Class Lesson February 16, 2014

Real Questions People Ask

Christians in the 21st century need to know what they believe and why they believe it. The six sessions of the “Honest to God” study will enable you to grow in your own faith and equip you to be more effective in sharing that faith with others. These sessions address foundational issues in the life of every person: The origin and significance of human life,the existence and nature of God, and how God reveals Himself and relates to people.




Last week we explored the fourth real question people ask: Why Should I Trust The Bible? We looked at the psalmist’s love for God’s Word in Psalm 119. For him, God’s Word was much more than an academic exercise of study. He found God’s Word to be a revelation; and in it he learned about God. He found it to be reliable; and in it he found truth. He found it to be a delight; and in it he found joy. He found it to be practical; and in it he found that it gave, restored, and enabled life, no matter what the situation was in life. And to top it all off, he found that by following it he would be blessed.

So, the real question is how about you and me, how much of the psalmist’s experience is our experience? We give verbal affirmation to the value of the Bible, but do we use it in our daily lives? Do we order each day by the Word of God? We say that we know it has ALL the answers to life's challenges, but do we really go there for those answers? 


So, now it's time for the fifth real question people ask.




 




Real Question #5: How Did We Get Here And Why?

How we view the origins of the universe colors everything else about our worldview. Did everything start with a speck of dust, or a big bang? Is the universe the creative work of an intelligent being? Or is there some mixture of these two approaches? The Bible points us to an all-powerful, personal Creator. But, what do we do with this evolution thing?

The Debate - Ken Ham & Bill Nye

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Pat Robertson Disagrees with Ken Ham's View

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How did we get here, and why? Why does it matter what we believe about the origins of the universe?

• How we view the origins of the universe colors everything else about our worldview. Did everything start with a speck of dust, or a big bang? Is the universe the creative work of an intelligent being? Or is there some mixture of these two approaches? The Bible points us to an all-powerful, personal Creator. Genesis is the Book of Beginnings, and this account starts with the beginning of creation. God created the universe by His own creative power, and He deemed good every aspect of what He created.
• The Bible does not discuss the subject of evolution. Rather, its worldview assumes God created the world. The Biblical view of creation is not in conflict with science; rather, it is in conflict with any worldview that starts without a creator.
• Evolution claims the universe began with a big bang, a “quantum singularity,” and then began to expand. This explosion of matter and energy was said to be a random cataclysmic event that led to a limitless series of random events with planets cooling and falling in around suns, bacteria springing to life and evolving into more complex life forms. One thing led to another, till one day an ape stood upright and began to walk on two legs. We are animals, nothing more.
• If that is how we got here, there is no “why.” If we are merely the result of a purposeless process that only favored survivability, then life has no real meaning or purpose. The end result is chaos. The denial of God and the animalization of people helped create not one but two world wars in the last century. Communist governments killed more than 100 million of their own people, far more than the death toll of World Wars I and II combined. There are many who consider themselves thinkers that embrace this chaotic view of reality.
• Apologetics speaker and author Lee Strobel, who among his many books wrote The Case for a Creator, told The Christian Post Monday that as scientists make new discoveries and conclusions they often get closer to the truth found in the Bible. "The findings of modern cosmology, physics, biochemistry, astronomy, genetics and other scientific disciplines paint a portrait of a Creator who looks uncannily like the God of the Bible," he explained.
• In John 1:1-3 John echoes the truth of God’s creative power that Genesis 1 describes in detail. As we understand creation, we more easily understand other Bible teachings such as the fall of man, which necessitated Jesus having to die for sin. What you believe about creation determines what you believe about humanity. Your view of humanity reveals what you believe about sin. What you believe about sin shapes what you believe about our Savior Jesus Christ. God did not leave us with the option of choosing what parts of Scripture to believe. The Bible’s testimony is six-day creation and third-day resurrection.

Our Lesson Says

The universe is here because God spoke.

What is your reaction to the lesson’s point: The universe is here because God spoke?

• At the University of Cambridge, the physics laboratory has the words of Psalm 111:2 inscribed over the entrance to the building:”The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”
• Science and faith are not opposed to one another. Many scientists do not separate God from science; they see God behind the science.
• When you look at the wonders of the universe, what does it tell you about how it came to be?

