“Not Evolution But Grace” is a rare article of Dr. Gordon H. Clark’s.
**Items from the unpublished papers of Dr. Gordon H. Clark should not be considered his definitive statement on the particular topic addressed. These papers are being provided for educational value. For Dr. Clark’s official positions consult his published writings.**
Unpublished 125. Not Evolution But Grace (typed)
[From The Witness, May, 1946, p. 7]
Not Evolution but Grace
Gordon H Clark
Herbert Spencer, the great evolutionary philosopher, taught as an absolute certainty that man will automatically become perfect. That evil will disappear is as certain as any conclusion in which we place the most implicit faith. The laws of evolution, he went on to say, guarantee that eventually sympathetic pleasures will be spontaneously pursued to the fullest possible extent, and the scope of altruistic activities will not exceed the desire for altruistic satisfactions.
Modernism adopted this light hearted optimism and refused to see the evil in human nature. Today we must accept a sterner view of human nature. Nazi atrocities have revealed anew the depravity of the human heart. It is clear that the human race cannot depend on evolution to overcome the tendency to evil.
Nor can man depend on education to overcome brutal instincts, for if any nation was well educated, Germany was that nation.
Let us no longer be so deceived by the vain imaginations of the vain heart of man. Let us turn back to the Book that tells the truth about human nature – the Book that tells the truth because its Author knows the heart of man. God has authoritatively revealed to us that man is born in sin, that his heart is deceitful and wicked, and that he cannot cure himself.
But God has done more than reveal to man his terrible condition; God has also revealed his remedy. Even more, God has provided the remedy. He sent his son, our Lord, to suffer the punishment of men’s sins.
God has not promised a warless world; he has not promised that all men would automatically become perfect; but he has promised that those men who trust in Jesus Christ, who plead His death and merits before the father for the forgiveness of their sins, will be eternally united with the triune God in a world of bliss and righteousness.
Let not man put their trust in evolution, nor in education, but in Jesus Christ.