Pray First
Dear Reader,
This is a long post, and I ask that before taking the time to read my thoughts, you take a moment to ask God for His. Paul warn's the Thessalonians to test everything, hold fast what is good. I adjure you to do the same.
I am attempting a difficult thing here. On the one hand, there is a view of the Genesis 1 narrative that tries to align it with the geologic history of the Earth, but struggles to do so in a way that receives broad acceptance. I think this is because this view, sometimes called scientific concordism, interprets Genesis 1 with a bit too much materialistic thinking (which I will explain). This view is espoused by Reasons To Believe, and while they have brought together all the right ingredients to create a harmony between science and the Bible, I feel they struggle to get the recipe just right. On the other hand, archeology has improved our understanding of the ancient Near Eastern culture into which Genesis 1 was first received. With this understanding, an argument is made, primarily by John H. Walton, that Genesis 1 should be read as a functional creation account (which I will explain). Walton rails against scientific concordism and treats Genesis 1 as an ahistorical creation narrative. In my opinion, Walton goes too far in rejecting the actual historicity of the Genesis 1 account. Yet, I have also found that if some of Walton's ideas about how to interpret Genesis 1 are followed, it allows for the development of a more natural reading of Genesis 1 that aligns with geologic history in what appears to me a very compelling way. This requires some adjustments to the common reading of Genesis 1 used by scientific creationists, but it also supports their end goals and expectations of harmony between faith and science. I call this adjusted view, historical concordism.
Please understand that what I am trying to present may be a unique blend of ideas that is new to you. It is also a blend of ideas that I am drawing from competent scholars who largely don't agree with each other. I am not footnoting every reference. That will have to wait for an academic paper-style post. Here I am just presenting concepts to see if they make sense to you, dear reader. You will find cited references in my other blog posts on this topic.
With this backdrop in place, pray first, and read on, if you please.
Outline of Topics
- Functional, Historical Concordism
- A Premise
- A Word About Material Versus Functional Creationism
- Everything out of Nothing
- Order out of Chaos
- Material versus Functional Creationism
- Genesis 1:1
- Commands in Creation Literature of the Bible
- The Commands of Genesis 1
- Day 1
- Day 1 and the history of Earth
- Day 2
- Day 2 and the History of the Earth
- Day 3
- Dry Land
- Dry Land and the History of the Earth
- Plants
- Plants and the History of the Earth
- Day 4
- Day 4 and the History of Earth
- Day 5
- Day 5 and the History of Earth
- Day 6
- Day 6 and the History of Earth
- Day 7
- Summary
- Thank You
- For Further Reading
Functional, Historical Concordism
In this blog post I will attempt to exposit Genesis 1 by applying an interpretive framework called functional creationism. In functional creationism, the focus of the narrative is said to be on God establishing order and function in the Universe to create a habitable world filled with His creatures.
In Walton's writings, he asserts that the Genesis 1 narrative is a non-historical revelation of God inaugurating the universe as a temple in which He is to be worshiped. Here, I deviate from Walton and stay aligned with a Day Age view.
Concordism means agreement or harmony. The harmony in Historical Concordism is between a source text and the actual events of history. Another way to think of this is that true reports are characterized by historical concordism; that is, the story describes what actually happened and corresponds well with what was recorded as history by others. In the Bible, the Gospels and the book of Acts, as examples, posses historical concordism - they record events that not only really happened, which can be taken by faith, but which are also supported by other historical records.
When it comes to creation, since there were no journaling observers, history is established by scientific investigation of trace artifacts. This is a forensic exercise in which a picture of what most likely happened is assembled from many pieces of evidence. It is not a perfect science, but with persistence, much effort, and disciplined methodology, the history of the earth has become increasingly better understood. The picture comes into focus.
Putting this all together, a functional, historically-concordant creationist view posits that the works of God described by the text of Genesis 1, when properly understood, will correspond to, and be evidenced by, the actual history of the Earth, when it also is properly understood. If this view is true, then one could say that the fossils declare the glory of God.
