On The Survival Of The Species—The Christian One

Here’s some debris of the workshop: This blog germinated while reading the Signature of the Cell and, concurrently, the Epistle to the Galatians while preparing for Sunday evening’s message. President Donald Trump keeps talking about the greatest hoax ever foisted upon the American people. We know what that is all about. But, he’s wrong. The greatest hoax ever foisted upon the American people is the belief that Darwin’s evolutionary theory explains the origin of life. Darwin himself didn’t even believe that. The title of Darwin’s work was “On The Origin of the Species.” Folks read “origin” and jump to a presumptuous, or worse, intentional, conclusion that “origin” references the beginning of biological life—how living things arose from non-living elements. However, to understand that Darwin was not addressing the origin of life itself, one need only note the complete title of his work: “The Origin of Species: The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.” Darwin was not writing of the origin of life, but of the origin and continuance of different species. What Darwin was proposing is captured in a phrase, now famous, coined by a liberal academic and political theorist, Herbert Spencer. Comparing his economic theories to Darwin’s biological theory, Herbert used a phrase, “survival of the fittest.” Another suggested that Darwin use this phrase in explaining his theory. Darwin later adapted and adopted it, which, again, shows that Darwin was proposing a theory that only dealt with the survival of life. There it is. The biggest hoax ever: That Darwin explained both the origin and survival of biological life. Or, as another has put it, “the arrival and the survival of life.” Darwin never explained the arrival of life. Arguably, he didn’t describe the survival of life either. No theory, leaving out an intelligent, infinite Creator can explain the arrival of life. It’s all smoke and mirrors. There are no viable theories. None. But, I’m not writing about biology. I’m writing about a spiritual truth. If you have read this far, you may be asking what in the world does this have to do with Galatians and a Sunday night sermon. Darwinians “know” about the survival of life but not the arrival of life. The Galatians knew about the arrival of spiritual life but not the survival of spiritual life. “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal 3:3). In the terms used above, Paul was saying, “You know the Spirit was needed for the origin of your spiritual life. Can’t you see the Spirit is also needed for the continuance, the survival, of your Spiritual life? Put another way, The Spirit is the agent both of the arrival and the survival of spiritual life. (I’m not addressing the issue of the security of salvation, but the reality of living the life of the Spirit). Any true believer knew his spiritual life began by an act of the Spirit. Jesus had taught that. The Galatian believers were born again of the Spirit. But, somehow, these to whom Paul wrote began to believe they could live the spiritual life, please God, simply by their own efforts, traditions, etc. Impossible, Paul says. Your spiritual life arrived with the Spirit and can only survive by the Spirit—survive until it reaches its end, perfection. That is why he continues: It is the Spirit that prays through you (4:6), giving you the assurance you are a child of God. It is the Spirit that incites you to expect and anticipate the righteousness God will work in your lives (5:5). It is the Spirit that motivates and empowers everyday spiritual living, “walk”ing (5:16). It is the Spirit that contests the innate carnal machinations and motions at work against your spiritual life (5:16-17). It is the Spirit that leads you, enabling you to fulfill God’s righteous requirement by inward empowerment instead of by outward compulsion (5:18). It is the Spirit that produces the fruit of Christian character (5:22). It is the Spirit that gives the very life necessary for Christian living (5:25). It is the Spirit that will bring you to the fruition of eternal life (6:8). For those interested in more the Spirit does, Paul expands this thought in Romans. I am not a Darwinian. I am a Paulinian. Paul could have written a book, On The Arrival and Survival Of The Species Christianicus. All I have said comes to this: We need the Spirit at work in our lives! Not just at the beginning. All the way through. Right now.

On The Survival Of The Species—The Christian One

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