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In your confessions, you can 
turn to chapter 4. Does anybody need a confession? 
We can pass the blue basket around. Everybody's good? Chapter 4. The chapter is, of course, as 
you see, of creation. It's a small chapter, but As 
is often the case in small chapters, there's a lot packed into, in 
this case, these three paragraphs. So I'll read paragraphs one, 
two, and three, and then we'll look at a study of creation. In the beginning, it pleased 
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the manifestation 
of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness to create 
or make the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, 
in the space of six days, and all very good. After God had 
made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, 
with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto 
that life to God for which they were created, being made after 
the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, 
having the law of God written in their hearts and power to 
fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left 
to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. 
Besides the law written in their hearts, they received a command 
not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which whilst 
they kept, they were happy in their communion with God and 
had dominion over the creatures. Amen. So once again, a very short 
chapter, but there's much theology wrapped up in it. And it's, as 
is the case with a lot of chapters, with every chapter, but there 
is a connectivity, obviously, between what preceded and what 
follows. And there is a specific order 
to which these doctrines are placed in the chapters. and how they set up subsequent 
chapters that follow them. But one of the things that we 
see here is that this now transitions from what theologians call the 
works ad intra, or the intrinsic or internal works of God, to 
those things which are now external or ad extra. So God himself, 
and then the decree, chapters two and three, those things that 
are inside or internal or intrinsic to God, And then now in chapter 
four, the transition is to those things extrinsic or to God's 
essence productive outwardly. And that begins with the doctrine 
of creation. This pertains to the execution 
of the decrees, chapter three, outside of God, so creation, 
providence, and redemption. And these extrinsic works of 
God, or the external works of God, have been historically categorized 
in a two-fold manner. First, the works of nature, and 
second, the works of grace. Now, when we say the works of 
nature, we're not talking about Mother Nature, you know, that 
pagan idea. We're talking about God creating 
and upholding all things that He creates. So, those works that 
pertain to nature or the natural works. Secondly, it is the works 
of grace. So, those supernatural works 
of God that pertain to redemption. So a two-fold approach, and that's 
how the confession actually unfolds. The next chapters are those works 
of nature, creation here and then providence, and then what 
follows are the works of grace, those redemptive chapters that 
flow from chapter six all the way through, essentially, to 
the end of the confession, but perhaps more pointedly to that 
transition from 21 to 22. So, again, this now moves us 
from the intrinsic works of gods to those things extrinsic, and 
it's good to frame our minds because when we talk about creation, 
we talk about the clear and obvious evidence that there is a god 
who has made all things. When, you know, the atheist or 
the agnostic may point his finger at the Christian and say, where's 
the evidence of a god? And we point to everything around 
us. We point to the heavens and to 
the earth and to the fact that there are facts We point we point 
to to everything around us Everything that is not God is evidence that 
there is a God in high heaven who has created all things that 
exist this is Gregory of Nazianzus to frame our thoughts as we move 
into a a structured study of these paragraphs. For what is 
it which ordered things in heaven and things in earth, and those 
things which pass through air, and those which live in water, 
or rather the things which were before these, heaven and earth, 
air and water? Who mingled these, and who distributed 
them? What is it that each has in common 
with the other, and their mutual dependence and agreement? For 
I commend the man, though he was a heathen, who said, What 
gave movement to these and drives their ceaseless and unhindered 
motion? Is it not the artificer of them 
who implanted reason in them all, in accordance with which 
the universe is moved and controlled? Is it not he who made them and 
brought them into being? For we cannot attribute such 
a power to the accidental. For suppose that its existence 
is accidental, to what will you let us ascribe its order? And 
if you like, we will grant you this. To what then will you ascribe 
its preservation and protection in accordance with the terms 
of its first creation? Do these belong to the accidental 
or to something else? Surely not to the accidental. 
And what can this, excuse me, and what can this something else 
be but God? Thus reason that proceeds from 
God that is implanted in all from the beginning and is the 
first law in us and is bound up in all leads us up to God 
through visible things. So this is very, very important. 
God having created us, as we'll see in his very image, has given 
us reasons such that when we cast our eyes upon all things 
visible, it leads us up to God through those visible things. 
