Does the Bible teach the evolution of the species? Or, to be more precise, is the theory of the evolution of the species consistent with what the Scriptures teach about God’s creation of living creatures? The theory of evolution posits that one species develops, naturally, from another, through a process of chance mutation. The hypothesis pictures large scale transformations, such as land animals mutating into flying creatures. What does the Bible say?

Though the question can be approached through various angles, I want to focus on the development of humanity, on the basis of the evolutionary theory. The theory would have us believe that humans came into existence, ultimately, through chance mutations of “primates.” Generally, humans are taken to be members of this larger category of “primates,” which include apes, chimpanzees, gorillas and so forth. Specifically, humans have allegedly developed out of, originally, an apelike species, related to gorillas and chimpanzees (see “human evolution” in the Encyclopedia Britannica). How does that picture hold up in light of the Scriptures?

Before diving into the study, allow me to make two clarifications. First, I am not here addressing the notion of micro-evolution – namely, the development over time, within species, of different breeds. (This is variation within a kind, not the development of new kinds out of existing ones.) An example would be birds of the same species that have longer or shorter beaks. Micro-evolution is observable. It happens. (Incidentally, I am also not referring here to presumed cosmic, stellar or chemical evolution. I will also not even address the theory of life coming, spontaneously and unaided, from non-life.) Second, the theory of the evolution of the species, as it is commonly presented, takes random chance to be the means by which new species originate. In religious adaptation of this theory, however, some see a kind of process guided, ultimately, by God’s sovereignty. Regardless, the same basic chronological and schematic process is involved. There is no foundational difference, in relation to how much these theories diverge from the account given in the Bible.

Let’s begin with an examination of categories. The Bible is full of categorical distinctions, such as: life versus death; holy versus common; heaven, earth and sea; male and female. These categories are meaningful. They provide us with correct understanding of God and the created order and inform us about proper action and speech. Do the categories for living creatures given by the Scriptures provide an understanding of humans as distinct from land-based animals?

First, we should note that the designation “living creature” (Hebrew: nefesh chayah – נפשׁ חיה) is given to fish, land animals of various kinds (cattle, creeping creatures and wild beasts) and humans (Gen 1:20-21, 24; 2:7, 19). A bird, too, is a “living creature” (Hebrew: nefesh chayah – נפשׁ חיה – see Gen 9:10, but also 2:19; 9:12, 15). Another translation of this Hebrew phrase might be “living beings.”

The word for “flesh” (basar – בשׂר), too, can apply to all living creatures, whether land-based or air-based. This includes humanity (Gen 6:17). In addition, “flesh” can be used to refer to humanity, specifically (Gen 6:12–13).

Aquatic life and flying creatures, on the one hand, have their own designations. This is clear in Genesis 1, where God speaks of “fish of the sea” (dagat hayam – דגת הים) and “birds of the sky” (‘of hashamayim – עוף השׁמים – Gen 1:26). The point of these unique designations is reinforced in the account of the flood (Gen 7:14, 9:2). (All such living creatures are created on day five, to fill the sea and sky, each created on day two.) I will not let these creatures detain us here. (Technically, these Hebrew designations correspond less to taxonomical distinctions, observing specific family-like resemblances between species, but more represent categories based on ability. For example, “birds of the sky” (‘of hashamayim – עוף השׁמים) means “what flies in the sky, in the air,” as one dictionary, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, puts it.)

Land-based living creatures, on the other hand, created on day six, have a number of unique designations, which refer to subcategories. There are cattle/livestock (behemah – בהמה), creeping creatures (remes – רמשׂ) and wild beasts (hayat haaretz – חית הארץ – also called hayat hasade – חית השׂדה). Cattle will include sheep, goats, cows and more. Wild beasts include, for example, carnivorous animals (see, for example, 1 Sam 17:46). Then, there is also “adam” (adam – אדם) or humanity. In Hebrew, the word for humanity and the name Adam are the same.

So, to be clear, Adam is not a type of cattle nor a creeping creature nor a wild beast. Adam/humanity is given their own distinct category. They belong to the larger group of “flesh” or “living creature,” but not to any of the subcategories for land-based creatures.

The theory of evolution postulates that humanity is a subclass of the category of “primates,” as we have noted. This is patently false. Humanity is in a category all of their own, unrelated to these wild beasts. In our own category, rather, as humanity we are uniquely made in God’s image. No other living creature on earth, in the sky or in the ocean has this unique characteristic and enjoys this privilege. We could stop the study here. But for the sake of being more comprehensive, I will continue.