Genesis is the Book of Beginnings, and this account starts with the beginning of creation. God created the universe by His own creative power, and He deemed good every aspect of what He created. In this study we’ll discover what the Bible says about God’s work of creation.







I. GOD SPOKE THE UNIVERSE INTO EXISTENCE – GENESIS 1:1-3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

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6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”

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9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

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11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so.

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14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.

...…………………………………………………………

20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 






What can we learn about our Creator from the opening verses of the Bible?

• The Bible not only tells us that the world was created by God; more important, it tells us who this God is. It reveals God’s personality, His character, and His plan for His creation. It also reveals God’s deepest desire: to relate to and fellowship with the people He created. God took the ultimate step toward fellowship with us through His historic visit to this planet in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. We can know this God who created the universe in a very personal way.
• Genesis 1:1 affirms the eternal nature and omnipotence of God. All things have their beginning in the powerful word and creative execution of the eternal, almighty creator God. The sum of all creation and a critical theological declaration about the nature of God is expressed in the 10 words of Genesis 1:1. The verse set in motion the message of Scripture; that is, the story about God. The Bible is God’s story, not the story of humankind; it is about a holy purpose, plan, and promise, not human potential. It is historical, but in a unique sense.

What order do see in God’s creation?

• God’s creative activity was orderly, with purpose, and according to His plan.
• The six days of creation can be viewed as two triads, the first triad describing how the earth received form and the second triad showing how the void became full. Clearly, creation was a process, not a single act. The process shows God to be a God of continuing power, purpose, and order, not a God of impulse who acted without reason. This is important to understanding the nature of God as the story of Scripture continues to unfold.

Days of Creation

1. Light (so there was light and darkness)
2. Sky and water (waters separated)
3. Land and seas (water gathered); vegetation
4. Sun, moon, and stars (to govern the day and the night and to mark seasons, days and years)
5. Fish and birds (to fill the waters and sky)
6. Animals (fill the earth) & Man and Woman (care for the earth and to commune with God)
7. God rested and declared all He had made to be very good.

How long did it take God to create the world?

1. Each day was a literal 24-hour period.
2. Each day represents an indefinite period of time (even millions of years).

The Bible does not say how long these time periods were. The real question, however, is not how long God took, but how He did it. God created the earth in an orderly fashion (He did not make plants before light), and He created men and women as unique beings capable of communication with Him. No other part of creation can claim that remarkable privilege. It is not important how long it took God to create the world, whether a few days or a few billion years; but that He created it just the way He wanted it.

Equally committed and sincere Christians have struggled with the subject of beginnings and come to differing conclusions. This, of course, is to be expected because the evidence is very old and, due to the ravages of the ages, quite fragmented. Students of the Bible and of science should avoid polarizations and black/white thinking. Students of the Bible must be careful not to make the Bible say what it doesn’t say, and students of science must not make science say what it doesn’t say.

The most important aspect of the continuing discussion is not the process of creation, but the origin of creation. The world is not a product of blind chance and probability; God created it.


What is the significance of God speaking and God acting to accomplish creation?

• God spoke the universe into existence. At least nine times in Genesis 1, you will find, “God said.” These two words emphasize God’s awesome power. He has the ability to command nothing to become something.
• Then God spoke. Here begins a series of creative acts that take place in response to a word or declaration from God. That creation occurred in response to God’s spoken word or command is a testimony of God’s power and authority. The universe, and all that came into being, was totally dependent on God.
• God said, Let there be light. As a result, there was light.

II. GOD CREATED PEOPLE IN HIS OWN IMAGE – GENESIS 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.




What feelings are stirred up when you read that you are made in the image of God?

• Knowing that we are made in God’s image and thus share many of His characteristics provides a solid basis for self-worth. Human worth is not based on possessions, achievements, physical attractiveness, or public acclaim. Instead it is based on being made in God’s image. Because we bear God’s image, we can feel positive about ourselves. Criticizing or downgrading ourselves is criticizing what God has made and the abilities He has given us. Knowing that you are a person of worth helps you love God, know Him personally, and make a valuable contribution to those around you.
• Human beings are God’s special creation, having been created in His image and likeness.

What did it mean to be created in God’s image and likeness?