And that's why the psalmist, when he writes Psalm 19, as it 
is, of course, Christological in its primacy, nevertheless, 
it sets forth the fact that the heavens declare the glory of 
God The firmament shows his handiwork. Day after day, utter speech. 
Night after night, reveals knowledge. And there is nowhere where their 
voice is not heard. And so, as the creature looks 
upon creation, he is to be drawn up to God through those things 
visible. The first thing that we want 
to look at is what is creation. The second thing is God and creation. And then thirdly, man and creation. And then lastly, man-creation 
and covenant. All those things are captured 
here in these three short paragraphs. So first off, what is creation? We'll get back to our confession 
in a moment, but a helpful answer to the question, what is creation, 
can be seen in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Question number 
nine, what is the work of creation? The answer is, the work of creation 
is God's making all things of nothing by the word of his power 
in the space of six days and all very good. It's a very good 
summary of what is creation. Again, one more time, the work 
of creation is God's making all things out of nothing by the 
word of his power in the space of six days and all very good. 
Now, the larger catechism has a very similar answer to that, 
maybe just a little bit expanded, but not much. And then it elaborates 
on honing in on angels and men peculiarly. It doesn't spend 
time on Creatures, it doesn't spend time on the rolling spheres. It doesn't spend time on stars 
and planets and those other things. And I think the reason is because 
creation itself, the very purpose for creation, is the manifestation 
of the glory of God in the redemption of his elect through Jesus Christ. That's why the larger catechism 
moves from creation generally, then specifically and peculiarly 
to angels and men and not elaborating on everything else because it 
doesn't need to. Simply, creation is everything 
that is not God. So if we were to ask the question, 
another question, or the same question, what is creation? It 
is everything not God. So time and space, for example, 
are not coextensive with God. Matter is not coextensive with 
God. In other words, time and space 
are not eternal. Matter is not eternal. We reject 
the pagan notions that God was existing from all time alongside 
of matter, and that he, whatever God this is, made all things 
from out of preexistent eternal matter. And, of course, time 
and space are not eternal, and we'll look at that in a moment. 
So, everything that is not God, that includes time, that includes 
space, that includes matter, that includes, again, all things 
that are not God. Richard Barcellos gives a helpful 
paraphrase of Genesis 1. This is a quote from his book 
Trinity and Creation. A theological paraphrase of Genesis, 
remember Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth. et cetera. So, Barcelos writes, 
a theological paraphrase of Genesis 1.1 could read as follows, in 
the beginning, all that is in God brought forth that which 
is not God. That's a helpful theological 
paraphrase of Genesis 1.1. We don't want to use the language 
was, but we will anyway because that's all that we have as creatures, 
but before creation, all that was was God. So there is nothing existent 
or eternally existent, or we say, coextensive with God, even 
though God doesn't have extension being immense, eternal, a most 
pure spirit. But nevertheless, a good paraphrase 
is, in the beginning, all that is in God brought forth that 
which is not God. Our confession, very similar 
to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and in essence, following 
the verbiage chronologically here, we have a definition of 
creation in paragraph one. We see there, create or make 
the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible 
in the space of six days, and all very good. So we'll look 
at this create or make language in a moment because there's something 
very important there. They're not just synonymous terms. 
confessionals, that the confessionalists are duplicating here. They're 
not synonymous, and we'll look at that in a moment. But very 
simply, what is creation? It is God's making of all things, 
not God, in the space of six days, and all very good. Now important here is God and 
creation, which is our second point. So God and creation. We want to notice first here, 
divine eternality relative to creation. Because when we get 
to the topic of creation, where we are now, it's common for people 
to talk about, okay, or to sort of approach creation in such 
a way that God now moves from having not created to having 
now created. And if that's the case, then 
there would be change in God, and if that's the case in some 
way or other, God would be partially creature. if he moves and he 
changes by virtue of creation to something that he was not 
before, then we're worshiping the creature and not the creator 
to a certain degree. So divine eternality relative 
to creation, when creation came to be, not when God moved from 
having not created to having now created. That's when we, 
with the language of in the beginning, we need to understand here that 
God didn't move now enter into time, and then now creates. So this language of in the beginning 
is when creation came to be, not when God moved from having 
not created to having now created. So first off, this explanation 
of in the beginning, it doesn't mean that God entered into time. 
