The "Days" of Genesis

Christians have a responsibility to know the Bible. We should desire to know the truth wherever it may be found. If we follow St. Augustine’s advice then we have a duty to show that Scripture does not contradict what we have reason to believe from other reliable sources. In other words, we must demonstrate that the early chapters of Genesis do not contradict known scientific truth. So how do we reconcile them since the Bible offers no scientific theories or explanations?

There are basically three major explanations. For the sake of brevity, we will give you a snapshot of each of these explanations. The word day appears sixteen times in the Genesis text. So that begs the question “Are they literal 24 hour days or are they longer periods of time?

· Young Earth Creationism. Young Earth creationists believe that these days were literal one rotation of the earth. Basically what we experience today. They believe that the earth is 10 to 50 thousand years old and that the flood of Noah (Genesis 6-9) was a universal flood that would generally explain the earth’s geological structure.

· Old Earth Creationism. Old Earth creationists agree with young earth creationists that the Darwinian theory of evolution is false. They believe the earth was created supernaturally. Unlike the young earth viewpoint, however, the days of Genesis represent unspecified progressive periods of time, or the periods in between the actual days represent eons of time.

The strength of this viewpoint is that it complements the findings of science better than the young earth view. Old earth proponents argue the Hebrew word day or yom, is used in various ways throughout the Old Testament and is not limited to a twenty-four hour interpretation. Depending on the context, this Hebrew word can be interpreted several ways.

The words evening and morning are used as literary devices used by the author.

Old earth creationists argue that there is so much activity that it is absurd to believe that this happened in one literal 24 hour period of time. Even to name all the animals would be a formidable task in one day.

The question of when death entered the world separates young earth and old earth creationists. God told Adam that on the day he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) An old earth view requires animal death to occur long before the creation of humanity. The question to be solved is just what is meant by death in Genesis 2. With a young earth view, there is no problem whether death means physical or spiritual or both.

• Theistic Evolution.. Theistic evolution holds that Darwin’s theory is true. Genesis explains the who and why of creation, but no the how. This is the job of science. Theistic evolution attempts the greatest integration with science theory by recognizing that God’s method of creation was a gradual process observed in the fossil record of the earth.

There are different variations to each of these views. Recognizing that there are diverse opinions within the Christian community, we need to leave room for disagreement and realize this not as important as other topics. The fight is not over the days of Genesis or the age of the universe. As we will see tomorrow, the stakes are much higher.

Of the three views mentioned today, which one makes the most sense to you? Why or why not?

Google all three views.

Read Genesis 2:4-18