So, when considering how to understand Genesis 1, functional creationism will be compared with material creationism to see how this affects the interpretation of the passage. I am not saying that there are no elements of material creation in Genesis 1, but I am trying to show that if a functional-first approach is taken, it impacts the understanding of what happened on each creation day.
A Premise
If a high-level of harmony can be shown between a functional reading of Genesis 1 and the geologic history of Earth, then this would support the conclusion that the functional interpreters (of Genesis 1) and paleo-geologists are both on the right track in understanding their respective domains of knowledge.
The premise: harmony between earth's geologic history and a functional reading of Genesis 1 lends validation to both paleo-geology and the functional interpretation of Genesis 1.
This may not be an easy conclusion for many Christians to accept. There is a strong tradition in Christian circles to rebuff paleo-geology (the reconstruction of Earth's history based on geologic, astronomical, chemical, and fossil evidence). For some, the logic flows this way: naturalists accept paleo-geology and are certain that human beings and all life are the result only of natural causes with no divine intervention. Naturalists assert that paleo-geology supports their natural-causes-only position. Therefore, if paleo-geology can be shown to be false, their natural-causes-only position must be false. So, some Christians vehemently oppose paleo-geology.
In response, I assert that paleo-geology does not support the naturalist's natural-causes-only position, and therefore, it does not need to be rebuffed. Instead, I am contending that paleo-geology lends more support to creationism than it does to naturalism. I will attempt to demonstrate that the harmony between a functional creationist reading of Genesis 1 and the paleo-geologic reconstruction of Earth's history supports creationism. On the scientific side, I will point readers to this article: The Timing of Evolutionary Transitions Suggests Intelligent Life Is Rare which challenges the Copernican Principle upon which naturalism heavily leans. See also, An Overdose of Copernicus? Our Universe Might Be Special.
A Word About Material Versus Functional Creationism
All Christians believe that God brought all material in this Universe into being and holds everything together. However, when Genesis 1 in particular is read primarily as a "bringing things into existence" narrative, it tends to create certain expectations about how Earth's history must have unfolded. Those expectations can appear to be at odds with the scientific view of Earth's history, thereby introducing an apparent conflict between paleo-geology and the Biblical creation account in Genesis 1. However, if instead, Genesis 1 is read as a "setting things in order" narrative, it creates a different set of expectations about how Earth's history unfolded which aligns much better with paleo-geology. This re-reading relieves the tension between Earth's history as presented by science and the creation accounts in the Bible.
Everything out of Nothing
Material creationism can be thought of as God creating material out of nothing. This is called creation ex nihilo and is fully supported in New Testament writings which post-date the origin of material philosophy in 500 B.C. Greek thought. New Testament writers addressing the Greek/Roman culture assert God as the creator of the material universe and therefore the Lord over it.
In John 1:1-3, a clear parallel is drawn with Genesis 1, invoking key concepts such as "the beginning", the Word, and "light". John explicitly states, "All things were made through [the Word], and without Him was not any thing made that was made."
The letter to the Colossians explains clearly that all things is a comprehensive term. "For by [the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:16-17
In the Colossians passage, the all things that are created extends beyond just the material to include authority structures. The Son is in control not only of the material and supernatural realms, but also over their authority structures.
Hopefully, this is enough of a background to understand that leaning exclusively on materialistic expectations for Genesis 1 could lead to an inaccurate understanding of what the author intended to communicate through this passage.
Order out of Chaos
In contrast, the Old Testament was written to an ancient Near Eastern culture and it expresses creation as the work of God to bring order out of chaos. Unlike the Greeks which philosophized about the arrangement of atoms and the fundamental nature of stuff, the ancient Near East was more concerned about order and authority.
