Did God literally create the Earth in six 24-hour days?
That is, was all the creation in Gen 1:3-31 all in 6 literal days? Was Gen 1:1-2 on day one, or beforehand?
Genesis 1:1 - 31
NKJV - 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.
Jennifer Rothnie
Supporter
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 merely a type, reflecting the true "light of all mankind". If the claim that God created the universe, created light, that He was from the beginning (etc..) was all simply a parable or story and not literally true, then there is no reason to have faith that Jesus is literally true and not just a spiritual feel-good story as many claim. [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. Notwithstanding that it is not even written in 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]. Scripture supports a literal creation account: 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). Creation week sets up the Sabbath day (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) 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 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) [There are the rare case of prophetic days, which are not 24 hour days, but are still distinct time periods based on the literal days. Even this cannot apply here though, as Gen 1-2 are histories, not prophecies]. For consistency then, the Gen 1 uses with modifiers must be literal. Without a modifier, yom can be specific or general depending on context. *** In short: yes! This seems amazing, but no more amazing than His other miracles, or sending His own son to die in our place.
Mark Galinsky
A plain reading of Genesis 1 would say yes. Backed up by; 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:9-11 ESV)
Eve Montano
I know it may sound simplistic but The Bible said He did - and the Bible is the unerring inspired Word of God - I believe that God did just that - Who are we to try to negate the Word of God - He is after all God and can do things that are beyond any realm of our understanding - to put Him in our timetable putting our human power as His - that is just not so.
Tim Collinson
If you read the account of the creation in Genesis after each day of creation it says "and there was evening and there was morning", one day or that was the first day and so on. In fact God created time. You could say that to God creating the world in what I believe was literally six days that is six of what we call days 24hrs from sundown to sunrise; to Him it could have only taken a matter of hours maybe minutes...for if a day to God is as a thousands years to us, well who knows. But I would think of it as this, regardless of whether God took six literal 24hr days to create the earth or hours or minutes just shows by the truth of the Word that He created the heavens and the earth in a short period of time.
Seth Freeman
Probably. The style of writing and the language used provides strong evidence for a literal understanding of the creation account. Ken Ham at answersingenesis.org certainly believes so. Personally, I think that regardless of whether we believe that God created the world in six seconds, six days, or sixteen billion years, that the important part is that we recognize the uniqueness of mankind. For me, this is where the important aspect is. Only mankind is created in the image of God, only mankind has the Imago Dei. Humans stand unique amongst all God's creation. We were uniquely created. So I'm personally fine with a young earth or an old earth so long as whichever view we hold to recognizes that God intentionally and specifically created Adam and Eve in His image. They were not a product of evolution.
Nathan Toronga
It is an act of faith to take God at His Word. The Book says He created everything in six days, and proceeded to rest on the seventh. And that He set that seventh day apart as holy, to be commemorated as a memorial of this creative work (Exodus 20:11). We demonstrate that we believe He created everything by observing the seventh day Sabbath; that we are not the on earth by some blind chance. To attempt to alter the creation account is to try to make porous, hence void, the Word in toto. Bless.
Kenneth Heck
There were six days, but whether of 24 hours, or longer such as 1000 years, isn't quite clear. However, there is no evidence that the days followed each other without interruption. Between each day millions of years could have elapsed, during which time many of the early species would have become extinct. The Genesis account only explains the visible species alive at the time of writing, and only those existing in the special area of the planet called "earth."
mark wilkinson
Exodus 20:11 tells us that God created the universe in six working days and rested on the seventh day. This was a template for mankind to follow, for God could have created everything in ten seconds if He'd wanted to. In Mark 10:6 Jesus, the Son of God, tells us that God made male and female at the beginning - not after millions of years of earth's existence. Unfortunately there have been and are many church leaders who teach the naturalistic view of earth's origins - which is in accord with a secular, God-less, worldview. Such people see Adam as a 'neolithic farmer' implying that He and Eve had human parents, whom they presumably believe evolved from primates over millions of years. This teaching has caused many to stumble. Beware of these people and their books - they are popular authors and speakers but I shall refrain from mentioning names.
