Creation
Understand the Standards' account of creation as God's free work of making all things of nothing for his own glory, and the special dignity given to man as the bearer of God's image.
The eternal decree does not stay in eternity. The first of God's works in time is creation, where the counsel of his will begins to take visible shape. Here the Standards turn from who God is and what he has purposed to what he has actually done in calling a world into being.
Making all things of nothing
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. Each phrase carries weight. To create from nothing is to deny that any matter stood alongside God to limit or assist him; the world owes its very existence to his free and sovereign will. By the word of his power he speaks, and what was not, is — creation is an act of effortless majesty, not of labor or struggle.
The Confession adds that this work belongs to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together, undertaken for the manifestation of the glory of God's eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. That the whole was pronounced very good rules out any notion that the material order is evil or beneath God's care. Creation is the first theater of his glory and the gift in which his goodness is first displayed.
Man in the image of God
Among all the creatures, man holds a unique place. God created man male and female, after his own image, endued with reasonable and immortal souls, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and given dominion over the creatures. The image of God is not chiefly a matter of physical form but of moral and spiritual likeness: man was made to know God truly, to be righteous and holy before him, and to exercise a stewardship over the world that reflects God's own rule.
The Larger Catechism adds the detail that the body of the man was formed from the dust and the woman from his side, grounding the unity and the order of the sexes in the very act of creation. This original righteousness, freely given, sets the stage for everything that follows; it is the height from which the fall will be measured and the pattern to which redemption will restore.
Study the full text, Scripture proofs, and commentary on each:
- Compare WSC Q9 with WLC Q15 and WCF chapter 4, section 1, and ask what each emphasizes about the manner and purpose of creation.
- Read WSC Q10 alongside WLC Q17 and list the components of the image of God; consider how knowledge, righteousness, and holiness will reappear when the Standards treat the fall and salvation.
- On the question pages, trace the Scripture proofs for creation in the space of six days and reflect on how the Standards read the Genesis account.
See how this doctrine is stated across the Reformed confessions side by side.
Creation →