17 - 24 minutes readHOW THE NEW TESTAMENT VALIDATES GENESIS

By Kennedy Tembo	Ambassador International University
Course: Creationism	Prof: Kris Bjorgen Ed.D
Date Submitted: October 20, 2021

INTRODUCTION

            Time and again, the world has strived to find its roots as to where it has come from. The origin of the world has been a battle among various philosophical ideas that have led to huge debates and unending contradictions. Up to date, two entirely contradicting major views have dominated in providing what they term as a profound truth about the origin of the world. These views are basically called Creationism Cosmology and Evolutionary Cosmology. Though they both are technically religious in that they all need faith to be upheld, the Evolutionists claim to be scientific and term the Creationists as merely religious. Therefore, many people have termed this a science-religion battle. Nevertheless, a majority of Christian Creationists have argued that natural science is not at odds with Christianity or Creationism because there is a lot of scientific evidence in support of Christian Creationism. The Christian Creationists have the Bible as their authority as they try to explain to us the origin of the world. Since the records of the beginning of the world are found in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, they try by all means to study science and history to see if they validate the Genesis account of origins.

            As already alluded to, this is not a battle between science and religion; rather, it’s certainly a battle of what is true. It is important to note that philosophical ideas always come with responsibilities and subsequently, consequences. Since the origins of the world are found in the Book of Genesis, it is critically important as a believer in Christ and a Christian Creationist to understand and acknowledge the authenticity, authority, and trustworthiness of the book of Genesis. This research has been done to unveil how the New Testament looks at and validates the Book of Genesis. Hence, we will take a meticulously thoughtful and purposeful walk through the importance of having a right view of Genesis by answering the following questions: why talk about Genesis? Why should the New Testament validate Genesis? How does it do that, and how it views Genesis? Finally, we will conclude with what is expected of us in light of what we have discovered.

Why Talk About Genesis?

            First of all, we need to acknowledge the fact that the book of Genesis is under attack in and outside the Church. Some people think that the Book of Genesis is fictional, while others think that it should be understood literally. The other party thinks that the stories of Genesis are not factual yet they are real, therefore, telling the truth. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that “The Bible accounts and stories have to be understood within the time that they were written. The authors of the biblical books had limited knowledge of science and the world, so the Genesis account was their way of trying to explain what they believed.”[1] This is what they mean, “The Church interprets the Genesis account alongside science and reason to try and understand the key message – that God is responsible for the creation of the world. Science may be able to explain how the universe was created, but Christians believe that religion explains the reason it was created.”[2] Therefore, we can reasonably argue that they say that Christianity can only explain the why of creation while science explains the how. Since science is good and beneficial to humanity in general, this view may sound plausible to many Christians, but it has serious problems because Genesis doesn’t just tell us the why but also the how. 

            Secondly, the unity and reliability of the Bible are at stake. If Second Timothy 3:16 -17 claims that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (ESV); and that God’s Word is truth according to John 17:17, then it is established that the Genesis accounts are historical. Therefore, if it is found that Genesis is not true, or not historical, then it must mean that the Bible is not consistent and truthful on the self-description. This will mean that the above two quoted passages are for self-aggrandizement; and consequently, the entire Bible is never to be trusted on any serious matters of life. We will note as we go into detail that some of the New Testament doctrines are built on the Genesis narratives. Hence, if the Bible be true, the Genesis narratives must be both historically true and accurate.   

Thirdly, because of the nature of truth and the nature of God who is believed and evidentially confirmed as the author of the Bible, Genesis cannot be fictional. For example, this is how one Irish Reverend views the Old Testament, “Ever since science disproved the factual accuracy of the Jewish scriptures, the stories contained in them have been largely ignored. This is true of the story of Adam and Eve. It is a pity, because although the events never actually happened; when the stories are read as myth or poetry they are true. The stories are narratives of the human condition. They are perennially true. The names Adam and Eve hint at the meaning of the story; Adam means earth and Eve means life.”[3] Such interpretation of the Bible cripples its historicity such that the Gospel becomes useless. This problem has to be solved, or else Christians have no hope. Truth is never fictional, by definition, fiction would be defined as a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact. The nature of the Scripture that has been breathed out by God does not provide any room for fiction. It’s either Genesis is not Scripture at all, or it is Scripture in its totality because it would be foolish to call a segment of Genesis as fiction and another as Scripture. Such an argument is inconsistent and unreasonable. 

