Great Doctrines of the Bible—God the Father, God the Son/ Martyn Lloyd Jones

12. the Creation of the World 

First of all, certain general points must be made: a). “we are not given a fully detailed account or philosophy of creation and yet we claim that the account which we are given is wholly accurate” (127); b). “God made everything out of nothing. The world has a distinct existence but it is always dependent upon God”; c). “The Bible does not give a reason for creation. It did not happen as the result of a need in God; there was no necessity for it. Neither was it because of His love. It was a free act according to His will and glory and, ultimately, we do not know the reason why” (128).

Lloyd Jones states, “creation was the work of the triune God”: “So it is the perfect work of the Three-in-One-out of the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Or, as it has been expressed: the being is in the Father, the idea is in the Son and life is in the Spirit” (128). (See John 1:3; 1 Corinthian 8:6; Col. 1:16).

As for the “time” of creation, Lloyd Jones indicates that there is no time with God (128). Also, the words that are used in the Bible concerning creation are these:
a). bara: “calling into being without the aid of pre-existing material. . . describes divine activity”;
b). asah: this means “to prepare out of exiting material”;
c). yatsar: this means “to fashion out of pre-existing material” in Genesis 2:7(129).

What exactly happened at creation?
“Day 1: The creation of light.
Day 2: The creation of the expanse and the separation of the waters.
Day 3: The separation of water and dry land and the preparation of the earth as a habitation for man and beast
Day 4: The creation of light-bearers
Day 5: The creation of the birds of the air and fish of the sea
Day 6: The creation of the beasts of the field, cattle and creeping things and man” (130).


The dispute between science and the Bible is greatly exaggerated: a). “what poses as science is not science but merely opinion and supposition,” and “what is regarded as biblical is very often not the biblical teaching” (133).

One of the disputes is about the theory of evolution. Firstly, Lloyd Jones defines evolution: “Evolution as it is commonly and popularity understood means this: life is something that generates itself; it is a force and a power in and of itself and it produces one type out of a previous type” (136). Lloyd Jones’ comments on the theory are as follows: a). “evolution is only a theory. Nobody can prove it” (137). He suggests that we ask those who believe in the theory of evolution a question: “Which particular brand or theory of evolution do you believe?” We will find that even those believers don’t know there is more than one theory. Although there are many theories, none of them explains the ultimate origin of everything. Besides, “evidence provided by fossils. . . . there is a fixity of types” (137), and “every new types appeared suddenly” (138). In addition, through the statements of some representative scientists who believe in the theory of evolution, we found that, as a matter of fact, there is no scientific evidence for the theory of evolution; it is merely a conviction, and a pseudo-scientific dogmatism.