In the last issue of The Reformed Witness pamphlet, we discussed the teaching known as
theistic evolution.  We would encourage you to re-read that article.  We saw then that the theistic
evolutionist professes to believe in God and to receive God's Word.  He readily admits that it was God who
created all things in the beginning.  God created the very first and most basic forms of life.  But after that,
God allowed all things to develop by means of an evolutionary process.  Although God is ultimately the
creator, says the theistic evolutionist, scientific research has determined that the method by which God
created all things was the method of evolution.

          We also saw last time that in order to make Genesis 1 harmonize with their evolutionary
views, theistic evolutionists have gone to work to reinterpret the creation account.  In particular,
they have propounded two views to make Genesis 1 fit in with the theory of evolution.  Some
theistic evolutionists have propounded the "gap theory," the theory that between the 6 days of
creation there were long periods of time during which the evolutionary process was at work.  Other
theistic evolutionists have held to the "period theory," the theory that the "days" of Genesis 1 were
not literal, 24-hour days, but were in reality long periods of time.

           In this issue of The Reformed Witness pamphlet we want to begin an evaluation of the
teaching of theistic evolution.  We want to lodge against these view serious objections.  We want to
show that this view does violence to the plain teaching of Genesis 1, not only, but that this view is
incompatible with the Christian faith.

           First of all, we object to theistic evolution because it is a teaching that arose not out of the
Scriptures themselves, but out of the attempt to harmonize the "findings" of science with the
teaching of the Word of God.  It must be admitted that the view of theistic evolution is a view only
recently advanced.  It must also be admitted, and is simply a historical fact, that the men who
developed this view were guilty of seeking to make the Scriptures conform to their theories and
ideas, rather than conform their ideas and theories to the Word of God.  The historical view of
creation had to be set aside, not because it was found to conflict with the teaching of the Word of
God.  But the historical view of creation had to be set aside because men were unable to harmonize
this view with their alleged scientific discoveries.  Scripture was no longer the "lamp and light" upon
the pathway.  But now the Scriptures needed a lamp and light, the lamp and light of "science falsely
so-called."

 Secondly, we would again point out that any theory of evolution, be that atheistic evolution or
theistic evolution, is explicitly denied by Scripture to be the way in which the universe obtained its
existence.  The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews could not have stated it more clearly:  "things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear," Heb. 11:3.  This is also the plain
teaching of Genesis 1 itself.  Repeatedly it is mentioned in this chapter that God created all things
"after their kind" and that the living creatures were given by God the power to reproduce "after
their kind." One kind did not produce another kind, which is precisely the teaching of theistic
evolution.

          Thirdly, over against those who hold to the period theory, we would maintain that it is
impossible to make the "days" of Genesis 1 refer to anything other than literal, 24-hour days.
When "day" in the Bible does not refer to a literal, 24-hour day, the context, something in the
passage itself, always shows this.  This is not shown by something outside of the Bible, such as an
alleged scientific discovery.

          Besides, it's significant to note that the various days mentioned in Genesis 1 are differentiated
by numerals: the "first" day, the "second" day, the "third" day, etc.  In every other instance in
Scripture where a numeral precedes the word "day" the reference is always to an ordinary day of
24 hours.  You can check this for yourself by using a concordance.  Look up the word "day".
Wherever the word "day" is qualified by a numeral the reference is invariably to a literal, 24-hour
day.

          We could add to this the fact that each day in Genesis 1 is marked by an evening and a
morning.  In every instance in Scripture where a day is limited by evening and morning the reference
is to an ordinary day of 24 hours.  You can also check this for yourself by using a concordance.

          In the fourth place, we would point out that the view of theistic evolution implies the presence
of death in the world before the time of the fall of man into sin.  Necessarily involved in the process
of evolution is death.   Over long periods of time, with the passing of generations, new and higher
forms of life arise.  Lower forms of life necessarily pass out of existence.  The fit survive, the less fit
and mis-fits die.

          The view of the theistic evolutionist that there was death in the creation before the fall is a
view that is in flat contradiction with the word of God.  Genesis 2:17 contains God's threat of death
to man if he should violate the command of God and eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Death did not enter paradise until Adam willfully disobeyed God's command and ate of the tree.
Then and only then did the creation become subject to death.  God did not bring death into the
creation in the form of an evolutionary process.  God made the creation good and perfect.  But man
is to be blamed for the entrance of death.  This is also the plain teaching of a passage like Romans
5:12, where the apostle Paul teaches that death entered the world through the sin of the first man,
Adam.

          In the fifth place, the theistic evolutionist overlooks the fact that when God created the
universe in the beginning, God created a mature universe.  The theistic evolutionist readily accepts
the age placed on the universe by modern science and modern scientific dating.  The age of rocks
and fossils is determined to be millions of years.  Therefore, the evolutionist concludes, the origin of
the earth is millions of years ago.  But what these men fail to take into account is that God created
the universe with age built into it.  That's plain from the account of Genesis 1.  God did not make a
baby, but God made a man, a full-grown, mature man.  God did not create minnows, but God
made fish.  God did not plant seeds, but He created mature, fully developed trees, plants, and
flowers.  The earth was created with age.  It was not an undeveloped mass that developed and
matured over a period of millions of years.  But it was a mature universe.  The theistic evolutionist
overlooks this significant fact.

          In the sixth place, we would also hold that the view of theistic evolution is inconsistent with
God's purposefulness.  If God's purpose was His own glory through the creation and redemption of
man, as theistic evolutionists presumable believe, it seems foolish that God would waste billions of
years in aimless evolutionary meandering before getting to the point.  Surely such a conception is at
odds with the Biblical teaching concerning God's wisdom and purposefulness.

          Finally, we would point out that the view of theistic evolution is a denial of the sovereignty of
God.  There is no truth more clearly taught in Scripture, no truth dearer to the heart of a Reformed
man, than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God.  The teaching of theistic evolution is
inconsistent with a confession of God's sovereignty.  All that God does, He does sovereignly.  This
was true of the creation of the world in the beginning.  This is made plain when the Apostle Paul
says in Romans 4:17 concerning God's act of creation that He "calleth those things which be not
as though they were."  God didn't call the things that were not and they began to be, only to
assume the final form God had in mind millions of years later.  No, He called them into existence,
and "they were."  This is also the teaching of the Psalmist in Psalm 33:9, "For He spake, and it was
done; he commanded, and it stood fast."  When God spake in the beginning, He spake as the
sovereign Lord God.  When He spake, things didn't take billions of years to come into existence
and stand fast.  But He spake and immediately, by the power of the very word which He had
spoken, all things came into being and stood fast.  Only this explanation does justice to God's
sovereignty.

          These are some of the objections which we are compelled to lodge against the teaching of
theistic evolution.  On account of these objections we are compelled to reject this teaching and to
warn our children and young people against it.  In our next pamphlet, we hope to examine theistic
evolution in relation to the Reformed view of the perspicuity of Holy Scripture.