Lesson Aim: To provide evidence to prove that the days of the creation week were the same in length as current days and to show the importance of a literal interpretation of the genesis account.

Monday: Genesis 1:1-2:3
Tuesday: Isaiah 14:10-14
Wednesday: Psalm 119:152, Romans 3:4, Proverbs 14:12, & Proverbs 23:7
Thursday: Exodus 20:8-11
Friday: II Peter 3:8
Saturday: Romans 5:12, & I Corinthians 15:21
Sunday: II Peter 1:20, & Isaiah 28:9-13

Lesson Outline

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LENGTH OF THE CREATION DAYS

A. The Genesis account of creation is either literal or figurative (spiritualized).

1. A literal view of the Genesis account says the days were 24 hours in length.

The connotations of that view say the universe, including earth, is relatively young in years (probably no more than 10,000 years old and possibly less) ¹ and prohibit the possibility of long, geologic ages consisting of enormous periods of time. A view that the creative days were literal days of 24 hours each precludes the evolutionary concept of uniformitarianism.

2.A figurative spiritualized view of the Genesis account says the days could be of indeterminate length.

In support of this position, II Peter 3:8 is cited. This verse says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. It is true that God can view a day as any length of His choosing. That in no way suggests the days of the creation week were any different than the 24 hour cycle established by the context.

The primary reason for interpreting the days of creation as days of indeterminate length is to provide long periods of time to account for the geologic ages espoused by the evolution concept.

a. The "Gap Theory" is one such attempt.

This theory contends that an "original" creation took place enough years ago (possibly billions) to account for all the geological ages contended by modern evolutionary science. This theory is based upon the belief that all physical processes functioned in the past essentially as they do in the present, thus accounting for the current geologic strata and other natural phenomena. Adherents of this position believe that some catastrophic event, probably the casting of Satan to the earth (Isaiah 14:10-14), occurred between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 and destroyed the original creation. Genesis 1:2 is interpreted to mean that the earth at that time was "ruined" or "destroyed." ²

This theory is scientifically self-defeating. According to it, a catastrophe of such proportions as to leave the earth totally destroyed occurred and ruined the original creation. Such a cataclysmic event would have destroyed all the geologic phenomena for which the theory attempts to account.

Furthermore, the theory is theologically false. Romans 5:12 specifically says "death" entered with the sin of Adam, who Genesis 1:26-31 says was not created until day 6. See also I Corinthians 15:21. According to the "Gap Theory," the fossilization, sedimentation and other events recorded in the fossil record occurred in the long era between the time of the "original" creation and the "recreation." The theory claims Genesis 1:3-31 to be the account of the recreation. The fossil record is an undisputable record of death and destruction. Thus, the "Gap Theory" has death and the effects of the curse occurring long before the beginning of the biblically specified time of its origin.

b. The "Day -Age Theory" is another idea that the days of creation were not 24 hours each.

It contends that each day of creation represents a long geological period of indefinite length. It, too, is an attempt to conform and equate the days of creation with the evolutionary theory of geological ages.

Scientifically, the days of creation do not conform to the fossil record. ³

Theologically, the "Day Age Theory," like the "Gap Theory," has death and destruction occurring before Adam and his sin, which introduced death and the curse.

B.The position one takes on a matter will impact and direct his future thinking and life. (Proverbs 23:7)

1. To deny the days of creation to be literal, 24-hour days is to lean toward the uniformitarian evolutionary position.

2. A denial of the literalness of the creation account puts one in a mindset to deny the literalness of much of the rest of the Bible. Taking a literal view of the creation story is very important to one’s belief in the literal integrity of the scriptures. Lost confidence at this point is often the path to eventual denial of the Bible and God.

3. "Spiritualizing" the accounts of scripture assumes an account is not literal, but that it is an allegory or other type of symbolic depiction of an idea or concept. This is risky business. To do so puts one into the shady and mystical business of rejecting what is said in favor of an attached meaning of his own interpretation. Such an approach puts God in the position of having not said what He really meant, and it puts Bible students in the position of trying to figure out what He meant. If the creation account is spiritualized, why not the story of Adam and Eve, the Flood, the Exodus, and even the Cross? Who is to say which account is a spiritualized, as opposed to a literal, account?

4. Those who would know the truth must believe that God said what He meant and that where a spiritualized meaning is being given (parable), such will be identified in the context. (Psalm 119:152, Romans 3:4, Proverbs 14:12)

II. THE LENGTH OF THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION

A. The length of day one was one dark period and one light period, Genesis 1:5.

1. With this, Genesis 1 specifically fixes the length of the first creation day to be one rotation of the earth on its axis.

