at the helm.”[1] All that we believe in regard to “God the Father Almighty” are “all the fruit of the Christian affirmation that there is one God, [who is] sovereign over all.”[2] I hasten to add that Rev. Harrell was a bishop of the Methodist Church in the early1960’s, before there was a United Methodist Church [which was formed in 1968]. He was part of the “old school” Methodists who still held to the sovereignty of God and the inerrancy of His Word.

“In the beginning…. God.”  Most all the creeds in Christendom begin with the words, or some form of the words, “I believe in God, the Creator of heaven and earth.” And most systematic theologies begin with either God as Creator, or with the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Everything, except God, has a beginning. Everything started somewhere. And I am excited to embark on a 12-week study of the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. This will be our summer project.

I think, unfortunately, that many people don’t like to study either Genesis or the book of Revelation because both involve what may be a lot of conjecture. No one knows for sure how the world began, and no one seems to know for sure how it will end. So, in a way, the distant past is just as murky as the distant future. Well, I don’t think that has to be true – we have right here God’s Word that tells us exactly how the world began. The problem is not with the facts, the problem is whether we believe them, isn’t it? And that’s really what this study in Genesis is about: whether or not we believe it. Because you see, if you can’t believe the first 12 chapters of Genesis, you cannot, in truth, believe the rest of the Bible. I mean, how can we believe in a Lord and Savior who quoted multiple times, as the truth, from these opening chapters of Genesis? We could say, “Well, He was just going along with what people at the time believed.” Or worse, “Maybe Jesus actually believed all that because science hadn’t discovered evolution yet.”  Wait, what? The Son of God was ignorant about the world’s beginnings because Darwin hadn’t been born yet?  I tell you, that would only confirm that Jesus was a Jewish lunatic. The fact is, every New Testament writer quoted from Genesis and directly quoted from the first 11 chapters. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus Himself referred to something in each of the first seven chapters of Genesis. In all, there are 68 references to the first 11 chapters of Genesis in the New Testament.[3]

John 1:1 tells us that Jesus not only knew how the world began, He was there in the beginning as the Word of God that spoke all things into existence. And Colossians 1:16 says, by Christ “all things were created, both in heaven and on earth.” Look, either that’s true or it’s a lie.  I’d love someday to get a Bible that I could cut out all the things that would not be true if Genesis chapter one was not true. You know what you’d be left with? Not much.  And so, over the next 12 weeks or so we will talk about creation and how, even though it is a crucial element of our faith, it is also the story of reality. We are going to be discussing the supposed conflict between faith and science, and, coming from an apologetics frame of reference, defending the Scriptures as truth. 

That being said, let us begin with the obvious: you and I weren’t there when God created the heavens. In fact, no one was there. So, what we have is the Bible with its account of what went on; we have many myths and legends from other cultures and religions with their account of what went on; and we have lots of theories and conjectures from scientists and philosophers with their accounts of what went on.  From the outset I will say, that since no one knows and not even “science” can verify what happened, it can only speculate, that no matter what conclusion we reach about how the world began, it is a matter of faith. Let me say that again with some more emphasis: no matter what conclusion we reach about how the world began, it is a matter of faith.

Now, God gave to humanity His image and a wonderfully creative, intuitive, and reasoning mind. In a few weeks we will talk about Adam and his job as first human – to name the animals. God created us to observe, and that is where science happens: observing, calculating, hypothesizing, experimenting, and crucial to all that, replicating. This is why the theory of evolution cannot be taught as truth – it can’t be replicated, therefore it is only a guess, a conjecture, a matter of faith, or religion.

The What

Yet we have here in front of us what the Bible says. Gen 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  And when it says “heaven and earth,’ it means the entire universe. Kind of like if I lost my wallet I would search “near and far” for it; not that I would just search some near places and then some far places. It means ‘everywhere.’ “In the beginning God created everything.” But how do we know if that should be taken literally? Look, here’s something to go by when interpreting Scripture, or anything else for that matter: If the plain sense makes good sense, then seek no other sense.”  We should always assume that the author meant what the author said. (Husbands, wives, this should also go for interpersonal communication, too, but somehow when it’s a married couple all the rules go out the window.)  If the plain sense doesn’t necessarily make sense, look at the context.  But we should avoid the mystical, spiritual, or allegorical mystery interpretation.[4]

Who

The plain sense of this verse is that in the beginning…. God created the heavens and the earth.  Easy enough.  Here’s what else it says, the heavens and the earth had a beginning. They did not always exist. At the same time, there’s no mention of God having a beginning, and if He is truly God then He could not have had a beginning because then something or someone would have had to create God, thus making that thing God.

Jewish commentator, Dennis Prager, writes, “Unlike other creation stories [that we find from several ancient civilizations], there is complete silence regarding the birth of the deity… [and] for the first time in history we are presented with a god who is completely separate from nature.”[5] Every other story involves gods who were born and each god was intimately tied to some aspect of nature, i.e., sun god, wind god, goddess of fertility. Yahweh was not born and He had no beginning.

