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Session 3 - Verse 1: Creation

Class Discussion (01-10-10) Class Discussion (01-17-10)

Four Major Views of Creation

1. Creationism

Creationism interprets the biblical account of creation literally. God created the universe in six days. He created man on the sixth day. The universe is quite young, approximately six to ten thousand years old. The present condition of the earth, which gives the appearance of being much older, reflects the catastrophic destruction as a result of Noah’s flood.

The key difficulty in modern scientific explanations of the age of the earth is the notion of ‘uniformitarianism,’ the idea that all physical processes have always operated at a uniform rate. According to most scientists, the Grand Canyon would have taken hundreds of thousands of years to be created, since it has eroded at the same rate which it experiences today. Creationists, on the other hand, believe the Grand Canyon is a result of the receding floodwaters in Noah’s day and could have been formed in a matter of weeks or months.

Creationists do not apply their scientific method to the creation account in Genesis 1, but to the flood accounts in Genesis 6-9. There they rely on principles and experiments related to fluid dynamics, the study of laws of water in motion. They explain the fossil record by the laws of sedimentation. When material settles in a fluid, denser particles tend to settle faster than less dense ones. After the floodwaters had calmed over the earth and dead animals began to sink to the bottom, the smaller, more-dense species settled first. This accounts for the basic pattern of the fossil record where we find smaller crustaceans at the bottom and larger mammals at the top. In this way the fossil record could have been laid down in a matter of weeks, months or a few years.

2. Progressive Creationism

Progressive creationists teach that God created the universe in the beginning. The universe is some eight to fifteen billion years old, and life on earth began some three and a half billion years ago. The biblical account of Adam and Eve is historical and can be dated prior to the first traces of human life, about twenty to fifty thousand years ago. Thus, God created the first man and woman; they did not evolve from apes.

Yet the account of creation in Genesis 1 should not be taken strictly literally. Either the days are to be thought of as long ages of time, or the whole account is to be understood as a picturesque story, which teaches about real acts of God but doesn’t literally depict those acts. Many progressive creationists attempt to show that the word ‘day’ in Genesis 1 was not intended to be understood as a 24-hour day.

Progressive creationists use modern scientific methods in their interpretation of the Bible. They rely on scientific dating methods for establishing the age of the universe, the earth, and life on earth. They read Genesis 1 as if it were a blueprint for modern geological theories. The ‘days’ of Genesis 1 represent the geological ‘ages’ of modern geology. The order of events in Genesis 1 parallels the sequences of the formation of the physical universe. For the most part, progressive creationists apply their scientific viewpoints to the creation of the earth in Genesis 1, while creationists apply it to the flood in Genesis 6-9.

3. Theistic Evolution

According to most versions of theistic evolution, God created the universe and all life using the process of evolution and natural selection. The Biblical account of creation is a picturesque way to say that God was ‘behind’ evolution and the geological formation of the earth. Genesis 1 should not be taken literally; it tells us that God created the world, but it does not tell us how He did it. We know how God created the world from the facts of science.

Theistic evolutionists, like creationists, view the meaning of the Biblical account in terms of their scientific understanding of the world. Evolution was the means by which God created the world. In this way the meaning of Genesis 1 is ‘explained’ by scientific laws and theory. Theistic evolutionists attempt to show that the Bible is ‘true,’ albeit in a figurative sense. They do not see Genesis 1 in realistic and literal terms and often publicly scorn those who attempt to do so.

4. Historic Creationism

This view is a form of ‘creationism’ because it understands Genesis 1 and 2 to be a literal and realistic account of God’s creation of the universe. It holds that these chapters teach that God created the universe ‘out of nothing’. God created the whole universe during a time, which the writer calls ‘the beginning’. That beginning was not a point of time but a period of time. After that period of time, God went on to prepare the ‘land’ as a place for human beings to dwell.

