Let's look at the first two verses of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible: Genesis 1: 1-2. I'll quote from the King James translation:
In the beginning God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
After these verses, the Bible describes six days of creation, from light till animals, plants, and humans. Adam and Eve were created the sixth day of creation. There has been much dispute whether these days of creation should be interpreted as 'real' days, or more like periods of time; people in favor of the latter point, often use the text that states that for God, one day is like thousand years. The Bible describes a line of descendants of Adam and Eve, and if we add ages of these people, this can lead to an estimate of the age of the earth of somewhat more than six thousand years. Such an age is in strong contrast to what many scientists say about the age of the earth: a few billion years.
But, what does the Bible really say about the age of the earth? In any case, there is no explicit verse, that relates the time of creation of the earth with any event in later books of the Bible. But implicitly: if we believe that the Bible is true from cover till cover, can we be sure that the earth is less than 7000 years old? I think: no. This depends on how one would read and interpret verses from the Bible.
Let us go back to these first two verses of Genesis. The first verse already tells God created the heaven and the earth. Now, many people read this as a kind of summary of the remainder of Genesis 1. However, one can also read this as follows:
- First, God creates heaven and earth.
- And the earth was without form, and void
- Then, the text tells us that the Spirit of God visits this earth without and form , and how God turns this in to something good. continuing into verse 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. english standard version
So, in this explanation, the seven days of creation are not the first creation: they are a later creation. I think that God does not create darkness: if He creates something, it is good. So, after the first creation of heaven and earth, something has happened that made that the earth was no longer as God meant it to be. This may - but that is only speculation - have been the downfall of the devil/Satan and the angels that were cast from heaven with him. Or something else. Then, Genesis tells that God made the earth without form and void into the earth of which God saw that it was good.
'and darkness was upon the face of the deep'
in the time of the earth being without form and vold that could of taken millions of years, any amount of time to make.
With this interpretation of Genesis 1: 1-2, one cannot tell from the Bible how old the earth is. This is not a problem, as the Bible is no science book, but a book of faith.
The interpretation given above does not need to be the correct one. But: it may be. What I hope to have shown here is that it depends on the interpretation of the Bible on what it tells about the age of the earth. And hence, accepting the scientific theory that the earth is a few billion years old does not mean that you believe something that is in contradiction with the Bible.
from somebody eles view on this
Hugh Ross, an excellent scientist and Christian, has provided very convincing arguments that the days of Genesis one are not intended as 24 hour periods of time. I will also supplement them with much of the evidence I have gained from other sources.
Even if the days of Genesis one are indeed 24 hour periods, it still would not follow that the earth is young. This is because Bible scholar John Sailhamer has recently argued a good case that if the days are 24 hour periods, they can be solidly understood as recounting the specific renovating of the promise land to make it suitable for man's inhabitation. So, on his view, the creation of the whole universe is stated in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," but the rest of the chapter deals with a much later time when God made the earth suitable for man's inhabitation. For those who are interested in looking into this view more, I recommend his book Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Boks, 1996).
Before beginning on our analysis of the meaning of "day" in Genesis one, an important point to recognize is that the issue is not whether Genesis one should be interpreted literally or figuratively. The issue is what the author meant to say. A literal system of interpretation recognizes the context, grammar, and historical setting of the biblical text, and seeks to understand the author's true meaning.
Hugh Ross says "While young-earth creationists assert the `plain meaning' of the text rules out all but twenty-four hour days, a careful look at various textual elements points to a different conclusion. Old-earth creationists find many scriptural reasons, apart from science, for interpreting the creation days as long time periods."[3] As we will see, a long-creation day interpretation is therefore consistent with the literal system of biblical interpretation, and with the historicity of Genesis.
If it can be shown that Genesis does not require the meaning of twenty-four hour days, then this clearly shows that it is at least possible that the "days" are used to refer to long periods of time. It will further be demonstrated that the text actually implies an interpretation other than solar days, making the "age" interpretation likely in that "days" of Genesis are intended to mean "ages" (as Dr. Archer testifies), the Bible does not teach a young earth but allows for the evidence that the earth is very old.
The Hebrew words yom, ereb, and boqer
Yom is the Hebrew word translated "day." According to Vine's Expository of Old Testament Words, it can be used to indicate the period of daylight as contrasted with nighttime (Gen 8:22), a period of twenty-four hours (Gen. 39:10), or a period of unspecified duration without any reference to solar days (Gen. 2:4).[4] According to Hebrew scholar William Wilson, yom is "frequently put for time in general, or for a long time, a whole period under consideration...Day is also put for a particular season or time when any extraordinary even happens."[5] Examples of various uses of the word yom are Genesis 4:3, where it means a process of time; Genesis 30:14 where it means wheat harvest time; Joshua 24:7 where it means a long season; and Isaiah 4:2 where it means a future era.[6]
Ereb is the Hebrew word translated "evening." It also means "sunset," "night," or "ending of the day." Boqer is the Hebrew word translated morning. It means "sunrise" or "beginning of day," with possible metaphoric usage.[7] The evening and morning of the creation days refer to the beginning and ending boundaries of the day, not the rising and the setting of the sun. "For example, in my grandfather's day refers to my grandfather's lifetime. So the morning and evening of his day would be his youth and old-age."[8] By his references to the evening and morning of the day, Moses is showing that creation was in definite, ordered stages, instead of an arbitrary, unplanned event.
