The Apostles and Genesis #1

We have multiple streams flowing into the river, as it were, all contributing to the great river of truth that we receive about the reliability of Genesis. What do the apostles say about the book of Genesis? Since Jesus spoke with authority regarding the events and people described in the book of Genesis, what should we expect from his apostles? Well, today on The Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green will answer that question as he continues our series, You Can Trust Genesis, with part one of a message titled, The Apostles and Genesis. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and Don, why is this message an important part of the series as a whole?

Well, Bill, I think it rounds out the totality of what we've been trying to say here, which is this. The Bible speaks with one voice about the authority and the historicity of the accounts of Genesis. Jesus and the apostles, speaking thousands of years later, look back and treat it as historical fact. The Bible is in agreement with itself about the nature of origins. My friend, the question is, are you in agreement with the Bible?

Today's broadcast will help you. Thanks, Don. And friend, have your Bible open and ready as we join Don Green now in The Truth Pulpit. There is another aspect of the authority of Christ that stands behind the book of Genesis to affirm it completely and without question. And that deals with the authority of the apostles and the way that the apostolic writings, just like Jesus did, also affirm the authority of the book of Genesis.

And that's more significant than it might seem at first glance. It's important for you to remember what we have said about the apostles in the past, and I want to just kind of review it here today. When we speak about the apostles of Christ, we are speaking about that limited, finite circle of first century men who spoke on behalf of Christ, who were authorized by Christ to speak for him, who were the vessels of God's completed revelation to the church for all of time. And so these apostles were speaking on behalf of and with the full authority of Christ, and we need to look at that for a moment and then see what they said about the book of Genesis. And so we're going to break this down into two parts.

First of all, I just want to remind you of some things that we've said in the past. First of all, about Jesus and the apostles. Jesus and the apostles. Jesus conferred authority, conferred his authority on the apostles to represent him. So that when they taught, they taught with the full authority of Christ. There is no diminishment of authority from Jesus to the apostles.

Just as a man can appoint an agent and that agent can go out and represent him in his business dealings, so in a greater way, Jesus appoints the apostles to speak on his behalf after his ascension into heaven. And we find this laid out for us in such clear manner in the New Testament. Look at Mark chapter 3 as we begin, and as you're turning to Mark chapter 3, the great issue that is at stake here is what is the truth and how do we know what the truth is? And that is a question of no small import, because if we want to worship God acceptably, we have to go to him exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ, and Jesus said that if we want to worship God, we must do so in spirit and in truth. We are not free agents who are able to make up our own theories about what truth is, and then believing our own thoughts and our own theories or the theories of other men, go and think that we're worshiping God acceptably. God has revealed himself in his word. God has declared what is true in his word, and if we are to worship him truly, we must worship him believing him according to what he has revealed to be true in his word. And that encompasses the entirety of Scripture, it encompasses the book of Genesis, it encompasses what God has said about the nature of where we came from as humans and how he has dealt with us. And all of that historical matter of origin is revealed in the book of Genesis, so this is foundational to true worship of God.

That's why we're dealing with this so carefully. First of all, Jesus and the apostles, that's our first point. And the simple statement that I want to make to start this point is that Jesus conferred authority on the apostles to represent him. These men were his authorized delegates.

They were his ambassadors who could truly speak on his behalf. Mark chapter 3 verse 13, you see this. Mark chapter 3 verse 13 says that Jesus went up on the mountain and summoned those whom he himself wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed 12 so that they would be with him and that he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. These 12 men have an elevated place in the redemptive plan of God. They are authorized representatives, uniquely and exclusively authorized to be vessels of his revelation. And so the apostles hold a place in the foundation of the church that no one else has ever held and will ever hold. There are no apostles today, despite the men who claim to be apostles.

That claim is false, and that is not true. And we have messages on the authority of the apostles that you can find at our website that goes into that in more detail. And we see that Jesus appointed these men, particularly by himself, on his own authority. He said, I want you men to represent me and to go out and preach. In John 15 verse 16, he said, speaking to the apostles, he said, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit. So here's the thing, beloved.