The term ‘historical’ points to the fact that this view of Genesis creation account can be traced back to a way of reading Genesis 1 and 2 that flourished before the rise of science and its use in Biblical interpretation. Before progress in navigation and transportation made global exploration of our world possible, Biblical scholars and ordinary people read Genesis 1 within a rather limited geographic scope. It was the natural to view the Biblical account within the narrow limits of what was known about the world. More precisely, what was known about the world was gathered not from actual exploration, but from both the Bible and the speculations of ancient geographers. Medieval maps of the world testify to this fact. The world was thought of as a single body of land surrounded by a large body of water. In such maps of the world, the ‘promised land’, with Jerusalem at its center, was envisioned as the center of the inhabited world. The ‘Table of Nations’ in Genesis 10, which recounts the places inhabited by the descendants of Noah’s three sons, was taken as a description of the inhabited world.

The term “historical” also points to the fact that the author of Genesis clearly intended the reader to read his account as literal history. He does not expect to be understood as writing mythology or poetry.

A Quick Glimpse at Some of the Evidence Pointing to Creation

Creation itself is strong evidence supporting the existence of God and the biblical account. We will discuss this point in greater detail; this is only a quick snapshot of some of the evidence pointing to creation.

Perhaps one of the more compelling arguments of creation is the uniqueness of our planet. The search for other planets like earth is far-fetched to astrophysicists that have studied the extreme ‘fine tuning’ necessary to make earth suitable for life. Consider just the events of the first ‘two days’ of the Genesis’ creation event alone (creation of the proper atmosphere, the establishment of the hydrological cycle, etc.) Factors necessary to achieve just these two criteria are estimated to be one in a hundred trillion trillion or one in 1026. With a maximum total number of planets of, perhaps 1022 (considered generous), the chance of another life support planet is remote. By adding the other factors needed for life, it becomes absurd.

The delicate balance of the design of Earth and its position in the universe can be seen in over forty factors/criteria necessary for life on Earth here are a few examples of them:

How much proof is really enough proof? If someone told you they could pick the winning lottery number, and then did, you might be impressed. Odds are, maybe, one in ten million (or 1 in 107). Does that ‘prove’ the person has divine knowledge? Maybe or maybe not, though if they did that it would be very impressive. Now suppose they did that twice in a row? (one chance in a hundred thousand billion or 1014) It suddenly seems obvious they had ‘special’ information. From a practical standpoint, scientists and mathematicians have determined that anything beyond one chance in 1050 is beyond reason, essentially impossible or absurd (like someone correctly picking the lottery seven times in a row). Unless they had ‘special’ insider knowledge. We will find odds far more staggering than this as we discover God’s ‘fingerprints’ in the Bible.

The First Verse

V1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

It is extremely important or maybe essential that we fully understand the first verse of the Bible. If we don’t fully understand or agree with the entire verse we will have difficultly in understanding the teaching that follows.

“God”

This first occurrence of the divine name is the Hebrew word “Elohim”, the name of God which relays His majesty and omnipotence. This is the name used throughout the first chapter of Genesis. The “im” ending in Hebrew makes the word plural like the ‘s’ is used in the English language. Elohim can be translated as ‘Gods’ and is so in several passages in the Bible that word can also refer to gods of the heathen world (See Psalm 96:5)

However, it is clearly used here in the singular, as the mighty name of God the Creator, the first of over two thousand times where it is used in this way. Elohim is a plural name with a singular meaning, a ‘uniplural’ noun, suggesting the uniplurality of the Godhead. God is one, yet more than one. Christians do not have a problem with this since they understand that God is in three persons. More on that later.

“Created”

This is the word “bara”, used always only of the work of God. Only God can create calling something into existence that didn’t previously exist. Creating something from nothing (Read Romans 4:17 and Hebrews 11:3).