Remember in chapter two, one of the very attributes or very 
perfections of God is that he is immutable, immense, eternal. And that language of eternal 
means that he is not bound by time. If immensity is, and it 
is, the reality that God is not bound by space, Eternality, or 
the fact that He is eternal, or atemporal, is that He is not 
bound by time. There is no past, present, or 
future with God. God does not have a past, a present, 
or a future. He is immense. He is eternal. And so, in the beginning doesn't 
mean that God entered into time or that God created time and 
then entered into it to create. We need to jettison that from 
our contemplations of God in creation. It's not the case that 
He entered into time, and it's not the case that He created 
time and then entered into it in order to create. It certainly 
isn't the case, and we've already noted this, that time is eternal 
along with God, such that even before He created, He was somehow 
captured by time or subject to time. Eternality for God doesn't 
mean the succession of moments. It doesn't mean that he has the 
eternal succession of moments that he rolls along with the 
tick-tocking of some eternal clock, but rather it means that 
God is not bound by time in the very least. Boethius wrote, with 
regards to eternity in God, eternity then is the whole simultaneous 
and perfect possession of boundless life. I just want to read that 
one more time. Eternity then, this is as it 
pertains to God, is the whole simultaneous and perfect possession 
of boundless life. This is something that ought 
to cause our hearts to worship, that God is marked by boundless 
life. We don't want a God that is bound. 
We don't want a God that is bound by space. Remember, He is immense. He is not bound by space. The 
pagan gods are bound by space. Our God is in the heavens. He 
does whatever he pleases. Remember in Solomon's dedication 
of the temple, God cannot be contained by things made by human 
hands. He fills the heavens and the 
earth. The heavens of the heavens cannot even contain him. And 
of course, he cannot be bound by time. There are no succession 
of moments in God. He does not move from yesterday 
to today and then to tomorrow. In God, we have the case that 
we have the whole simultaneous and perfect possession of boundless 
life. On this idea that, remember, 
in the beginning it pleased God to create or make, on the point 
of divine eternality relative to creation, William Ames wrote, 
with regards to this idea that God didn't move from first having 
not created to then now having created, properly, act of power 
does not agree to God as if in respect to himself, he were first 
idle, and afterward he put himself forth to act, for God is a most 
pure act." So God is never idle. He didn't, in creation, move 
from a point of having been idle, as he writes here, as if in respect 
to himself he were first idle, and afterward he put himself 
forth to act, but much rather God is a most pure act. Francis Turretin clarifies it 
this way, there is no change made in God by creation, nor 
is any new perfection added to him, because it is an external 
and transient act, which is from God, but not in him. It is made 
without any motion and new determination. No new will enters into him, 
but only a new external work proceeds from his eternal efficacious 
and omnipotent will. Nor ought any perfection to be 
added to him on that account. Hence, whatever change was made 
by the creation was made in the creatures, passing from non-existence 
to being, and not in God himself creating. By the same practical 
volition which he had from eternity, He created the world in time, 
produced it actually in the beginning of time. So any change that we 
talk about with respect to creation is in the creature and not in 
God. For if there is change in God 
by virtue of creation, then we are worshiping in some part creature 
and not the creator. Because creator cannot go from 
having once been to having now been. So God remains the eternal 
creator of time, to use a James Dolezal phrase. In fact, James 
writes, with respect to comparing God's immensity, remember that 
God is not bound by space, comparing that to God's all temporality 
or eternity relative to creation. He writes, God's immensity, which 
is in his infinity, considered in regard to space, can serve 
as a helpful parallel in thinking about God's eternity. For as 
He is not bounded by space, so neither by time. Just as God 
is not spatial in His presence to space, so He is not temporal 
in His presence to time. Now, why are we talking about 
all this and why are we mounting some theological terms one upon 
the other? It's so that we can properly 
understand our God and know Him. and cast away from ourselves 
any notions of idolatry, any inklings of a God who is closer 
to pagan construction than to the one who has revealed himself 
in Holy Scripture. So in the beginning does not 
mean that God somehow entered into time because he is immutable, 
immense, eternal. Moving on then to creation and 
the work of the undivided Trinity. Notice that creation is the work 
of the undivided Trinity, chapter four, paragraph one. In the beginning, 
it pleased God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. and notice, 
for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power. So we see there a reiteration 
of the unity and the trinity of paragraphs 1 to 3 of chapter 
2. There is this one and only living 
and true God who eternally exists as God, the Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. And this unity is punctuated 
by the term God and then the word His. And the Trinity is, 
of course, clear by naming here Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
Coming back to creation, though, creation is the work of the one 
true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And it is the undivided 
work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The work of creation, 
just like any other work external to God, is not divided up or 
cut up amongst the three persons. It's not the case, just as it 
isn't the case that the Divine Essence is 33 and a third percent 
