Creation vs Evolution: Day 1

Introduction

Even though it’s taken us two articles to cover one verse of the Bible–Genesis 1:1–we’ve learned a lot.

The two most important things that we’ve learned is that creationism is better supported by the facts than the theory of evolution. And then, most important of all, we found that the Bible also supports the creationist theory. In verse one of Genesis 1 God didn’t leave any doubt. There’s no way anyone can misunderstand what He said.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.”

In other words, God dealt a death blow to the theory of evolution. Or did He?

Many Christians believe in what’s called theistic evolution. In other words, they believe that both creationism AND evolution are true. They believe that God got everything started but then, for the most part, let natural processes take effect until humans were able to evolve into what we are today.

Christians who advocate this position say that their belief in evolution is not like atheistic evolution, which says that there’s no God. Theistic evolutionists argue that they DO believe in God, but also believe that the theory of evolution–not the atheistic part, just the natural processes and geological ages part–is also true. They say that their beliefs don’t contradict the Bible and also don’t contradict evolutionary beliefs. In other words, they have the best of both worlds–they get along great with both Christians and evolutionary scientists.

Can Christians believe in both creationism and evolution? Is it reasonable? Is it even possible?

We’re going to answer those questions in this article. Along the way, we’re going to talk about how old the Earth is, listen to God speak for the first time, and find out what God did on the first day during what’s called the “creation week.”

Theistic Evolution

Before we look at our passage, let’s talk a little more about theistic evolution and what it is.

In an effort to try and accommodate modern scientific beliefs about evolution, many Christians attempt to blend it with creationism. The result is what’s called theistic evolution.

Most theistic evolutionists–maybe you’re one of them–believe that Genesis 1 and the creation week is an allegory or some other literary device. Regardless of what you call it, the Genesis account of creation can’t be taken at face value.

Some theistic evolutionists believe in what’s referred to as the “Day-Age Theory,” which says that each “day” in the Genesis account actually refers to evolutionary geologic ages.

If that’s what you believe, theologians refer to your view as “progressive creationism.” In other words, you believe that there have been periodic creative acts by God between long periods of time where evolution has taken place.

Finally, some theistic evolutionists believe in what’s called the “Gap Theory,” which says that evolution and the geologic ages took place before the creation week in Genesis, and that those ages came to an end due to some kind of catastrophe.

One of the biggest believers in theistic evolution is Pope John Paul II. While the Roman Catholic church had been slowly moving in that direction for quite a few years, the Pope’s announcement in 1996 surprised most observers. That’s when he announced that evolution is “more than just a theory.” He went on to encourage millions of Catholics around the world to embrace what amounts to theistic evolution.

Even some evangelical colleges and universities teach theistic evolution.

We’ll talk a lot more about theistic evolution before we’re through.

Before we look at Genesis 1:2-5–and the rest of the chapter in the following articles–let’s prepare ourselves for the inevitable: not all of our questions are going to be answered about the origin of the Earth or the universe.

For instance, try as I might, I can’t definitively find any mention of when the other planets in our solar system were created. I have a hunch, which I’ll share with you later on, but they aren’t specifically mentioned here in Genesis. Not that I can find, anyway.

I don’t know why God doesn’t provide us with answers to everything we want to know, but that’s His choice. For whatever reason, this is what He wanted to communicate to us. Nothing more, nothing less.

I do have a guess, however, why the Lord didn’t specifically mention such things as the creation of Pluto and Neptune and all the rest of the planets in our solar system.

It would be sort of like a sportswriter covering the Super Bowl deciding to include a detailed look at one of the team’s bylaws and human resources policies in his or her article. Those things may have some impact on the story, but the game itself is what’s important, not those other things.

And what’s important to God is to reveal Himself. And, as we’ll see, God also focuses on the Earth and mankind here in Genesis. Verse one summarizes all that He created. And then, in verse 2 through Genesis 2:3, God focuses on the Earth. And then, narrowing His focus even more, the Lord then talks about humans in the rest of the second chapter.

Day 1: The Earth

Now let’s read our passage for this article. Genesis 1:2-5.

Gen. 1:2 Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Gen. 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Gen. 1:4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

Gen. 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning -the first day.

In verse two we read about the Earth, which God has just brought into existence. It says that it was formless, empty and dark. Your version may use the words without form and void. The terms all mean the same thing.

In essence this means that God hasn’t finished with the Earth yet–it was like a lump of clay that needed to be molded and shaped according to the will of God. It certainly wasn’t ready to be inhabited by man, yet. It will take a few days of creative activity for that to happen.

Make no mistake about it, God didn’t create the Earth to be without form, void and dark. He created it to be inhabited. Listen to Isaiah 45:18:

Isa. 45:18 For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the Earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – he says: I am the LORD, and there is no other.

This description of the Earth at the time–formless and empty–is where some theistic evolutionists jump in with their “Gap Theory.”

In other words, they believe that there’s a huge gap between verses one and two. They theorize that verse one began creation and then the geologic ages kicked in and so did evolution.