Although it is impossible for us to comprehend fully the concept of an eternal, transcendent God, the only alternative is the concept of an eternal, self-existing universe; and that concept is also incomprehensible. Eternal God of eternal matter, those really are our only choices. A personal God is the only adequate cause to produce such effects.

“Heavens”

This word is the Hebrew “shamayim” which, like Elohim, is a plural noun, and can be translated either “heaven” or “heavens,” depending on the context and on whether it is associated with a singular or plural verb. It does mean stars of heaven, which were made later on the fourth day of the Creation Week (See Genesis 1:16).

The essential meaning of the word corresponds to our modern term space, such as we speak of the universe as a universe of space and time. Understood in this way, it can also refer to space in general or to a particular space, just as we may speak of ‘outer space,’ ‘inner space,’ ‘atmospheric space,’ etc. Here in Genesis 1:1, the term refers to the component of space in the basic space-mass-time universe. Early writings often considered the first heaven to be where we reside (ie. oxygen atmosphere), the second heaven where the Sun, Moon, stars, etc. reside (space) and the third heaven is where God resides (See 2 Corinthians 12:2).

“Earth”

The term “earth” also refers to the component of matter in the universe. At the time of the initial creation, there were no other planets, stars, or other material bodies in the universe until the fourth day. The earth itself had no form to it (See Genesis 1:2); so this verse must speak essentially of the creation of the basic elements of matter, which would later then be organized.

The word is the Hebrew word “erets” and is often translated ‘ground’ or ‘land’. Like the use of the word ‘heaven’ it too can mean either a particular portion of earth (Read Genesis 12:5) or the earth material in general (Read Genesis 1:11).

“In the beginning”

Not only does the first verse of the Bible speak of the creation, but it also notes the beginning of time. The phrase ‘In the beginning’ is the Hebrew word “bereshith,” and is translated in the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Koine Greek between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC often referenced by Roman numerals LXX) as “en arche,” the same words used in John 1:1; “In the beginning was the Word.” Although the universe had a beginning, the Word was already there.

Some modern translators, trying to find a means of accommodating the supposedly great age of the universe, have suggested a weaker translation of “bereshith,” such as “In the beginning of God’s creating…” or “When God began to create…” Although Hebrew scholars recognize that this is grammatically permissible translation, the context precludes it. The purpose is clearly to tell about the beginning of all things. The use of those translations only raise more questions than answer. Also the conjunction “And” connecting verses 1 and 2 clearly shows sequential action.

Verse one also cannot be a title or summary of the events described in the following verses of the chapter for the same reason. A summary will be given in verse 2:4.

The Gap Theory(s)

A widely held opinion is that the primeval creation of Genesis 1:1 may have taken place billions of years ago, with all the geological ages inserted in a tremendous time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The latter verse is believed to describe the condition of earth after a great cataclysm terminated the geological ages. This cataclysm which left the earth in darkness and covered with water, is explained as a divine judgment because of the sin of Satan in rebelling against God. Following the cataclysm, God then ‘re-created’ the world in the six literal days described in Genesis 1:3-31.

Most popularly known as the ‘gap theory,’ this idea has also been called the ‘ruin-and-reconstruction theory’ and the ‘pre-Adamic cataclysm theory.’ First revived in the early nineteenth century by a Scotland theologian, Thomas Chalmers, it has been widely popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible.

The main purpose of the gap theory has been to try to harmonize the Biblical chronology with the accepted system of geological ages which was becoming prominent in the days of Chalmers. Many fundamentalists have felt they could ignore the whole troublesome system of evolutionary geological ages by simply pigeonholing them in this ‘gap’ and letting the geologists have all the time they want. The gap theory is not only impossible scientifically but also destructive theologically.

The Bible says that death came into the world only when Adam brought sin into the world (Read Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21). This fact directly contradicts the assumption in the gap theory that death prevailed for ages before Adam. Furthermore, this primeval prevalence of suffering and death even before Satan’s rebellion leaves only God himself as responsible for such a state.

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