KEITH SLOUGH
Since "day" can be ANY indefinite length of time, GOD Himself defined it as a period containing an evening (the time of sunset -- Leviticus 22:6+7) and a morning (beginning at sunrise). Hence a 24 hour day. Also FRUIT trees were created on the 3rd day but no insects to pollinate them were created until day 6. Therefore these are 24-HOUR PERIODS -- not millions of years -- else no fruit trees would have survived. Keith Slough, minister
Vin Smith
...There are ample Bible verses listed by others in answer to this question. Yes... Emphatically, God created the Earth in a literal six day period--and he then rested on the seventh day...
Now I am going to prove it with human logic--plus at the end, one more verse that David wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to prove what an idiotic assumption the man-made doctrine of non-divine creation really is.
Professional gamblers take a very dim view of impossible odds. The odds of evolution having sparked life through primordial ooze are so astonishingly long as to stretch credulity way past the breaking point. It has been estimated that over seven trillion factors had to line up just right in order to make the evolutionary narrative fall into place. They had to line up IN ORDER... A touch more oxygen in the atmosphere, as an example, and the atmosphere would explode... Cell replication alone would call into play at least nine billion factors in perfect sequence...
Enough of the ridiculous discussion of why either evolution as we have heard of it, or the genius musings of Stephen Hawking ("life came about because of gravity"). Hawking stated "...There is a mathematical theorem that says that any theory that obeys quantum mechanics and relativity must always obey the combined symmetry of CPT."
Bloviation...
The Bible states plainly, in the words of David, the greatest king of Israel, "The fool says in his heart, 'there is no God.' They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none that does good." (Psalm 53:1) ESV
Michael Coveney
A day in our eyes is 24 hours as measured from sunrise to sunset as long as we are on planet earth. It's already been mentioned that the sun wasn't created until day 4 and so the bible can't be referring to the passage of the sun. Similarly if I was on the moon or any other planet, my length of day would be very different from that on earth. For these reasons I think we need to reconsider what a day is as given in the creation account. It is definitely a passages of time and therefore not everything was created at a single point in time.
Jeffrey Kircher
I want to provide an insight that so illuminates the miracle of the Bible that you can begin to accept the six days of creation. In Genesis 1:1 there are seven words in the original Hebrew (ten words in English) that reveal a truth that modern theoretical physicists are only now beginning to understand. The physicists look at the universe and somehow figure out that everything is really made of only three things: time, energy and matter. Genesis 1:1 nails this in only ten English words: In the beginning (time) God created (energy) the heavens and the earth (matter). Ten words from thousands of years ago accurately and succinctly nail the foundations of the universe itself. Who but God can do that? If He can do that then He can create the world in six days. Black hole (matter) Big Bang (energy) Since then the expanding universe (time) This is the beginning of understanding and believing in divine authorship.
Billy P Eldred
My answer is that He could have. I believe the Bible is truth. All of it is truth, including the 1st chapter of Genesis. That all being said, I see at least the possibility that each of these days were more akin to ages. The Hebrew word translated day can mean an inspecific period of time. If we believe science, then there is evidence that the earth is much older than the biblical time line using literal 24 hour days during the creation events. I fully believe God could have created the earth in a way that scientifically would age things older than they are, but the question to me then would be would He? I certainly don't think He would try to deceive us so to me that explanation doesn't hold water. (I know I am not God and His ways don't have to make sense to me) I also know that carbon dating is controversial but I also think that is a stretch though possible. There is also geological evidence that to me indicates the earth to be older. (Do we really think the Grand Canyon could have been made in a few thousand years?) Again, I fully believe God could have made it all in 6 24 hour periods and could have created everything just a few thousand years ago aged and geologically formed as it is. It just makes more sense to me to believe those 6 days were actually ages just as if we would say in the day of the dinosaur. Genesis also says that the earth was without form when created so it makes sense to me that God used the incredible ecosystem He designed to shape the beauty we see. It is self sustaining and marvelous work. Since I am basically saying "I don't know" to your question, why am I taking this stance? I want all to come Christ and for that reason I think we should all take the stance that we don't know and that both theories are possible to keep from fostering unbelief in the science community. There is no reason that science and the Bible's truth should be mutually incompatible.
