Curiosity: Does the Bible say anything about age of the creation? Part 2

 

Sometimes, answer isn’t always simple to every question and it is wise to look up all possible explanation and check what the scripture actually communicates in its original context, language and background and how far scientific research has gone up to date. We must never forget that the scripture was never intended to be any scientific document and hence, we ought not to expect our modern minded questions to be answered by the ancient scripture that was written under a different environment with different purpose. When we understand the scripture and it’s intended purpose and theme on one hand and scientific updates on the other, we do not need to bear any issues with the question.

According to OT scholar John Walton, Six days were 24 hours but Genesis 1 doesn’t have any connection to material age of the earth since the account was about functional origin and not material origin.[i] One of the most influential Christian philosopher, theologian and apologists William Craig admits that there are clues in the text of Genesis itself that a literal creation week is not intended.[ii] Prof. Lennox admits the possibility of 6 days as literal days but he asserts on basis of study and analysis of Genesis 1 that the question of age is indeterminate.[iii] Jewish theologian and physicist Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder admits the six days were literal days yet they had all secret ages of the universe in them.[iv] Inspiring Philosophy and Ben Stanhope also agrees with six days being 24 hours but not a literal time coverage on earth’s creation rather it was associated with temple building. Similarly, other famous apologists such as Turek and Geisler admits that this issue has no bearing on our Christian life and eternity.

Furthermore, Dan Kimbell, in his book ‘How (Not) to read the Bible, has mentioned certain important consideration:

1.      If we look at the original reason and purpose behind why the early chapters were written, we begin to see that God was not addressing most of our scientific objections or questions. Almost every criticism or question that comes up—whether the Bible teaches the earth is 6,000 years old, or how to make sense of the earth being created on day 1 and the sun created on day 4—is a question the Bible was never trying to answer. (Pg. 328)

2.      The early chapters of Genesis were written to the people of Israel after they had been in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years. God wanted to communicate to them who he is, to tell them about the covenant he made with Abraham, their ancestor. God wasn’t trying to communicate science and the methods of how exactly he created. (Pg. 337)

Questions That We Have Today That Genesis Was Not Written to Answer

1. How old is the earth? Six thousand years? Six billion years?
2. Was it in six literal twenty-four-hour days or six long periods of time that God made everything?
3. Does the lack of major transitional forms in the fossil records disprove evolution?
4. Could primitive nucleic acids, amino acids, and other building blocks of life have formed and organized themselves into self-replicating, self-sustaining units, laying the foundation for cellular biochemistry?

(Pg. 275)

 

Remembering that it was written to Israelites who had been living in a polytheistic Egyptian culture for four hundred years and needed to be reminded and taught many things about God they either had forgotten or had never known.

1. God wanted the people to know he is the one and only true God, not the Egyptian gods or the other gods of the surrounding people groups.
2. God wanted Israel to know that his presence was with them.
3. God wanted the people to know who they were—his chosen people—and about the “covenant” he had made with their forefather Abraham. He wanted them to understand that all the world would be blessed through them and that he had promised them a land to live in.
4. God wanted the Israelites to know he created the heavens and the earth and all that exists. His story was different from the Egyptian creation story and the other creation stories like the Enuma Elish or the Epic of Gilgamesh. These stories told about other gods and goddesses creating everything.
5. God wanted the Israelites to know he is the one true God and he is personal, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. These character qualities were very different from those of the other deities they were familiar with.
6. God wanted the Israelites to know how to properly worship him and how to live as a community of people with each other in the promised land.

(Pg. 276)

ESV study Bible has a good remark on it:

Faithful interpreters have offered arguments for taking the creation week of Genesis 1 as a regular week with ordinary days (the "calendar day" reading); or as a sequence of geological ages (the "day-age" reading); or as God's "workdays," analogous to a human workweek (the "analogical days" view); or as a literary device to portray the creation week as if it were a workweek, but without concern for temporal sequence (the "literary framework" view). Some have suggested that Genesis 1 :2, "the earth was without form and void," describes a condition that resulted from Satan's primeval rebellion, which preceded the creation week (the "gap theory"). There have been other readings as well, but these five are the most common.

None of these views requires denying that Genesis 1 is historical, so long as the discussion in the section on Genesis and History is kept in mind. Each of these readings can be squared with other biblical passages that reflect on creation. The most important of these is Exodus 20: 11, "in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day": since this passage echoes Genesis 1 :1—2:3, the word "day" here need mean only what it means in Genesis 1. Therefore, it does not require an ordinary- day interpretation, nor does it preclude an ordinary-day interpretation. The arguments for and against these different views involve detailed treatment of the Hebrew (going far beyond the question of the meaning of "day"), and assessing these arguments would go beyond the goal of this discussion.