Finally, every believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be concerned with how people view Genesis because obedience and loyalty to God means obeying and defending the truth (the Bible) as First Peter 3:15 admonishes us that, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (ESV). As projected in the Bible, the progress of redemption can’t be traced without Genesis; neither can it be rational if Genesis was fictional. Bible Scholars have agreed on the interpretation that Jesus Christ, as the Old Testament promised Messiah can be traced back to the promised seed of a woman by God in the narrative of the fall in Genesis 3. Therefore, if the truthfulness and literal sense of Genesis is not established, the whole Bible makes no sense because it has no foundation (the creation and the fall) on which its backbone (the redemption story) must stand.

Why Should the New Testament Validate Genesis?

             The epistemological philosophy demands that the validity of any truthful resource be verified by its correspondence, coherence, and pragmatism. Correspondence requires that what a particular source calls truth must correspond and not contradict other proven and established truths from other sources. Pragmatism demands that any acclaimed truth should practically work. Coherence is the principle that any resource that claims to be true must not contradict itself in any way; it must be consistent with its claims throughout. In part of answering the question of what is true, it is said, “A true theory is internally consistent. It has no contradictions within itself, and it fits together elegantly.”[4] Therefore, the New Testament must validate Genesis not only to establish its truthfulness, but also the unity and oneness of the Scripture. Hence, it is a big deal that the whole Bible be internally consistent and coherent, otherwise, it would be deemed false.

            Josh and Sean McDowell explain that “Historians evaluate the textual reliability of ancient literature according to two standards: 1) the time interval between the original and the earliest copy, and 2) how many manuscript copies are available.”[5] Evaluating the ancient manuscripts by this standard, it is found that the Old Testament manuscript is second to none except the New Testament. Some people claim to doubt the Old Testament based on the fact that its date of authorship is very far from us, and that its authors lived in a much-uncivilized world as compared to those of the New Testament. Therefore, it is critically important that the New Testament validates Genesis for some good reasons as presented below:

The first one is that the New Testament is much closer to us than the Old Testament, worse enough Genesis. Secondly, the Old Testament is very ethnically oriented in that it’s much identified with the Hebrew people. It is usually called the Hebrew Scriptures. Contrastingly, the New Testament was written to a wider range of audiences with a message calling for everyone’s attention, which makes it generally vital to any people group. Finally, the accuracy and reliability of the New Testament manuscripts are indisputable. There is no ancient document that its earliest available manuscripts time interval to their autographs is as close as those of the New Testament; neither is there any ancient document with so many manuscripts remains like the New Testament. Based on the above three reasons; it is vital that the New Testament validate Genesis because then arguing against Genesis would mean arguing against the whole New Testament, which subsequently would be saying that there is no history of any sort in this world because there is no ancient document that is as accurate and reliable as the New Testament.

The identity and morality of the central figure of the New Testament reinforce the fact that whatever He says about Genesis must be worthy of our ultimate attention and obedience without question. Not propagating extremism, but it means that we can reason with Him to understand what He means, yet we cannot overturn anything He has established. One would ask; why must we regard His words with such a high standard? From His claims and what the New Testament testify about Him, we can safely conclude that He is God. He is presented to be immutable (Hebrews 13:8); morally pure (John 1:4-5, 2 Cor. 5:21), the Creator (John 1:1-3, 14), eternally God (Col. 1:15) absolutely sovereign (Col. 1:16), life-giver (John 6:14; 11:25-26), omniscient (John 1:48, Matt. 12:25, Rev. 2:23), omnipresent (Matt. 28: 20), and many more attributes of God. This is why Grudem would emphatically say that “We may summarize the biblical teaching about the person of Christ as follows: Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person, and will be so forever.”[6] Therefore, if we talk about the New Testament affirming Genesis, it is critically important that we hear something from Jesus that would give us a perspective about Genesis. With what we now know about Jesus, whatever He says either about Genesis or from Genesis should be reasoned with to understand what He meant rather than questioning Him or Genesis because He is God.

