Genesis 1 and 2 Revisited

Many of you do not know me well. This makes it easy to be misinterpreted in a forum like this and easy to jump to conclusions about one another. Please read this while trying to make the best construction of it. First, I must make some statements about my belief so that you can read with some understanding of my viewpoint.

I believe that the Bible is the word of God and is inerrant. An errant word of God is of little value to Christians. I pray that I am not an idolater, holding any particular interpretation of the Bible or any particular church doctrine above the faith, hope, and love granted to us by God, through Christ Jesus, in the nature of the Holy Spirit, and received or rejected by us.

Much in the Bible is hard to understand or follow. There are apparent self-contradictions in the Bible that can serve as obstacles, especially to modern readers. The modern reader whose faith rises and falls on the truth of everything they interpret to be taught in the Bible may have walked into dangerous territory. Some modern readers feel that if any part of the Bible, however minute, is found to be false in their eyes, then they can no longer trust in Christ.

So what do we do with Genesis 1 and 2? It is so interesting that our Canon puts these, seemingly contradictory creation accounts next to each other. What is the message? Where is the truth that should set us free? We do not need college courses in science, theology, or logic to see where modern believers and unbelievers alike get confused. Here are some examples. (Remember, I believe that the Bible is inerrant.)

Did God create plants or man first? Genesis 1:11,27 vs. Genesis 2:5
Did God create animals or man first? Genesis 1:12,27 vs Genesis 2:19

So how can I maintain that the Bible represents the inerrant word of God and deal with this apparent discrepancy? I’m not pitting the New Testament against the Old or one prophet against another, but the first two consecutive chapters in the first book of the Bible!

This is a point where my steadfast faith in the Bible and the Christ to Whom it leads becomes vital. The more closely we look at the Bible, New and Old Testament, the more contradictions seem to appear. Many of these are easily explained by understanding the culture and language in which they were written. The Bible is filled with expressions peculiar to the language and circumstances of the ancient near east, and first century Judea. The influence of Greek philosophy can also be seen. This is man’s writing of God’s inspired word. This is not man taking dictation from God like a secretary. Each book reveals a particular author’s perspective, personality, and enlightenment. No one human got the whole message, except the Son of Man who has always had it and delivered it.

The ancient near east, including Israel, was a culture of stories; much like parables. The facts of stories were not important to that culture, but the meaning and lessons learned were the key. There is accurate history in the Bible to be sure, but the Bible seems self-contradictory on certain things, and therein lies the root of much of modern humanity’s skepticism on the truth of the Bible. This did not seem to concern the ancient Hebrews, nor did it seem to bother Jesus in the least. He often preached directly from the Old Testament.
Early church fathers, 1st – 4th centuries, in general, did not accept the creation accounts as fact. Their reason was often that it was foolish to consider that God needed 6 days when He could create everything in an instant. Now, whether He created everything in an instant, or is still creating, is for another blog. My point is that I can view the creation stories as poetic devices or as a recapitulation of an ancient Hebrew festival without detracting from the message at all. It does not affect my faith in the Bible as inerrant. It’s just that our definition of inerrant has grown too scientifically exacting for a literary work written to reveal truth to an ancient culture with far different understandings than ours.

If we are to understand the Bible to a deeper degree, we must understand the author, his/her circumstances and what their contemporary audience would have understood. The Bible was not written in English to people who needed exact scientific facts.

There are many instances throughout the Bible where this view has helped me to deal with seeming contradictions. When I see an apparent contradiction that seems important to me, I know to look deeper for a meaning that is, at least temporarily, hidden from me.

This perspective has assisted in making my faith stronger and my desire far greater to study the Bible intently as a book meaningful to me today. The Hebrews who penned the Bible under God’s inspiration were not troubled by things that seem inconsistent to us today nor did such matters seem to bother Jesus. That surely tells us something. If the earth as we understand it was created in an instant, in six days, or in 10,000,000 years, Christ remains an example for Christians to follow. He still died because He loved us while we were yet sinners. He still died on account of our sins. He still resurrected Himself. He will still judge the quick and the dead. That ancient Hebrews wrote with different literary tools, that they didn’t know that the moon was not a light, that pi is an irrational number, or that their genealogies are different and illogical to modern Western readers, is of no consequence.

