|
GUEST ARTICLE
Genesis 1:1-2
The Gap Theory
One of the theories which attempts
to harmonize the Bible with evolutionary chronology (i.e.,
the concept that the earth is billions of years old) is
known as the Gap Theory. This view, which is barely more
than 150 years old, argues that there exists a gap between
Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, during which there lived successive
generations of plants, animals, and perhaps even pre-Adamite
men (though see 1 Corinthians 15:45). According to some,
God destroyed this original creation due to a Satanic rebellion.
Genesis 1:2ff, therefore, is supposed to describe a re-creation,
while the gap between 1:1 and 1:2 allows for the ancient
fossils of the geological time column.
There is absolutely no biblical
basis for this compromising theory. There are several important
grammatical considerations in Genesis 1 which militate
against the Gap Theory. Mark them, please.
(1) Genesis 1:2 begins with “and” (Hebrew waw, a copulative) which argues
against a long time span between these verses. The Hebrew
grammars and lexicons consider 1:2 to be an explanatory noun
clause which describes a state contemporaneous with
that of the main verb in verse 1 (cf. Weston Fields, Unformed
and Unfilled, pp. 75-86).
(2) Note Genesis 1:26. Man
was given dominion over all of the earth and every creature
upon it. This is not consistent with the notion that many
generations of living creatures, over which man had no
dominion, had already died and become extinct by the
time humanity arrived upon the earth.
(3) In 1:31 Moses wrote: “And
God saw everything that he had made, and, behold,
it was very good.” At the end of the creation week,
everything that God had made was still alive upon
the earth. Moreover, it was pronounced “very good.” Corruption,
death, and extinction had not degraded the creation as
yet. Make these notations in the margin of your Bible.
The Gap Theory has no basis in fact.
--Wayne Jackson
© 2003 by Christian Courier
Publications. All rights reserved.
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/print/genesis_11_2_the_gap_theory |