This is a really simple point, but one with very far-reaching consequences. For those of us that own Christ as Lord, that name him as Lord, that receive him and submit to him and follow him as Lord, we must recognize that he appointed these apostles to be his unique representative so that the apostles speak with the authority of Christ in their written writings. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 37, I believe that it is, that he said, I want you to realize that the things that I write to you are the Lord's commandment. And so when the apostles spoke, when the apostles speak in the New Testament writings, they are speaking with the authority of Christ. Look at Matthew chapter 28, turning back just a couple of pages in your Bible. Matthew 28 beginning in verse 16. Matthew 28 verse 16 says, but the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, this is after the resurrection of Christ. They proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And then he tells the disciples, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. Christ declares his authority and then by that very authority, he tells the apostles to go out and teach. The apostles taught, the apostles wrote based on the authority, on the power, on the prerogative, conferred upon them by Christ himself.

And that means that they speak with authority to the church in their writings. Look over at the book of Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 in verse 2, it says that Luke is writing and describing what Jesus began to do and teach from verse 1. Verse 2, until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. He ordered the apostles to go out on his behalf.

And in verse 7, he says, it is not for you to know times or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority. This is verse 7, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. So as the apostles went out preaching, as the apostles wrote the word of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they were doing so not as independent agents, but as those who had been ordered to do so by Christ himself. And so they spoke with the authority of Christ and they spoke with one other thing that needs to be remembered here. Turn to John chapter 14.

We're just laying the groundwork so that we will give the proper respect and belief and deference to what the apostles say. In John chapter 14, in verse 25, Jesus says to the disciples in the upper room, he says, these things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 16.

We're kind of laying out a lot of different passages to pull together and make a final point here in just a moment. John chapter 16, verse 12, Jesus said to the disciples, to those gathered with him in the upper room, that limited group of men, verse 12, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come.

So, here's what's going on. In these passages in the book of John, Jesus promises his disciples, the eleven that were left after Judas had departed from the room, he promises to clothe them with the Holy Spirit, with the third person of the Trinity, shortly after his departure. And he promises them and he tells them what the ministry of the Holy Spirit will be in their lives and in their ministry. The Spirit will guide them into the truth. The Spirit will instruct them and bring to their remembrance all that Christ said.

The Spirit would be the guarantee that what the apostles spoke on behalf of Christ would be true, would be accurate, would be the very word of God. And so, when we consider the writings of the apostle, we realize that there is an authority of the Godhead that is placed upon them that is quite staggering. Christ himself appoints them. Christ chooses them, commands them, go and speak on my behalf. And alongside of that, as they begin to minister after Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and the Holy Spirit has come upon them, we realize that the Holy Spirit himself is empowering them, is directing them, is guiding them, protecting them from error, and giving them the ability to speak the truth.

So that the third person of the Blessed Trinity guided the words of the apostles as they transmitted the history and interpretation of Christ without error in the New Testament. They spoke on behalf of God. They spoke under the inspiration of God. They spoke with the authority of God. They spoke with the accuracy of God.

This is critical. This is why we heed the writings of the New Testament. This goes to the most fundamental issues of how we know truth. Beloved, the church was founded on the apostles' teaching. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20.

In fact, let's look over that to that key verse for just a moment. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20 says that the church is, look at verse 20, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. The church built on the apostles, by which it means built on the teaching and the instruction of the apostles. Everything about the church of Jesus Christ builds on the foundation of what the apostles taught, what God revealed through the apostles. And their witness continues today in the New Testament.

These are really weighty matters. These are fundamental to knowing what truth is. And what we see is that Jesus Christ himself, the Lord of the universe, is the guarantee that the apostles were trustworthy in all that they said. He appointed them, he commissioned them, he sends them out, he sends the Spirit upon them so that these men, the 12 plus Paul, were uniquely authorized to be the vessels of God's revelation upon which the church would stand.

Now, that has a lot of consequences. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states it this way in his book titled Authority at pages 59 and 60. Speaking of Christ, he says, he enlightens and reveals his will and teaching to these apostles, endows them with a unique authority, fills them with the needed ability and power, and gives them the teaching that is essential to the well-being of the church and God's people." So, this is the biblical understanding of the role of the apostles in the church and the authority that they held.

They are completely trustworthy. They speak with the very authority of God. Their words recorded for us in Scripture are the very words of God himself. That is how it pleased God, how it pleased Christ to give his revelation to the church.