Because He is outside of nature and not under any of nature’s laws, he is not under the law of “infinite regression of causes of existence.”[6] In other words, you know you exist, and you exist why? Because your parents existed…. and on and on all the way back to Adam and Eve; and who created them? So, everything must begin with God, or, as Aristotle said, the “Unmoved Mover.” Even time began at some point, or there’d be no beginning.

Let us allow, for a moment, the theory of evolution. According to this theory, everything evolved from something less complicated. Humans evolved from monkeys, which evolved from earlier primates, which evolved from placental mammals, which evolved from reptiles, which came from fish, which came from boneless fish, which came from worms, which came from multi-celled, then single-celled microbes. Like Loretta Lynn sang, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” The point is, you’ve got to start somewhere. And the biggest hurdle that evolutionary theory has is the insurmountable jump from non-life to life. The fact is it can’t be done. It is an impossibility. There had to be a Something or Someone that created and put things in motion.

The Methodist Article of Faith [Aerticle 1] we affirmed earlier states this. In other traditions the same sentiment is confessed. The Westminster Confession of Faith says, “It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost… in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, all things therein.”[7] And the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “What do you believe when you say, ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth’?” These are not just empty words that we say, Beloved. These are the truths we confess. The answer to that question, in part, is, “That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and all that is in them, and who still upholds and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence, is, for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father.”[8]

This addresses the Who and the What. Remember from a couple weeks ago, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai echad, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” The same author here, Moses, wrote Deuteronomy and Genesis. So, at first glance, we see that he is establishing the fact that it is the one God, Yahweh, who created all that is.

“In the beginning God created…” The Hebrew word for “create” is bara. In the Pentateuch – the first five books – or Torah, the word bara is reserved for God. It implies creating something from nothing. He didn’t make the universe out of things lying around in space. There was no space; even empty space is “something.” Imagine that for a moment…. From nothing, ex nihilo, God created all that is. Humans make things and fashion things; we can’t actually create.

So far, we have established the Who – God; and the What – the heavens and the earth, everything that exists. The text plainly answers the When question, doesn’t it? In the beginning.  Well, what does that mean?   

When

The When question is one of the most hotly debated questions in both science and theology.  During this whole Genesis series, I will be using and quoting a lot from “science”, so we need to establish something from the get-go: here is Google’s definition of science, and this is important because Google is certainly no friend of creation by any means. Google says, “Science is the systematic pursuit of knowledge about the physical and natural world. It relies on objective observation, experimentation, and testing to formulate evidence-based explanations, theories, and laws.”[9]  We should pay particular attention to the phrase “evidence-based explanations, theories, and laws.”  Where science gives us evidence-based facts we are ecstatic. And due to the efforts of science, we have many wonderful things and are extremely advanced in medicine and technology and really there’s no part of society that science doesn’t touch. Piano tuning is scientific; music is nothing but the auditory element of mathematics. Truly, mathematics and physics are the language which God used to create the universe which is why we can use science and math and physics to unravel many of its mysteries. But, as one author writes, “Speculations about events that supposedly happened once in the distant past are, by definition, not subject to experiment or falsification and are not in that sense truly scientific.”[10]  Science can only prove its hypotheses by empirical data, by observing and experimenting and replicating those experiments. Otherwise, it is not science, but speculation.

That being the case, the question as to when the heavens and the earth were made is still wide open, scientifically. Biblically speaking, it happened 6,035 years ago. We get this figure by looking at the genealogies recorded in Scripture from Adam to Abraham which come to 2,009 years; We know that Abraham lived approximately 2000 B.C.; and we are now 2,026 years past the birth of Christ.[11] So, depending on exactly when Abraham was born, God formed the heavens and the earth about 4,000 B.C.[12]    

About the time of the Reformation, in the 1500’s, some of the Catholic theologians were arguing that God created everything in one day.  I mean, if He could create it all in six days, He could very well create it in one, right? Who can limit God? And they were absolutely correct in conjecturing that God could have done it in one day, but they were absolutely wrong in arguing that He did. Martin Luther argued that God’s word says six days, and “…since God is speaking, it is not fitting for you to wantonly turn His Word in the direction you wish it to go.”[13]  In other words, why argue about something that is plainly written in God’s word?

Now when I said the earth could have been created just 6,000 years ago, some of you may have cringed. I get it. That kind of figure goes against every single thing we’ve been taught for the last several generations – in schools, on television, by leading “scientists,” even museums claim “millions of years for dinosaurs” and “billions of years” for the universe.  And, interestingly, the more that true science actually discovers, the more they have to keep changing these numbers. That’s the great thing about “millions and billions” of years. It is so absurd that it makes no difference to add a few more billion or a few less.  While God’s word stays pretty constant…. Six days…. 6000 thousand years ago. 

I ask you, could the Bible be correct? As we continue through this study, we will see more evidences for this, but just hold on.  Stay with me. 