2. A day defined as one dark period and one light period is not a day of indefinite length. With the dark/light denotation, Genesis 1 established the fact that the first day of creation could be nothing more than a 24-hour day.

B. The length of the first day of creation is significant in that it was the same in length as the other days of creation.

1. In regard to each of the creative days, the record of what God did on that day ends with an identical statement. See verses 5,8,13,19,23 and 31. God rested on day seven.

2. Consistency demands that the creative days be interpreted to be uniform in length. (II Peter 1:20, Isaiah 28:9-13)

III. OTHER PROOF THAT THE DAYS OF CREATION WERE TWENTY- FOUR HOUR DAYS.

A. The Hebrew word for day is yowm.⁴

1. The word yowm is almost always used to speak of "a definite period" of time, though not necessarily 24 hours. The context determined by Genesis 1 establishes the length of the days under consideration to be of a definite length. As previously noted, they were the time it takes the earth to rotate once on its axis, which is 24 hours.

2. In discussing the 10 Commandments, God brought up the days of creation week. He used the word yowm. Exodus 20:11 says "...in six days (yowm) the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is...." Then, the verse says He, "...rested the seventh day (yowm)...."

The length of one of the first seven days was identical to the length of each of the others. The context of Exodus 20:8-11 makes no mistake as to the length of day seven on which God rested. It was the length of a sabbath day, which every Jew and Bible scholar knows to be 24 hours, evening (a dark period) to the next evening (a light period).

B. Understanding the days of creation to mean more than 24 hours each presents a theological conflict.

1. Remember Roman 5:12. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

2. As discussed earlier, if the days of creation exceeded 24 hours by substantial margins, then death and destruction preceded Adam. The taking of such a position undermines the integrity of Romans 5:12.

C. Furthermore, understanding the days of creation to be periods longer than 24 hours makes it impossible to explain the survival of plant life for a lengthy period of time prior to the appearance of the sun.

1. According to the Genesis account, plant life was created on day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13), and the sun was not made until day 4. (Genesis 1:14-19)

2. The production of chlorophyll is essential to plant life.The photosynthesis process, which produces chlorophyll, is caused by the sun. The survival of plants thus required the sun to be on the scene very quickly. Based on an understanding that the days of the creation week were of current length, the sun was shining within 24 hours after the creation of plant life.

3. Attaching a 24 hour time-span to the days of creation easily answers many perplexing questions which arise when the creation days are understood to be longer than 24 hours.

FOOTNOTES

1. Morris, Henry, The Genesis Record, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976, pages 42-46.

2. Scofield, C.I., Scofield Reference Bible, New York: Oxford University Press, 1945, (Marginal notes on Genesis 1:2).

3. Morris, pages 53-54.

SUMMARY

The Genesis account of creation is either literal or a spiritualized account. (A "spiritualized" account is one in which the meaning is not literal. The story is given to suggest some other meaning.) If the Genesis account of creation is literal, then the days were each 24 hours in length. If the account is a spiritualization withhidden meanings, the days of creation could be of indeterminate length, perhaps each day representing millions of years. The position one takes regarding the Genesis account has profound connotations.

To understand the Genesis account of creation to be literal means the universe, including the earth, is quite young, probably not more than 10,000 years old. If the days of creation were 24 hours each and the accounts of the Bible are to be taken literally, the number of days, from day one to the current, fall somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years. In the genealogical tables and accounts of events, many ages are reported. Some specifics are not given. Ascribing the maximum lengths within the realm of reason to these could not extend the time from day one to more than 10,000 years. Adding greater lengths would render the biblical accounts absurd. If the Genesis account of creation is literal, the concept of evolution cannot be true.

A figurative or spiritualized view of the Genesis account was originated as an effort to harmonize the scriptural account with the long geological ages of the evolutionary concept. According to this commonly embraced "scientific" theory, the earth has existed many billions of years. Long ages of varying evolutionary development age of the dinosaurs, age of the invertebrates, etc. are believed to have occurred, as supposedly evidenced in the strata of the earth.