Father, 33 and a third percent Son, and 33 and a third percent 
Spirit. So, too, the work of creation 
is not 33 and a third percent Father, etc. This is the undivided 
work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is not, as we carry 
along this train of thought, it wasn't simply and alone the 
work of the Father, and then the Son comes along and His work 
is confined to redemption, and then the Holy Spirit comes along 
and His work is confined to the application of redemption, that 
is madness, theologically. It's the case that the undivided 
Trinity in its undivided essence works undividedly in all things 
that it does. And so we see here in creation, 
it please God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to create or 
make. So God works here, the triune 
God works here in an undivided fashion. All the external works 
of God are the one work, the undivided work of Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit. So creation is the work of the 
undivided Trinity. And then notice the purpose of 
creation. In the beginning, it pleased 
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, note, for the manifestation 
of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. It's a 
very, very Very important statement that isn't just the mounting 
of words upon each other. In fact, that very phrase, power, 
wisdom, and goodness, recurs. multiple, multiple times throughout 
the history of theological discourse. From the early, well, from the 
apostles all the way through to our modern time, this language, 
as it pertains to creation and the divine will, power, wisdom, 
and goodness, is something that recurs time and again. Just some 
examples here with regards to that language. This is Manton, 
Thomas Manton. Look upward, downward, within 
thee, without thee, what dost thou see, hear, and feel, but 
the products and effects of an eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. Thou canst not open thine eyes, 
but the heavens are ready to say to thy conscience, man, there 
is a God, an infinite eternal being, who made us and all things 
else. This is Samuel Hopkins with similar 
language. God was pleased to create innumerable 
hosts of intelligent beings with strong powers of mind and large 
capacities to be spectators of his works and attend to the numerous 
worlds and creatures as they rose into existence and order, 
and behold and admire infinite power, wisdom, and goodness manifested 
herein, and rejoice, adore, and praise the creator. And the more 
we attend to the creation and examine the great works, the 
sun, moon, and stars, or this globe on which we live, and the 
various ranks of creatures which come under our notice, the more 
clear and striking will be the evidence of design and of the 
power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. So the purpose of 
creation here, as the confession says, is for the manifestation 
of the glory of His, that is the triune God's, eternal power, 
wisdom, and goodness. There is a purpose to creation. 
In fact, as we move along, there is that, we might say, that general, 
purpose to creation, and then there is a specific and pointed 
purpose to creation, which is the execution of the covenant 
of redemption by the Son of God in time and in history. So the 
redemption of God's elect, we will simply say the gospel, the 
salvation of God's people, is that ultimate and specific purpose 
for creation, in back of that is this larger scope, which is 
the manifestation of the glory of God's eternal power, wisdom, 
and goodness. Calvin writes similarly, a shorter 
quote. The inspired writer, this is, I believe, his comments on 
Psalm 19. the inspired writer shows for what purpose he has 
celebrated in the preceding part of the psalm, the power, wisdom, 
and goodness of God in his works, namely, to stir up men to praise 
him. And if nothing else this morning, 
that's what the purpose of this study is, is to stir us up to 
praise God. Because a reflection upon this 
great triune God and a reflection upon his power, wisdom, and goodness 
in creation is to draw our Christian hearts to praise. that same God. So the purpose of creation is 
for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, 
and goodness. And it's a wonderful threefold 
expression of the purpose of creation that matches with the 
Trinity of our God. We have a nice threeness there, 
power, wisdom, goodness, because our God is Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. Fourthly, under God and creation, 
we want to note the act of creation. So notice the language, for the 
manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and 
goodness, to create or make the world and all things therein, 
whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days and 
all very good. We wanna make a note of this 
language of create or make. I noted at the beginning that 
this isn't the confessionalists simply repeating a synonymous 
term. They're not just saying create 
or make as if make is to be here understood as synonymous to creation, 
to create. And we'll expand on this. In 
the Westminster confession of faith, and I believe also in 
the Savoy Declaration, those two confessions that preceded 
ours and that ours is built upon, they had here the clause to create 
out of nothing. Our confession removes out of 
nothing and adds or make the world. And so what is the reason 
for this? Well, of course, our Our theological 
forebears are not denying that God created, you've heard the 
term ex nihilo, that he created out of nothing, because that's 
most certainly true. But the term create here captures 
that. With the doctrine of God in the 
background, and the doctrine of the decree of God in the background, 
create can mean nothing more than that the God, Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, without nothing in eternal existence, created 
out of nothing all things, whether visible or invisible. So the 
word create captures that ex nihilo reality of creation, that 
God created out of nothing. And then The word make, the term 
make here that the confessionalists added, pertains to the fact that 
God made some things out of matter that he had previously created. 
