THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF ORIGINS

JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

14/1 (SPRING 2003) 4-43

By Richard M. Davidson
BASIC ELEMENTS IN THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT
• “In the beginning—the “when” of origins
• “God”—the “Who” of origins
• “created”—the “how” of origins
• “the heavens and the earth”—the “what” of
origins
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
 WHEN WHO HOW WHAT

Absolute or Relative Beginning?

 TWO MAJOR TRANSLATIONS
Independent Clause
”In the beginning God
created the heavens and
the earth.”
• KJV, NIV, NJB, NLT,
NASB, NKJV, REB,
RSV
Dependent Clause
“When God began to
create the heavens and
the earth….”
• NJPS , NAB, NRSV,
NEB

WHEN--Absolute or Relative Beginning?

 TWO MAJOR TRANSLATIONS
Independent Clause
• Creatio ex nihilo is explicitly
affirmed.
• God exists before matter.
• There is an absolute
beginning of time for the
cosmos.
Dependent Clause
• No creatio ex nihilo is
mentioned.
• Matter is already in existence
when God begins to create.
• No absolute beginning is
indicated.

WHEN--Absolute or Relative Beginning?

 EVIDENCE FOR INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

• Hebrew grammar and syntax

• Short, stylistic structure matches rest of chapter
• Theological thrust matches rest of chapter
• All ancient versions use the independent clause
• Allusion of John 1:1 to Genesis 1:1 (In the beginning)

WHEN--Absolute or Relative Beginning?

 CONCLUSION—ABSOLUTE BEGINNING

• “I find the weight of evidence within Scripture decisive

in pointing toward the traditional translation of Genesis
1:1 as an independent clause: ‘In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.’”

WHEN--Absolute or Relative Beginning?

WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
 WHEN WHO HOW WHAT

Literal or Non-Literal Beginning?

 EVIDENCE FOR LITERAL BEGINNING
• Literary genre of Genesis 1-11 (historical narrative
prose)
• Literary structure of the book of Genesis (“generations”)
• Specific temporal terms (evening and morning)
• Interpretation by Jesus and the biblical writers

WHEN—Literal or Non-Literal Beginning?

 CONCLUSION—LITERAL
• Based upon the testimony of the Genesis account and later
intertextual allusions to this account, I must join the host of
scholars, ancient and modern—both critical and evangelical
—who affirm the literal, historical nature of Genesis 1 and
2, with a literal creation week consisting of six historical,
contiguous, creative, natural twenty-four-hour days,
followed immediately by a literal twenty-four-hour seventh
day, during which God rested, blessing and sanctifying the
Sabbath as a memorial of creation.

WHEN—Literal or Non-Literal Beginning?

WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT

Multiple of Single Beginnings?

 ACTIVE GAP THEORY
• Gap between Gen 1:1 and 1:2
• Satan ruled an originally perfect creation some
unknown time ago, before his rebellion
• Earth became chaotic because of
• Satan’s experimentation
• God’s judgment

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

 ACTIVE GAP THEORY

• Theory flounders on grammatical grounds

• “The earth was without form and void”
• Hebrew grammar leaves no room for this interpretation

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

CONCLUSION--INITIAL UNFORMED UNFILLED
• God is before all creation (v 1)
• There is an absolute beginning of time (v 1)
• When God creates the heavens and earth (v 1), at least the earth is at first
unformed and unfilled (v 2)
• God forms and fills the earth in six successive, literal, 24-hour days (v 3ff)
• God rests on the 7th day, blessing and sanctifying it as a memorial of
creation (2:1-4)

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

WHEN WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNING?
No Gap
• Genesis 1:1-2 are on day
one
• Raw materials are included
in the first day of the seven-
day creation week
WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?
Passive Gap
• Genesis 1:1-2 go together
• Gap
• Genesis 1:3
• Raw materials of the earth
were created before—
perhaps long before—the
seven days of creation
week
 EVIDENCE FOR PASSIVE GAP
1. Beginning and ending pattern of each creation day:
“And God said…
…and there was evening and there was morning”

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

 EVIDENCE FOR PASSIVE GAP
2. Difference between:
• The dyad “heavens and earth”
• (entire universe)
• The triad “heaven, earth, and sea”
• (earth’s three habitats)

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

 EVIDENCE FOR PASSIVE GAP
3. The Hebrew word for “beginning” in 1:1, which refers to
a period or duration of time which falls before a series of
events.