Let’s talk about the monkeys, apes and so forth, specifically. When God creates humans, both male and female, he gives them authority over all the birds, fish and land-based animals. Humans are more important than all these other living creatures and we are given the privilege of exercising authority over them – caring for them and directing them. We are to “rule” (mashal – משׁל) over the birds, fish, cattle, creeping creatures and wild beasts, as God’s viceroys, made in his own image.

To start this process, God commissions Adam to give names to the animals. The book of Genesis is very clear on this point. God brings all of the birds and land-based animals to Adam to see what he would name them. Adam participates in God’s creational process, because naming the animals is akin to what God did earlier, in naming what he made, such as the heavens, the seas and the earth. Because all the land-based animals are brought to Adam, this includes all varieties of living creatures that today are classified as monkeys (typically have tails) and apes (do not have tails). Adam did not descend from an apelike “primate,” the Scriptures teach us, rather he named the apes, exercising the authority that God unambiguously gave him (and, later, also Eve). (Incidentally, Adam was the first human zoologist, following God’s example.)

When God, with a broken heart, destroyed all plants, animals, and humans with a global flood, he chose in his mercy to preserve one family (eight people, four couples) and a pair of every type of bird and land-based animal. He did this by commissioning Noah to gather a male and female of each kind of living creature, to preserve in the ark along with his family. Noah, then, not only becomes the second zoologist, but also fulfills God’s mandate to humans, given at creation, to govern over all of the animals. All forms of monkeys and apes were under Noah’s jurisdiction and care.

This authority given to humans over birds, fish and land creatures is seen elsewhere, for example, in Psalm 8. The psalmist rejoices and marvels that God has made humans just a little lower than the angels and given us authority to rule (himshil – המשׁיל – related to the verb mashal – משׁל – found in Gen 1) over all types of living creatures in water, in air and on land. Jesus cites this psalm, as does Paul and the author of the letter to the Hebrews (Matt 21:16; 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:6-8). What are we to make of this? Undoubtedly, Jesus and authors of the New Testament accepted the idea in Scripture that God has placed all air-, water- and land-based living creatures under the feet of humans. This includes monkeys and apes.

Monkeys are mentioned in the Bible by name. Boats coming to King Solomon from Tarshish bring exotic treasures and animals to the kingdom of Israel, including “monkeys” (Hebrew: qofim – קפים) and parrots (1 Kings 10:22 and 2 Chronicles 9:21). (Note some translations take the term to mean “apes.” But this point is not of consequence for us here.) This one, precise instance of monkeys in the Bible confirms what we’ve already seen: wild beasts, including monkeys (also apes), are categorically distinct from us as humans and we have been given authority by God over these and other animals.

Wild beasts are mentioned numerous times in the New Testament. At one point, Peter has a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven filled with all varieties of “birds of the sky” (peteina tou ouranou – πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ), “reptiles” (erpeta – ἑρπετά), “four-footed animals” (tetrapoda – τετράποδα) and “wild beasts” (theria – θηρία) — this is creational language, using Greek terminology (Acts 10:11, also 11:6). Peter has an experience, as it were, as a comprehensive zoologist, like Adam and like Noah. He sees it all. The interpretation of the vision pertains to God’s openness, now in the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, for all Gentiles to have the privilege of entering into relationship with God and his people, should they choose. What is important for our purposes is that Peter sees all the “wild beasts” (theria – θηρία). He sees all the monkeys, all the apes.

In his exquisite discussion of the power of the tongue, for both good and evil, James, brother of Jesus, describes how, in the Roman imperial era, all manner of “wild beasts” (theria – θηρία), “birds” (peteina – πετεινά), “reptiles” (erpeta – ἑρπετά) and “sea creatures” (enalia – ἐνάλια) were either being tamed or had already been tamed by humanity (James 3:7). James uses the language of creation here. And he refers, distinctly, to humankind (literally, “the human kind” – e phusis e anthropine – ἡ φύσις ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη). His word choice makes it clear that humans are a distinct category from wild beasts. In short, he embraces the picture, replete with its basic taxonomical structure for living creatures, presented in the opening pages of Genesis. Under the Romans, James, observes, humans are actually exercising God’s mandate to rule the over other living creatures. Still, he laments, unfortunately we humans are unable to bridle our own tongues. We find ourselves saying things that are diametrically opposed to God’s character, design and purposes.

