Pieper, Francis. Christian Dogmatics: Volume 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968.
Part D - The Creation of the World and of Man
Chapter D1, “The Record of Creation”
Our authentic account of creation appears in the Bible, which presents itself as an authority and which can be trusted in other areas where we have more witnesses. This is a very brief chapter.
Chapter D2, “The Definition of Creation”
The Bible’s view of creation, as opposed to other traditions, is that the pre-existing God created everything out of nothing. All things other than God are created. God did not need pre-existing material, but was able to create all his materials. Again, a very brief chapter.
Chapter D3, “The Hexaemeron”
This term refers to a six day period in which God accomplished creation. Some theologians shorten the time to show God’s ability. Some make the time longer to agree with scientific speculation. The Bible’s clear testimony is that these were the same kind of days we know of now. There is no need to alter the record so as to defend God.
Chapter D4 “The Order Observed in Creation”
In another very brief chapter Pieper details the idea of God moving from inorganic to organic creation and from simple to complex. All of creation receives its being through God’s action. There is no evidence in Scripture or science of development of organic from inorganic or of more complex from less complex.
Chapter D5 “The Work of the Six Days”
Pieper walks through the high points of the days of creation. He takes a common-sense approach based on a trust in the text. While not making a strong dogmatic argument, among other things he observes that God is the creator of all, that Adam was the first human, of a different nature than the animals, and that the Bible’s account of scientific phenomena is accurate and tends to reflect the view of reality a human perspective would grasp. He then moves on to discuss the views of a twofold (body and soul) or threefold (body, soul, spirit) nature of humans, generally advocating the twofold concept. After a few observations about common questions he says in conclusion that God has created all things for his glory.