We believe that in the beginning[1], God created[2] the heavens[3] and the earth and everything that exists out of nothing[4]. God is at once transcendent[5] from, and immanently[6] and intimately[7] involved with[8], in[9], and through what he has made[10].
Everything that God created he declared “very good.”[11]
We believe that God made human beings[12], male and female[13], in his image and likeness[14] and entrusted them to serve as stewards[15] of all creation. The image of God given to us[16] is the grounds for the inherent dignity and worth[17] of all people, everywhere.
Scripture References
[1] Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
[2] John 1:3: “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
– Revelation 4:11: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
[3] Psalm 33:6: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”
[4] Hebrews 11:3: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
[5] Isaiah 55:8-9: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”
– Psalm 113:5-6: “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?”
– John 8:23: “…You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
[6] Acts 17:27: “That they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”
– Deuteronomy 4:7: “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?”
[7] Psalm 139: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar…”
[8] Colossians 1:17 “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
[9] John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
[10] 1 Corinthians 8:6: “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
[11] Genesis 1:31: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
[12] Genesis 2:7: “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
[13] Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
[14] Genesis 5:1: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.”
[15] Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
[16] Psalm 139:13: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”
[17] Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”