• God obviously did not create us exactly like Himself because God has no physical body. Instead, we are reflections of God’s glory. Some feel that our reason, creativity, speech, or self-determination is the image of God. More likely, it is our entire self that reflects the image of God. We will never be totally like God because He is our supreme Creator. But we do have the ability to reflect His character in our love, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and faithfulness.
• God made both man and woman in His image. Neither man nor woman is made more in the image of God than the other. From the beginning the Bible places both man and woman at the pinnacle of God’s creation. Neither sex is exalted, nor depreciated.
• God saw that all He had created was very good. You are part of God’s creation, and He is pleased with how He made you. If at times you feel worthless or of little value, remember that God made you for a good reason. You are valuable to Him.

How did humankind fit into God’s plan and purpose for His creation?

• God has placed humans on the earth for His purpose and to bring Him glory. Humankind are to care for the earth and to commune with God.
• When God delegated some of His authority to the human race, He expected us to take responsibility for the environment and the other creatures that share our planet. We must not be careless and wasteful as we fulfill this charge. God was careful how He made this earth. We must not be careless about how we take care of it.

How does the fact that we are God’s image bearers influence what we say and do?

The fact is: What I do matters!

This fact impacts:

My home by _________________________________________________

My church by ________________________________________________

My community by _____________________________________________







So, what are some ways we can live out the privilege and responsibility of being made in God’s image?




Live It Out

1. Trust God with your circumstances. Since God can speak a universe into existence, He can be trusted with your life.
2. See people as God sees them. Just as you are created in God’s image, so is everyone else. Lead someone to discover the value God has placed on him or her.
3. Value God’s creation. We don’t worship nature, but identify ways you can care for God’s creation.

Added Views:


What if the days were millions of years?

The idea of millions of years came from the belief that the fossil record was built up over a long time. As soon as people allow for millions of years, they allow for the fossil record to be millions of years old. This creates an insurmountable problem regarding the gospel. The fossil record consists of the death of billions of creatures. In fact, it is a record of death, disease, suffering, cruelty, and brutality. It is a very ugly record.



The Bible is adamant though, that death, disease, and suffering came into the world as a result of sin. God instituted death and bloodshed because of sin so man could be redeemed. As soon as Christians allow for death, suffering, and disease before sin, then the whole foundations of the message of the Cross and the Atonement have been destroyed. The doctrine of original sin, then, is totally undermined.


If there were death, disease, and suffering before Adam rebelled—then what did sin do to the world? What does Paul mean in Romans 8 when he says the whole of creation groans in pain because of the Curse? How can all things be restored in the future to no more death and suffering, unless the beginning was also free of death and suffering? The whole message of the gospel falls apart if one allows millions of years for the creation of the world.


The whole of the creation restored … to what?

The Bible says there will be a future restoration (Acts 3:21), with no death or suffering. How could all things be restored in the future to no more death and suffering unless the beginning was also free of death and suffering? The whole message of the gospel falls apart if you allow millions of years (with death and suffering) for the world’s creation.



How should we approach scripture?



Wrong foundation.

The Apostle Paul was grieved when he found the city of Athens steeped in idolatry (Acts 17:16). When he noticed the altar “to the unknown god’, he used the opportunity to tell the philosophers that their unknown god is God the Creator, Lord of heaven and earth.



One of the major problems we all have (in fact, it is the same problem Adam and Eve had) is that we tend to start from outside God’s Word and then go to what God has written in the Bible (or—in Adam’s case—what God said directly to him) to try to interpret it on the basis of our own ideas. This is really the major reason why most people question the days of creation.

We need to realize that the Bible is God’s Word. And as it is the inspired Word of the infinite Creator, God, then it must be self-authenticating and self-attesting. Thus, we should always start with what God’s Word says regardless of outside ideas. Only God’s Word is infallible.


If we allow our children to accept the possibility that we can doubt the days of creation when the language speaks so plainly, then we are teaching them a particular approach to all of Scripture. Why shouldn’t they then start to doubt that Christ’s Virgin Birth really means a virgin birth? Why shouldn’t they start to doubt that the Resurrection really means resurrection?


In fact, there are many theologians who doubt these very things, as they have come to disbelieve the plain words of Scripture written in the foundational Book of Genesis.




Why did God take six days?



Was there death, pain, and suffering before Adam and Eve’s sin?

At the close of the Creation Week, God called everything He had made “very good.” This is powerful evidence against the idea that long ages of suffering and dying took place before the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, appeared.

