Does Genesis demand a literal 6 day creation? Did you know that there is a whole array of creation theories held by Christians? Let's examine some of the main ones.

Literal Theories (Fundamentalist)

Fundamentalist Christians usually believe in a literal 6 creation days, about 6,000 years ago. First of all let’s try to be good fundamentalists and see if we can take this literally. Light was first created then later sun, moon and stars? Where did the light come from, if the sun was created later. Oh well, perhaps that means that the sun, moon and stars became visible because clouds that hid them disappeared. The problem with that is, it’s an interpretation. It is not taking it literally.

The sun, moon and stars were placed in the firmament or expanse? The English translation firmament comes from the belief that the sky was firm or solid. More modern translations use the word expanse. But, hang on. The expanse is the sky between the sea and the clouds. We already read that the firmament or expanse was between the waters. Above it was water (clouds) and below it was water (ocean). But the stars are not between the clouds and the ocean. Oh, well, perhaps the word firmament could be "interpreted" to mean the universe in this case and that somehow in outer space there is a great body of water. The problem with that is it is now not really taking it literally. It is an interpretation. Even literalists do not really take Genesis 1 literally.

There is another problem: geology. How do you get fossils from sea creatures buried deep within mountains thousands of feet above sea level? How do you get annual layers of rocks that are far more than 6,000 layers deep? There are many problems with trying to impose a literal 6,000 year interpretation upon Genesis 1. It does not seem to work. It seems that Genesis 1 was not meant to be taken literally, but is perhaps not exactly poetry, but similar, something called majestic prose.

There is another theory which takes the 6 days literally. It is called the gap theory which imposes a simple gap between Genesis 1:1 and verse 2. That gap could be billions of years. The theory is also not perfect and has many problems, as does the day-age theory.

Non-Literal Theories

Some believe that the text of Genesis 1 itself forces us to take it non-literally. As we have seen, taking it literally certainly does present problems. Genesis 1 does not give scientific facts. What then is it for? Primarily, it reveals God as Creator in a form of majestic prose. It does not reveal how He made everything from a scientific perspective, but a semi-poetic or pictorial one.

Some argue that Genesis 1 is also a polemic or formal argument against pagan gods. 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.

More Important Questions

What was God teaching the Hebrews, and all humanity, in the inspired account given in Genesis 1? Did God inspire Bronze Age Israelites to preserve a scientific account of origins, or did he have something timeless and more universal in mind? Was the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, concerned about inserting secret codes into the creation account that could be later used to outflank Galileo or Darwin? Or was he giving those who read Genesis 1 an alternative to the paganism that surrounded them?

A Hebrew Song of Joy

Those who read Genesis 1 in Hebrew appreciate the beauty of the language and the tightly connected literary structures. To Ronald F. Youngblood, the creation account “is written in measured and majestic prose.... Its teaching is intended to encourage us about who we are and where we come from and its emphasis is oriented toward life rather than death” (The Book of Genesis: An Introductory Commentary, pages 21, 23).

Students of the original language remark upon the rhythm, the pacing, the simple but moving energy of the language, the sense of God’s effortless control as well as his delight in his creation. In this context, then, Genesis 1 soars as a Hebrew song of joy, the majestic overture to the grand themes and messages of the Bible.

The Hebrew language is lilting and forceful. It is studded with lively phrases. Genesis 1 is no exception. Verse 2 contains the musical phrase tohu wabohu (“formless and empty”), roughly equivalent to our colorful English phrases helter-skelter, willy-nilly or mishmash.

Many biblical scholars believe that Genesis 1:2 conveys a vivid word picture that encouraged Moses’ original audience. Victor P. Hamilton, in his stimulating study The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17, explains that the Spirit of God “hovering” over the face of the waters presented a similar word picture to God’s description of himself in Deuteronomy 32:11. Everett Fox concludes, “The image suggested by the word (‘hovering’ or ‘flitting’) is that of an eagle protecting its young” (In the Beginning, page 5).

The simple and beautiful description of the sun and moon as greater and lesser lights appointed “to govern the day” and “to govern the night” (verse 16) is another example of the artistic language employed. God inspired the creation account to offer the Israelites and all peoples an earth-centered description of creation.

We do not know how God did all this any more than we know how Jesus turned water into wine or raised Lazarus from the dead. The point is that we know it happened. The exact mechanism is not revealed, nor need it be. God needs no mechanism to accomplish anything. His will is sufficient to accomplish his purposes.

God inspired a skillful arrangement of words, phrases and sentences to express his satisfaction with the natural world. The physical creation is the stage for the great drama of redemption.

Genesis 1 assured the early Israelites—surrounded by polytheistic idolaters—that their God was superior to anything and everything else that was worshiped. The powerful word picture of Israel’s God hovering over the waters as a protective eagle superintending its young is warm and loving. It shows a God who is sovereign, a God who stands above and outside the created order, a God not subject to our world of space and time but the majestic Creator of it all.

A Call to Worship

To the devout Hebrew mind, the God of creation was their loving protector. He was personally and intimately involved with his people. To ancient Israel, the creation itself proclaimed the Creator’s lavish and abundant care for his creatures.

The God who hovered as a protective eagle in Genesis 1:2 was the one who later led his people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea (Exodus 19:3-4) and appeared as a perpetual source of help to the people of Israel. The eagle image of Genesis 1 thus reappears in the “eagle song” of Mt. Sinai and the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1-43).

And so this Hebrew song of joy superbly opens the Bible. In the words of the evangelical thinker Francis Schaeffer, the point of the chapter was spiritual: “The universe had a personal beginning.... Before ‘in the beginning’ the personal was already there. Love and thought and communication existed prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth” (Genesis in Space and Time, page 21).

Genesis 1 is a call to worship. It was designed to produce a deeply emotional reaction of thanksgiving to God—not to serve as a theological football between science and faith. We abuse the biblical text when we force Hebrew words and thought patterns into structures they were never meant to fit.

Genesis 1 is a superb theological masterpiece. It is in a class by itself.

Conclusion

Dividing the Christian church over a matter that Jesus did not think was important enough to command his disciples is crap. What did Jesus say about creation? He said that there was a beginning and a creation. We also know that because Jesus was the Word that he was there. However, he does not give any specifics as to the time line, nor the method of creation.

The simplistic view that it there are only two ways to look at origins, creation or evolution, is poor logic, a false dichotomy. The idea that there is only one way to look at Genesis, exactly 6 days, 6000 years ago, is just a human interpretation. All Christians believe that God created all things. Many are humble enough to admit that they don’t know the specifics of how. None of us was there.

There are many theories which try to harmonize both the scientific and the faith world views. The battle where scientists who are ignorant of theology try to judge Christianity or Christians who are ignorant of science try to judge biology is really unnecessary. Neither field of study contains many people who are qualified in both and thus able to make judgments about the other.

And, biblically there is no battle with true science, only with any deliberate falsification of facts. The battle between Christians who believe Genesis 1 is literal and those who do not is also unnecessary. Both believe God created it all. Whether he created everything literally in 6 days, or billions of years followed by 6 days, or some other time line is not explained clearly in the Bible. It is in the realm of theory. What is not in the realm of theory for Christians is that God created the entire universe at some time, and sustains it all now.

Christ is the center of Christianity, and the Christianity of Christ contains the essential dogmas of Christianity. The dozens of theories about how and when he accomplished the creation are a side issue.