It should also be noted that this "day-age theory" does not mean that the "days" ("ages") were defined by millions of years of light, then evening, and then millions of years of darkness, etc. It means that "day" in Genesis means an age of unspecified length during which solar days carried on as usual, as we have seen.
Moses' purpose in Genesis one
Why would Moses enumerate creation through six "days" if he meant "ages" rather than a twenty-four hour period? Moses' purpose in Genesis one was to show that God created the universe in distinct stages, that there was an orderly plan to God's method of creation and God was working toward an ultimate goal, the climax of creation--mankind. This is in contrast to an idea that the world was created randomly or that God was not working toward a final purpose in creating.[9]
Moses is showing that God had a plan for how He would create the world, and that He did it in stages, not a disordered clutter. The stages did not mix into each other, because one ended before the next began (indicated by his placing the boundaries on the "days" of evening and morning). This affirms God's control and demonstrates the careful unfolding of His plans. As we will see later, yom was the only way that Moses could have indicated long, indefinite stages of time.
We have seen that the word for "day" does not require a twenty-four hour interpretation, that it is actually used in some unexpected places to mean something other than twenty-four hours, and that the structure of the sentences in Genesis suggests that days are to be taken in a way other than to indicate a twenty four hour period. Thus, the Hebrew text allows for long days. Now we will see that the text not only allows for this interpretation, but demands it.
The events of the sixth day require more than twenty four hours
On the sixth day of creation (1) God created the higher forms of animals, (2) God created Adam, (3) God planted a garden in Eden, (4) God made to grow the vegetation in Eden, (5) God gave Adam the responsibility for tending the garden, (6) Adam became lonely, (7) God had Adam name all of the animals, in search of a companion, (8) Adam was still lonely after this, (9) God put Adam into a deep sleep and made Eve from his rib, (10) Eve was presented to Adam as his new partner, and finally (11) God gave them instructions to multiply and care for the earth. (See Genesis 1:24-30; 2:4-24). How could all of these events have been completed in only twenty-four hours? At the very least, they would have taken several months.
Take, for example, the naming of the animals. While Adam did not name each individual animal, he did name each species, or group, of animals. A conservative estimate is that there were 3,000 species of land animals and birds to name. (The Bible says he named all of the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. "Beasts of the field" is not limited to mean livestock, but also includes all land mammals.) Adam would have had to name approximately one species every 10 seconds in order to finish in even 20 hours!
Some argue that Adam was able to perform these tasks at superhuman speed, since he was without sin at this point. However, Scripture makes no connection between intelligence and sinfulness. Additionally, Jesus was without sin and did not perform tasks at a superhuman rate.
It would not seem like God to "hurry up" the process of naming the animals, since one main purpose was to, in a sense, fellowship with and become familiar with the animals so that he would recognize his need for a companion like him (and then God would fulfill his need and create Eve). Taking 10 seconds per animal would provide nowhere near the necessary time for this familiarity and fellowship.
Most convincingly, when Eve was finally presented to Adam, he said, "This at last is bone of my bones..." Alan Hayword notes that all commentaries are agreed that the expression translated "at last" means "now, at length," as it is translated elsewhere.[11] The Hebrew indicates that Adam had been kept waiting a long time for Eve, not a few hours.
The length of the seventh day is more than twenty four hours
Each of the first six creation days is said to have had a definite beginning and ending "there was evening, and there was morning...." However, there is no such statement about the seventh day. "Given the parallel structure marking the creation days, this direct change in form for the seventh day strongly suggests that this day has (or had) not yet ended."[12] This possibility is directly confirmed in Hebrews 4:4-11, which teaches us that God's Sabbath rest of the seventh day is still continuing. Due to the parallel structure of the creation week, since the seventh day is long, the others must be too.
Some point out that Scripture refers to God's rest in the past tense "He rested." But this no way implies that He has finished resting, and even if it did it (which it does not) it still would not be saying that the day is over. For example, if at 7 o'clock I say that a person "took a nap" at 6, I am saying absolutely nothing about whether he is awake yet or not. It would be possible for him to still be sleeping. And if he is awake, it could still be the same day. The biblical text, however, makes no mention of God ceasing from His rest. Hebrews 4 is clear and direct positive evidence that God's Sabbath rest continues into the present, making the seventh day, at the very least several thousand years long.