If you think about it, an infinite Creator God could have created everything in no time. Why, then, did He take as long as six days? The answer is given in Exodus 20:11. Here we find that God tells us that He deliberately took six days and rested for one as a pattern for man—this is where the seven-day week comes from. The seven-day week has no basis for existing except from Scripture. If one believes that the days of creation are long periods of time, then the week becomes meaningless.



The Bible tells us that Adam was created on the sixth day. If he lived through day six and day seven, and then died when he was 930 years old, and if each of these days was a thousand or a million years, you have major problems! On the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:14-19), we are given the comparison of day to night, and days to years. If the word “day” doesn’t mean an ordinary day, then the comparison of day to night and day to years becomes meaningless.



Were the days 24 hours? Most definitely! “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).



Genesis 1: Are the Six Days of Creation Literal or Figurative?

The first chapter of the Bible says that God made heaven and earth and every living thing in six days. Are those six "days" to be understood literally, as six 24-hour days, or are they symbolic — figures of speech? Bible-believing Christians disagree on this topic, often with great emotion, sometimes condemning all who do not understand Genesis 1 in the same way as they do.



The literal view is simple: Genesis 1 is telling us that God created everything in six evenings and six mornings — ordinary-length days. The literal view says, Believe it because that is what is written.



But is that really what is written? Let us look at the evidence in Scripture. We can start with day four as an example: On the fourth day, God commanded that there be lights in the sky to separate day and night. He made the sun, moon and stars to separate light from darkness (Gen. 1:14-18). But we are told in verse 4 that God had separated light from darkness on the first day; and the words "evening and morning" show that there was already a separation between night and day. So what really happened on the fourth day of creation?


One conservative suggestion observes that the Hebrew word for "made" could mean "had made" — God may have made the sun, moon and stars billions of years earlier, and God caused them to be visible on the fourth day of creation. The creation account is written from an earthly perspective. Since half of earth is in darkness when the other side is in day, the terms evening and morning indicate a perspective not only limited to earth in general, but to a specific point on earth.

However, if we say that the account is written from a limited perspective, we admit that the account is not abstract truth. When God called for light, he meant light at a specific point on earth, not light in general, because light already existed in outer space. When verse 14 says, Let there be sun and moon, it really means, Let earth's surface have a clear view of the sun and moon, or perhaps, Let the sky be clear.



However, when we understand the Bible this way, we are not interpreting it literally. Perhaps the creation story was not meant to be interpreted literally.



Not designed for scientific accuracy

Genesis 1 does not describe how God created. It does not give us the physics of how he separated light and darkness, land and sea; it is not designed to tell us whether he created aquatic insects and land-dwelling insects on the same day. It does not tell us whether the stars existed before verse 16, or whether they simply became visible.



God began the creation by calling for light, and there is no other way for light to appear than instantly. Either it exists or it doesn’t. Therefore we might conclude that creation would have begun with morning. But what did God do in the afternoon? Did he continue to create more light, or did he rest? Did he rest in the evening, like he did on the seventh day? Even an ancient Israelite could have wondered. However, such questions try to squeeze precision out of an account that wasn’t designed for it.



God separated light from darkness (verse 4). The literary sequence implies that darkness was separated only some time after light existed, but light is always separated from darkness; they are distinct by definition. Perhaps verse 4 is not intended to be sequentially precise. Or perhaps it means that, at the assumed point of observation, darkness finally came. Either way, this is not what the text says literally.



Day 2 and 3

In verse 6 (day 2) God separated the waters. Where did this water come from? Genesis does not tell us. Verse 10 tells us that "earth" (same Hebrew word as in verse 1) is dry land; verse 8 tells us that space between waters is "heaven" (same Hebrew word as in verse 1). But it does not tell us when water was created, or how much water is above heaven. It is mentioned in verse 2 as simply existing. So here we see something else incomplete about the sequence.


On day 3, God separated land and water (verse 9). We might imagine continents rising out of the ocean, but consider the hydrological problem that would exist if an entire continent rose in one 24-hour day. The Nile River is more than 4,000 miles long. Water would have to flow more than 150 miles an hour in order for Africa to appear in one day. Erosion would have been catastrophic unless God miraculously removed the water, or unless much smaller units of land were involved. The account gives a general picture, not a geological and hydrological description.



