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Examining Genesis 1 in Detail
The following lessons of this course examine the text of Genesis 1 in a detailed fashion, organized by the day of creation. Sometimes the Genesis 1 text is examined word by word or phrase by phrase and sometimes several sentences are examined together. The focus of these examinations is to find appropriate interpretations of the given text and include parallels from science where applicable. Because the support from science for Genesis 1 is not yet well understood, then this course highlights passages from Genesis 1 that can be examined from a scientific viewpoint.
Assumptions When Examining Genesis 1
These detailed examinations of Genesis 1 build upon the three reasonable assumptions as referenced in the Background Concepts lesson.
- The Hebrew word yom that is translated as day in English can be appropriately interpreted as a long period of time
- The point of view or frame of reference for the events in Genesis 1 is from the perspective of an observer on the surface of the earth
- Some of the text in Genesis 1 is metaphorical or directly describes some wisdom or purpose from the Creator about what has been created. These passages are less subject to direct scientific examination. However, the remaining passages in Genesis 1 are more open to scientific examination.
The Categories That We Use For Genesis 1 Passages
Based on these three reasonable assumptions, it becomes useful to separate the passages in Genesis 1 into one of three categories.
- Passages that seem metaphorical. (denoted by METAPHOR in the table below)
- Passages that seem to be declarations or assessments from the Creator and so are less subject to examination from a scientific perspective. (denoted by CREATOR in the table below)
- Passages that seem to be more descriptive of a physical event and so can be more easily examined from a scientific perspective. From a scientific perspective, each time period could vary and cover a relatively long period of time from a human standpoint. (denoted by SCIENCE in the table below)
There Are Many Valid Ways to Characterize Genesis 1
The table below categorizes each verse or partial verse from Genesis 1 into one of the three categories given above for the purpose of the analysis in this course. We strongly believe that this is only one of many ways to categorize the passages of Genesis 1. Since the Bible was meant to be relevant throughout mankind’s history and was written by a Being with intelligence that is well beyond human comprehension, it is reasonable to assume that it is possible that our Creator has written Genesis 1 in such a way that there could be several valid ways to classify passages in Genesis 1. For example, one valid approach would be to view Genesis 1 as a message to help ancient Israelites to understand how their God was different from the other gods around them. Another valid approach to understanding Genesis 1 could be as a message that shows the triumph of light over darkness, of order over chaos. Another valid message from Genesis 1 is the importance of Sabbath rest, which becomes part of the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Similarly, it may be valid approach in our day and time, given our scientifically oriented culture, to view Genesis 1 as a text that accurately describes the creation and the changes in earth over billions of years – if each of those descriptions in Genesis 1 can indeed be shown to have a corresponding scientific description. It would seem appropriate for the Creator of this magnificent universe to create Scripture passages that can have different perspectives as long as the messages in the overall text of the Scriptures remain consistent.
Table of Our Characterizations of Genesis 1
| Bible Verse | Bible Passage Text (NIV) | Comments | Approximate Timeframe | Our Categorization |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis 1:1a | In the beginning God created the heavens | The Big Bang | 13.8 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #1) |
| Genesis 1:1b | and the earth. | Creation of the earth | 4.54 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #2) |
| Genesis 1:2a | Now the earth was without form and empty, | Accretion of dust and gas particles to form planetesimals and then the earth | 4.54 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #3) |
| Genesis 1:2b | darkness was over the surface of the deep, | Dark clouds cover a water covered planet | ~ 4.4 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #4) |
| Genesis 1:2c | and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. | This provides a point of view or frame of reference for the rest of Genesis 1 | CREATOR | |
| Genesis 1:3 | And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. | Cloud cover turns from opaque to translucent, probably after collision with Theia | ~ 4.4 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #5) |
| Genesis 1:4a | God saw that the light was good, | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:4b-5 | and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. | METAPHOR | ||
| Genesis 1:6-8a | And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky”. | Water cycle created | 4 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #6) |
| Genesis 1:8b | And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day. | METAPHOR | ||
| Genesis 1:9-10a | And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” | Land appears out of oceans | 3.2 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #7) |
| Genesis 1:10b | And God saw that it was good. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:11-12a | Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. | Photosynthetic organisms appear on land | 2.7 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #8) |
| Genesis 1:12b | and God saw that it was good. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:13 | And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day. | METAPHOR | ||
| Genesis 1:14-18a | And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and and the night, and to separate light from darkness. | Great oxygenation event | 2.4 bya | SCIENCE (EVENT #9) |
| Genesis 1:18b | And God saw that it was good. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:19 | And there was evening and there was morning – the fourth day. | METAPHOR | ||
| Genesis 1:20a | And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, | Cambrian explosion – abundant sea creatures | 542 to 488 mya | SCIENCE (EVENT #10) |
| Genesis 1:20b – 21a | and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. | Creation of Birds | 150-165 mya | SCIENCE (EVENT #11) |
| Genesis 1:21b – 22 | And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:23 | And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day. | METAPHOR | ||
| Genesis 1:24a | And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, | Appearance of soul-ish mammals that can be domesticated | 2-60 mya | SCIENCE (EVENT #12) |
| Genesis 1:24b | and creatures that move along the ground, | Appearance of rodents and small mammals | ~ 66 mya | SCIENCE (EVENT #13) |
| Genesis 1:24c – 25a | and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. | Appearance of soul-ish wild carnivorous animals | ~ 60 mya | SCIENCE (EVENT #14) |
| Genesis 1:25b | And God saw that it was good. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:26-28 | Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God created he them; male and female he created them. And God blessed them said to them, “Be fruitful, and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” | Appearance of homo-sapien sapien, what most people understand as humans. We can see that man has indeed gained dominion over all of the animals of the earth, in accordance with God’s plan. | ~70 kya | SCIENCE (EVENT #15) |
| Genesis 1:29-31a | Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth, and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:31b | And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. | CREATOR | ||
| Genesis 1:31c | And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. | METAPHOR |
bya – billions of years ago
mya – millions of years ago
kya – thousands of years ago
Summary of Our Table of Characterizations
In this table, we identified 15 passages in Genesis 1 that appear to be good candidates for describing a physical event that can be examined from a scientific perspective (i.e., those passages that have been categorized with the SCIENCE label in the above table). For these 15 events from Genesis 1, two significant aspects can be noted. The first aspect is that each of these 15 events in Genesis 1 have a corresponding event described by mainstream science. The second aspect is that for these 15 events that are described in Genesis 1, there are 14 of them that are in the same order as described by current mainstream science. And for the Genesis event that is not in the same order as described by mainstream science (i.e., the creation of plant life on Day 3), there can be mitigating factors or interpretations that can be offered so that the order of this event may be in harmony now or possibly in the future as we discover more about the history of the earth. As mentioned in the Introduction to this Big Bible Basics course, the strong correlation between Genesis 1 and science would suggest that reading Genesis 1 from this perspective would be something that our Creator could very well have wanted us to discover and accept for this period in our history (Matthew 16:3), since it is such a strong witness to the importance and trustworthiness of the Bible.
In the following lessons of this course, we will focus primarily on those passages that are put into the SCIENCE category, since the primary purpose of this course is to explain the harmony between Genesis 1 and science.