For example, Adam. Adam was created out of the dust 
of the earth. Adam was not created out of nothing. Now, we would want to qualify 
that by saying that, in a sense, Adam was created out of nothing, 
in the fact that we're rejecting the idea that God made things 
from preexistent eternal matter. But God creates out of nothing 
all things, and then from those all things he creates other things. For example, Adam, again, created 
from out of the dust of the earth. And as well, Eve, created, made. We would want to keep this language 
of make or made. Eve was made from the rib of 
Adam. Turretin speaks this way, creation 
may be either first and immediate, which is simply ex nihilo, or 
secondary and immediate, which is made indeed from some matter. So this is why the confessionalists 
did this here, and it's more theologically precise. In fact, 
we have the advantage of time, the Baptists did, because they 
wrote this after the other two. We'd want to think that the other 
two would look at them and say, oh yeah, good addition. So to 
create or make the world in the space of six days, and all very 
good. So that's why we have create 
or make. Again, not synonymous terms, but theologically distinct 
terms, because of the actual narrative that we have in the 
Bible of God creating from out of nothing, and then creating 
some things from those things created. If there's any questions 
on that afterwards, but hopefully that's clear. Just simply think, 
Adam created from the dust of the earth, Eve, we'll say Adam 
made from the dust of the earth, and Eve made from the rib of 
Adam. So, create it or make, now, we 
wanna just note here, the divine power in creation. You know, 
what an amazing thing this must have been, and to wrap our minds 
around the power behind the creation of all things, visible and invisible, 
it's mind-blowing. We won't be able to wrap our 
heads around the divine power behind the creation of all things. 
when we cast our eyes upon, you know, the expanse of the heavens, 
when we cast our eyes on the sun and the moon and the stars, 
when we can, you know, look at the immensity of that, that's 
the immensity, they are bound by space, the mountains, but 
when we can look at the sheer size of the mountains, and just 
think that, you know, that's just an infinitesimal speck in 
the creation itself, and yet it's so large. You think of the 
power just to make a mountain and then our mind should expand 
beyond that and think of the universe and all things therein. 
What an amazing thing we have in our God who create or made 
all things visible and invisible in the space of six days and 
all very good. What an amazing power. And I 
believe our minds are then to be drawn. from a contemplation 
of the power of God in creation, to the fact that by that same 
power in creation, he brought us forth from deadness to life 
to behold the face of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, that's the 
language of the Apostle Paul there. Our redemption is wrought 
by the same power that was exercised in creation. Creation moves us 
to praise God, but it also moves us to have our minds focused 
upon redemption, which was wrought by that same divine power, causing 
us to lay hold with eyes of faith upon the face of Christ. So the 
act of creation, fifthly, under God and creation, the scope of 
creation. Notice the language, create or 
make the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible 
in the space of six days and all very good. So all things 
therein, whether visible or invisible, the scope of creation. Thanks, 
Steve, appreciate it. The scope of creation is that 
he made all things. This language of the world, appreciate 
it, this language of the world doesn't simply mean Earth, it 
means the cosmos, the universe. This is something that you'll 
see in the theological tradition. At the point of creation, whenever 
the term the world is used, it doesn't simply mean earth, it 
means everything. The heavens and the earth, all 
things therein, whether visible or invisible. So, when you see 
the world in these contexts, it means everything, the cosmos, 
the universe. And of course, we will, in a 
sense, but the language is simple. We will skip by it quickly. But we want to note here in the 
space of six days, and these are six literal days, there, 
of course, has been diversity within the early church, within 
orthodox treatments of the Trinity that had thought among the early 
church, and perhaps even some scholastics, but definitely in 
the early church, where they thought that this language was was more. they would say, angelically reflective 
of a singular moment in time where God created all things 
out of nothing. In other words, it was instantaneous. But we 
hold with the solid tradition that these six days are six literal 