Chaos in the ancient Near East consisted of un-ordered components of the universe such as water, earth, and darkness. Where these primordial elements originally came from is not the primary question of interest in the ancient Near East. In their culture, the divine origin of everything was assumed. Rather, the question is, How, and by whom, did chaos get organized into a functioning world? The Genesis 1 account answers this question by asserting that God, by His supreme authority, established order by commanding the chaos to conform to His will. Genesis 1 starts out with the chaos scenario familiar in the ancient Near East, but uniquely established Yahweh as the LORD over all creation in a way that stands in stark contrast to the polytheistic wrangling of other cosmogonies.
It is hard not to bring the material, Greek mindset to Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created [bara] the heavens and the earth." The Western mindset snaps to the conclusion that God caused all matter, time, and energy to burst onto the scene. While that is something that God did, it is not what is really meant by Genesis 1. At least, it is not how the original reader probably received it.
This becomes more apparent by looking at how the words created [bara] and made [asah] are used in the Old Testament.
But if the LORD creates [bara] something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD. Numbers 16:30
And [the LORD] said, "Behold I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do [asah] with you." Exodus 34:10
In Numbers 16:30, God creates [bara] by causing something to happen that did not happen before, not by introducing novel materials into the environment.
In Exodus 34:10, the LORD does [asah] marvels which are not material objects coming into being, but demonstrations of His authority and power to control what happens in the world. God's control extends throughout the created order, including over human beings.
To bring order out of chaos, God created [bara], which means, starting with the initial materials of a chaotic Earth, He caused new things to happen that had not happened before. Similarly, God did [asah] marvels, such had never happened anywhere else in the Universe.
Material versus Functional Creationism
To explain the difference between material and functional creationism, I will use what I hope is a simple example.
In material creationism, "Let there be light" is interpreted to mean that material light (electromagnetic waves and photon particles) begins to exist at a time and place where it previously did not exist. Light "physically begins to exist" at God's command.
In functional creationism, "Let there be light" is interpreted to mean that the function of light (electromagnetic waves and photon particles) begins to operate in an ordered way to accomplish a purpose. Light "begins to function" at God's command for an identified purpose. In my writings, that identified purpose is to serve the habitability of the Earth for human beings. Therefore, my explanation focuses on the effect of the light shining through to illuminate a part of the Earth with daylight.
Sometimes, the difference between material and functional creationism might be difficult to discern. For example, Reasons to Believe explains "Let there be light" as thick, dark, light-blocking clouds thinning to allow light to pass through. This could be thought both as "light coming into being" or "light beginning to function for illumination".
As I walk through the Genesis 1 narrative, I will try to make clear the difference between material and functional creationism and the implications of these two ways of reading the text. Unlike Walton, however, I recognize that God's purpose is fulfilled by assigning function to material objects.
Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." v.1
In the materialism view, the "heavens and the earth" is regarded as a merism that refers to everything in the universe - all matter, space, time, and energy. The "beginning" is the absolute start of time. Taken together, verse 1 is thought of as a reference to the Big Bang or other primordial origin event. In this view, the narrative starts with nothingness and God. This provides a material explanation for an absolute answer to where everything came from.
In the functional view, the "heavens and the earth" is regarded as the raw, chaotic materials of un-ordered creation - darkness, water, and the nondiscrete heaven and earth. These materials exist in a status of non-productivity. (John Walton, TLWOGO, p. 52) In this view, the narrative starts with raw materials in disorder and the unstated presupposition that God had caused those to exist. It's unstated because it is the accepted cultural assumption in the ancient Near East.
In the strictly-material view, God proceeds to make things out of the raw materials He originally brought into being.
In the strictly-functional view, God assigns functions, roles, order, jurisdiction, organization, and stability to materials existing in unordered chaos.
In the material view, Genesis 1:1 means, "God brought into being the whole universe, including time."
