Over the past century, there has perhaps been no more attacked section of the Scriptures than that contained in Genesis 1-11. These chapters of the first book of the Bible discuss the creation of the universe and all that it contains, the fall of man, the judgment of the Great Flood of Noah’s day, and the scattering of the people from Babel. Interpreting the Bible literally in those areas began to be attacked during the “Age of Enlightenment” and progressed through the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin Of Species culminating in a widely held belief in naturalism, or the belief that everything can and should be explained through natural observations and causes. Such a philosophy leaves no room for supernaturalism, the idea that there is a Creator, God, who is above nature. With the rise of popular belief in naturalism, and namely Darwinian evolution, by mainstream science, those who believe in the Bible as the Word of God have been challenged. This challenge has been handled in several ways. First, there are those who have clung to the Scriptures as being the true words of God which are intended to be understood as written – it is a message that is able to be understood regardless of cultural or time. Secondly, there are those who have decided to disregard the Scriptures entirely because if some of the Bible is untrue, then all of it is untrue. This amounts to one placing their faith in men rather than the God of the Bible. Lastly, there are those who seek to reconcile the views of Darwinian evolution to what is written in the Bible. This effort manifests itself in a great many ways. Typically, it involves an attempt to interpret the first few chapters of the book of Genesis in such a way that will allow for a timeline which is compatible with the evolutionary timescale, which currently requires 20 billion years for the universe and 4.5 billion years for the earth. Just as the first two responses indicate how a person may view God in relation to naturalism, the interpretation of Genesis which seeks to combine naturalism and supernaturalism makes a statement as well. One who would consider it necessary to view the Genesis record through the lens of naturalism is simply upholding the teachings of men as being of equal validity with the Words of God.
One of the most popular ways that this is carried out is by interpreting the Scriptures to hold “untold” history between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. This is most commonly called the “Gap Theory” (AKA the “Ruin and Reconstruction Theory”) and was popularized by a preacher in the Church of Scotland in the early seventeenth century by the name of Thomas Chalmers. He wrote the following words about Genesis 1:1, “"My own opinion, as published in 1814, is that it forms no part of the first day— but refers to a period of indefinite antiquity when God created the worlds out of nothing. The commencement of the first day's work I hold to be the moving of God's Spirit upon the face of the waters. We can allow geology the amplest time . . . without infringing even on the literalities of the Mosaic record. . . ." (Bixler, 1986) This theory merely allows for someone to take Genesis 2 and beyond as a literal timeline, but add any amount of time necessary to conform the Scriptures to the evolutionary timeline in the proposed “space” between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. There have been some elaborate descriptions of this “untold” section of history, yet these are merely from the imagination of men and, therefore, inconsequential.
The question we seek to answer is, “Does the text of Genesis 1:1-2 allow for an undisclosed amount of time between those verses?” The claim is that Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, describes the initial creation by God. Verse 2, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” describes the state of the earth that is ready for “recreating” after that prior world was destroyed by God. From and exegetical standpoint, there is absolutely no reason to interpret these verses in such a way. The literary construct of Genesis 1:1-3 simply will not allow for a gap. In fact, those who are experts in the Hebrew language are in agreement that the grammar of this passage does not at all allow for this proposed gap. (Taylor, 2010)
Another failure of this view is the fact that it does not agree with the rest of the Scriptures. We need to merely go to the Words God Himself spoke to the Israelites on Sinai, a history which was penned by Moses. At this time, God was giving the Law to the people and in doing so was audibly speaking with the people. In Exodus 20:8-11 He says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” These verses equate the days of creation to our ordinary, 24-hour days. Verse eleven states plainly that everything that exists was created in six days. There is no explanation of a prior creation and a recreation, for that which would exist already in Genesis 1:1 according to this theory would add time above the six days which God proclaimed. This would make His plain statement in Exodus 20:11 erroneous. When these verses (Exodus 20:8-11) are read, the simple
conclusion is that the creation of everything that exists in the created world took a literal six days.
When we look at the plain statements of the text of Genesis 1:1-1:2, we see a very clear communication from God. Genesis 1:1 is simply a statement of declaration, a general statement introducing what is about to be described in detail. “In the beginning” brings Moses readers back to a time that they were not witnesses to, which is when “God created the heavens and the earth”. In the subsequent verses, we can see God describing what specific parts of both of those that He created on a particular day. For instance, regarding “the heavens”, the text says, “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Genesis 1:14–19). Regarding “the earth” the text speaks of water and land (Genesis 1:6-10), vegetation (Genesis 1:11-13), aquatic and airborne animals (Genesis 1:20-23), land animals (Genesis 1:24-25), and mankind (Genesis 1:26-31) being created. Genesis 1:2 simply describes the state of things at the very beginning of this creation, before God enacted His will upon it in the specific ways which we have just talked about. It was formless, void, and dark, with God’s Spirit hovering over it as if ready to begin the work of changing that initial state. The first thing to be changed was darkness to light. On day two through six, God changed the “formless and void” to something with form and filled with created life.
The concept of a general introductory statement about an event followed by the specifics of that same event is very common. Simply look at Genesis 13:1-3, “Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai”. In Genesis 13:1 we have an introductory statement regarding Abram’s travels at a particular time. This should be likened to Genesis 1:1. This is followed by an aside description of the person from the prior verse, Abram. This would be parallel to Genesis 1:2 where God describes the earth of verse 1 as “formless and void”. Genesis 13:3 comes back to the story from the aside description of Abram and continues the narrative of his journey from Egypt to Bethel/Ai. Likewise, Genesis 1:3 continues the narrative of God creating “the heavens and the earth”. To interpret this passage as the proponents of the gap theory interpret Genesis 1:1-3, Abram would be on completely different journeys in verses 1 and 3, which is certainly not the case.
The gap theory has been rejected by many scholars over the past two centuries, however, it is still proclaimed by several. For example, Dake’s Annotated Bible includes this footnote, “When men finally agree on the age of the earth, then place the many years (over the historical 6,000) between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.” (Dake, 1963) Likewise, the Scofield Reference Bible states, “Relegate fossils to the primitive creation, and no conflict of science with the Genesis cosmogony remains.” (Scofield, 1917) The term “primitive creation” is here an appeal by Cyrus Scofield to the gap theory. These men, like many of today, wish to reconcile the ideas of men with the Word of God. The Scriptures give a stern warning when considering such a thing, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:8–10) The God Who has revealed Himself to us in the pages of the Bible is omnipotent, omniscient, truthful, and plain in His teaching (I Corinthians 14:33). The ideas that some seek to intertwine with His infallible word are the ideas of weak, fleshly, fallible men. The child of the Living God should dare not place the two on an equal footing.
References
Bixler, R. R. (1986). Earth, Fire, and Sea: The Untold Drama of Creation. Pittsburgh, PA: Baldwin Manor Press.
Dake, F. J. (1963). Dake's Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing.
Scofield, C. I. (1917). Scofield Reference Bible. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, P. F. (2010). Closing the Gap. Answers in Genesis.