Also on the third day, land produced plants with seeds and fruits. Perhaps fully grown trees with mature fruits were created instantly—nothing is impossible for God — but perhaps this isn’t supposed to be read so literally. Perhaps all it means is that God created fruit-bearing trees — trees capable of bearing fruit.



A third view

Some scholars believe that Genesis 1 presents 24-hour days. Others believe that the account is figurative not only in the length of days but also the sequence of events. Some scholars take a "middle" view — that the sequence is correct, but the days are longer than 24 hours.

Gerald Schroeder, for example, argues that Genesis presents creation in terms of "cosmic time," in which time is relative to the expansion of the universe after the big bang.

In this way he argues that creation day one was 24 hours long by the cosmic clock, but eight billion years long as we count time today. Day 2 would have been four billion years, and day three only two billion years. Day 6 would have been only 250 million years long.



This mathematical solution, however, does not solve the sequential problems that are in Genesis 1.



Other scholars, such as Karl Barth, say that the days of Genesis 1 are 24-hour days but deny that the chapter gives a literal picture of the actual creation.



Day 4 revisited

On the fourth day, God called for the sun and moon to separate day and night — something seemingly unnecessary, for day and night already existed. And God commanded that the sun and moon "give light on the earth" — another thing that had already been done on day one. Part of the stated purpose is puzzling if we interpret the account literally — and these questions about sequence exist no matter how long the "days" were.

"God made two great lights," we are told in verse 16. Since Hebrew does not have a past perfect tense, this phrase could mean that God had, at some unspecified time before, made the sun and moon. This grammatical solution works in English, but it wouldn’t impress the original Hebrew readers, who would simply see a series of similar verb forms: He did this, he did that, he did the next thing, etc. What a word could mean in English is not what it means literally. Literally, the verb tense is not specific, and if we try to be more specific, we are not interpreting literally. When we discuss past perfect tenses and unspecified prior times, we are implying that this list of God’s creative activities cannot be taken at face value as a chronological sequence. We are attempting to clarify something that was not intended to be precise.



One more observation about day 4: The sun, moon and stars were set "in the expanse of the sky" (verses 14, 15 and 17). Verses 6 to 8 inform us that the expanse of the sky was formed by separating water under the expanse from water above the expanse. We are told three times not just that the stars are visible in the sky, but that they are in the expanse. Genesis 1, if taken literally, describes a layer of water above the stars. However, there is no scientific evidence for a layer of water above the stars, nor can we imagine how there might be. Yet this is what Genesis 1 says if we take it literally. This again shows that the passage is not a scientific description, and the text itself forces us to allow figurative interpretations.



A very long day 6

On day 6, God created animals, and then humans, both male and female (verses 26-27). However, chapter 2 gives us a longer story. "When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens — and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth.... God formed the man from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:4-7). Could it be that God created Adam before the shrubs? Either this sequence is wrong, or the sequence in Genesis 1 is wrong. Or could it be that neither story is meant to be sequentially precise?


After creating all animals and creating Adam, "God planted a garden in ... Eden" (Genesis 2:8). And he "made all kind of trees grow out of the ground" (verse 9). The word planted (rather than "created") implies time. Grow normally implies time, too — a long time, for trees.


God told Adam what he should do and what he could eat (verses 15-17). God then had him give names to "all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air" (verse 19). This taxonomic job must have taken a lot of time, for if the names were to be meaningful, they would have to describe something about the animal, which means that Adam would have had to observe the animal and think about each one.



Then God created Eve (verses 21-22). Adam named her, and expressed delight at his new companion (verse 23). His delight implies that he was aware of being lonely, which also implies passage of time.



Did all this happen in one 24-hour day? Ancient readers, if they thought about it, might conclude that creation was not as simple as Genesis 1 presents it. Perhaps Eve wasn’t really created on the same day as Adam, or perhaps Genesis 1 isn’t supposed to be a newspaper report. Perhaps it has a different purpose, and if we use it for chronology, we are misusing it.



"Day" — a span of time

We see a hint of that in a word-for-word literal translation of Genesis 2:4, which uses "day" in a nonliteral way: "in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven" (New American Standard). This implies that God created everything in one day. (The NIV leaves yom untranslated in this verse, but it’s the same Hebrew word used in chapter 1 for "day.")