Something similar occurs in the opening section of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome. He observes how, in the futility of their thinking, Gentiles have exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for perishable images, whether of humans, birds, four-footed animals or reptiles. (Fish are missing here, but that need not concern us now.) The point is this: Paul affirms the categorical distinction of humans from other types of land-based living creatures, to which monkeys and apes of all sizes and shapes invariably belong. He does this, while decrying the perversion of Gentile worship, in which people turn to venerate images of created living creatures.

Both Peter and Jude, another brother of Jesus, liken false teachers (and possibly their followers) to irrational animals (literally, living creatures without reason – zoa aloga – ζῷα ἄλογα, 2 Pet 2:12, Jude 10). They pursue their instincts or base desires, without any clarity of mind regarding ethical living or even the eventual outcome of their actions. Both writers state that such individuals, if they do not repent, will surely perish in the very passions that they are pursuing. By likening certain humans to irrational animals, their analogy is the exception that proves the rule. It is an analogy. Humans are, in fact, totally distinct from irrational animals. Apes and monkeys are irrational animals. As those made in God’s image, we should act in alignment with our identity. We should know better than they.

I would like to briefly bring into the discussion two more shards of light, coming out of the Scriptures from other trajectories. The first is the lineage of the Messiah. Luke makes it abundantly clear that Jesus, according to his human lineage, is descended from not only Jacob, Isaac and Abraham (going backwards in time), but also Noah, Enoch, Seth and, ultimately, Adam (Luke 3:23-38). Adam, in turn, comes directly from God (Luke 3:38). This is the same perspective as that shared at the opening of the first book of Chronicles: Adam, the first human, is followed by son, grandson, great grandson, and so forth, including Enoch and Noah, until we arrive at Abraham and his descendants (1 Chronicles 1:1-4, 24-28). In short, Adam did not come from an ape (or an alleged ancient antecedent), but from God, directly.

I believe the New Testament authors would have been totally appalled at the notion that humans ostensibly descended from wild beasts, if they were to have heard it. For what it’s worth, we know of no ancient Jew that believed that humans were descendants of irrational animals. To ancient Jews, I believe, this idea would sound ridiculous.

Finally, we should observe, with eyes fully open, that the theory of evolution postulates that the various species of fish, birds and land-based animals came into existence through a process of death and dying. For it takes thousands – no millions – of animal deaths under this hypothesis to bring about one new species. This theory then has death as a prime agent of “creation.”

But what do the Scriptures say? When you eat of this fruit, you will surely die (Gen 2:17). Death came to humanity through the transgression of the first human, Adam: “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Rom 5:12, ESV). But life comes to all humans through the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus (Rom 5:15–21). God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt 22:32). Everything that God created was good, in fact, it was very good (Gen 1:31). So, there was no death or dying. No sickness, no disability, no decay. And, when all things are made new, there will again be no death or dying (Rom 21:4). Death itself will be done away forever (Rev 20:14). Death is the result of working in sin: the wages of sin are death (Rom 6:23). But the gift of God is life, everlasting (Rom 6:23). The sting of death is sin (1 Cor 15:56). But the power of Jesus Christ is in his return to life, his resurrection (Phil 3:10). Jesus says unequivocally: I am the way the truth and the life (John 14:6).

In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Death is the enemy (1 Cor 15:26). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was light and in the light was life (John 1:1–4). There was no death in the beginning. Death comes with the darkness, and it seeks to overcome the life. But it has not overcome Him (John 1:5).

All of God’s blessings in the beginning are to be fruitful and to multiply, not to die or diminish (Gen 1:22, 28). Death is a curse (Gen 3:19). Death is the opposite of God’s design for human flourishing.

We’ve surveyed the breadth of Scripture on the concept of humans, uniquely made in God’s image, given the mandate to rule creation, including the land-based living creatures, with God’s blessing to be fruitful and multiply. We’ve seen that death is a curse and life is God’s blessing, his gift. So, as we return to the idea that God originally created human life by using death, with humans born not of noble descent but, ultimately, from the alleged common ancestors of wild monkeys and apes – with humans, essentially, made in their image and after their likeness – our ears should be coming attuned to the notion that something diabolical is afoot. It is as though the Adversary has asked us, “Did God really say that death is a curse? It is not a curse, but a blessing. Actually, death is, in fact, the very blessed means by which God produced all creatures, including humans – not by breathing breathe into the lifeless form of the first man, fashioned out of clay.”