In the functional view, Genesis 1:1 means, "Some time ago, God began organizing the primordial world, namely our planet." I say "began" because the following narrative indicates that He did not do it all at once. Young's Literal Translation renders it this way, "In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth...".
In the ancient Near Eastern culture, the first recipients of Genesis 1 probably would not have conceived of the whole Universe, all matter, space, time, and energy, coming into being in a moment. That was not how they reasoned about reality. Instead they conceived of the "world" as a space in which people lived, having indistinct distant boundaries, above which were clouds, and above clouds various lights. They accepted that somehow the original chaos materials "came into being" by some divine power.
John 1 and Colossians 1 and other New Testament passages, which were written to a material-minded Greek culture (from which Western culture arose), encompass material origins along with the functional. Genesis 1, written to the ancient Near Eastern culture, speaks to functional origins. To read Genesis 1 as it would originally have been received, it is seems necessary to consider the functional view of creationism and the commands that God issued.
One reasonable reconciliation of these views is to consider Genesis 1:1 as teaching the material origins of what God was about to functionally orchestrate.
Commands in Creation Literature of the Bible
Applying the functional paradigm modifies what some of the elements in Genesis 1 are understood to represent. Special attention to the commands in Genesis 1 is motivated both by the repetition used in the narrative and comparison to other creation texts. Biblical creation texts typically address authority, function, and stability - the typical elements of ancient Near Eastern creation narratives.
The creation text of Job 38 immediately places creation into the context of commands and authority. God challenges Job with the rhetorical questions, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" and "Who determined its measurements?" God quickly establishes His authority over man and creation with these two questions.
God's actions in creation are then presented, not as manifesting new material, but rather as controlling existing material. God shut in the sea, swaddled the sea in thick clouds, and issued commands. The first command listed is given to the waves, "Thus far shall you come, and no farther!" Furthermore, God asserts that He alone commanded the morning and He alone can bind the chains of the Pleiades and loose the cords of Orion.
God introduces stability to the earth. He can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, satisfy the appetite of young lions, and provide for the raven its prey.
Proverbs 8 focuses on the wisdom with which God rules creation. Psalm 104 has God issuing rebukes to the deep and setting boundaries for it. The mountains rise and the valleys sink according to God's appointment to them.
Seeing all this helps underscore the idea that Genesis 1 may well be interpreted from the same mindset that is born out in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs instead of demanding from it a material philosophy, a way of thinking that would not develop until hundreds of years after it was written.
The Commands of Genesis 1
I will walk through each of the Days of Creation to explore the impact of this paradigm shift.
Day 1
Genesis 1:3 gives the first command, "Let there be light." God's authority is immediately established with the following phrase, "and there was light." This demonstrates the authority-command-function chain at work.
But what exactly happened, when God issued this command? The context provides the clues - darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
From a material standpoint, it would be reasonable to think of the light as being the first light to ever exist in the entire universe. But that is not what the context clues are pointing to. The text simply states that where the Spirit of God was hovering, in that place over the waters of the ocean, it was dark. It was dark where and when the Spirit of God was hovering, and God decided to do something about it.
There is also something else provided about the setting. The earth was without form and void. A modern mindset pictures earth as a planet, encompassing continents and oceans on the surface of a globe. But the text is actually distinguishing land from water and stating that the land is without form and void.
The phrase translated without form and void is tohu wabohu. Tohu is described in Job 6:18b as a place where they go to nothing, and perish. Tohu is translated nothing in this verse. It's a place where the conditions are such that people cannot live there. It is an uninhabitable place. In Isaiah 24:10 it is said of the wasted [tohu] city that every house is shut up so that none can enter. It is an uninhabited place. The Hebrew word bohu emphasizes the emptiness of the uninhabited and uninhabitable land.
From John Walton, TLWOGO, p. 47, "David Tsumara, after a full semantic analysis, translated tohu as 'unproductive' rather than descriptive of something without physical form or shape." I consider this analysis consistent with my translation, "uninhabited and uninhabitable".