It pleased him to do it through these men. And so they were perfectly trustworthy in all that they said. Now, that's just a general foundation for our more specific concern that brings us here dealing with the authority of Genesis, dealing with the authenticity and the reliability of the book of Genesis as it pertains to the worldwide flood, as it pertains to creation and matters of man and woman and marriage and gender and all of these matters. What do the apostles have to say about it? What do the apostles and their circle say about the book of Genesis? Well, last time when we looked at Jesus, we walked through Genesis from chapter 1 to chapter 50 seeing that in broad and sometimes specific terms, Jesus affirmed it all. If what we've said about the apostles is true, we would expect to see a parallel attitude of the apostles that is perfectly consistent with Christ.

We have multiple streams flowing into the river, as it were, all contributing to the great river of truth that we receive about the reliability of Genesis. If what we've said about the apostles is true, we would expect the authorized representatives of Christ to be consistent with the one who sent them out. If what we've said about the authority of the apostles is true. Well, let's take a look and see if this, what we have said, bears up to scrutiny.

We'll come to point number 2 now. We saw Jesus and the apostles. Now we want to look at point number 2, the apostles and Genesis. The apostles and Genesis. How do the apostles look at Genesis?

What do they say about it? How do the apostles use the teaching of Genesis in their own writing when they are continuing and carrying out the revelatory ministry that Jesus commanded them to do? How do the apostles use the source material? It's going to seem like we're jumping around in the New Testament in kind of a random way perhaps, but actually there's a method to our madness, and what we're doing is we're going to, we're going to walk through the teaching of the apostles following the chronology of Genesis as we do, and this will make sense as we go along.

I'm confident in your ability to follow what I'm about to say. First of all, the apostles affirm the account of creation from Genesis chapter 1 and 2. The apostles affirm the account of creation from Genesis 1 and 2. What we're going to do now is repeat the same approach we did with the teaching of Genesis from the four gospels now following that same pattern, that same methodology in the writings of the apostles and their associates.

So we're going to jump around a little bit, but there's a method to the madness. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Our point here is that the apostles affirm the account of creation from Genesis 1 and 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2 beginning in verse 12.

Paul says, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. Now on what basis does he make that broad statement of church order? He appeals to the creation account in Genesis, verse 13. For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve, and it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

Paul bases a principle of church government that he intends to be carried out in all of the churches. He bases the rationale for his principle on the assumption of the truthfulness of the account found in Genesis of creation of Adam and Eve. If he had considered that to be a fable, to be something that was not representative of what really happened, he could not possibly give a principle to guide the church in truth that's based on a false historic representation. He is obviously assuming the factual truthfulness of the account of creation when he gives that instruction. Turn over to the right in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4, where we see again the account of creation affirmed with clarity by the writers of Scripture. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 4 says that, he has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. This is Genesis 1, this is Genesis 2 that he's quoting here. He's alluding to, taking it at face value, referring to a seventh day, not a seventh age, not an indefinite period of millions of years. He's referring to the seventh day, just like Genesis teaches. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3, I'll just read it very quickly. Hebrews 11, verse 3 says, By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Genesis 1, 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And so we see in these three sample passages, the apostles taking the account of creation, literally at face value in the writings of the New Testament. They go on to affirm, the apostles do, the history of Adam's sons from Genesis chapter 4. Turn to your right in your Bible, a few pages, to the book of 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, where it says in verse 11, This is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. What does he ground that statement upon? How does he enforce the command to love one another? Well, he uses a negative example in verse 12. Not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. We should not be surprised that those men chosen by Christ would reference the people and events of Genesis as absolute historical fact. Pastor Don Green will continue his survey of the apostles' writing on the subject next time here on The Truth Pulpit as he concludes our series, You Can Trust Genesis.

Please don't miss a moment. Meanwhile, we invite you to visit our website, thetruthpulpit.com. There you can download free podcasts or find out how to receive free CD copies of Don's series. And if you want to go even more in depth, you'll also find the link Follow Don's Pulpit. That'll take you to Don's full-length weekly sermons, not subject to the time editing needed for radio broadcasts. And if you happen to be in the Cincinnati area, check out the service times for Truth Community Church. That's also on our website. And plan a visit because we'd love to welcome you. I'm Bill Wright, and we'll see you next time for more from The Truth Pulpit.