1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so. 10God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. 11God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so. 12The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so. 16God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
A view from the Hubble Space Telescope of creation occurring in space
The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning God…”(Gen 1:1). In this way, the Bible assumes the existence of God.
Lesson
Theologians throughout history have defended the existence of God. These arguments range from proving the general idea of God, to showing why the Bible portrays the one true God. Thomas Aquinas is perhaps the greatest apologist for the existence of God. He argued that everything that happens has a cause, but there cannot be an infinite number of causes. Therefore, there must be what he called an “uncaused cause.” This uncaused cause must be God.[1] Other theologians, like Augustine and John Calvin, argued that God existence is proven by the fact that nearly all people can conceive of God, though sin clouds this idea with wrong perceptions.[3] Still others, like Immanuel Kant, said that the existence of morality among all people proves the existence of God.[4] Since morality is not always rewarded in this life, there must be a source of morality beyond this life, namely, God.
Key Verses
The Bible, as we said above, assumes the existence of God. Therefore the Bible’s purpose is not to prove God’s existence. However, this does not mean the Bible does not provide many reasons to believe in God. In fact, it says that those who do not believe in God are foolish.
Psalm 14:3
David said, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.”’ He says those who deny God are corrupt, and have turned aside from Him.
Isaiah 45:18-19
Isaiah claimed that God created the heavens and the earth, and did not create it “empty” or “in waste” but “to be inhabited.” This is called a teleological argument for God’s existence.[4] With the benefit of modern technology, we are just now beginning to understand the amazing order of the universe. Thousands of years ago Isaiah understood that the earth was made to sustain life. We now know that there are an almost infinite number of factors essential for life on earth alone. If any one of these were slightly different, no life would be possible here.[5] All this order could not have happened by chance. There must have been a creator who was both intelligent and powerful enough to know exactly how to create the perfect conditions needed for life.
Conclusion
There are many ways to argue for the existence of God. God must exist because an “uncaused cause” must exist. The presence of the idea of deity demonstrates that God exists. The fact that all people have a sense of morality, a sense that is not always beneficial, means that there must be a giver of that morality. The order of the universe points to a creator of that order.
Reflection/Prayer/Thoughts/Applications
Often conversations about Christianity begin with a discussion about the existence of God. How would you defend God’s existence to someone who does not believe in Him?
For Further Information
Works about God’s existence here.
[1] Cosmological argument
[2] Ontological argument
[3] Moral argument
[4] Teleological argument
[5] Anthropic principle