URCNA Synod Escondido 2001 On Creation

Synod affirms that Scripture teaches, as summarized by the Creeds and the Three Forms of Unity:

  • The authority and perspicuity of Scripture (Belgic Confession V; Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day VII).
  • Necessity and sufficiency of Scripture (Belgic Confession VII; Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day VII).
  • God the Father almighty created the heavens and the earth and all things visible and invisible (Apostle’s and Nicene Creed).
  • The Father created the heavens and the earth out of nothing (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day IX).
  • God gave every creature its shape and being (Belgic Confession XII).
  • The creation and fall of man. “God made man of the dust of the earth; man gave ear to the devil.” (Belgic Confession XIV).
  • The historicity of Adam (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day VII.20; Canons of Dort III, IV.1).
  • Man was created good, in a garden, and tempted by the devil, committed reckless disobedience (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day III and IV).
  • God’s words to the serpent in Paradise are noted as the first revelation of the Gospel (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day VI).
  • Adam plunged himself and his offspring by his first transgression into perdition (Belgic Confession XVI).
  • Adam’s fall into sin and our connection to it (Canons of Dort I.1).
  • God came seeking man when he, trembling, fled from Him (Belgic Confession XVII).
  • God created all things good in six days defined as evenings and mornings (Genesis 1 & 2 and Exodus 20:11). This means that we reject any evolutionary teaching, including theistic evolution, concerning the origin of the earth and of all creatures (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day IX).
  • Synod affirms our commitment as churches to discipline those who teach anything that stands in conflict with the Bible, as summarized in the Creeds and the Three Forms of Unity.