Compromising the Word of God: Theistic Evolution

Over the last two centuries, the biblical historical narrative of creation has been subjected to evolution and its unproven assumptions. Even though secular scientists have not validated the premise through anything that is remotely observable or measurable, many evangelicals have succumbed to the world’s pressure to accept the notion that creation has occurred over billions of years. No doubt, this position inadvertently calls into question the entire narrative of God’s redemptive history and undermines the testimony of those who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior. 

Accordingly, it is essential that theories put forth by evangelicals be examined and compared to God’s word and to the Author’s intention. In my upcoming blogs, I will evaluate the following theories: Theistic Evolution, Day-Age Theory, Gap Theory, and the Literary Framework hypothesis. The final blog will endeavor to evaluate the literal 24-hour day creation advanced by those who correctly understand the creation account as a historical narrative.

The Premise of Theistic Evolution

As with many creation theories, theistic evolution (also known as evolutionary creationism) puts forth the idea that evolution can be reconciled with Scripture. Theistic evolutionists argue that God guided natural processes to develop His creation over time. This group of evangelicals fully accepts unproven evolution theories; thus, they do not concede that the Scriptures' creation account is literal. Proponents often claim that God spoke in simple language, using symbols and metaphors in the creation account, so that His process would be easily understood. For example, Deborah Haarsma, former Chair of Physics and Astronomy at Calvin University, states, “Genesis 1 deliberately uses concepts the first readers would understand rather than the modern scientific picture. This shows that the intent of Genesis 1 was not to address the how and when questions we ask in modern science; these were not a major concern in a pre-scientific era. Instead, the biblical text focuses on the who and why of creation.”{1}

Evaluation

As evidenced, theistic evolution disregards the historical and narrative structure of Genesis and other historical narratives in the Bible. Genesis 1-3, for instance, is logically a historical account due to the hermeneutic of the biblical authors. Yahweh’s writers frequently recount the narratives of Scripture to show how the storyline connects theology with their readers.{2} As an example, in Exodus 20:11, Moses states, “For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

Beyond dismissing the supernatural events of creation, theistic evolution promotes the notion that death occurred during the “natural process of creation” before Adam and Eve and before their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. However, on the contrary, death did not occur until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. In Genesis 2:17, God states, “…but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Furthermore, in Romans 5:12, the Apostle Paul addresses how sin first entered the world as he states, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Finally, those who hold to the view dismiss the use of yôm, the Hebrew designation that means a literal period of time. The meaning of “day” raises questions about several flawed theories. This issue will be reviewed more extensively in the evaluation of the Day-Age Theory.

{1} Deborah B. Haarsma, “Evolutionary Creation,” in Four Views on Creation, Evolution,

and Intelligent Design, ed. J.B. Stump and Stanley N. Gundry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), 130. Kindle.

[2] Abner Chou, “Did God Really Say…?—Hermeneutics and History in Genesis 3” in What Happened in the Garden, ed. Abner Chou (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2016), 26.

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 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸ And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. ¹² And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ So God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and also the stars. ¹⁷ And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹ And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²² Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. ²⁵ God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰ and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that creeps on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹ And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.