October 8th: Did God Create the World in Six Days?
Speaker: Chris Laws
Widely considered foolish, a fairy tale, the 6-day Creation is the only explanation of life
BCF 4.1 “In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…to create or make the world and all things in it both visible and invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.”
Widely considered foolish, a fairy tale.
EVOLUTION
Since 1859 Darwin's theory of evolution has been widely accepted. Needs billions of years.
Genesis speaks of six days. Head-on collision. Many Christians are embarrassed.
Which is true?
First we will examine Scripture, God’s Word. Always a solid foundation for our thinking.
Spurgeon: if science disagrees with Scripture so much the worse for science.
LET’S LOOK AT GENESIS 1
This will be a study to illustrate the rules of interpretation of Scripture.
Scholars have many times said – Genesis is not a science book. It doesn’t set out to inform us about Creation.
The six days are not literal. Here are their arguments.
(1) Genesis 1 is not literal history
It is not to be taken literally; they say it is poetry, or a parable, or a myth.
Poetry? – Heb poetry easy to recognise. Rhyming of sense in Hebrew – eg Ps 24.1-3. Called parallelism.
Genesis 1 isn't poetical, but prose or narrative.
Parable? – a parable is a story with a lesson attached. “The kingdom of God is like...” But no lesson attached.
Myth? – it cannot be. The genealogy of Luke 3.23-38 proves that.
V23 “Joseph, which was the son of Heli”, v31 “David; v34 “Jacob/Isaac/Abraham”; v36 “Noah”, v38 “Adam”.
If Adam is mythical, what of all the others?
Rule 1 of interpretation – what kind of a book is it? Answer: historical narrative – people that lived, things that happened.
(2) The days of Genesis 1 are not literal
Genesis 1.3-5 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...And the evening and the morning were the first day.” People argue “day” here means a long period; 2 Peter 3: “One day is with the Lord as 1000yrs, and 1000yrs as one day.”
But it is impossible to interpret Genesis like this.
Exodus 20.9-11 “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God…For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day.”
Throughout these verses day must be the same, ie 24 hours.
Rule 2 of interpretation – compare scripture with scripture.
Rule 3 of interpretation – read the whole passage.
Look carefully at the whole passage or context:
Gen 1.14. Fourth day, sun/moon/stars made “let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven…and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”. Literal days.
(3) Genesis is based on the Babylonian creation account
The Babylonian Enuma Elish is the original Creation myth, and all other Creation accounts are derived from it, including the Genesis account. (7th century BC copy in B Museum. Original probably 16th–18thC BC.)
“In the beginning there was only water swirling in chaos. The waters divided into sweet, fresh water, known as the god Apsu, and salty bitter water, the goddess Tiamat. The union of Apsu and Tiamat gave birth to the younger gods. These young gods, however, were extremely loud, troubling the sleep of Apsu at night and distracting him from his work by day, and he decides to kill the younger gods. Tiamat, hearing of the plan, warns her eldest son, and he kills Apsu. Tiamat, summons the forces of chaos and creates eleven horrible monsters to destroy her children. The younger gods fight against Tiamat and Marduk kills Tiamat by shooting her with an arrow which splits her in two; from her eyes flow the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Out of Tiamat's corpse, Marduk creates the heavens and the earth” (shortened quotation).
Genesis 1 by contrast is noble, sophisticated. No way derived from such a myth!
Note the dignity of Genesis text, and its longevity. It was read on the 1st Apollo mission to moon in 1969.
All other Creation accounts consigned to museums and the realm of myth.
(4) Gap theory
Some say there is a gap between Gen 1.1 and 1.2: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth / And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
Creation was destroyed. A pre-Adam world existed for millions of years, destroyed because of wickedness. During that long period everything evolved; that is where the fossils come from. Then God destroyed the world so that it became without form and void. Then He recreated the world perfect, and Adam fell.
Rule 4 of interpretation – compare with known doctrine.
But that double creation is impossible. Evolution requires death to function in that long period before Creation and the Fall.
Death came after the Fall in Genesis 3. Rom 5.12 “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men...”
There was no death before the Fall, and no gap.
CONCLUSION
Properly interpreted, the Bible teaches a 6 literal-day creation.
Evolution contradicts this, so Bible believers cannot believe in evolution.
It isn’t true science – just an unprovable idea.
EVOLUTION
“Scientists once argued that life was relatively simple...they now realise the human cell is the most complex machine known in the universe, far more complex than the most sophisticated computer.” In each cell there are millions of components.
Could it have evolved slowly? The many parts needed for life could not sit idle waiting for the other parts to evolve because they would break down quite rapidly...Only an instantaneous assembly of all the necessary components to make a functioning unit can produce life.
Hickman, 1997: In a human an estimated 60 trillion cells interact, each performing its specialised role in an organised community of cells. For a human to exist as a living organism, 60 trillion cells have to be assembled in the correct order and position to form a human body. A 60 trillion piece jigsaw.
That, too, has to be done instantaneously or the body will break down and die.
Atheist thinkers have no alternatives. Prof Richard Dawkins interviewed ~12 years ago. He had no explanation of life.
“Nobody knows how it started…If you look at the details of biochemistry and molecular biology you might find a signature of some sort of designer. And that designer could well be a higher intelligence from elsewhere in the universe.”
Man has no other explanation than God created us instantaneously.
WHY SIX DAYS?
Fairy tale ring. But there are three reasons.
A – To help us take in the enormity of Creation. Like a baby developing in the womb.
B – To establish the week. Universal unit of time.
C – To picture conversion, “new creation”.
Gen 1.2 “Spirit moved”. Spirit moves in us – the beginning of a real work of grace.
1.3 “And God said...” God takes the initiative.
Day 1 “Let there be light”. First light enters – awakening and understanding. 2 Cor 4.6 “For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Day 2 (1.6) “Let there be a firmament”. The heavens formed – a spiritual realm is formed in us.
Day 3 (1.9) “Let the dry land appear”. Stability & conviction given; no longer swept around by the world's ideas.
I know I am a sinner. I know God’s words are true.
Day 4 (1.14). Sun, moon and stars shine – heavenly, spiritual things become beautiful.
Day 5 (1.20). Animals, teeming life. Spiritual life surges up in us for the first time.
Day 6 (1.26). Creation of man – the image of God re-formed in us. A new creature.