How Does the New Testament Validate Genesis?

A meticulous reading of the New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ affirmed the authority of Genesis by calling it Scripture. Reverend McKee commented on Mark 12:26, where the Pentateuch is referred to as the Book of Moses by Jesus; that the Jews believed Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch except for the last eight verses.[7] There are multiple passages like such where Jesus calls the Pentateuch as Moses. For example, in a story of poor Lazarus and the rich man, Jesus said, “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them’” (Luke 16:29 [ESV2011]). This statement implies that the whole Pentateuch and the prophets are enlightening and instructional Scriptures that demand people’s response. This includes Genesis. Elaborating on Jesus’ lesson and what He meant by calling their attention to Moses and the Prophets, Darrell says, “Furthermore, the test of a heart that loves God, which is the most basic ethical command of Scripture, is that it heeds His words.”[8] In the other sense, Darrell implies that Jesus referred to the Pentateuch and Prophets as Scriptures, which is God’s Word.

Moses and the Prophets

At this stage, we can see that the phrase “Moses and the Prophets” occurs prominently in the New Testament. Therefore, it would be important for us to give it somewhat closer attention so that we understand what it means and how the original audience understood its usage and meaning. For example, commenting on Jesus’ acceptance of His suffering into glory, Luke wrote, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27 [ESV2011]).” Concerning this statement, it is argued that, “Here, then, if not before, there was a full “opening of the Scriptures” on all that pertained to the work and office of the Christ, and it is, at least, a legitimate inference to believe that we find the echoes of the great lesson thus given in all, or most, of the interpretations of Messianic prophecies in the written or spoken teaching of the Apostles. From the great first gospel of Genesis 3:15 to the last utterance of the last of the Prophets announcing the coming of Elijah (Malachi 4:5)…”[9] Stressing our case, it is vital to note that one of the greatest prophecies about Jesus begins from Genesis 3:15. Our case is intensified as the quote continues to say that, “The three divisions, the Pentateuch (Moses), the prophets, and all the Scriptures, cover the whole Old Testament received then in the same words as we possess them now.”[10] The general understanding here is that the usage of “Moses” in the phrase “Moses and the Prophets” is meant to capture the whole Pentateuch, which is also referred to as the Law of Moses.

Jesus Took Genesis as Scripture.

            A careful study of the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord reveal that Jesus never questioned the credibility or authority of Genesis; rather He considered it to Scripture. Therefore, He was able to quote from Genesis as He was teaching. Research shows that “The website Blue Letter Bible has compiled exhaustive lists of all of Jesus’s references to Old Testament books. [They]… find 102 such references in Matthew, 39 in Mark, 68 in Luke, and 49 in John. That’s 258 references total. How many of these come from Genesis? The answer is 18. That means that 7% of all of Jesus’ references to the Old Testament were references to Genesis.”[11] As already alluded to, considering the morality and nature of Jesus Christ which are well validated by His resurrection, it would be absurd to think that Genesis is just fiction when you know that Jesus quoted from it as He was teaching the truth. Many argue that Genesis Chapters One to Eleven are fictional while Twelve to the end is Historical, but as we go on into the next division, we will note that as He was establishing some doctrine, Jesus went back as far as quoting from Genesis Chapter two. 

