Jennifer Rothnie Supporter Housewife, Artist, Perpetually Curious

Yes.

The very first line of the Bible is "In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". The Jews even called the book "B'reshith" - 'In the Beginning". This is the first claim of scripture. It assumes the existence of God, and gives a literal claim that God created everything in the beginning. (The book of Job also contains many such claims. Yahweh created the sea, limits the sea, created and controls the dragon of the sea, has power over the storms, etc. Job can be read in parts as an apologetic against the limited power of false gods). 

Why is this claim so important? It sets up the even greater claim in John 1:1-4 that "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was God...through Him all things were made." Just as the first thing God created was light, we then discover that the physical light was a type, reflecting the true "light of all mankind". 

If the claim that God created the universe, created light, was from the beginning (Etc) was all simply a parable or story and not literally true, then there is little reason to have faith that Jesus is literally true and not just a spiritual feel-good story.

[Faith is based on what is credible/trustworthy despite having no firsthand evidence. Why would God ask us to have faith, if He did not really start with truth in His testimony about the light of mankind?]

As all scripture is inspired by God (II Tim 3:14-17), God would not make a claim that was false. Nor is Gen 1 written in the form of a parable.

[Parables are stories that could potentially happen, that are tailored to the understanding of the people spoken to, that hide layers of meaning behind a more basic point or moral. Gen 1 is not written in the parable format, it is too complex and alien to the casual listener to be a parable. Rev 3:14 also tells us that Jesus is a faithful and true witness -and- the ruler of God's creation. He is not the half-truthful witness of God's only-partially-created-by-Him creation].

* Other scripture supports literal. (Ex 20:8-11, Psalms 8: 1-9, Proverbs 8:22-36, Heb 11:1-3, Matt 19:4-6, Isaiah 45:12-19, Rom 1:18-23, John 1:10, Rev 17:8, John 17:5, Col 1:16, II Peter 3:3-7, Jer 32:17, John 1:1-3, Rom 8:19-22, 1 Tim 4:4, Acts 17:26, etc) 

* The literal understanding of the creation week is a foundation for some of the oaths and covenants that angels, and even God Himself, make (Rev 10:5-7, Jer 33:19-22, Jer 33:25-26).

*It is the basis for the sabbath (Ex 20:8-11) which is a type for the true sabbath (Heb 4:1-11). 'Types' in scripture are always literal things or people (Adam, the snake on the staff, Elijah, the high priest, etc) that hint at their antitypes later on (Christ, the atoning sacrifice of the cross offered to all men, John the Baptist, Christ as intermediary between God and man, etc). 

* The language used is that of a historical account, not that of poetry, law, apocalypse, wisdom, epistle, etc. The rest of Genesis primarily deals with history as well. It is a book of "beginnings". The beginning of the world, of humanity, of sin, of death, of civilization, of the covenant, of the Hebrews, etc. If these beginnings were not literal, neither would be the follow up arguments (Rom 5:12, Gal 3:16, II Cor 3:6, II Cor 5:17, etc). 

* All 359 times the Hebrew 'yom' is coupled with a specific time modifier (ie 'first') outside Gen 1, it's always literal (Num 19:12, II Sam 1:1-2, Ezek 1:1-2, Ex 27:21, Num 9:15, Num 9:21, Deut 28:67, Psalm 55:17, etc). For consistency then, the Gen 1 uses with modifiers must be literal.

Yom is used over two thousand times in the old testament. It is not always literal, but it -is- always literal in combination with a modifier like "second" or "two" or "evening" or "evening and morning".

Without a modifier it can be specific or general depending on context, much like the word day/days in English can refer to a specific day, a period of light, the lifespan of a man, a generation or age, etc.

November 30 2013 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

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