Seventh-day Adventists believe that the entire universe came into being through divine creative acts ( Isa. 40:26 ; Ps. 19:1 ; 33:6 ), but that the narrative of Gen. 1 and 2 focuses primarily on this earth and life upon it. They consider the Creation to have been a direct, supernatural event by divine fiat in which both the Father and the Son participated, with the Son as the active agent ( Gen. 1:26 ; Col. 1:16 , 17 ). The Holy Spirit is also mentioned in connection with the Creation account ( Gen. 1:2 ).
Since their beginning SDA s have held the doctrine of a literal creation in one week of time and have used the belief to support the doctrine of the Sabbath ( Review and Herald 1:1, November 1850). They have considered the Sabbath as an institution inseparable from the Creation, “a safeguard against atheism and idolatry,” “a weekly memorial of the living God,” who created all things in six days of time ( ibid. 5:101, Apr. 18, 1854).
SDA s have always affirmed belief in creation ex nihilo —that God was not indebted to previously existing matter when He brought the earth into existence. They have generally taken it for granted that it was on the first day of Creation week that He brought into existence the matter that composed the earth and that He proceeded immediately with the work of the six days. However, almost from the first, some SDA s have allowed that the Genesis account can be understood to mean that God spoke into existence the substance of the earth sometime prior to the events of the six literal days of creation. For example, as early as 1860 the Review and Herald reprinted a selection from The Bible True , in which appeared the statement that there is not “anything in revelation which forbids us to believe that the substance of the earth was formed long before it received its present organization” ( Review and Herald 16:49, July 3, 1860).
On the other hand, J. N. Andrews declared in 1861: “On the first day of the week God created the heavens and the earth. The earth thus called into existence was without form and void” ( ibid. 19:1, Dec. 3, 1861).
A few years later D. T. Bourdeau wrote: “The Bible says that God made heaven and earth as well as all that in them is, in six days. It is in the beginning of the first day, therefore, that God created the heaven and the earth, as spoken of in Gen. 1:1 ” 1 ( ibid. 29:98, Feb. 5, 1867).
Representing the other school of thought, J. P. Henderson wrote in 1887: “The creation of the material substance of the heaven and the earth may have been ages prior to the six days’ work in which it was prepared for the abode of man, and yet do no violence to a single statement in the Bible” ( ibid. 64:418, July 5, 1887).
Seven years later J. G. Matteson, leader of SDA work in Scandinavia, made the following observation: “In six days God created heaven and earth and all that in them is. Ex. 20:11 . He created the heaven and the earth in the beginning. John 1:1 . The solar system to which we belong, and the orb on which we live were consequently made on the first day of the week. Before that time there was nothing in this part of God’s great universe. But the Lord spake, and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. Ps. 33:9 ” 1 ( ibid. 71:722, Nov, 20, 1894).
While not denying observed facts, Seventh-day Adventists have rejected arguments from geology used to support the theory that the days of Creation week were actually long geologic periods ( see Science and Religion ). They point out that the integrity of the Creation week was attested when the law was given at Sinai ( Ex. 20:8–11 ), and that there is no other satisfactory explanation for the origin of the weekly cycle. Since it is absurd to suppose that matter and energy can arise spontaneously out of nothing, the only reasonable solution is to postulate a Creator. SDA s have taken apparent purpose, intricate design, and order in nature as evidences of a Creator of infinite wisdom and limitless power.
SDA s consider the doctrine of a divine creation as the indispensable foundation for Christian and biblical theology. This fact is emphatically attested from Genesis to Revelation. God’s position as Creator is often pointed to as distinguishing Him from all false gods ( 1 Chron. 16:24–27 ; Ps. 96:5–6 ). The God of creation is the God of the moral law, in the heart of which the Sabbath is given as a sign, symbol, and memorial of His creative power ( Ex. 20:8–11 ; 31:13–17 ; Eze. 20:20 ).
The God of creation is also the God of salvation and judgment ( Ps. 89:11–15 ; 146:6–10 ; Rev. 14:7 ). He who has power to create has power to redeem, to restore, to create anew the heavens and the earth, to create within man a clean heart ( Isa. 44:21–28 ; 65:17–25 ; Ps. 51:10 ). The Christ of creation is before all, He upholds all things by the word of His power, and by Him all things consist ( Col. 1:16 , 17 ; Heb. 1:1–3 ). He was in the beginning with God; He became flesh and dwelt among us with power to save ( John 1:1–14 ). The great fact of Creation is thus essential to the fundamental facts of the Christian faith. See also Evolution ; Science and Religion .