One "Christian" idea which attempts to harmonize the Genesis account with the geologic ages is the "Gap Theory." This theory contends that an "original" creation took place millions and millions of years ago and that it was destroyed between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 by some sort of world-wide catastrophe, which left the earth ruined. This position is scientifically self-defeating in that any supposed "catastrophe" of sufficient proportions to completely ruin the earth would also annihilate all of the fossil records and strata for which the theory attempts to account. It is theologically false because it contends that the fossil records and strata of the "geologic ages" concept were forming during the long ages of the "original" creation. These archaeological ruins are replete with evidence of death, violence and destruction, all of which, according to Romans 5:12, began with the sin of Adam, who was not created until day 6. The "Gap Theory" thus violates the order as specifically set forth in the Bible.

The "Day-Age Theory" is another attempt to harmonize the Genesis account of origins with the secular concept of geologic ages over exceedingly long periods of time. This theory contends that the days of the creation week are not to be understood to be literal 24 hour days. Instead, each day is to be understood as symbolic of a long geologic age. Like the "Gap Theory" this theory also placesdeath, violence and suffering before the sin of Adam and the days, as stated in the Genesis 1 account, do not conform to the geologic ages of the secular position.

The "spiritualizing" of scriptures is a risky practice. Though some passages, such as parables, are definitely written in figurative or symbolic language, most are not. Those which are symbolic are almost always easily identifiable. Taking liberties to spiritualize passages which are literal leads quickly to false concepts. Those who do often impose their own private interpretation on the passage. Such interpretations may be totally incorrect. II Peter 1:20 says, "...that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." Most spiritualization puts a meaning "up for grabs." When such a practice violates the immediate context, the over-all context of scripture or the physical evidence in the observable world, the spiritualized meaning is incorrect. God’s plan of Bible interpretation hermeneutics is "precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." (Isaiah 28:10, 13) God is thoroughly capable of expressing Himself. "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." (Psalm 119:152) There is rarely a need to "read something into" what He says. The wise thing for readers to do is to believe what God said, not assume He meant something else.

God clearly established the length of the first day of creation to be one period of darkness coupled with one period of light. Observation of the current rotation cycle of the earth proves that to be a 24-hour period of time. The length of the first of all days is important in that it was equal in length to each of the other creation days. The statement regarding each day that "the evening and the morning were the...day" communicates the idea that each day was identical in length to the others.

The Hebrew word for day is yowm. It is almost always used to speak of a definite period of time. We know the length of time in Genesis 1 was one dark/light period. In the later giving of the Law, God further established the fact that the days of the creation week were 24 hours each. God referred to the creation week of 7 days and said He rested on the seventh day. That day was the first "sabbath" day, a day clearly known to be 24 hours in length by those people of Moses’ day. See Exodus 20:8-11. Thus, the length of the creation days is not left to speculation. Particularly verse 11 of Exodus 20 establishes the length of those days to be equivalent to current days.

It is also a fact that the photosynthesis process which produces chlorophyll in plants is generated by the sun. The sun was not made until the fourth day, while plants were made the third day. If the creation days were long periods of time rather than 24 hour days, the survival of plant life would be impossible to explain.

QUESTIONS

1. According to a literal view of the Genesis account, how long was each of the days of creation?

2. Why is the evolutionary theory of origins incompatible with a literal view of the Genesis account of creation?

3. Explain what it means to "spiritualize" a passage of scripture.

4. Why is it inappropriate to use II Peter 3:8 as supposed basis to assume the days of creation were more than 24 hours each?

5. What is the common reason why many have assumed each of the days of creation to be to a long period of years?

6. Explain the "Gap Theory."

7. Why is the "Gap Theory" scientifically self-defeating?

8. Why is the "Gap Theory" theologically unsound?

9. Explain the "Day-Age Theory."

10. Why is the "Day-Age Theory" unsound?

11. Why is the position one takes regarding the length of the days of creation so important to his future thinking? 12. How does a refusal to accept the Genesis account of creation as literal push one toward the secular evolutionary concept?

13. Why should one be extremely careful when it comes to "spiritualizing" scriptures?

14. How can one determine whether or not a given account in the Bible is literal or figurative?

15. What does the darkness/light cycle record, regarding each of the days during which God created, say about their length?

16. Explain II Peter 1:20 and Isaiah 28:9-13 in view of consistence in interpreting scriptures.

17. Explain the Hebrew word yowm as used in reference to the days of creation.

18. Explain the significance of Exodus 20:8-11 in determining the length of the days of creation.

19. In light of Romans 5:12 and I Corinthians 15:21, explain the theological conflict generated by an interpretation of the days of creation to be very lengthy periods of time.