Al Mari
No, to Gen 1:1. Also, "no" to "literal 24 hours" but "yes" to literal "sunset-to-sunset" in Gen 1:2 and onwards. How so? Reconciling scientific data with what has been biblical understanding is challenging. On one hand, the omnipotence of Creator God should not be doubted. He can do anything, even in "one day", except that in wisdom the Gen. Narrative was "6 days and rested on the 7 th day". On the other hand, how could one "ignore" dating the "universe" millions of years? To others, that may require "cognitive estrangement to promote suspension of disbelief". The argument using 2 Peter 3:8 "A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" does not apply as Genesis was very precise, as to "literal day" as in, "And the evening and the morning were the first day"(Gen 1:5). Could this controversy be resolved by re-analyzing popular concept of Gen 1:1 and 1:2? "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was(hayah) without form (tohuw), and void(bohuw); and darkness(choshek) was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"(mayim). Common teaching of these 2 verses was that from "tohuw and bohuw", heavens and earth were created. Meaning that God started "creating from and with" tohuw and bohuw" already existing. Really? Meaning, God did not create "from nothing"? This concept does not harmonize with this fact: "By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see "did not" come from anything that can be seen"(Heb 11:3 NLT). Yes, the Creator Logos can easily say the "word" and things were created. The truth is, He did not need anything to create something. Meaning, that the Creator did not start with "bohuw and tohuw", not with "choshek" that described something already existing prior to creation. Also, notice from creation, it started with "good", not with chaos or destruction. Instead, I Tim 4:4 "For everything God created (or started) is good,...," Going through my "memory bank", there was nothing created that was "originally bad". But, from the literal "first day through...", celestial bodies (heavenly) like sun, moon, stars and earth were taught to have started from "waste, ruin, wicked or destruction". Yet with living things, like plants, animals and man they started and declared from creation as "very good"(mod towb). Going back to the original Hebrew, and getting the context of Gen 1:1 & 1:2, we can have English translation of "hayah" as "has become";"tohuw" as "lie wasted"; "bohuw" as "undistinguishable ruin" and "choshek" as "destruction". Contextually and taking translations in consideration, Gen.1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." means they were "very good" when it started "from nothing". This could be millions of years ago as far as to human concept of time. In fact, the creation was originally "very good" that the angels who were already created, "sang together...and shouted for joy"(Job 38:7). Even Satan(bad) originally was Lucifer(good). Then, something happened between verses 1 & 2, that resulted in Gen 1:2 "And the earth has become (hayah) wasted (tohuw), and indistinguishable ruin(bohuw); and destruction(choshek) was upon the face of the deep". Because of celestial upheaval, the sun, moon, stars and earth that were already created "good" became "ruin, chaotic" and "darkness" prevailed. After that "destruction", was "cleansing" in v-2 that started on the literal "first day" as in "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters(mayim or waste)". The Spirit of God "cleanse the waste". The living things like plants, animals, humans were actually created on "literal" "sunset-to-sunset" days, as "very good". This pattern of creation was also shown in the creation of man as originally "very good", then because of sin became "marred clay" which was "re-conformed" by the Potter (Jer.18:4; Heb 2:6; Ps.8:4) into the "likeness of Christ (Rom 8:29) to bring many sons to glory" (Heb 2:10).