Not everyone has time to study the Bible, search for answers, and study ancient near eastern culture. They are busy winning souls for Christ and helping the hungry, naked, imprisoned, diseased, and grieving. No one understands the Bible fully. Thank God that comprehensive knowledge is not necessary. The Holy Spirit and the community of saints can work together with us to give us sufficient understanding to sensitize us to the call to holiness wrought by the Holy Spirit and the example of the divine Christ while He walked the earth in human form.

And God Said,...

Let there be light; and there was light. Note that light existed before the sun, or any of the heavens. The earth may be present already but is without form and void. There is nothing mentioned that would convey an amount of time which might pass. There are no humans present. There is nothing yet, which we might regard as evening or morning in the modern scientific language of today. Yet, here in Genesis 1:5 we have the first mention of both evening and morning. It is not until the fourth “day” of creation, that God makes lights to give light upon the earth in Genesis 1:15. In Genesis 1:14 God declares that one purpose for these lights is to determine days, which would include our present concept of evenings and mornings.

Here is another example of the futility of reading the Bible from a purely modern scientific perspective. The moon is not a light, but acts as a reflector of light. It does not matter that ancient Hebrews did not understand this. God was not intent on providing man with scientific knowledge of the universe through Scripture, so much as telling us about our relationship with Him and with each other.

Clearly then, the author of Genesis, probably Moses, is not telling us of the amount of time passed with each step of creation. The effect of this first chapter in Genesis is awesome. It is the word of God. Yet, it was written in a time and culture, where the chronological order of events and the passage of time in historical accounts is not the message. This becomes obvious in chapter 2. If this sequence were to be held to rigid standards of scientific accuracy, then why would the author be self-contradictory in so short a literary space as this?

When God inspired humans to write the Scriptures, He allowed them to use poetic devices, parables, symbolism, imagery, setting, language and idiomatic expressions of the ancient world that are unknown to many, or all of us today. This does not make the Bible one molecule less divine. It does tell us that He endows humans with potential for great love and great responsibility. We lose much if we refuse to look at the human aspect of the word of God (Scripture), or the Word of God (Jesus.)

Here is a short list of messages that I take from the Genesis 1-2:3 account.
· God is the Creator of all things
· God’s intentions for us are good
· He viewed His creation as good (with one exception we find later in Genesis 2)
· Life comes from living things Genesis 1:21,24,25
· Humans are made in His image Genesis 1:26
· Other entities already possessed the image of God before we were graced with it. (The eternal Christ and the Holy Spirit?) Genesis 1:26
· Humans are to subdue and replenish the earth Genesis 1:28
· Humans have dominion (authority, responsibility) over the earth Genesis 1:28
· God intended His first humans to be vegetarian Genesis 1:29 (This changes after the flood Genesis 9:2-3)
There is much more to ponder when we look at the whole of Chapter 2 and reflect back on Chapter 1.

Do you seek eternal communion with God? Do you study the Bible? The Bible is insufficient to save you but this is our primary document, our common evidence, the faith of our fathers, the written message from our Creator, and our map to the Christ Who can save us from sin and from the wrath of God that we have surely earned. Scripture also serves as our primary guide on how to lead others to Christ, live a life pleasing to our Creator, and work to make this world a little less broken.

If you aren’t studying the Bible with serious intent and reflection, what reason can you give, that doesn’t include arrogance or indifference? Let’s read our Bible with an open heart and an open mind, ready to receive and follow whatever God intends to teach us. Let’s meet with other Christians in a Bible study so that we can test each other’s interpretations. If you know Scripture well, (for who can know it all?) then help new Christians and seekers to learn what it says. Show them how to study it by leading a Bible study. Where would we be without a common map to Christ like the Bible?

Shalom and Agape,
Nicholas R