24-hour periods. The confessionalists did in the 
space of six days means exactly that, in the space of six literal 
days and all very good. So that's God and creation. Next 
off, we want to look at man and creation. So man and creation. The first thing we notice here 
is the binary nature of man's creation. After God had made 
all other creatures, he created man, male and female. So the 
binary nature of God's creation, specifically as it pertains to 
man, it is the case that He created man, male and female. We know the Genesis account, 
but you can turn to the book of Matthew with me, because here 
the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 19 upholds the Genesis account. upholds the Genesis account as 
that which reflects the proper reality concerning the creation 
of man. Notice in Matthew 19 at verse 
1. In fact, not only does he uphold 
it, but in upholding it, he's quoting Genesis. So this is Matthew 
19.1. Now it came to pass, when Jesus 
had finished these sayings, that he departed from Galilee and 
came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes 
followed him, and he healed them there. The Pharisees also came 
to him testing him and saying to him, is it lawful for a man 
to divorce his wife for just any reason? And he answered and 
said to them, have you not read that he who made them at the 
beginning made them male and female and said for this reason 
a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his 
wife and the two shall become one flesh? So you see here Christ 
upholding the binary nature of man's creation that God in the 
beginning created man male and female. And so, of course, Christians 
uphold this clear reality that there are two genders, male and 
female, and that God created them such. And notice that he 
created them with reasonable and immortal souls, which brings 
us to man's distinction from and dignity relative to all other 
creatures. So this is the second point under 
man and creation. Man's distinction from and dignity 
relative to all other creatures. We see this first in the language 
of the confession with reasonable and immortal souls. uh... it is only man well it doesn't 
it doesn't say here it's not talking about angels here so 
we can set that aside for a moment but with respect to man here 
with reasonable and immortal souls Animals don't have reasonable 
souls, and they don't have immortal souls. In fact, they don't have 
souls. So we need to note this in man's distinction and dignity 
relative to all other creatures. The first point is that we have 
reasonable and immortal souls. Remember at that point in creation, 
the creation account where God breathes his spirit into man? Animals did not receive that 
divine breathing, if you will. It was only man that received 
that. And that is, theologians have 
recognized something there with respect to the soul, with respect 
to the image of God. And so our dignity, our distinction 
relative to all other creatures is seen first there with reasonable 
and immortal souls. This is Augustine. with regards 
to this language. Well, actually, we'll wait for 
the Augustine quote in a moment because we want to move on a 
little bit here. Rendering them fit unto that life to God for 
which they were created. So in order to render God, in 
communion with God, the service and the worship that is due unto 
him, a creature, man, needed to have reasonable and immortal 
souls. And notice the language here, 
being made, man, male and female, were made after the image of 
God. So, Remember the Genesis account, 
let us make man in our image. Of course, language with respect 
to Trinitarian doctrine. That our and that us doesn't 
have to do with God commiserating with angels or some sort of, 
what do they call it, divine... the council, thank you, the divine 
council theory, where God, you know, takes into, brings to himself 
the council of angels in order to discuss the creation of man. 
That let us, and that let us make man in that our image has 
to do with Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But remember 
that language, God makes man in his own image. Well, the confession 
elaborates upon what that image is. What is the image of God? The image of God is, in knowledge, 
or the image of God, we could say, is knowledge, righteousness, 
and true holiness. So, man being created in the 
image of God is created with reasonable and immortal souls, 
with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. That is the 
image of God. And man bears it, other creatures 
do not. That is we're not speaking, we're 
leaving angels aside for a moment. Angels are unique and different. 
They do have reasonable and immortal souls. They are spirit, but we're 
just talking about man relative to all other earthly creatures. 