Vincent Mercado
Supporter
Though there are orthodox Jews who read the creation account in Genesis literally, many believed it must be understood in another way. The Great Rabbi Maimonides stated in the 12th century that, "The creation account given in the Torah is not intended to be literal in all its parts." (Guide to the Perplexed) There is a concept discussed by Talmudic commentators that if it doesn't make sense to understand a Torah verse literally, we must look of another meaning. For instance, although the Torah speaks of the "hand of God", we don't believe God has a literal hand, but rather, a metaphysical one. The Jews define "a day" as the sun setting and rising. And yet according to the Torah, the sun wasn't created until day #4. Therefore, there is an approach that says the days of creation were not literal 24-hour days, but rather, longer time periods during which life slowly evolved in the order listed in Genesis - plants, the animals, then people.
James goodlett
I think the book of Genesis was not intended to tell us the "how" of creation, but the "Who" of creation. In ancient cultures, people tended to worship created things - like the sun, the moon, the stars. Genesis is not giving us scientific data about creation. It's trying to point out the foolishness of worshipping anyone or anything other than the Creator of all these things. The Bible is full of figures of speech - metaphors, hyperbole, etc. - to communicate truth. If we bog down trying to decipher meaning in what is intended to convey a greater truth, we will miss the greater truth. Like Nicodemus, who asked Jesus about being born again, we'll get stuck asking the wrong questions, like how to re-enter the womb...
David Armstrong
If we take the Bible to be the true word of God, then we must accept that Creation was in six days. But nowhere does it say these days were made up of 24 hours. In one place we are told that "the sun stood still." That day was not 24 hours. In another place it says that " the shadow went back." That day was not 24 hours. We know that on the first day of Creation there was no sun which today gives us the 24 hours as we know it. Days could have been of any length that God wanted to do the work of Creation. We know that man was created by God. We never evolved from monkeys! Now this is the wonderful part: That our Saviour, The Lord Jesus, was there putting everything in it's place. He was there when he saw "Satan fall from Heaven as lightening" I believe that was in Eternity, even before Time began. Now think on that! What a Saviour!
Daniel Ellenwood
There is no 1000 year day when Jesus created the Earth. People take 2nd Peter 3:8 out of the context that was being spoken (about the patience of God). The book of Genesis was writen by Moses, after the fact of the creation by man's time table! Genesis 1:14 makes it clear (not confusing) it says the lights in the sky.. (the sun and moon) were to separate the days from night, and to serve as times and seasons, and to mark the days, months and years!.... In other words, Moses is saying the days could be used as a calender to mark and date historical events and count time! So the Earth that Jesus created (Col. 1:3 and John 1:3) was done in days that we can mark on a calender. If the Days in the Bible were 1000 years as some have confused the scripture, then the sabbath the Jews had to observe would be every 7000 years!
Michael Coveney
The literal 6 day does cause a bit of a problem as the Bible does not define what a day is. We define it as the rotation of the earth facing the sun - which wasn't created until day 4. The key literal thing we can all understand is that God created. We also have to bear in mind that God doesn't inhabit time as we do - John's revelation of heaven showed it as an event that was actually going on. All this goes to show that when we try and apply human thinking to God's acts, we're bound to end up in trouble as our knowledge is not yet complete.
