Lesson 3
Back to A Self Study Course for your Bible
WE TURN now from the general, comprehensive statement of creation to the detailed account which is presented by the remainder of the chapter. Here the details are difficult. It would be impossible to present all the views that have been held as to just how God created the heavens and the earth. It is well that we do not know just HOW He created, for that is relatively unimportant. Here, as elsewhere, the Bible stresses the important fact, namely, GOD is the CREATOR of the heavens and the earth.
As we have seen before, the first chapter of Genesis divides the account of creation into six days of activity and a seventh day of rest. This creative work of God, with six days of labor and a seventh of rest, is a norm and pattern for man's life here upon earth. The student will do well at this point to read Exodus 20:9-11. We must now ask the question, What does the Bible mean when it speaks of "day"? How long a period of time is meant? This is a question concerning which Christian scholars have widely differed. At least five views have been held in the Christian Church.
1.Some believe that the days here spoken of are days of twenty-four hours each. They think that this is most in harmony with the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:9-11.
2.A second view is that the word "day" means a period of light as distinguished from darkness. Cf. Gen 1:5.
3.Others believe that an indefinite period of time is meant. The word is thus used, e.g., Isaiah 2:11, 17. This usage is quite frequent in English, as, for example, we speak of the day of George Washington.
4.This view is somewhat similar to the third view, save that it considers a "day" to be as a thousand years. Compare II Peter 3:8 and also Psalm 90:4.
5.It is interesting to note that Moses, who wrote Genesis one, also wrote this Psalm.
6.Some believe that the word "day" does mean a day of twenty-four hours, but that between each day there were long intervals or periods of time, and that the work of God, which was begun in one of the days, was carried on into these intervals of time.
Which one of these five views, then, is the student to hold? We answer that we cannot dogmatically say that any one view is the only correct one. Let the student consider each one carefully and prayerfully, and let him choose that which seems to him to be the one most in accord with Scripture teaching. But let him remember that we simply cannot say definitely and dogmatically just what the word "day" here does mean. The author is inclined to believe that the word should be taken in the first sense, that is, a day of twenty-four hours.
VERSE Six. The word "firmament" means an expanse.
Verses Fourteen and Fifteen. From the human and practical point of view, these are the two main services which the sun and moon render for us.
Verse Sixteen. Note the extreme simplicity of this statement. It would be impossible to refer to the heavenly bodies in a more simple manner.
The phrase, "and the stars," is extremely interesting. Astronomers say that the stars which are separately visible to the naked eye at any one time do not exceed two thousand. The telescope, however, has shown us that they are innumerable. It is said that if the diameter of the earth's orbit — 186,000,000 miles — be taken as a base line, then astronomers have been able to obtain a hint as to the distance of some forty or fifty stars from the earth.
The nearest of these is Alpha Centauri, which is some twenty-five millions of millions of miles distant. On an average, the brighter stars are about ten times as far away as is Alpha Centauri, but we have no means of telling the distance from the earth of the untold millions of stars which are beyond these brighter stars. The Bible tells us: "He made the stars also." "He telleth the number of the stars, He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power; His understanding is infinite." Psalm 147:4-5.
Verse Twenty-Six. "Let us make." Some say that these words indicate polytheism, but we have already seen that the word for God, which is plural, is used with a singular verb. The plural noun is treated as designating only ONE being.
Others say that God consulted with the angels before creating, and still others believe that here is a direct reference to the Trinity. In the light of John 1:2, Col 1:16-17, and Hebrews 1:2, it is quite probable that these words do refer to the Trinity, although we cannot assert this dogmatically.
Verse Twenty-Seven. This verse does not mean that God has a body and that man looks like God. We shall study later what is meant by the phrase, "image of God."
Verse Twenty-Eight. The word "replenish" does not mean to re-people. In the Hebrew the word is simply "to fill," i.e., to people the earth. Note how clearly God indicates His satisfaction with everything He had made. "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good."
NOTES ON EVOLUTION
As you read the first chapter of Genesis, note the frequently-recurring phrase, "after its kind." There is very prevalent today a theory, known as the theory of evolution, which opposes and contradicts the Genesis account of creation. The word "evolution" means merely the development or unfolding of something which already exists. There are three principal types of the evolutionary theory:
ATHEISTIC evolution rules God out and says that things as they are now developed by their own power from one or more primordial germ cells. It is very obvious that this type of evolution contradicts the Bible at its roots. DEISTIC evolution says that in the beginning God created everything, endowed the world with forces and laws and then left the world to its own course. The student will perceive at once that here again the Bible is contradicted, A man cannot he a consistent Christian and believe in deistic evolution.
THEISTIC evolution, when it is consistent, says that God created the universe and that He has continuously kept the world, but this type of evolution as a rule denies miracles. When we examine the writings of men who profess to believe in theistic evolution, we find that the God in whom these men believe is really not the all-powerful Creator of the Bible. Theistic evolution cannot possibly be brought into harmony with the Bible.
We cannot too strongly stress the fact that Genesis one and evolution contradict one another. Genesis teaches separate acts of creation by God Almighty. It says that God created the different species "after its kind." Lastly, it says that God created man in His own image and likeness.
There are those who seek to believe in the Bible and in evolution at the same time, but this cannot consistently be done. The two are mutually exclusive. The student should note that evolution fails miserably as a philosophy of life. It cannot possibly explain the origin of matter, of life, or of man's moral and religious nature. Evolution is one of the greatest foes of the Christian religion today, and we Christians should oppose it with all the power that we have. The theory has been ably refuted by scholars. We recommend the following book as a popular and yet masterful refutation of the evolutionary hypothesis:
"The Basis of Evolutionary Faith," by Floyd E. Hamilton.
Finally, let us note that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6 amply confirm the account of creation as given in Genesis.
EXERCISES
What five suggestions regarding the interpretation of the word "day" have been made? Can we hold anyone of these dogmatically?
1.What is atheistic evolution?
2.What is deistic evolution?
3.What is theistic evolution?
4.Do evolution and Genesis one agree, or do they contradict one another?
5.To what does the phrase "let us make" in Genesis 1:26 possibly refer?
6.What does the word "replenish" in Genesis 1:28 mean?
OPTIONAL EXERCISES
Study carefully and commit to memory questions number one and nine of the Shorter Catechism, or questions number one, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight of the Heidelberg Catechism,
Commit to memory Hebrews 11:13; John 1:1-5; Col 1:12-17; and Hebrews 1:1-3.
HYMNS FOR STUDY
No. 41: "The Spacious Firmament On High."
No. 11: "O, Worship The King."