Other New Testament Authors and Preachers Quoted Genesis as Scripture

            Quoting from the Book of Genesis in the New Testament was not only for Jesus, but also for other New Testament credible figures. In Acts 3, we find Peter and John reasoning with the Jewish leadership for the cause of healing a man on the Beautiful Gate in the name of Jesus. And within their speech on Acts 3:25, Peter was able to quote God’s Messianic Promise from Genesis 12:3; and 22:18. Not later in the same Book, we find Stephen before being stoned speaking to the Sanhedrin explaining to them how God built Israel from one man to raise the Messiah whom they crucified. From this speech, we can note that Stephen was able to quote even from Genesis 11 through to Genesis 45. Apostle Paul also demonstrates the authoritativeness of Genesis as he also quotes from it back and forth. For instance, in the Epistle to the Romans, Paul was able to quote Genesis 15:6 to elaborate on God’s righteousness that comes through faith. Just in this Epistle, Paul has either quoted directly or got an idea from Genesis to establish his case at least seven times. Penning down the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul quoted as far as from Genesis 2:24. Paul quoted Genesis seven times in the Epistle to the Galatians as well (Gal. 3:6 cf. Gen. 15:6; Gal 3:8 cf. Gen. 12:3, 22:18), just a few to mention. For more information, an exhaustive list of New Testament quotes from the Old Testament which includes Genesis can be accessed on the Blue Letter Bible website here.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has together at least quoted from the book of Genesis either direct or an idea not less than twenty times beginning from Genesis 1:1. In His Epistle to the twelve tribes in diaspora, Apostle James quoted from the Book of Genesis at least twice (Jam. 2:21 cf. Gen. 22:9; Jam. 2:23 cf. Gen 15:6). Apostle Peter quoted Genesis either directly or just a notable idea altogether in his two Epistles at least not less than seven times. Apostle John penned his first Epistle at least with one notable quote from the Book Genesis. Directly or indirectly, Genesis is quoted at least on three occasions in the Epistle of Jude.

The New Testament Theology is Built on the Genesis Foundation

We have noted from the above paragraph that almost every author or influential and credible teacher of the New Testament has quoted from the Old Testament at least more than once, in their teaching or their Letter. That alone stresses the authenticity and authoritativeness of Genesis as Scripture. “It is significant that the portion of Genesis which has been the object of the greatest attacks of skepticism and unbelief, the first eleven chapters, is the portion which had the greatest influence on the New Testament. Yet there exist over one hundred quotations or direct references to Genesis 1-11 in the New Testament.”[12] Therefore, looking at the reliability of the New Testament, its accuracy, its authority, and the morality and nature of its central figure (Jesus); we should not expect it to quote from Genesis that much if Genesis was fiction. As if that was enough, it should also be acknowledged that the entire New Testament theology is built on Genesis.

Genesis is such important that without it being authoritative and historical the New Testament has no foundation to stand on. Without Genesis, there would be no authentic and authoritative New Testament. Morris wrote that “If the Bible were somehow expurgated of the Book of Genesis (as many people today would prefer), the rest of the Bible would be incomprehensible. It would be like a building without a ground floor or a bridge with no support.”[13] If there is a single word title for the Bible, “Redemption” would be that word because the entire Bible reveals God and how He relates with humans (His creation). The progress of redemption being the major business of the Bible is integral here because even that would never make sense if Genesis is neither historical nor divinely authoritative. Morris goes on to say that, “The New Testament, describing the execution and implementation of God’s plan for man’s redemption, is redundant and anachronistic, except in the light of man’s desperate need for salvation, as established in the record of man’s primeval history, recorded only in Genesis.”[14] This just reveals how illogical it is to accept Christianity, but deny the historicity and divine authority of Genesis.