gabriel smit
yes,yes,yes! the single biggest problem any Christian ought to have regarding any form of creation account apart from the EXACT ACCOUNT OF SCRIPTURE will be SIN and DEATH. death only ENTERED into creation after SIN was committed [Rom 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; …" also Gen 2:17; Gen 3:6; Rom 6:23; 1Cor 15:21]. Also, God would never have said something He created was 'good' if it contained death [see all the 'good's in Gen 1] for the wages of sin are death [Rom 6:23]! Now in God's infinite love, He has decided on the ultimate rescue mission [even His name means Saviour!], His only Son, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world…" see also Luke 19:10; John 3:36; Rom 5:8; Rom 8:31; 1John 4:9; 1John 5:10. in order to destroy death and sin for those the Father gave Him [John 17:9 "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine."] and in doing so re-establishing the perfect order and harmony of the creation; without death, without evolution;-) - the latter being a variety of hypothesis and conjectures, by far not even a coherent scientific theory. i also wish to applaud the first commentator on her God-given insight! In Christ gabriel
Stanley C. Pickle
According to the Bible, Yes, GOD created the Earth in Six Days and Rested on the Seventh day. Now you have to remember that Man's Calendar was Started until Romans started it. Now I strongly believe that GOD created the World in what we believe is 24 hrs. At the time of the LORD GOD WE DO NOT KNOW HIS TIME LINE. Each one of his 24hr periods could have been a thousand years. Think about it! When our time to go to heaven all these answers will be answered. You Have to have FAITH, and TRUST in the GOD. So shouldn't we BELIEVE IN HIM? PRAISE and GLORY to GOD AMEN
Nils Jansma
Did God literally create the earth in six 24-hour days? To properly answer this question, we need to examine what the Bible actually says. The Bible does not tell us how long it took to create the “heavens and earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Genesis 1:2 finds the created earth already in existence. There is no time period attached to how long it took to create either the heavens or the earth. If we want to speculate how long it took, then we must rely upon science to tell us what its age appears to be based upon natural processes that we can measure.
Avveroes Scribe
In my opinion, NO, not all days were 24 hours. DAY 1: God said, "Let there be light", so there was light. God saw that the light was beautiful. He separated the light from the darkness, calling the light “day,” and the darkness “night.” God didn't divide the day and night till "Day 4" DAY 4: “Let there be lights across the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons, days, and years, to serve as lights in the sky, and to shine on the earth!” And that is what happened: God fashioned two great lights—the larger light to shine during the day and the smaller light to shine during the night—as well as stars. God placed them in space to shine on the earth, to differentiate between day and night... NOTE: "To distinguish day from night, to act as signs of for seasons, DAYS, and YEARS" REASON 1: Days 1, 2, and 3, with nothing to distinguish day from night, could have each been millions of years, or any number of years. REASON 2: There is actually no "hour" measurement, only a "day" measurement. So, a day could have been thousands or tens of millions of hours. I hope that this helps.
Patrick Shane
I believe that the Holy Scriptures speak to us regarding Creation in a way that we can understand and relate to. God is timeless and eternal. While living on this earth we are time bound. God has no beginning and no end. We have a time bound beginning...the day that we were born and we will leave our time bound life on the day that we draw our final breath. There are theories on both sides of the debate of how long God spent creating all that we know. I believe that God gave us the "Creation Story" exactly the way that He wants us to understand it. He gave us exactly what He wanted us to know and understand about His Majestic handy work of Creation: An orderly six day account of His work of Creation. Then He rested from His work on the seventh day. Seven is a number for completeness. We are complete when we belong to Him through Faith in Christ Jesus. We should Honor Him by resting from our own work and attending Corporate Worship with other believers on that day. God gave us, through His Word, exactly what He wants us to know and understand. We should spend our time and effort attempting to understand what is already written and not trying to re-wright what He has already given to us.
Jonathan Trivette
God could have created the Universe in the twinkling of an eye if he chose to do so. So clearly he could have taken (6) 24 hour days. The Bible also says in 2 Peter 3:8..."But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day." Therefore, he could have taken six thousand years to create it. One other point that most don't take into account when trying to defend that Science shows some things to be millions or billions of years old. If God is powerful enough to create the universe, he is also powerful enough to make things appear older than they really are. After all, we are to trust in him by faith. The discovery of things that are billions of year old (according to Science) could be a test from God to see just how strong our faith in him really is.
