In the Beginning: How Much Do We Know?

One of my favorite television shows from the 1960s is Hogan’s Heroes. I’ll never forget Sergeant Schultz saying, “I know nothing, nothing!”

The actor’s famous line reminds me that we know virtually nothing compared to what God knows. That’s what God helped Job understand. After Job and his friends discussed why God allowed Job to experience such catastrophic events, God spoke to Job.

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Ken Ham, President/CEO
Answers in Genesis

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)

God asks Job many questions to illustrate how great God is compared to finite man.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!” (Job 38:4–6)

After this, Job begins to recognize how finite we humans are.

“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?” (Job 40:4)

“I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . . But now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:3, 5–6)

I want to challenge us to recognize, like Job, that God knows all things, and that we fallible, finite humans know virtually nothing. Colossians 2:3 speaks of our Creator (Jesus), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I am burdened about the many Christian academics and leaders who take aspects of man’s views of origins—concerning evolution and millions of years—and devise creative ways to reinterpret the text of Genesis 1–11, trying to fit in man’s ideas. For example, in his recent book In Quest of the Historical Adam, William Lane Craig argues that the account of Adam’s fall into sin was symbolic and mythical. But Adam’s literal fall is essential to Christ’s work of redemption.

If God is who he says he is, the infinite Creator God (and he is), and if the Bible is his Word (and it is), then we need to make sure we are not trying to change God’s infallible Word to agree with man’s fallible ideas.

We need to understand our sin nature because of our sin in Adam. In Genesis 3:1, the devil tempted Eve: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Then in Genesis 3:5, the devil states, “You will be like God.” These statements sum up man’s sinful nature because we in Adam succumbed to this temptation. Our propensity is to decide “truth” for ourselves. Practically, this means we would rather trust man’s word than God’s Word.

Ultimately, so many Christian academics and leaders reject a literal Genesis because finite, sinful man desires the praise of academic peers in the secular world instead of recognizing that they know nothing compared to God. We all need to learn who God is, just as Job learned, and say, “Now my eye sees you.”