Day has a broad range of meaning, and can be used in a general sense to mean a span of time. Genesis 2:4a, just like 1:1, uses the word bara’, "created." Are 1:1 and 2:4a referring to the same time period? Is that time different than the verses between them? Does the literal meaning involve great jumps in time? This again suggests that the chapter is not intended to be an exact chronology. We cannot insist on precision if we are faithful to an account that was not meant to be precise.



But doesn’t Exodus 20 clearly tell us that God created everything in six days, and because of that the Israelites should work six days and rest the seventh? Yes, but the analogy works no matter how long the "days" of creation were, or even if they were of different lengths. The analogy applies to years, too, because Israelites were told to keep an agricultural sabbath every seven years. The analogy does not depend on chronological precision. God structured the Israelite work week, but we cannot assume that his creative week was the same length as one of ours. His perspective on time is different.



Many conservative commentators believe that the Bible should be read literally unless demonstrated otherwise. Many of them have been convinced on literary and theological grounds that Genesis 1 should probably be read otherwise.



One such commentator is Gleason L. Archer Jr., who writes: "Belief in the inerrancy of Scripture involves neither a literal nor a figurative rule of interpretation. What it does require is a belief in whatever the biblical author (human and divine) actually meant by the words he used" (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Zondervan, 1982, page 59).



We have seen that the creation account cannot be interpreted literally all the way through. God did not actually create the sun and moon on the fourth day. Nor were the creative acts of the fourth day for the purpose of separating night from day or giving light on earth. At least some of the account is poetic (for lack of a better term) rather than precise.



In how many aspects is the account nonliteral? Opinions vary. If some parts of the account are not meant literally, what about the days? Has the account been designed to form a symbolic pattern? Some parts of the account don’t fit literally, since creation began with light, not with evening. Other events, such as the separation of land from water and the growth of plants, also suggest spans of time longer than 24 hours. And even if the "days" are longer than 24 hours, the sequential questions still suggest that the chapter is not meant to be a chronological report.



Archer comments, "Genesis 1 was never intended to teach that the sixth creative day, when Adam and Eve were both created, lasted a mere twenty-four hours." He says it is unlikely that "Adam’s experiences in Genesis 2:15-22 could have been crowded into the last hour or two of a literal twenty-four-hour day."

Theological purposes

Genesis 1 does not give scientific facts. What then is it for? Primarily, it reveals God as Creator. The things that other people worshiped are not gods. Rather, they were created by the true God, who rules over the chaos "god," who has power to command the ocean "god." God is above the powers of nature; he is supernatural. Each day of creation dismisses more deities — light and darkness, earth and sky, land and water, sun and moon and stars, fish and birds, animals and even man. They are all created, having no power except that appointed by the Creator God. Archer writes: "The purpose of Genesis 1 is not to tell how fast God performed His work of creation (though, of course, some of His acts, such as the creation of light on the first day, must have been instantaneous). Rather, its true purpose was to reveal that the Lord God who had revealed Himself to the Hebrew race and entered into personal covenant relationship with them was indeed the only true God, the Creator of all things that are."



It is also possible that some of the described events, especially those in day 4 (which we have already admitted) and in 2:4-7, are out of their original order. This is also within biblical literary style. Bruce K. Waltke writes: "As so often happens in Scripture, historical events have been dischronologized and reconstructed for theological reasons. For example, the nations listed in Genesis 10 came into existence after the confusion of languages at Babylon recounted in Genesis 11, but the writer has dischronologized events in order to put the nations under Noah’s blessing, not under the Babylon’s curse. According to Genesis 35:16-18, Benjamin was born in Canaan, but less than 10 verses later it lists Benjamin among Jacob’s sons born in Paddan-Aram, presumably to represent the youngest patriarch as taking part in the return of all Israel from the exile in Paddan-Aram. Biblical writers display a freedom in representing historical events for theological reasons." ("The Literary Genre of Genesis, Chapter One," Crux, December 1991, volume 27, number 4, page 7).



Days grouped in a pattern

There is also a schematic arrangement. In the first group of three days, God organized motionless spaces by separating one from another; in the second group of three days, God formed things to fill and "rule" over those spaces. The sun and moon and stars occupy and govern the light and darkness; the fish and birds fill and rule the water and air; the animals fill the land, and humans rule all.