Jim Clevenger
My take is this: It never says, in Genesis 1, that it was a 24 hour period. The time frame was measured, not by hours or minutes, but how ever long it took day to become night. That, I believe, could have been a very very long time, and got shorter as the progression continued. Also, the material was there long before creation started. Because, it says that the earth was void and with out form. So, millions of years could of passed with the material there. So, if, and I'm not saying it is, Carbon dating is perfectly accurate, YES. The material used to create life would be very old. And, since God used the material to create life, those records would be very old as well. Really, it comes down to faith.
Lena Wms
I have read all the wonderful answers and responses. Some of them say the same thing, just in a slightly different way. Everyone has their own opinion and it seems that they back it up with scriptures. So much research has gone into this subject, I am truly impressed by all the responses! 2 Pet. 3:8 does give us a clue into God's timeline. However, the very first clue came with Adam. Remember God told Adam that he would die in the "day" he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? How old was Adam when he died? Gen. 5:5: Adam lived 930 years. He died in the "day" he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Just like God had promised! Just my thoughts... the earth could have sustained his life for many years. He continued to beget sons and daughters. He did not lose his stamina. But he did lose his life in the "day" he ate. How does this connect? We have talked about God's timeline. We are mortal creatures attempting to explain an Immortal Creator! What do we know, except the clues He has given us? Yet all through His Word, it speaks of the Creator, the timeline, and His purpose for His creation, which is to know His Son, and make His love known to all... Be blessed, Lena
Myron Robertson
Some interpretations of Genesis 1 would lead one to believe that yes, these are six 24 hour periods, but there would be much, both internally in Genesis 1 and in the rest of scripture that gives other indications. For instance Gen 1:2 says that on day 1 the spirit hovered over the face of the waters and there was darkness over the face of the deep. So even though the earth (which already existed in some form) was formless and void the water that was already there had a surface. So already we have considerable reason to question the usual interpretation of the creation story which is heavily dependent on a misinterpretation of Job 26:7 which does not say he created the world from nothing, it says he hangs it on nothing. There is a huge difference. Furthermore, Isaiah 45:7 tells us God created darkness. That darkness is already there in Genesis 1:2 before the first creative act of the creation week. This is confirmed in Job 38:7 which tells us the angels were there and singing as God created the earth. Something existed and was already there in Gen 1:2 on which God did further creative work. Therefore the Bible tells us rather definitively that the earth was not created in 6 literal days. There are more clues in the creation story itself. It was not until the 4th day that the sun, moon and stars are said to be created. The creation story itself gives their purpose, which is to mark time in the earth. There is a text that tells us God created the ages (time and its divisions). Whether they existed before the 4th day of creation or not is never made clear, but as far as the earth is concerned, there is no way of measuring time previous to this, so there is no way to claim the first three days were literal 24 hour periods or not. Many claim that this can be proven by word studies, but one does not have to do very many word studies to find that Bible translators and theologians can sometimes be very loose with the interpretations of the words of scripture. I am going to mention two word studies, one reported to me by a friend and one by Dr. Chuck Missler, a linguist, and evangelist. I cannot verify either of these studies because the require linquistic resources beyond those provided by theologians, which is where most of the biblical lexicons come from. My friend tells me b'resheet does not mean in the beginning. A better translation is in its present form. This interpretation will certainly be self-consistent with the rest of the wording of Gen 1:1, 2 since Gen 1:2 clearly speaks of altering the form of something already there. As for the words translated evening (erev) and morning (boqer) Dr. Missler says these more correctly translate as chaos and order. In other words, God was each day taking something that already existed in a chaotic state and imposed order onto it. These three interpretations are more consistent with scripture than the claim that these are six literal days and that all creation was performed in those six days. If they are true, they considerably alter our understanding of the creative process which 1 Cor 15 indicates is on-going and only ends with the finishing of the redemption process when Jesus restores all things, places them under his feet and then turns the completed creation over to his father, making the father all in all. Finally I call your attention to 1 Ti 1:3, 4, 1 Ti 6:3-5 an Titus 3:9. This is not a salvation issue, and there is not enough information given in scripture to determine a definitive answer. Yet all too many evangelicals and some others have a view that cannot be fully supported by scripture and claim you cannot be saved unless you believe exactly as they do on this. These useless controversies can prevent a person from being saved, according to Paul, but can never save anyone. Yet I have seen teachers revert back to them when asked questions about salvation which they cannot answer. Better to study salvation and how it works.