Let us, finally, say it like it actually is. The suggestion that various species arrived in creation through a process involving death as a key agent is nothing more than a malicious lie that has spread itself around the world just as thick darkness covers the people (Isaiah 60:2). But, God says: arise shine for your light has come and the glory of God has risen upon you (Isaiah 60:1). By holding fast to the Word of Life, we may live pure lives and be as the shining, heavenly bodies, in a crooked and twisted generation (Phil 2:15–16).

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” The prophet Isaiah says this (5:20, ESV), as he cries out against the wealthy oppressors of his day. A judgement awaits them, he proclaims, because they “[s]purned the word of the Holy One of Israel” (5:24, JPS). Isaiah knew the pain of having unchaste lips. He needed his own lips cleansed by God, with a coal from the alter, before he could take up his commission from God as a prophet (Isa 6).

James, Jesus’ brother and servant, says something similar, like this, “For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:7–10). It is a shame, and a curse, to proclaim to others that they have descended from animals, from a presumed ancestor of the apes. This is calling a curse a blessing and a blessing a curse. Woe to teachers in the church of God, the pillar of the truth, who pronounce such a curse on others!

In his final letter, Paul, suffering as a common criminal on behalf of Christ’s bride, though having done nothing wrong, observes that false teachers are rising within the Christian congregations. Making this solemn charge to Timothy, his protégé, he calls out those who promote myths among God’s people (2 Tim 4:1–5):

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (ESV)

1 Διαμαρτύρομαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ μέλλοντος κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ, 2 κήρυξον τὸν λόγον, ἐπίστηθι εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως, ἔλεγξον, ἐπιτίμησον, παρακάλεσον ἐν πάσῃ μακροθυμίᾳ καὶ διδαχῇ. 3 ἔσται γὰρ καιρὸς ὅτε τῆς ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας οὐκ ἀνέξονται, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύσουσιν διδασκάλους κνηθόμενοι τὴν ἀκοήν· 4 καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀποστρέψουσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς μύθους ἐκτραπήσονται. (THGNT)

Jesus will judge the living and the dead – those who have died because of Adam’s original sin. Timothy must be ready, always, to teach and even rebuke, with total patience. Why? Because Christians will no longer put up with “sound teaching” (e ugiainousa didaskalia – ἡ ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία) or “the truth” (e aletheia – ἡ ἀλήθεια). Rather, they will turn from listening to the truth and stray after “myths” (muthoi – μῦθοι). They will even willingly submit themselves to teachers who provide them what their ears are itching to hear.

(Timothy’s charge from Paul to teach the truth means he will endure suffering, even among God’s people.)

The theory of the evolution of the species is a replacement grand-story for the Bible’s true account of the origin of life and death. It seeks to answer some of the greatest questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why is their pain and suffering? How did things go so horribly wrong on earth? The theory of the evolution of the species is, in plain words, a myth. Paul uses the word “myth” (Greek: muthos – μῦθος) to mean a story that cannot be believed as historical fact. Something that didn’t happen. (This is the same way that Peter uses the word, when he speaks of false teachers, also. See this earlier blog post.)

Someone who peddles a myth of this magnitude is, in fact, a false teacher. How can it be otherwise? They are replacing the truth (God created Adam from the dust – Gen 2:7; 3:19, 23) with a myth (God, ostensibly, created “Adam” – if he even existed – or humans from an animal similar to gorillas and chimpanzees). They are calling something evil (the curse of death, resulting from sin) as though good (a key agent in God’s alleged process of creating all the species). They are subverting the simple truth of the Gospel: sin, disobedience to God’s original command to not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, produced a curse leading to death, while Jesus’ perfect obedience to his Father’s good commands leads to his resurrection from the dead – and eternal life for all who will believe in his name, accepting the atoning sacrifice of his death on a cruel, dead tree.

What should we say, beloved followers of Jesus? Is this not high treason? It brings me no pleasure to observe that people I once respected highly have turned from the truth and have, themselves, become false teachers. They are peddling the evolution of the species among God’s people, unashamedly.