From https://creationingenesis.com/Genesis_One_and_the_Age_of_the_Earth.pdf, page 32:

1. Genesis 1:1 describes already completed background information. Genesis 1:1 presents the creation of the universe and planet Earth as an already completed fact, albeit that the Earth is not in the final condition which we observe today.
2. “In the beginning” represents a long period of time and Genesis 1:1 represents a long period of time. Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 1:2 represents a long period of time.
3. Genesis 1:2 also describes already completed background information. The “And the Earth” in Genesis 1:2 indicates that some time has elapsed since the creation of “the heavens and the Earth” in Genesis 1:1.
4. The command “And God said . . .” of Genesis 1:3 starts the first creative “yom.” Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 are completed before the start of the first creative time period. There is also a time interval of unstated and unknown length between Genesis 1:2 and Genesis 1:3.
5. The significance of the time intervals is that the Bible makes no statement about the age of the universe or the age of planet Earth. As a consequence, the biblical text is consistent with an old universe and an old Earth, both billions of years old. This result is found for any view of the time length of the creative “yom.”
6. The Bible does make a statement about a beginning to the universe, a fact which science has grudgingly now accepted, thereby attesting to the truth of the first testable truth statement of the Bible.

Also, from page 34:

Some of the theological content of Genesis One escapes our attention today because the sun and moon are not presently viewed as gods. At the time of Moses, Genesis One expressed powerful theological contradictions to the religions of Egypt, Canaan, and Babylon. Some of these contradictions are:

1. One creator God, not many gods.
2. The sun and moon are created objects, not gods.
3. The animals are created and are not gods.

The Egyptians worshiped many creatures. Because the theological message that the sun and moon are not gods is not significant in our time, it is possible to mistake Genesis One as being a description of the physical and biological history of planet Earth. Genesis One does make statements about the physical and biological development, but does so as a subsidiary to the theological message against the pagan gods worshiped at the time of Moses. The statements are true, but the statements are an incomplete description of the events that transpired.

At the present time, the opposition to the theological message of Genesis One is opposition to a Creator God who acts in history and in time. The tactic is to interpret the “when” and the “creative acts” in a way that introduces conflict between the interpretation and the observable geological record. The Darwinist typically assumes a God that does not act in history or geologic time, or assumes there is no God at all. The Bible reveals a God who does act in history and in geologic time.

Finally, from page 32:

Things Genesis One Does and Does Not Say (a partial list):

1. Genesis One does say that there was a beginning to the universe and planet Earth.
2. Genesis One does say that God created the heavens and the Earth.
3. Genesis One does say that planet Earth was not always as it is now; changes have occurred.
4. Genesis One does say that God acted to bring the present condition of the Earth into being.

But!

1. Genesis One does not specify an age for the Earth or an age for the universe.
2. Genesis One does not say that the creative times (yom) are 24 hours in duration.
3. Genesis One does not say that the creative times (yom) followed immediately one after another.
4. Genesis One does not say that the commands were fulfilled immediately, like a bolt of lightning.

Furthermore, there are certain apologetics ministries such as Inspiring Philosophy and Ben Stanhope’s works that is providing amazing exploration and information on how the Genesis’ 6 days creation was actually understood in context of original author and audience.[v] They are brining good resources conveying a message that how modern readers are misinterpreting the ancient text of Genesis.

Next, Dr. Hugh Ross’ ministry Reasons to Believe can be a helpful resource for concordance approach of establishing validity of Genesis 1 with modern scientific discoveries.

Also, regarding which interpretation to adopt, biologos.org has recommended two principles[vi]:

1. each passage should be interpreted in light of the rest of the Bible, provides some guidance.
2. first to work out what the passage meant in its original literary, cultural, and historical context, and then figure out what meaning it has for us today. How do the various interpretations fit this principle?

According to these two principles, they had made following conclusions:

1. the Bible’s teaching on God’s truthfulness and his glory displayed in creation might lead us away from the Appearance of Age Interpretation.
2. The differences between the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 accounts might point toward a non-concordist interpretation.
3. Of the concordist interpretations, the Young Earth Interpretation/Ordinary human work-week seems to come closest to what ancient peoples would have heard in the text.
4. The Gap and Day-Age concordist views would have baffled the original audience, since these ancients would have had no concept of geological ages; if they could not fathom time periods of millions or billions of years, the text must have meant something different to them.
5. the Proclamation Day Interpretation, while it has some basis in the text, seems least likely to be the meaning heard by the original audience. The proclamations are implemented as soon as God says them, and there is no reference to a different timing or sequence of events in terrestrial time.
6. a combination of the Ancient Near East Cosmology, Kingdom and Covenant, and Creation Poem Interpretations come closest to what the original audience would have heard. The differences between the Genesis text and the pagan stories highlight the sovereignty of God and the goodness of creation.
7. The elegant poetic structure and inspired phrases reinforce the theological messages of the Kingdom and Temple interpretations.

So, they conclude, as scientific knowledge increases and changes over the centuries, its understanding of the physical structure and history of the earth will change. But through all of those centuries the theological truths of Genesis 1 remain the same: there is one sovereign God who makes light from darkness, creates an ordered world from chaos, and fills an empty world with good creatures.

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[i] Refer to his book: The Lost World of Genesis One

[ii] Geisler Norman, Who made God? Pg. 93 and watch his videos as well.

[iii] Please read his book namely Seven Days that Divides the World.

[iv] Refer to his book: Science of God

[v] Also read ‘How (Not) to read the Bible’ by Dan Kimball.

[vi] https://biologos.org/articles/comparing-interpretations-of-genesis-1/