Advocates of that theory say that the words “formless and empty” should really be translated “ruined and desolate.” As a result, they believe there was a cataclysmic event before verse two, which is supposedly the reason given for the Earth being so in need of attention in verse two.

That’s not what Scripture teaches, however. As we just noted, the Earth is formless and empty because God hadn’t begun preparing it for man, which He would do over the next six days. There’s nothing whatsoever in Scripture to indicate that there’s a long gap between the first two verses.

Above and beyond that, the geological age system is built on the premise of uniformitarianism, which means that no cataclysmic event could have happened. In other words, geologists who believe in geological ages reject theistic evolutionists’ “Gap Theory.”

Dr. Henry Morris, of the Institute for Creation Research, says this:

“The gap theory is thus self-defeating scientifically. It attempts to accommodate the geological ages by postulating a worldwide cataclysm, but a worldwide cataclysm denies the premise on which the geological age system is based, and would indeed obliterate all the so-called evidence of the geological ages.”

The “Gap Theory,” then, doesn’t square with either Scripture or geology.

The real answer to the geological ages, by the way, is a worldwide flood. We’ve already talked about how creation scientists believe that a worldwide catastrophe like a flood would account for the fossil beds.

Christians, of course, are very much aware of the Biblical account of a flood. But we’ll talk more about that when we get to verses 6-8 in the next article.

The Deep

The deep refers to water. It’s apparent from this verse and the next several verses that the surface of the Earth on the first day of creation was water–there wasn’t any land.

Spirit Of God

Verse two also shows the third member of the Trinity–the Spirit of God–involved in creation. Some versions have the words “mighty wind,” but the meaning is clearly the Holy Spirit, the second member of the Trinity.

The word “God” in verse one probably refers to the first member of the Trinity–the Father. We also know that the second member of the Trinity–the Son–was involved in creation. Listen to these verses describing Jesus’ role in creation:

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Col. 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Hebr. 1:1-2 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Notice also from these passages additional documentation for the fact that God made everything from nothing. “Through him ALL things were made.” “For by him ALL things were created.” “ALL things were created by him.”

Looking back at verse two, when it says the Spirit of God hovered or moved upon the waters or deep, it literally means “vibrate in the presence of the waters.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but the Holy Spirit is obviously instrumental in preparing the Earth for us.

The Light

In verse three God speaks light into existence. This light is not the sun or the moon–they’re created in verses 14-19. Commentators disagree on what this light is. Some say it was the glory of God.

2Cor. 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Rev. 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

On the other hand some commentators believe that it was light energy from His recent creation. In fact, some commentators believe that God actually created darkness. They cite Isaiah 45:7:

Isa. 45:7 I form the light and create darkness…

Other commentators say it was the stars or other planets in our solar system. But those appear to be made in verse 16. At least the stars were.

While I don’t believe we can say definitively, I believe that the light came from God Himself. That seems to me to be the most likely. But we can’t and won’t say definitively.

Regardless of the source of the light, we do know that verse three records the first words spoken by God that we know of.

“Let there be light.”

In verse four it says that God said that the light was good. This is the first of six uses of that phrase during the creation week. At the end of creation, God then uses the phrase “it was very good.”

After saying that the light was good, the Lord then separates or divides it from the darkness. Then God names the two. Light is called “day” and darkness is called “night.”

God has a right to name the things that He’s created. This shows that He has dominion over this part of creation and it also served as a pattern for man.

In fact, later in Genesis we’ll read that Adam was given the responsibility of naming all of the animals. That was his right, since God gave dominion of the Earth to human beings. We’ll see that later in verse 28.

The Day

The question of how long God took to create the world arises at this point as we try and determine the meaning of the word “day” at the end of verse five. It’s obvious from the context of the beginning of verse five that the word “day” there refers to daylight.

In general, there are two views on the phrase “the first day.” Either God created the world over a period of seven days as we know them (six really, since He rested on the seventh day). The other view–one of the variations of theistic evolution–is that each “day” wasn’t a period of 24 hours. Instead, each day represents an indefinite period of time, even millions or billions of years.

The Hebrew word for “day” in Gen. 1:3 is “yom,” which is used in different ways in the Old Testament, including an indefinite period of time. So, the word could be used at some point to represent large amounts of time which allows for the widespread belief of geological ages.

When interpreting the Bible, however–when interpreting any written material for that matter, whether it’s the Bible or a history book or a novel–it’s critical that the context be studied. What makes the most sense?

In Gen. 1:3, the usage is for a solar day and a day-night cycle. A straightforward reading of the text, without trying to read between the lines or spiritualize, reveals a literal day, a 24-hour period of time. In other words, just like today, the word “day” at the end of verse five refers to a full rotation of the Earth on its axis.

The Lord even goes out of His way to clarify the use of the word “day”–an evening and a day (or darkness and light). Those terms are never used in the Old Testament in a figurative sense. This was the way Jews referred to their days, from sunset to sunset. God obviously didn’t intend for the word “day” to be taken any way but literally.