People always throw in this objection: the Bible isn’t a science book. No, it’s not a science book, but neither is a driver’s manual. A driver’s manual tells you to put the car in drive and press the gas pedal; press the brake pedal when you want to stop. It doesn’t talk about gear ratios or discuss the calculus involved in acceleration rates; it doesn’t tell you what speed must be obtained in order to pass a car going 45 mph on a two-lane road with an oncoming car approximately quarter of a mile away. You just do it. Genesis simply said God did it, this is what He did on each day. It doesn’t need to be a science manual. And I would venture to guess that, knowing God the little that I do, He did not explain it because He wanted to give us something to do until He came back. The problem then is that much of mankind’s otherwise intelligent minds, are wasting their time barking up the wrong tree. Imagine if all scientists came at the problem starting with what God has already said. The question would be, Ok, guys, what was the purpose of creating light on day one, and then separating the waters on the second day? 

You see, if we started with what God has said, we’d probably get much further along. And this is because, in truth, all true science supports the Bible. You know every time they discover something in an archeological dig in the Middle East they find something that supports Biblical history. Not once has any scientist disproved the Bible.

Take Darwinism for instance, or macro-evolution, and we will discuss this more in weeks to come, but Darwinism has never been proven. It is talked about like it has been but that is simply not true. Says author Jim Thompson in his book, The Physics of Genesis, “…this effort to produce everything out of nothing runs counter to the established principle of science that there is no such thing as spontaneous self-generation.”[14]  The supposed spontaneous jump from non-life to life millions of years ago never happened. Science, the kind of science that searches for truth through experimentation and observation and replication, says that it is impossible. And the more scientists discover about just how complex even a single cell is, the more they know it is impossible. But, you, see, the alternative is to admit defeat before the God of the universe. And no one can, by nature, do that.

Paul tells us in Romans 1 that “since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—His eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what He made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Though claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles” (Rom. 1:20-23).

How

When God created the heavens and the earth, it was formless and void and darkness covered the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. From nothing God created – bara – what is seen. Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. I used to imagine that His big booming voice yelled this as it resounded through the universe, “LET THERE BE LIGHT.”  But now I think He just said it in a nice calm voice. He didn’t need to convince the light to exist; He wasn’t beckoning it or forcing it to be there. He was simply speaking it into existence. “Let there be light.” And there it was. The first of ten “Let there be’s” and the beginning of God’s work of dividing, of separating.

“God saw that the light was good; and He separated the light from the darkness. The light He called ‘day’ and the darkness He called ‘night.’ And…” watch this now, a lot of people miss this, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Gen. 1:5). The literal reading here signifies that this was one day, no doubt. The Hebrew can not be read any other way. Some object and say, “but a day is like a thousand years to God.” Well, yes, Psalm 90:4 says, “One thousand years in your sight are but a single day that passes by, just like a night watch.” But the context in the Psalm is not the same context as in Genesis. But next week we’ll talk about the other six days. For now, God has created the universe, the earth, the heavens, and now creates light. Why did He create light before making the sun and stars? Possibly so that people would not worship the sun and stars.[15] The light came first and it came from God.   

What difference does it make whether the earth is millions of years old or not? Because Christ came as the answer to sin’s problem. And sin came because Adam chose to rebel against a holy God. And the result of sin is death (Gen. 2:17; 3:19; Rom. 6:23). Death could not have existed prior to Adam’s sin. If it did, then guess what? We’re all off the hook; there is no God and no salvation. We evolved by chance from space dust and proto-reptilian worms. But at the same time, life has no meaning, we all simply evolved by chance from space dust and proto-reptilian worms.  So really, if you think about it, our entire faith is at stake. And God’s word tells us that “in the beginning, God…”  There’s a lot to take in, but I think you’ll find that a thorough study in Genesis will strengthen your faith. Here we will find that God’s hand is at the helm of His creation.  ~Amen.

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[1] Costen J. Harrell, Christian Affirmations  (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1961), 12-13.

[2] Ibid., 13.

[3] Brown, In the Beginning, 9^th edition, 562.

[4] So, should John 6:54 or Luke 22:19 be taken literally?  Here, the plain sense doesn’t make sense in light of other passages and injunctions against eating raw flesh and drinking blood. Also, Jesus was standing there in front of the disciples, how could He be offering His flesh when they plainly saw that He was still in His flesh. Perhaps He meant it in a spiritual sense. Well now, that makes more sense, doesn’t it?

[5] Prager, Genesis, 2.

[6] C.f., Geisler, Christian Apologetics, 237-250.

[7] Westminster COF, 4.1.

[8] Heidelberg Catechism, question 26.

[9] Google search, “Definition of science.” This definition was obtained from https://sciencecouncil.org/what-is-science/.

[10] Thompson, Physics of Genesis , 70.

[11] Lest anyone be picky, yes, we know that Christ was born in 4 B.C., but A.D. counts from 0, not 4 B.C.

[12] Richard Fangrad,  “What the Bible & Science Say About the Age of the Earth”  Creation Ministries Int’l.

[13] Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis.

[14] Thompson, Physics of Genesis, 73.

[15] Ham, Creation to Babel, 28.