Billie Hutson
“The beginning” of Genesis 1:1 did not necessarily take place on day 1 as is frequently assumed. The initial creation took place before day 1, but Genesis does not tell us how long before. This means that the question of the age of the earth (and of the universe) is a separate question from the interpretations of the days, a point that is frequently overlooked. In other words, quite apart from any scientific considerations, the text of Genesis 1:1, in separating the beginning from day 1, leaves the age of the universe indeterminate. ~ Seven Days that Divide the World by John C. Lennox (2011), pg 53.
Daniel Pech
The universal self evidence of Divine design in Creation (Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1-4a) is a powerful evidential 'fulcrum' upon which to leverage a *hypothetical negative scenario* that helps show that Genesis 1 really does mean that God created the whole familiar cosmos in six Calendar Days. One such scenario is that which removes the way in which we native terrestrial humans make much sense of Genesis 1 in the first place. Here is an example of such a scenario: Imagine humans have any natural knowledge of anything only by living bound inside a Star Trek like space ship that is stranded drifting indefinitely far out in extragalactic space. Firstly, we would be so far from any star that we would think stars are just points of light. Unlike what we see of the Sun and Moon from the Earth, our lives inside this ship would show us no apparently large celestial bodies. There would be no near bright body to uniquely serve our own needs either for visible light or for energy. So, we would lack any everyday perception of a deep connection between light and heat. The ship's light fixtures would give off little or no warmth, and local points in the ship that produce all our ambient heat would give off none of the kind of light by which we humans see. Worse, our best everyday sense about water would be that it is a liquid nutrient, and that it has great potential for thermal storage, and thus, for some kinds of thermal exchange. Worse still, the ship's food synthesizer's would completely rob us of any sense of just about everything worth knowing about Creation and Genesis 1. Too, the ship's air filtration and air pressure systems would only compound this problem, as would our lack of any idea of a blue sky in 'daylight' on a planet that has trees. 'What is a “tree”, momma?'; 'What is “day” and “night”, momma?'; 'What is the “sea”, momma?'; our children would have to ask. Worst of all, our metaphysics would be a product of our sheer cost in time, labor, expertise, and technology in maintaining this ship, else we all would die when the ship fails. Thus, our conceptions of the Creatorhood of God, of His Ordinary Providence, and even of human dignity, would be tied strictly to human labor, skill, expertise, and a mindless misconception of equity that would drive a committee- and bureaucracy-based form of rule and behavior. It inherently would be criminal for any person to simply opt out of toil for any day on which he or she had a personal needed or wish to. And the resulting cost to those who still equitably toiled would normally have to be reimbursed to them by that person. As for any regular day of rest, there could be no obvious everyday intuition as to even what a 'day' is, much less that there should be a regular one in which, normally, there is to be no toil. So now imagine we somehow came to be well informed, merely by theory and record, that a planet based, water based means of life would leave us free from the costs of maintaining that ship. We would see Genesis 1 as either (A) the most valuable hope there is or (B) the most abominable, and even blasphemous, fiction. Indeed, we likely would see Genesis 1 as the latter, since we could make little or no sense of any of the account.
Add your Answer
All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED.
Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines.
A good answer provides new insight and perspective. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone.
- Adhere to the eBible Statement of Faith.
- Your answer should be complete and stand-alone.
- Include supporting arguments, and scripture references if possible. Seek to answer the "why".
- Adhere to a proper tone and spirit of love and understanding.
- For more info see The Complete Guide to eBible