So the image of God is knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. And as we'll see as we move along 
in our confession studies, that image, of course, is gravely 
affected by man's fall into sin. And we'll get to that when we 
get there, though. But our distinction from the 
creatures has to do with reasonable immortal souls and also the image 
of God that by which we were made. knowledge, righteousness, 
and true holiness. And notice, as well, this additional 
clause, having the law of God written in their hearts. There are two ways in which the 
law of God can be written upon or is written upon man's heart. The first way is creationally 
or creatively. So, by virtue of man's creation, 
we have the Law of God written upon our hearts. Prior to the 
Fall, it bore a different manifestation, as the language will go on here 
to say, and as we'll see when we move on to Chapter 6, what 
actually is going on with respect to that image, with respect to 
sin and with respect to man's approach to the law of God as 
it is written upon the heart. But nevertheless, by virtue of 
creation, man has the law of God written upon his heart. You 
know, the man knows to a certain degree and in a certain sense 
upon his conscience when he has violated the law of God. It doesn't 
bear the same weight, of course, and the same severity. and the 
same impact and effects as it does upon one who has been made 
alive in Christ by amazing grace. But nevertheless, man, I mean, 
you know, Jim's talked about it before. Why do thieves seek 
the cover of night in order to break into a house? Well, they 
know thievery is wrong. They're trying to hide themselves. 
You know, why do criminals seek to hide their, you know, to hide 
their illicit activities devilish machinations. It's because they 
know it's wrong. Obviously, they don't want to 
get caught. But in there, in that, in an image marred by the 
fall into sin, nevertheless, their conscience, their consciences 
are aware of the law of God written upon their hearts. So the law of God in, well, let's 
just, we're just speaking, going back then to creation and to 
Adam and Eve prior to the fall, having the law of God written 
in their hearts and power to fulfill it. So that's two things. Oh, I didn't say the second way 
in which the law of God is written upon the heart. So creatively, 
the law of God is written upon the heart and then redemptively. 
You remember that Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 in the announcement, 
the promise of the new covenant, that God will write his law upon 
their hearts. So that is a secondary writing 
of the law upon the heart in the new creation. That is, by 
virtue of amazing grace, God calling us from darkness to light, 
he writes the law upon our hearts redemptively so that we will 
do those things in cheerful obedience to the God who has brought us 
forth by His grace. And so, not only is the law of 
God written upon their hearts at creation, but also they're 
given power to fulfill it. And it elaborates a bit here, 
it doesn't get yet to the fall into sin, because that's chapter 
6, but, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left 
to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. 
We know this by the account of the fall that man was subject 
to change in the garden because he fell. So to a little bit of 
a spoiler alert before we get to chapter 6, but you know the 
story anyway. They had the law written upon 
their hearts. They had power to fulfill it. 
and yet under a possibility of transgressing. So, man's distinction 
from and dignity relative to creation. This is Augustine on 
the image of God, helpful language to sort of capture the idea of 
what the image of God is. God then made man in his own 
image, for he created for him a soul endowed with reason and 
intelligence, so that he might excel all the creatures of earth, 
air, and sea, which were not so gifted. And when he had formed 
the man out of the dust of the earth, and had willed that his 
soul should be such as I have said, whether he had already 
made it, and now by breathing imparted it to man, or rather 
made it by breathing, so that the breath which God made by 
breathing, for what else is to breathe than to make breath, 
is the soul." So that distinction that we have from the creatures 
is noted well here by the confessionalists. And this comports with the idea 
of creation manifesting the glory of God peculiarly in the redemption 
of man, who was created in man's image, which image was marred 
and man fell. and Christ comes in due time 
to redeem him. So, man and creation. We also have, thirdly, under 
man and creation, we've already noted the law of God. By virtue 
of creation, and we're going to note a distinction here in 
a moment, by virtue of creation, man has the law of God written 
upon his heart. But we'll note here in a moment, 
by virtue of creation, man was not in covenant. Covenant comes 
by revelation. So, fourthly and lastly, man 
creation and covenant. In paragraph three, we move to 
now something setting up the covenantal frame of the confession. Besides the law written in their 
hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge 
of good and evil, which whilst they kept, they were happy in 
their communion with God and had dominion over the creatures. 
