Science and faith have been at odds with each other in the United States since before the Scopes Trial. Rather, should I say that people of science and people of faith have been at odds. I don’t believe there should be (or is) any real tension between science and faith.

Issues arise in the way people integrate or separate the two areas of discipline. Issues arise in the assumptions and presumptions people make about science and faith and how people interact (or don’t interact) with them.

The subject of creation among people of faith has also been fraught with much tension in the last 10-20 years (at least). People separate broadly into young earth and old earth camps. People in the old earth camp separate into groups informed by creationism, theistic evolution or a third way defined as “intelligent design”. The “gap theory” is another way to approach these issues – combining old universe and young earth principles.

Many people just don’t know where to fall on the spectrum of possibilities. Not many of us are so well-informed on the science and expert in our biblical exegesis that we can sort it out confidently for ourselves. We might wonder to God, “Is this going to be on the test?”

Of course, there is no test to get into heaven. Jesus took the test and passed it for all of us! The only test to get into heaven is what we do with Jesus. Do we embrace the gift of salvation that God offered us in Christ? Or do we reject it?

Still, the tension over how we should view creation, evolution, science and faith is real. It can cause quite a bit of consternation and doubt. Some people even wonder if people in different creation can fellowship with each other.

In a recent presentation that Krista Bontrager gave to the Chicago Chapter of Reasons to Believe with which I am affiliated, she reminded us of the call to unity in faith: “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” I think she is right that we should be mindful of these things, not just i n this area.

More practical and helpful than that, though, she introduced to us ten (10) foundational points on the subject of creation on which all Christians should be able to agree. By focusing on the points of agreement, we can put our differences into better (more manageable) perspective.

Following are the ten (10) fundamental beliefs that unite Christians on the subject of creation:

1. God is the source of all things.

God is the source of all things, both physical things and nonphysical things. Nothing exists separate and apart from God, and God is separate and distinct from His creation.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.

Psalm 33:6

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 

John 1:1-4

For by [in] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible….

Colossians 1:16

[God] created all things, and by [God’s] will they existed and were created.

Revelations 4:11

2. God created ex-nihilo

God created the universe out of nothing. Nothing means, literally, no thing. There was no preexisting matter before God created. All space/time and matter was caused to exist by God.

[T]the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:3

For He spoke, and it came to be…. 

Psalm 33:9

3. God is distinct from His creation

God caused all that is other than Himself to be. Thus, God transcends creation. God is eminent. God “stands above”, “stands apart”, and “stands outside” His creation. We don’t have good words for this. The creation is not God, and God is not defined by His creation, though His creation was made by, through and in Him.

But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You…. 

1 Kings 8:27

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man….

Acts 17:24 

4. God is involved in His creation

God is imminent. The word, imminent, is from the Latin word meaning to overhang. He is present everywhere, and He is intimate with His creation. He interacts with creation, and He even entered into His creation as a man (the incarnation).

5. God is eternal

God is timeless. He is, and was and always will be. He is the great I AM. He “stands outside” of time.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:2

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come….”

Revelations 1:8

6. Time and matter have a beginning

“In the beginning, God created….” (Gen. 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1-2) God existed, and always existed, but space/time, and matter were created and had a beginning.

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 17:5

7. God created the universe as a theater for His glory

God created space/time and matter for His own purposes, and God has been maintaining, overseeing, and working out His initial designs since He created the universe.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psalm 8:1

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

[B]ring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.

Psalm 43:6-7

[A]ll things were created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:17 

8. Humans should worship the creator, not the creation

People have a tendency to want to worship. Calvin said we are worshiping machines. If we don’t worship God, we will worship other things, including God’s creation. We should not confuse God with His creation, nor should we worship the creation instead of God.

[Humans] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator….

Romans 1:23, 25

9. Adam & Eve were created in the image of God

Human beings, of all the creatures God made, were created in God’s image (male and female). People have intrinsic dignity and value because we bear the stamp of God’s image. It matters not who we are, what we do, or what talents we have (or do not have). We all have eternal value as God’s image-bearers. Humans, alone, are created in God’s image, and we have a key role to play in God’s creation.

10. Theories that deny God as creator are incompatible with Scripture

We can all agree that any theory, religion, philosophy, or worldview that denies God is the creator of the universe is incompatible with Scripture. Thus, atheism is incompatible with Scripture.

Science is actually neutral on the proposition of God. Science and scientism are two different things. Scientism is a worldview that presumes that matter is all there is, and science is the only avenue to knowledge and understanding of reality. Science is simply the study of the natural world (God’s creation).

Science can tell us about God in the same way that studying a painting can tell us about the painter. Science doesn’t tell us about God, other than what we can see in His creation, because science (by modern definition) is limited to the study of the natural world.

We should not conflate science that reveals the truth of God’s created world and scientism, which is a worldview that some scientists have about reality. Not all scientists have such a limited worldview. Many scientists are believers in God and subscribe to the fundamental truths of Scripture.

We may differ on exactly how to read Genesis in relation to modern science, but we can agree (I think) on the fundamental truths about creation that Krista Bontrager laid out for us, and probably other truths about creation as well. We also have agreement on the centrality of Christ in the Scriptures and the importance of his death and resurrection. Nothing is more fundamental than that.

We can be unified in many things about the creation though we may differ on the age of the earth or the particular camp we find ourselves gravitating toward in the way we reconcile science and faith. Early church fathers differed on these things as well, but they didn’t find that differences in their interpretations of Genesis was central to the Gospel or a litmus test for being a true follower of Christ. We shouldn’t either.