Another theological reason for the six days of creation is the Sabbath. A one-day creation could demonstrate God’s power over all other powers, but we are given a pattern of six days and a day of rest. The Sabbath commemorates God as Creator, as having all power. It does not matter whether creation was actually done in six days. What matters is that the week is assigned to correspond to creation. Using that pattern, God told the Israelites to take a break from their occupations on the Sabbath, a break from their concerns with created things, so they can remember the Creator. This is one of the ritual laws that became obsolete when Christ died.



Faith and facts

None of the interpretations of Genesis 1 has explained everything. But it is clear that we cannot require a strictly literal reading. The difficulties involved in literalism show that the account is not intended strictly literally. It is right to allow exploration and to suggest some possible nonliteral explanations.


Dogma is appropriate for some matters of faith, such as "God is the Creator," but not for a 144-hour interpretation of Genesis 1. That is not necessary for salvation, Christian living or Christian unity. Nor is it essential to understanding God’s creative power or his inspiration of the Bible. Faith does not require us to ignore all facts and stick to our own conclusions.

When God asks us to believe something, he gives us evidence. He asks us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and he gives us evidence by resurrecting him from the dead. Jesus appeared to hundreds of people and gave visible and tangible evidence. Those witnesses gave reports that are evidence for us. But God has not given us tangible evidence of a six-day creation. Actually, he has given us a lot of evidence to the contrary. The sun and stars appear to be old; the earth appears to be old. It is not wrong to believe this tangible, God-given evidence.


We appreciate the faith of all who believe in a six-day creation. We appreciate their desire to defend biblical authority and validity, but we do not appreciate the dogmatism and the spirit of condemnation that some have. God does not require his people to believe the literal interpretation of Genesis 1. God has given us evidence, in the text and in creation, that Genesis 1 is not intended as a literal description. Salvation does not require belief in a six-day creation. Faith in God and in his Word does not require us to reject visible facts.



The Bible is not meant to be a scientific textbook. Nor is it designed to reveal secrets about primordial history that have no relevance to salvation. The Bible does not answer the questions that science asks. Nor does science address all the issues the creation account does. The two approaches are different answers for different questions, and if people perceive conflicts between the two, it is because they are trying to force either the Bible or science to give answers for questions it was not designed for.



Many people think that science and Christianity conflict. They think they have to choose between science on one hand and belief in a six-day creation on the other. This is unfortunate, because there shouldn’t be any conflict. We can have faith in God and believe facts. Faith should be built on the correct foundation, not on an overly specific interpretation when other interpretations make better sense. Belief in God can legitimately be combined with a nonliteral view of Genesis 1. Christians do not need to feel that faith requires a 6,000-year-old-earth theory, a six-day creation theory, a "gap" theory or any other theory that attempts to squeeze scientific precision out of the biblical creation account. Such theories may, in the long run, do faith more harm than good, if they cause people to reject the Bible.



Many people have abandoned faith in God because they thought they had to choose between God and a 144-hour creation on one hand, and fossils and an evolutionary explanation on the other. It is a false dichotomy, a choice that doesn’t have to be made. Belief in God can legitimately be combined with a nonliteral view of Genesis 1, and atheism is not the only possible explanation of the changes we see in the fossil records.



As more Christians learn about geology and the development of life, it is important that facts do not contradict our faith in God. There need be no conflict. Faith should be built on the correct biblical foundation, not on one particular interpretation of the Bible when other interpretations are also possible. We do not want to equate faith in God with faith in a 144-hour interpretation. One is a solid foundation; the other is mistaken. A flexible view of Genesis 1, one that makes fewer specific claims, is better because it is true to the text and is able to accommodate more facts without any challenge to faith.



Was creation done in six literal days or not? Sincere Christians hold one view; equally sincere Christians hold the opposite. But the true spirit of Christianity is love for others. We may disagree, but we should not be disagreeable. The debate should not be a war about orthodoxy and heresy. Rather, those who hold each view should present the evidence as clearly as they can and point out weaknesses of different views — without attacking other people.

We cannot decide which view is true based on how many people believe this or that, or on who believes it. Each Christian needs to decide what to believe based on the biblical and geological evidence, as guided by the Holy Spirit. And each Christian should be charitable to those who make a different decision. 

Prayer of Commitment

O Lord God, I stand in awe before You. Help me to see clearly the purpose for which You created me, that I may bring You glory. Amen.

Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday as we continue with Real Questions People Ask.

In His Love,

David & Susan