Dr. N. T. Wright, why are you twisting the Gospel that you have embraced and promoted? For years now, you have promoted the evolution of the species (for example, see here). You’ve even tried to incorporate it into your understanding of the Kingdom of God. Repent. My heart is broken for you. You were once a bright, shining star in a twisted and crooked generation. From my vantage point, it seemed as though you single-handedly waged a great war against the Jesus Seminar in the 1990s – advocating for the Gospels’ accounts presenting (largely) historically reliable knowledge about Jesus. And you won! (Your work then profoundly influenced my own faith, as I recommitted my life to Jesus’ Lordship in the early 2000s. I have fond memories, for example, of reading your The Resurrection of the Son of God on a train travelling in Switzerland then.) But what have you done now? What benefit do you derive from joining forces with the lies of the Enemy? How you have fallen! Repent, therefore, so that times of refreshing may come.

Dr. William Lane Craig, you were once a diligent student of the Scriptures, it seems to me. You were a distant role model to me, personally – someone to aspire to be like – so knowledgeable, well-reasoned, articulate… and faithful to Scripture! (I can remember engaging your work, while doing PhD work in Jerusalem, if I’m not mistaken, and being impressed by your candour and commitment to Christ, while my own intellectual faithfulness to the Scriptures was waning.) A beacon of light to those with unsettling questions about the faith, you were a great defender. You seemed fearless to face criticism, while confidently presenting the truth of the Bible to those who do not submit to Christ. Now, you have chosen a different path. You’ve written a book undermining the Bible on this important topic: In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration (2021). What good is the money you have made from it? Why have you come to promote poison among God’s people? I’m crushed in my gut when I think of the heights you’ve fallen from. Do you think I take any pleasure in writing this to you? Turn back to the Father, who has graciously gifted you so greatly – more than most. May you repent and experience his gift of mercy.

Tom and William – you have gained favour before God and humans, by confidently defending the Messiah’s resurrection, wide and far, powerfully. Together you were, perhaps, the greatest proponents of the resurrection in a generation. Now you both promote death as a part of God’s original design. The irony is profound, in a tragic way. Please, reconsider what you are doing. Remember the great influence God has given to you – for good – and the many young hearts and minds you have helped guide towards the truth. Please, I urge you, do not now use your power and influence to lead such young people away from fidelity to their God.

It is never too late. As long as one breathes – there is hope. Return to the Messiah who could restore Peter in quick order. God will always be merciful – much more merciful than humans, who find it difficult to forgive. Consider the thief on the cross. Did he not receive the sweet fellowship of the Messiah, even while all those around, deriding and disparaging the Son of God, the Son of Man, were barred from this sweet fellowship because of their unbelief and enmity? Return to the God of your youth. No matter the hour, he WILL take you back.

Please, don’t wait another day. Eternity is at stake. There’ll be no second chance, once you die and face the judgement seat of Christ. The Father’s gracious eyes are looking down the long road, longingly, and his arms are opened wide to the prodigal son who humbly returns, confident in His Father’s goodness! How he longs to embrace you.

I am writing of these two individuals by name, not only to call them to repentance and receipt of God’s inimitable mercy, but also – and primarily – as a warning to the Church of God. Beware. Avoid the people themselves who promote these false doctrines. Paul says to Timothy (2 Tim 2:16–18):

16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

16 Τὰς δὲ βεβήλους κενοφωνίας περιΐστασο· ἐπὶ πλεῖον γὰρ προκόψουσιν ἀσεβείας, 17 καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει· ὧν ἐστιν Ὑμέναιος καὶ Φιλητός, 18 οἵτινες περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἠστόχησαν λέγοντες τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἤδη γεγονέναι, καὶ ἀνατρέπουσιν τὴν τινῶν πίστιν. (THGNT)

We should do due diligence to avoid “irreverent babble” (ai bebeloi kenophoniai – αἱ βέβηλοι κενοφωνιαι). It spreads like gangrene. And it ensnares not only the false teachers, but also those who listen to them. Rather, let us hold fast to the word of truth, correctly dividing it and – if we are teachers – proclaiming it boldly, fearlessly, as we safeguard the People of God from deception. Let us trust that the “Holy Scriptures” (ta iera grammata – τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα) are sufficient to make us wise about all manner of things pertaining to salvation through faith in the Messiah Jesus (2 Tim 3:15). This salvation certainly involves understanding the true origin of humanity, as well as the origin of sin and, consequently, death.

I will leave off with a scripture-in-song piece, citing 2 Timothy 4:1–2. Though I’ve cited it above, here it is again:

(This blog post was edited, on April 28th and (early) 29th, 2025, to tweak the title, remove reference to a song, make minor changes, like adding italics, correcting spelling or making a factual correction, and, more importantly, to adjust the tone and some aspects of the appeal to the two named individuals, in an effort to be more merciful.)