THE MOST IMPORTANT BIBLICAL TEACHING
JACK COTTRELL – MARCH 2022

I. What is the most important Biblical teaching – and WHY?
A. What is the church’s main task or job in this world of sin? One response: preach the gospel and make disciples (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19). That sounds good, but the gospel is not our only message for the world. See 1 Tim. 3:15, which says that “the church of the living God” is meant to be “the pillar and support of the truth.” Note that Paul says “THE truth” (with the definite article), and not just SOME truth.
B. Truth about what? Jesus and salvation? Yes, but there is more to “THE truth” than just what the Bible says about Jesus and salvation! The church’s job is to declare to the world the IMPORTANT truth about EVERYTHING. This is what we call a WORLD VIEW — in this case, the BIBLICAL world view. The Bible is not just a book on “How to be saved.” Rather, it answers the question, “What’s it all about?”
C. Now – of all the important truth in the Bible, what is MOST important of all? Again you will be tempted to say – the truth about JESUS: His death, resurrection, ascension. But for various reasons, this is not the case! How so? Think of the Biblical world view as a BUILDING, in which all important truth is built into a glorious structure. See the reference to “pillar and support” in 1 Tim. 3:15 again. (Both terms refer to support elements in a large building, such as a cathedral.) When you look at that building, what do you see? Yes, you SEE what rests upon the ground, or perhaps the very top of the building, which in the case of the church is indeed the building’s very top: Jesus and salvation!
But in a building, the most important part is not what you SEE, or what is above ground. Rather, the most important part is below ground – the building’s FOUNDATION! The foundation is what holds the rest of the building up and steady. See Jesus’s parable of the two foundations in Matt. 7:24-27. In view of this parable, what is the solid rock foundation holding up the rest of the Biblical world view? The answer is CREATION! I.e., the very first words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”!
D. WHY should we consider Creation to be the foundation of the Biblical world view? Because — pay close attention — the truth of everything else ultimately depends on the FACT that the God of the Bible brought this “everything else” into existence out of nothing!
What is one of the most frequent questions we hear today? Usually, it is something like this: “Why is the world in such a mess?” Or, “Why does evil have such a strong grip on the world?” (See Matt. 24:6-11.) But what leads people to do the awful things we see happening all around us, especially today? We see the external disasters such as wars and disease and weather tragedies, but we are also seeing our culture and the very structures of civilization collapsing from within! Evil pervades much of our educational system, from grade school to universities; the entertainment world is devoted to all sorts of immorality; our perverted media cannot be trusted; the legal and judicial aspects of government make decisions defending anti-Biblical activities; the integrity of relationships involving marriage and family and sexual identity is mocked; all religions except Christianity are defended and protected.
How has our world, especially our country, become so anti-Christian? One of the main reasons — if not THE main reason — is that our modern culture has given up the truth of CREATION!
How does this work? Here’s the deal: Genesis 1-2 are in many ways the most important chapters in the Bible. Why? First, they affirm to us the FACT of creation; and second, they tell us the KIND of world God created and intended to continue forever into the future. If we reject this teaching, then we also give up everything else that grows out of and depends upon the fact and nature of creation. What are these dependent things? (See point II, next.)

II. What else do we give up when we reject CREATION? I will simply list these things here:
A. The existence of God Himself. The existence of the universe itself requires an omnipotent CREATOR. How else can we reasonably answer the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” God and Creation are inseparable. “In the beginning God created . . . ” (Gen. 1:1).
B. The reality of absolute TRUTH. Absolute truth is possible ONLY if there is an omniscient mind, and such unlimited understanding of all things is possible only within the CREATOR of all things. I.e., who can truly understand all things except their Creator? (This one point by itself makes creation the most important Biblical teaching, because it affects everything else.)
C. The reality of absolute RIGHT and WRONG, and thus the very concept of SIN. Who would know what goes against the very nature of things except the CREATOR of all things Himself?
D. The inherent GOODNESS of all things. I.e., nothing is evil by nature. See Gen. 1:31. The corruption and perversion of existing things is the result of sin and God’s curse upon sin (Gen. 3).
E. Human beings are 100% created (Gen. 1:26; see Genesis 2). Both human bodies and human spirits (souls) are created. The human spirit is neither divine nor eternal.
F. Human beings, and human beings alone, are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). The true understanding of human nature comes from our relation to God, not to the animal world.
G. Human beings have ruling authority over the rest of physical creation (Gen. 1:28). We are not subject to “Mother Nature,” and our existence is not of equal importance with the animal world.
H. God speaks to human beings in human languages (Gen. 1:28ff.; 2:16-17). This is extremely important for the existence of absolute truth and for our understanding of the nature of the Bible. I.e., even if the Creator knows the absolute truth about all things, that would not help us unless He communicated that truth to us in word revelation.
I. Human labor is a natural and necessary aspect of our existence (Gen. 1:28). This labor was intended to spread the “Garden of Eden” environment throughout the planet (Gen. 2:15).
J. Human beings are by nature two (and only two) genders, and those two genders are male and female (Gen. 1:27). The sexual relationship between male and female is the natural and normal way to perpetuate the human race (Gen. 1:28).
K. Marriage is intended to be between a male and a female (Gen. 2:18-25). Same-sex marriage contradicts the purpose of creation.
L. The male is intended to have authority (headship) over the female. This is seen by the way Genesis 2 is written and by the comments on Genesis 2 in 1 Cor. 11:1-16 and 1 Tim. 2:12-13. Five things about Genesis 2 show that the male is the head or authority over the female. (These are explained in my book, Gender Roles and the Bible, pp. 80-102.)
1. The male is CENTRAL in the narrative of Genesis 2.
2. The male was created FIRST. (See 1 Tim. 2:12-13.)
3. The woman was created FROM the man. (See 1 Cor. 11:8.)
4. The woman was created FOR the man. (See 1 Cor. 11:9.)
5. The man NAMED the woman.

ADDENDUM. If the creation event in Genesis 1-2 still governs how we should live, is SATURDAY still our special day for remembering our relation to God (Gen. 2:1-3)? Answer: NO.
1. The reason why God chose the 7th day as Israel’s special day of rest was to honor His deliverance of Israel from their labor in Egypt. They were commanded to REST on THIS day for THIS reason (Deut. 5:14-15). Thus the 7th day had a special meaning only under the old covenant and old creation.
2. Thus when Jesus came He began a NEW covenant and a NEW CREATION (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10). The event that began this NEW creation was His resurrection from the dead, which happened on the FIRST day of the week (Matt. 28:1). Christians do not celebrate the END of the OLD creation with the SEVENTH day, but the BEGINNING of the NEW creation with the FIRST day.
[For more details on this point, see the essay on this website titled “Sunday: The Church’s Holy Day.” See the same in my book, The Church of Jesus Christ (CRA, 2019, pp. 113ff.).]