The Days of Creation

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The Days of Creation

• Today just 1st half!
• Next week CMA missionary
• March 4 Stephen Chen
• March 11 Tom Sugimura
• March 18 2nd half
• 2-3 messages on evolution, intelligent design,
  origin of man

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(No Transcript)
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The Days of Creation

• What are they?

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If the days are literal

• The universe is only thousands of years old
• But there is massive evidence for the antiquity
  of the earth and universe

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Is there any way around this evidence?

• Scientific theories are ever-changing
• God created with appearance of age
• Hope young-earth scientists can overthrow the
  consensus
• None of these options is attractive
• The problem was recognized even before Darwin

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How else can we read Gen. 1?

• Gap theory unspecified time between Gen. 11
  and 12
• Literal days separated by unspecified periods
• Days of command followed by fulfillment over an
  unspecified period
• All these views smuggle in lots of time before,
  between, or after the 6 days.
• Nothing in the text suggests this.

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Day-Age Theory

• The days are ages of indeterminate length
• The events of the 6 days can be harmonized with
  scientific understanding of earths history
• Many take this approach I dont find it
  convincing. Seems to require forcing the text to
  receive scientific theories.
• E.g. sun only appearing on Day 4

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Genesis 1 as Literary Framework

• A depiction of creation organized theologically,
  not chronologically
• Gods workweek
• The picture is anthropomorphic, as when God is
  depicted with hands eyes
• Ordinary days--but the entire week is non-literal

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Non-literal ? non-historical

• God did all that is described here
• But Moses not interested in exact chronological
  order or length of time
• He is organizing his material according to
  theological and literary concerns

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What kind of literature is Gen.1?

• Must read passages according to genre
• Parable as parable, poetry as poetry, etc.
• Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest
  you be like him yourself (Prov. 264)
• Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be
  wise in his own eyes (Prov. 265)
• This couldnt work for law it does work for
  proverbs

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What is the genre of Genesis 1?

• Nothing else like it in the Bible!
• Numerous examples of a 7-day framework in the
  literature of the Ancient Near East
• Other examples of sabbatical symbolism in
  Scripture 70 years of captivity, Daniels weeks,
  Matthews genealogy of Jesus
• And Genesis 1 is not flat historical prose it
  contains poetic repetition

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Repetition as a literary device in Genesis 1

• And God said
• Let there be
• And it was so
• God saw that it was good
• Each according to kind
• And there was evening morning

• 10X
• 3X
• 6X
• 7X
• 10X
• 6X

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The genre of Genesis 1

• Prose with substantial poetic elements, making
  use of the framework of a week of days possibly
  sabbatical symbolism
• Does this mean the days cant be literal?
• No, but we should be cautious about assuming that
  this is straightforward history

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Clear signs of careful literary structuring

• The days are introduced by 12
• The earth was without form and void
• Days 1-3 days of forming
• Days 4-6 days of filling

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Two sets of days

• Realms
• Day 1
• Day night
• Day 2
• Seas
• Sky
• Day 3
• Dry land
• Vegetation

• Inhabitants/Rulers
• Day 4
• Sun, moon, stars
• Day 5
• Sea creatures
• Winged creatures
• Day 6
• Land animals
• Man

• The Creator-Ruler
• Day 7 Sabbath

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Does the intricate structure prove the days are
not literal?

• No--but such careful literary and theological
  structuring has to raise the question
• Is the purpose of the passage really to give us a
  strict chronology?
• The question becomes more pointed when we see the
  parallels between Days 1 4

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Day 1 and Day 4

• Day 1
• And God separated the light from the darkness.
  God called the light Day, and the darkness he
  called Night

• Day 4
• And God set them (sun and moon) to rule over
  the day and over the night, and to separate the
  light from the darkness

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Day 1 and Day 4

• Day 1
• And God separated the light from the darkness.
  God called the light Day, and the darkness he
  called Night

• Day 4
• And God set them (sun and moon) to rule over
  the day and over the night, and to separate the
  light from the darkness

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Day 1 and Day 4

• Day 1
• And God separated the light from the darkness.
  God called the light Day, and the darkness he
  called Night

• Day 4
• And God set them (sun and moon) to rule over
  the day and over the night, and to separate the
  light from the darkness

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Could Day 4 be a recapitulation of Day 1?

• It seems that the same events are depicted on
  both days--but from different angles
• On Day 1 God separates light from darkness,
  creating the realms of night and day
• On Day 4 we learn how he did it--by making the
  two great lights

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Literalist answer No! The light on Day 1 was
supernatural!)

• Possible, but strange!
• Why create a light source that does everything
  the sun does--then remove it and replace it with
  the sun?
• Why is the text silent about this supernatural
  light source?

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Genesis 25 sheds light on Days 1 and 4

• When no bush of the field was yet in the land
  and no small plant of the field had yet sprung
  up--for the LORD God had not yet caused it to
  rain on the land, and there was no man to work
  the ground

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The witness of Genesis 25

• During the creation week, God used ordinary
  providential means to sustain creation--he didnt
  make plants until after he established the rain.
• Why, then, would we expect him to produce
  supernatural light to sustain plants until Day 4?
• Why does the lack of plants need any explanation
  if only 1/2 day has passed since the dry land
  appeared?
• Gen. 25 strongly hints the days arent literal

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Days 1 4, proposal

• Not two, distinct, literal days
• Moses is using a literary framework to describe
  the same events from 2 perspectives
• Creation of light on earth was accomplished
  through creation of the solar system
• Day 1 results Day 4 physical mechanism

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Two sets of days

• Realms
• Day 1
• Day night
• Day 2
• Seas
• Sky
• Day 3
• Dry land
• Vegetation

• Inhabitants/Rulers
• Day 4
• Sun, moon, stars
• Day 5
• Sea creatures
• Winged creatures
• Day 6
• Land animals
• Man

• The Creator-Ruler
• Day 7 Sabbath

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An additional problem with the literal reading
Genesis 24

• These are the generations of the heavens and the
  earth when they were created, in the day that the
  LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
• Here day refers to the whole period of
  creation.
• Day, used non-literally, suggests indefinite
  period of time The Day of the Lord
• If that period was a literal week, why isnt that
  term used instead of day?

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Summary Reasons to think the days are not literal

• Existence of other documents using a week as a
  literary form, and other parts of Bible using
  sabbatical symbolism
• Realization that the genre is prose/poetry
• Obvious literary structuring
• Repetition of words and phrases
• Parallel sets of days answering to formless
  void

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Summary Reasons to think the days are not literal

• Gen. 25
• Ordinary providence during creation period
• Why expect plants just hours after dry land?
• Recapitulation of events of Day 1 on Day 4
• Use of day rather than week in Gen. 24

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Tentative conclusion

• The text contains strong hints that the week is
  not to be understood literally
• Genesis 1 is a non-literal, non-chronological
  presentation of creation organized according to
  theological concerns, not temporal sequence.
• God is depicted in anthropomorphic terms, as a
  worker working a workweek.
• Next time will consider objections, and explain
  why Moses used days and a week