Creation (Discipleship Training)

This post is part of my series on Discipleship Training. See all Discipleship Training Plans here.

Or, read my introductory post on discipleship training here.

Creation: Before the beginning, God made his eternal decrees of everything that would unchangeably come to pass. Then, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

What does the Bible tell us about creation? Certainly, the Bible doesn’t answer every last curiosity we have about the foundational event in the history of the universe. Furthermore, it is all too easy to slip into unbiblical speculation as we try to peer between the words God has given to us to attempt to see what really happened.

But God gives us the exact stories about the creation of the world that he wants us to have. They affirm everything we need to know to establish our faith, to teach us about God’s extraordinary work, and to instruct us in the most basic ordinances that God established at creation.

Training Objective

To understand creation as God’s original work to execute his eternal decrees; to praise God for that work of creation; and to recognize more fully our place in God’s creation.

Scripture

Read and discuss:

• Genesis 1:1–2:3: The overview creation story
• Genesis 2:4–25: The zoomed-in creation story
• John 1:2–3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:2: The involvement of the Son as the one through whom all things were created
• Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10: The image of God as knowledge, righteousness, and holiness

Doctrine

Read and discuss:

• Wesminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 4
• Westminster Larger Catechism #14–17
• Westminster Shorter Catechism #8–10

Discussion Questions

• What does the Bible tell us about the role of all three persons of the Trinity in the work of creation?
• How might we understand God’s work of creation in Genesis 1 as a work of forming and filling?
• Does the story of creation in Genesis 1 conflict with the story of creation in Genesis 2? (For additional resources on this question, see p. 1–3 of my commentary on Genesis 2, here.)
• What does it mean that human beings are made in the image of God?
• Why do we call work, Sabbath, and marriage the creation ordinances? What does that tell us about the significance of these ordinances?

Application

Praise God for his work of creation, using these psalms to assist you:

• Psalm 8 (A psalm reflecting on the grace of God toward his image bearers, above all the rest of creation)
• Psalm 19:1–6 (A psalm reflecting on the glory of God in creation)
• Psalm 104 (A psalm of praise for God’s creative work)
• Psalm 148 (A psalm commanding all the created order to praise God)

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