Contrary to popular belief among the Christian Evolutionists, the New Testament doctrines are built on the historicity and divine authority of Genesis. “The New Testament is, if anything, even more, dependent on Genesis than the Old. There are at least 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament. Many of these are alluded to more than once so that there are at least two hundred quotations or allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.”[15] Every Bible scholar will agree that the New Testament theology is shaped by the gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Messiah. This Gospel is based on the historicity and divine authorial of Genesis; otherwise, it would make no sense. Just to summarize what Willem A. VanGemeren has written to illustrate how the New Testament soteriology is rooted in Genesis bellow:

The foundation stories of Genesis set the stage of the drama of Scripture in many ways. First, the Creator is the King over all of His creation. He has made everything well and has chosen humans to be his image-bearers on earth… Second, sin entered the world and took away human freedom—through the consequences and dominion of evil. Sin, alienation, and death now mark human existence…God called frail humans to represent him: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Each of these men was profoundly flawed, a point to which the Bible gives ample testimony. Yet God gave them grace upon grace, keeping his promise, at whatever cost, to bless them and through them to bless all humanity… God promised to extend his grace to all humanity through that one man’s “offspring.” Only in him do we learn how the promises of God are made true (2 Cor. 1:20). He is the true and final Good News in which all of God’s promises find decisive fulfillment. He is the promised “offspring” of Abraham who will accomplish God’s covenant purposes (Gen. 3:15; 12:7; Gal. 3:16). Beginning with his first coming and to be completed at his second coming, Jesus opens the doors to the new creation and the new humanity—to a world without the sin, death, and evil that found their entry as first described in Genesis. The final triumph of Jesus over all evil is first described in this Bible book as well (Gen. 3:15).[16]

            In a nutshell, that’s what the Bible is about. Yet, not only Soteriology but other doctrines in the New Testament such as the Marriage and Authority in the congregation setting are all built on the historicity and divine authorial of Genesis 2 and 3. Jesus quoted Genesis to make his case for a divine established one-man with one-woman marriage (Matt. 19:4 cf. Gen 1:27; Matt. 19:4 cf. Gen. 2:24). Despite witnessing polygamous marriages among the God-fearing people in the Old Testament, and also witnessing the Law of Moses granting a divorce opportunity to the children of Israel; Jesus was still compiled to make His case strongly on marriage using this very basic family union verses from Genesis 1 and 2. He made a case that marriage was intentionally meant by God to be a life-lasting monogamous heterosexual union. This compound reality of marriage is founded on the fact that Genesis 1 and 2 are both historical and divinely authored. The fact that a doctrine is based on those verses eliminates the claim that Genesis 1 to 11 is fiction. Paul established the doctrine of the practice of authority in a local congregation and a home based on the historicity and divine authority of Genesis 1 to 3 (1 Tim. 2:13-14 cf. Gen. 1:27; 2:7,21-22 3:6, 12). Apostle Peter also established the doctrine of the eschatological pending judgment opposed by uniformitarianism by referring to the history of Creation from Genesis 1 to the judgment by a cosmic cataclysmic destruction of all life except for what was in the ark of Noah (2 Peter 2:5-6 cf. Gen. 1:1-2, 6; 7, 8, 9). To date, science has discovered enough evidence for the global flood. All this tells us that Genesis is both historical and authoritative.

CONCLUSION

Based on the research done, it’s logically right to conclude that it’s no Genesis, no Bible at all. No completely historical and divinely authoritative Genesis, not divinely authoritative Bible. A No Authoritative Bible View would be easy to irrationally take, but the incredible evidence of the accuracy and historicity of the Bible which surpasses all ancient historical documents, and the supernatural life and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Messiah will logically demand the verdict which will force one to acknowledge the authenticity and divine authority of the Bible. This conclusion is impossible void of the historicity and divine authority of Genesis. Yet, it is critically important that this conclusion be maintained so that the unity of Scripture is upheld and preserved. As Apostle Peter admonishes us that loyalty to God must be demonstrated in our loyalty in defense of His word (1 Peter 3:15), I recommend not only that every believer have the right view of genesis, but that they must totally defend it as God commands us through His inspired Word. Since God’s word is truth, and we are to be sanctified by it, we need to keep it as pure as it is; and learning the origins in Genesis will not only sanctify us, but also give us a sense of responsibility and accountability to God. This will help to keep the church nourished and pure. Therefore, the New Testament emphatically says that Genesis is God’s Word; that’s contextually, historically and literally true, accurate, and divinely authoritative.   

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