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

 EVIDENCE FOR PASSIVE GAP
4. God’s creation by differentiating or separating
previously-created materials

5. Two-stage creation process from raw material:

Forming Adam from clay
Forming Eve from Adam’s rib

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

 EITHER OPTION POSSIBLE
No Gap
• Genesis 1:1-2 are on day
one
• Raw materials are included
in the first day of the seven-
day creation week
Passive Gap
• Genesis 1:1-2 go together
but are separated from
verse 3 by a gap
• Raw materials of the earth
in their unformed-unfilled
state were created before—
perhaps long before—the
seven days of creation
week

WHEN—Multiple or Single Beginning?

WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT

Recent or Remote Beginning?

(thousands or millions of years)
 EVIDENCE FOR RECENT BEGINNING
• Chronogenealogies Genesis 5 and 11 give a
continuous record from Adam to Abraham
• In the OT, “begat” is the special causative form that
always refers to actual direct physical offspring.
• From Abraham to the present is clear from Scripture,
and the total is only some 4000 (+/- 200 years)
• Creation week unambiguously occurred recently

WHEN—Recent or Remote?
 EVIDENCE FOR RECENT BEGINNING
Character of God
• It is totally out of character with the God of the Bible to
allow a history of cruelty and pain to go on for long
periods of time—millions of years—when it would serve
no purpose in the cosmic controversy against Satan
• The genealogies, pointing to a recent creation, are a
window into the heart of a loving, compassionate God

WHEN—Recent or Remote?
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
 TWO NAMES FOR GOD
• Two names for God appear in the Creation accounts:
• Elohim
• Generic, all-powerful One
• Emphasizes transcendence
• Yahweh
• Covenant name
• Emphasizes immanence

WHO
 NOTICE
1.No proof of God is provided, but the assertion of His
existence is bold.
2.God is the ultimate foundation of reality.
3.The portrayal of God in the creation account provides a
polemic against the ANE gods:
•Polytheism
•Moral decadence
•Rivalry
•Mortality
•Pantheism

WHO
 NOTICE
4. There are intimations of the plurality of the Godhead:
• “Spirit of God” in Genesis 1:2
• The creative Word (ten times in Genesis 1)
• “Let us” of Genesis 1:26
5. It would be natural for the plurality of persons within the
deity, whose character is one of covenant love, to wish to
create other beings with whom He could share fellowship.

WHO
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
 DIVINELY
• By Divine bara
• Exclusively God’s action
• Creating something totally new and effortlessly
produced

HOW
 DIVINELY
• By Divine bara
• Exclusively God’s action
• Creating something totally new and effortlessly produced
• By Divine Fiat
• By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth…For He
spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast
(Psalm 33:6, 9)

HOW
 AS A POLEMIC
• As a polemic against ideas in Mesopotamian creation
texts:
• Struggle between dieties
• Struggle with forces of chaos
• Sexual activity between the gods
• Worship of sun and moon

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
 DRAMATICALLY AND AESTHETICALLY
Forming the unformed Filling the unfilled
• Light • Luminaries
• Sky and waters separated • Birds and fish
• Dry land and vegetation • Animals and man

HOW
WHEN WHO HOW WHAT
 LIGHTS
• One option: Sun not present till 4 th day--God’s presence was
the source of light the first 3 days
• 1:4 God divided the light from the darkness
• 1:18 luminaries divide the light from the darkness
• Psalm 104—God described as covering Himself with light
• Another option: Sun present but unused before 4th day
• Became visible, given purpose, or became fully functional on day 4
• Stars
• Syntax does not require the creation of stars on day 4 (could be
parenthetical)

WHAT
OTHER ISSUES
 TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS?

• Beginning in 2:7, more detailed description of day 6

• Focusing attention on humanity’s personal needs

 DEATH/PREDATION BEFORE SIN?
• Not only is there no death on this world before creation
week, there is no life!

• Genesis 1:1-2 make no room for living organisms to be

present upon planet earth before creation week, let
alone death and predation.
THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF ORIGINS
JOURNAL OF THE ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
14/1 (SPRING 2003) 4-43

By Richard M. Davidson
Summary and Narration:
Carol Raney