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In the Beginning: Foundations of Creation Theology

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I found this book about 1 year ago browsing through a book store at the World Trade Center. I have now ordered three more copies to give to pastors at my church. I found this book a welcome change from the anti-scientific rhetoric which characterizes some of the Creationist discussion. Mr.Bavinck is critical of the geology of his time, however. It amazes me to think that this book was first written in Dutch a hundred years ago.
While geology is not a strongpoint of this book. The theology which it presents is a based on a thoughtful analysis of the teachings of scripture concerning creation and what it means. At the same time Mr. Bavinck shows the implications of a Biblically-based view of creation in relationship to the thoughts of other scholars both Christian and non-Christian. Mr. Bavinck is solidly rooted in the Reformed tradition.
I would not recommend this book to anyone for whom scholarly discussion is of little interest. The book is quite meaty, and I have had to re-read some sections to grasp the meaning. Some Christian theological concepts are referenced via their Latin labels although you don't need to know Latin. For the diligent reader there is much to gain by reading this book.
The writer assumes a broad understanding of Christian theology. Much can be gleaned from this book, however, by anyone who wants to know more about the goal of creation, heaven, angels, earth, the image of God, human origins, human nature, human destiny and God's Fatherly care.
Mr. Bavinck focuses more on what Creation means rather than on how it happened. He, also, shows, however, that the historical facts of the creation out of nothing by a Triune God, the creation of man in the image of God, Adam and Eve and the fall are critical foundation beliefs for a Christian.
I was amazed to realize that the image of God is only realized in man as a community both in creation and redemption. How many times have I read Genesis and missed this point. Understanding more about the image of God will affect how you relate to people and not just how you argue for the truths of Scripture.
With other materials I used "In the Beginning - The Foundations of Creation Theology" to develop a series of Sunday school lessons on Genesis which were very well-received. If you are going to preach or teach on Genesis or Creation get this book.
Finally, the basic point of the book:
"Of him, through, and to him are all things (Rom. 11:36). On this basis Christian theology almost unanimously teaches that the glory of God is the final goal of all God's works" from page 53 of the book.

1. Creation: God as Maker of Heaven and Earth
Herman Bavinck was a Dutch Reformed theologian at the turn of the twentieth century who was heavily influenced by the Dutch minister and politician Abraham Kuyper. In his treatise In the Beginning, Bavinck sets out to outline the foundations of a creation theology. He begins by affirming that the story of creation is the "starting point of true religion," because it establishes the distinction between the creator and the created. This biblical doctrine of ex nihilo creation can be contrasted with the religious worldviews of pantheism, which explains the world dynamically, and materialism, which explains the world mechanically and scientifically. Both have the result of blind fate "elevated to the throne of the universe" (p. 56). The Scripture, in contrast, defines the universe as the sum of parts that have been created with their own natures and natural laws and that through their diversity are united to the whole in harmony by a providential Creator. This unity simultaneously serves as evidence of the existence of God. While pantheism and materialism can lead to the deification or the unfathomability of nature, Christianity leads to the glorification of God through the contemplation of nature.
After establishing that the act of creation is attributed exclusively to God in the Scriptures, Bavarck holds that creation is the work of all three persons of the Trinity working in concert to carry out the work of creation. God "created all things through the Son ... and through the Spirit" (p 40). For example, we read in John 1:3 with respect to Jesus, the Word, that "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." With respect to the Holy Spirit, we read in Job 26:13 that "by [God's] Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent."
What was the purpose or goal of this triune creation? Some would argue that the goal of creation is man; the entire universe was created by God for man. Yet Bavinck contends that, because the universe is not "exhausted by its service to humanity, [it] must have some goal other than utility to man" (p. 53). What is this other goal of creation? Scripture declares that it is to proclaim His praise (Ps. 19:1) and to glorify Him (Isa. 43:7). "All kingdoms will be subjected to him and every creature will yield to him" (p. 53). As Tertullian has said, God has created the world "for the embellishment of His majesty" (p. 54).