Above and beyond that, the word day is modified by an ordinal number–first, second, etc. That’s the unique Hebrew construction for a literal day, one like we have today. Once again, the word is never used in the Old Testament figuratively. It always refers to a literal 24-hour period of time.

Also, the six days of creation are used as an example when talking about our work week in Exodus 20:11.

Exod. 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the Earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

To help the Jewish people understand what they were supposed to do, God used creation as a model. God worked six days and rested on the seventh and that’s what humans are supposed to do as well. God’s pattern for our week–seven 24-hour periods of time–is illustrated by God’s creative week in Genesis 1. Unless the days in Genesis and the days in Exodus are of equal length, the Lord’s illustration is meaningless.

For those who are still unconvinced that the days in verse five are really 24-hour days, listen to Dr. Morris’ advice:

“The only proper way to interpret Genesis 1 is not to ‘interpret’ it at all. That is…accept the fact that it was meant to say exactly what it says.”

Theistic evolutionists who insist on believing in geological ages also means that they reject the global flood during the days of Noah, since a disaster of that magnitude would have destroyed all evidence of the supposed geological ages. In fact, no definitive proof of the geological ages has been found, thus making the creationist viewpoint more credible.

While the Bible doesn’t say when the Earth was created, it’s certainly safe to say that it’s thousands of years old, not millions or billions. In addition to accepting the six days of creation as consecutive 24-hour periods, many scholars have studied genealogical data found in Scripture. Most of them estimate that the Earth was created anywhere between 6,000-10,000 years ago.

Conclusion

So let’s review what we’ve learned. We’ve found out that:

1. There’s no gap of millions or billions of years between the first and second verses of Genesis 1.

2. The Earth began without form and was dark before God began preparing it to be inhabited by humans.

3. The surface of the Earth was originally covered with water.

4. All three members of the Trinity were involved in creation.

5. God’s first words in the Bible are “Let there be light.”

6. The word “day” at the end of verse five is literally that–a 24-hour period of time, consisting of morning and night.

In response to the questions we raised at the beginning of this message:

“Can Christians believe in both creationism and evolution? Is it reasonable? Is it even possible?”

The answer is that creationism and evolution are NOT compatible. It’s impossible and irrational to combine the two.

Listen to what the 1986 Encyclopedia Britannica says on the subject of Roman Catholicism’s bent towards theistic evolution:

“The Vatican leaves open the question of the evolution of man’s body, provided it be believed that the body was derived from other living matter, that all mankind is descended from one pair (Adam and Eve), that man’s soul was created by God, and that evolution took place under the dispensation of Divine Providence. Science cannot comment on the soul, but the other provisos are unacceptable to evolutionary biologists.”

Did that register? “The other provisos are UNACCEPTABLE to evolutionary biologists.”

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, evolutionists don’t believe that the theories can be combined. Unlike Roman Catholic teaching, evolutionists believe that humans and all other life came from non-living chemicals by natural processes. Evolutionists also reject the fact that all humans came from one man and one woman.

In addition to evolutionists denying that Christians can believe in both theories, Bible-believing Christians also have serious doubts whether it’s possible.

To begin with, believing in gaps or days of millions or billions of years is not reading Scripture in a straightforward, common sense way. It’s adding things to the text or spiritualizing what it says.

Secondly, believing in theistic evolution demeans the character of God. God says that His creation was “good.” But evolution paints an entirely different picture, one that advocates a cruel model of survival of the fittest.

Finally, theistic evolution also denies what the Bible teaches about sin. While Scripture says that Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world, evolution says that there was death ever since the world began. Which is it? Do we believe God or do we try and accommodate the world into our theology?

Dr. Morris says this:

“Evolutionary naturalism and Biblical theism are opposite concepts. They cannot both be true…It does no good to compromise evolution and creation…such a compromise won’t be acceptable to one’s evolutionary colleagues. Nor is it allowable in Scripture…My warning to my scientifically minded Christian brothers and sisters is that compromise never works.”

Dr. Vernon McGee may have said it best:

“Theistic evolution is probably the most unrealistic of all theories. It is almost an unreasonable tenet and an illogical position. There are those today who are trying to run with the hare and with the hounds. They would like to move up with the unbelievers, but they also like to carry a Scofield Bible under their arm. My friend, it is difficult to do both. It is like that old Greek race in which a contestant rode with one foot on one horse and the other foot on another horse. It was marvelous when the two horses kept on the same route. But, believe me, when one of the horses decided to go in another direction, the rider had to determine which one he was going with. That is the condition of the theistic evolutionist. He ordinarily ends up riding the wrong horse, by the way.”

That’s a pretty graphic picture, isn’t it? Trying to ride two horses at the same time. Trying to believe in both creationism and evolution.

Is that you? Are you still trying to hang onto evolution in some form? If it is, the Lord has something to say to you. Listen to 1 Peter 2:9-10:

1Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1Pet. 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

We’re Christians, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and people that belong to God. Let’s not get mixed up with the world and it’s foolish ideas.