The idea of progressive creationism.

We begin by acknowledging God as the Creator, something science by its own limitations can neither admit nor deny. Progressive creationism fully accepts the physical evidence for an old earth, but parts company with mainstream science when it comes to evolution. The fossil record clearly shows life has changed with time. But stasis, not change, is the observed pattern for creatures once they are introduced into the fossil record. The ability of natural selection to produce novel organs or a change in body plan is only suggested by the fossil record. It has not been proven.

Evolutionists are certain transitional fossils prove evolution. These fossils do exist, but it cannot be proved they are ancestral links between two groups of creatures. They may be. If so, the idea that they represent an intentional genetic bridge used by God to transform one type of creature into another is as valid a theory as evolution. The Scripture states that major leaps in the development of life occurred abruptly and by the direct intervention of God. Natural selection, environmental pressures, and mutations do explain changes on a limited basis — observed speciation — but even this is totally by the will of God.

But what if gradualism could be proven irrefutably? Would this mean Genesis is not the living word of God? Absolutely Not! The trustworthiness of Genesis is not dependent on these theories. Determining which theory is correct will not greatly enhance our understanding of Genesis, since it is not about species and kinds. So what is Genesis talking about? If there are limitations, where are they? And just what work did God rest from on day 7?

The correct placing of limits is at the level of division listed in the creation days of Genesis chapter one: “this is not at the folk kind.” To see this will require a closer look at Scripture. The following, found in the New Testament, was written by the Apostle Paul. It is part of his teaching on the resurrection of the dead in Christ, but it also sheds some light on the subject at hand:

“When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another” (1 Cor 15:37-39 NIV).

In order to grasp what is being said in Genesis chapter one, we need to understand what Paul means when he says all flesh is not the same. The genetic code of a lion makes it physically different than a tiger and yet we see from observed speciation that it is possible they had a common ancestor. They may not be of the same species, but they are very similar. Notice that in the passage above, the divisions listed are not nearly as limiting as lion kind and tiger kind, or even a broader grouping like the cat kind.

Paul mentions plants (seed), plus four different divisions of flesh; man, animal, bird, and fish. Genesis follows this same pattern with plants on day 3, fish and birds on day 5, then on day 6 animals, followed by man. These are God's creation limits. There are creatures that don't immediately seem to fit into any of these categories, insects for instance. A cricket is not a gill-breathing fish, and it is hard to imagine it is to be grouped with animals such as the tiger. So where do insects fit in? It seems we may have misunderstood what makes one type of flesh different from another and therefore we miss the point Genesis is making.

God is not concerned in Genesis with detailing and limiting the species that He creates and makes. If He were, chapter one would be a lot longer than 31 verses. In fact, only 12 of these verses relate directly to living things, and of these, only 8 are concerned with the actual creating and making of them. This is not very many verses to have caused all this fuss. Most of the chapter is concerned with the creating and ordering of the cosmos and the preparation of the earth to sustain human life.

The one theme consistently presented is that God is the Creator and maker of all that exists in the universe. God is the author of time, space, matter, and life. Rather than limiting the species, Scripture is declaring God's sovereignty over all things. It is an expression of the ordering of the developing relationship God has planned for His creation, the establishing of the limits creation will have with its surroundings and ultimately with Him. Obviously a sparrow relates to the world in a different manner than does a fern, just as man relates differently to God than does a horse. This is the Biblical difference that separates one type of flesh from another.

One final item. It is not necessary for God to have created all the species of each type of flesh on the day it is mentioned in Genesis. In fact, that is not what He did. Remember — observed speciation. On each of the creation days the important point to grasp is that God has created a new limit. Just as God has ordered the natural laws of the universe, like gravity or the strong nuclear force, to behave in a certain manner, so He has ordered the way life progresses. We cannot change the laws of physics, and no amount of evolution can overcome God's limits. God rested from His work of creating limits on day 7. He will once again create new limits when this day-age ends.

Summarizing, the creation is subject to the limitations placed on it by God. These limitations have some physical characteristics but actually concern the relationship of the creation to the Creator. Using 1 Cor 15:37-39 as a pattern, the relationships can be broken down into five limitations: plants, fish, birds, animals, and man.