God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)
According to Genesis 1-2, God created the heavens and the earth in six days, ceasing from His activities on the seventh day. For the last few centuries, scholars have debated the meaning of the word “day” in the first few chapters of Genesis. Does “day” refer to a literal, 24 hour period, or perhaps a symbolic allusion to lengthy epochs of time?
Below is a list of the five most common views of the meaning of the term “day”:
1) Literal Approach: Genesis 1 is treated as sequential and literal, twenty-four hour days
2) Day-Age Approach: Genesis 1 is understood as taking place over six eras. Each day of creation is an epoch of time.
3) Literary Approach: Genesis 1 refers not to time at all, but rather is a literary structure that is oriented toward sabbath theology.
4) Prior Creation Approach: Genesis 1 is a record of a previous created world prior to the one that exists today. This view also is known as the “Gap Theory.”
5) Two-Phase Approach: Genesis 1 and 2 contain two distinct phases of creation, with a long period of time between them.
In order to arrive at the proper conclusion, we must consider the biblical evidence.
First, biblical passages outside of the book of Genesis treat the days of creation as 24 hour periods:
20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you
20:11"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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 20:10-11)
"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed." (Exod. 31:17)
Second, the Hebrew word “day” (yom) must be considered: "The Hebrew word yom and its plural form yamim are used over 1900 times in the Old Testament . . . . Outside of the Genesis 1 case in question, the two-hundred plus occurrences of yom preceded by ordinals all refer to a normal twenty-four hour day. Furthermore, the seven-hundred plus appearances of yamim always refer to a regular day. Thus, it is argued that the Exodus 20:11 reference to the six yamim of creation must also refer to six regular days."[1]
Third, one must note the order in which God created matter. On the third day, God created vegetation, but the sun did not come into existence until the fourth day. If each day really is an eon of time, how did plants survive for so long without light and heat?
In conclusion, the Bible supports the view that each day of creation is a literal, 24 hour period. When one realizes that God indeed is all-powerful, His fashioning of the universe in 6 days is no problem!
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)
[1] Walter L. Bradley and Roger Olsen, "The Trustworthiness of Scripture in Areas Relating to Natural Science," in Hermeneutics, Inerrancy and the Bible, ed. Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Preuss (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 299.
also, "there was evening and there was morning" (which is included in the description of each day of creation) is a phrase which seems to suggest that each day happened in the normal 24 hour period when the earth makes a complete rotation around its axis. Hence, it doesn't say, "there were 3,000,000 evenings and there was 3,000,000 mornings, the sixth day." No, there was only one evening and one morning - one 24 hour day.
ReplyDeletegood post. thanks.