So we have here now the covenant of works declared in the chapter 
of creation. So we want to note here, man 
is not in covenant by virtue of creation. Man is in covenant 
by virtue of, we would want to say, condescension. Revelatory condescension might 
be the proper phrase. In fact, in chapter seven, Notice 
the beginning of chapter 7, paragraph 1. We're noting here that man 
is not created in covenant. He is created for covenant, but 
by virtue of creation, he's not in covenant. This comes by subsequent 
revelation and condescension by God. Chapter seven, paragraph 
one. The distance between God and 
the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures 
do owe obedience to him as their creator, yet they could never 
have attained the reward of life by some, but by some voluntary 
condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to 
ex to God, by virtue of them being creature, he being creator. But there's something, just by 
virtue of creation, their obedience to God doesn't allow for the 
attainment of the reward of life. That's why the confession goes 
on to say, yet they could never have attained the reward of life, 
but by some voluntary condescension on God's part. And what is that 
voluntary condescension on God's part? He hath been pleased to 
express that by way of covenant. So, going back to of creation, 
we would want to know that the law of God is written upon the 
heart of man by creation, but covenantal obedience is, of course, 
not established by virtue of creation, but rather that comes 
afterwards, besides the law written in their hearts they received 
a command, again, revelatory condescension, voluntary condescension 
on God's part, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil. So this is the distinction as we move along 
in the confession, a distinction between moral law and positive 
law, or natural law and positive law. There are those things that 
we have as commands by virtue of the nature of God, And then 
those things that are super added or added, which are positive 
laws, which don't necessarily mean that... Another example 
of a positive law is the Lord's... Or another example of a positive 
law maybe would be better pointed at the ceremonial laws. The eating 
of bacon or ham isn't somehow because bacon and ham are intrinsically 
evil. Murder, the taking of a life, 
is intrinsically evil, but the eating of a pig is not intrinsically 
evil. It just has to do with a temporary 
command of God whereby God commands positive obedience to a thing 
for a particular time in order to communicate a particular purpose. 
So we have a distinction here between law and covenant. and 
we have a distinction between natural or moral law and positive 
law. They received a command not to 
eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When we get 
to chapter 6, we'll note there the fall of Adam and Eve. and 
then more to do with those precepts that are positive in nature. 
And then notice, lastly, communion with God, which, whilst they 
kept, they were happy in their communion with God and had dominion 
over the creatures. So there's something very important 
here, among other things, that the confession is setting up. 
this pre-fall communion with God, we get to the fall, and 
that communion with God is severed and lost, and we get to redemption 
after chapter six, and that's where that communion with God 
is restored in and by the second Adam, Jesus Christ. So we have 
this communion with God in this pre-fall reality, The fall comes, 
man is thrusted into sin and depravity, and then the second 
Adam comes in order to restore us unto communion with God. In the garden, it's lost. In 
Christ, it's regained. And this sets up the rest of 
the story, essentially, here. We'll have providence in chapter 
5. and then from 6, that's where 
we have something of a larger transitional point from the fall 
to now redemption in Christ. And 7 through the end of the 
confession really all has to do with the glory of Christ in 
the salvation of sinners. And maybe we can close with this 
particular point getting back to the purpose of creation for 
the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, 
and goodness. When we look at the creation, 
when we consider creation, when we reflect even upon the complexity 
of ourselves, when we reflect upon our own humanity, when we 
reflect upon our own reasonable and immortal souls, when we consider 
creation, and we often should consider creation, we all have 
eyes that work. Maybe some that don't work as 
good as others, but we all have eyes that work. We can cast our 
eyes upon the beauty of God's creation, and that's to draw 
us from those things visible to the one who is glorious in 
his invisibility, that is God Almighty. And we're to move beyond 
that to realize that the purpose of creation, finally and ultimately 
and specifically, is the redemption of the lost sons of Adam through 
the second Adam, Jesus Christ, in bringing many sons to glory 
by amazing and victorious grace. And so as we think upon creation, 
let's think upon those things. And as we go into worship here 
in 32 minutes, let's think upon our great God and the glory of 
his creative power. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for this time studying your truth. We pray that you 
would humble us before you. We pray that you would help us 
to glory in you, our creator. We pray that our reflections 
upon creation would rise our hearts up to high thoughts of 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray that you'd help us to 
go into this hour of worship thinking of you, worshiping you, 
dwelling upon your eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. We pray 
in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Any questions 
about anything covered here in this chapter? Creation, anything? 
Maybe that wasn't covered. Any questions on creation?