How has the diversity of life come to be on earth?
In describing the creation of plants and animals by God in Genesis 1, the Bible uses this phrase ten times: that living things were made “according to their own kinds” or “according to its kind.” The Bible’s explanation for the diversity of life is that God made a wide range of living things and set in place a means for their reproduction with variability within the limits of their kind.
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The word “kind” refers to a taxonomic definition—a classification level of living things. While we cannot know with certainty the exact taxonomic definition, of “kind”, a general working premise is that “kind” refers to species that are inter-fertile, that is, species that can inter-breed with fertile offspring. In most cases, this definition would approximately correspond to the taxonomic equivalent of genus (plural: genera) rather than species. Therefore, formation of new species has occurred following the original creation and the Flood.
The Bible states the world and all life forms are the result of God’s creative activity and they witness to His wisdom and power:
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“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6).
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“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11).
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The specific details of God’s creative activity are given in the first chapter of Genesis.