2. Man's Origins
Chapter 4 of Bavinck's treatise deals with the theme of man as having been created in the image of God. He fleshes out the theory of evolution, points out its inconsistencies, and then brings the reader back to Scripture's story of creation as the only possible true account of the origin of man.
He starts by explaining that the theory of evolution is not new at all. Rather, it had been articulated since the time of the ancient Greeks. In its new articulation, however, humanity is explained completely in terms of matter. Bavinck then presents the evidence that has been put forward to support evolutionism and points out that it has from the beginning encountered serious contradictions among scientists and proved completely untenable. Bavinck attacks Darwinism by pointing out that it has been unable to explain both the "origin of life" (p. 143) as well as the "further development of organic entities" (p. 144). Moreover, science has been unable to account for the presence of language, religion, and moral law in humankind, which is completely absent in animals. Furthermore, if Darwin's theory of evolution were true, hundreds of millions of years would be required for man to have reached his present state, but physicists and geologists have objected to these figures (p. 148).

3. Human Nature
In chapter 5, Bavinck brings the reader back to his original idea of the creation of man in God's image, but questions whether this means that man is created in the "image" (archetype) of God or in His "likeness" (a more fluid notion). He gives several perspectives on creation, including naturalism and Roman Catholic supernaturalism, and proceeds to critique each one, finally arriving at the reformation's view of the image, holding that "when man loses that image of God, he does not lose a substance and does indeed remain human, but becomes an abnormal, a sick, a spiritually dead human being" (p. 183).

4. Man's Destiny
Man's ultimate destiny is to become like Christ, and thereby gain eternal life. Although Adam was our first ancestor, our destiny does not fully rest on him or on his image, for he was created from the earth and was thus dependent on the earth (p. 198). He had not yet realized the full spiritualization of his body. As Adam was the beginning of our race, Christ is the end and final destination.
Bavinck goes on to analyze several questions of pre- and postlapsarian humanity in order to determine which acts were originally forbidden. For example, he states that based on man's dominion mandate over the animal world (Gen 1:28), it must have been that man was permitted to eat meat. The fact that the Scriptures state only that God gave Adam "every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed" (Gen 1:29) as food cannot be used to argue that meat was not eaten, since this would be an argument from silence. Furthermore, the sanction in Genesis 9:3 to eat meat ("Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you") should be read not as a new license, but rather, as an affirmation of a previously existing right. It would make no sense that God would only allow the eating of meat after the fall; rather, it would seem logical that God would restrict, not augment, postlapsarian rights (p. 211).
Bavinck concludes the chapter with a discussion on traducianism, the doctrine that man's soul is born at the same time of his body, and contrasts it with creationism. While Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Reformed theologians generally embraced creationism, Lutherans embraced traducianism because they locate the image of God "solely in a number of moral qualities, in original righteousness" (p. 221). The Catholic and Reformed traditions, in contrast, hold that man's destiny consists in heavenly blessedness and eternal life that he reaches through obedience. The image of God in man may be mutilated through the disobedience of Adam, but by Christ they are "resplendently restored to their destiny" (p. 225).

5. Providence: God's Preservation of the Earth
Bavinck defines God's providence as the "almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds ... heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules them that ... all things come to us, not by chance but from his fatherly hand" (p. 243). Through providence, God is concerned with every detail of the universe, including the sparrows, the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field. He desires for all to turn towards the good of humanity. Providence involves God's active will in ruling all things, and in providence is implicit preservation, concurrence, government, and "God's care through the secondary causality of the created order of law as he maintains it" (p. 229). Providence also includes God's speaking, commanding, working, and upholding, as he stands looking on with divine and never passive potency.
Within this framework, secondary causes work alongside providence, the primary cause, to effect change. The secondary causes can be said to be instruments through which the primary cause acts.
Although the Scriptures do not directly use the word "providence," they refer indirectly to it when describing God's creating, renewing, seeing, protecting, preserving, ruling, and His other acts. The word has been used by philosophers and the church fathers to signify foreknowledge, forethought, and, as in the case of St. John of Damascus, as "the solicitude which God has for existing things" (p. 235).
Christian providence must be distinguished from pagan "chance" as well as from the idea of uniformity without variety in pantheism. Deism also mistakenly construes providence as "chance," since the deist god is not concerned with the details of all small things. Socinianism similarly encounters this problem because in opposing the infinite to the finite, God is unable to create the world ex nihilo.
Implicit in this idea is providence as divine government. God is a true king because he preserves existent beings and their effects (secondary causes). In Scripture, and we accordingly find God described as "King" the Old Testaments and as "King of Kings" and "Lord of Lords" in the New Testament (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:6).

6. Conclusion
Because of God's providence, Christians should be slow to despair over whatever adversities they encounter in life. God ultimately governs and he is able to turn to our good any and all circumstances that assail us. We must remain patient, steadfast, and faithful, as did His servant Job, and only then receive the fruit of our efforts: a latter blessing that will be greater than the first.