The rest of the creation narrative expounds that initially the land is empty without animals or plants. The waters are empty without fish. No birds fly across the expanse of heaven. Even the sky, though now illuminated is barren of stars, the Sun, and the Moon.
Jeremiah the prophet powerfully leverages the scene set in Genesis 1:1-2 in his judgment prophecy.
Jeremiah 4:23-26
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
Genesis 1 describes the world as a kind of desolation, but not due to judgment. It is desolate because nothing has been established yet. Jeremiah 4:23 underscores the importance of light in the mindset of the ancient Near East. In verse 3 of Genesis 1, God provides light as a first necessity in establishing a habitable and inhabited world.
As in Jeremiah 4, Genesis 1:1-3 also paints a picture of an uninhabitable and uninhabited (formless and void) world, and as a first order of business, God illuminates the heavens over the surface of the ocean. A location is illuminated. It's as if the Creator lights a lamp by which to work by saying, "Light, shine here." It is not said that God made or formed the light, and therefore this text is not talking about the origin of material light. Rather, it addresses God's authority over the light that can be assumed to already exist by God's power.
Next, God sees that the light is good. Here goodness relates to function, rather than moral goodness, because morality is not in view. The function of the light is to provide illumination to make the world habitable. Materially, light can be neither good nor bad. Both too much or too little light can bring harm; it depends upon how light is functioning for a given purpose.
That the location of the light is important is underscored by what happens next. And God separated the light from the darkness. The word separated is used again later to describe waters above being separated from waters below. As the waters are physically separated by location, so too are the light and darkness. The text is not referring to temporal separation, although that is often the first thing that comes to mind.
There are three clues in Scripture that temporal separation of light and dark is not being addressed in verse 4. The first clue was already mentioned: separation, as of the waters, is a locational division. The second clue also comes later, in verse 14 where the lights are commanded to mark days and years, a function of marking time that they are not yet performing in verse 2.
The third clue comes from Job 38. In order to avoid bringing our own expectations to Genesis 1 and reading into the passage our preconceived ideas, it is helpful to let Scripture speak to Scripture.
In Job 38, these questions are asked, "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused morning to know its place?" and "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?"
God brings forth light from one location to illuminate the deep and sends darkness to another separate location. The Sun shines on one side of the planet while the other side is in darkness. The spherical shape of the Earth has been surmised only since the 5th century BC, and was likely not understood when Job was written. Now it is known that light dwells on the far side of the world when the Sun goes down. It is understood that the far side of the world is the territory of the darkness is when the Sun rises. Even with this physical understanding of the world, it is common to think of light and dark in terms of time, rather than location, because that is how humans track time. However, reading Genesis 1 with Job 38 as context, and realizing that humans were not yet in view, I am suggesting that Day and Night are being defined by illumination of the earth, not by durations of time.
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. With these words, God does more than just provide a convenient label. Calling indicates God's command and rule over light and darkness. God commands the morning and takes darkness to its territory. Night is not merely the absence of light. Night is where the light does not shine and Day is where the light does shine. This is not only a physical description, but an image that is used allegorically throughout the Old and New Testaments.
So, if God functionally commanded the light to shine in a particular location for the purpose of making the world habitable, and if He brought the light from one location to be over the waters of the deep, what was making the light, what was producing the light that God commanded?
Verses 1-5 do not reveal what was producing the light, but verses 14-18 state exactly what was producing the light.
"Let there be lights... to separate day from night... let them be lights to give light upon the earth."
God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night - and the stars.
God set them... to give light to the earth.
What I have left out from verses 14 to 18 is any reference to the heavens and the function established by God's command to mark days and years and to be for signs and seasons. Those functions are not yet in operation on Day 1. Only illumination and the separation of Day and Night are in operation in verses 3-5.
This is where the functional view of creation comes to the rescue. The Sun, Moon, and stars materially exist in the universe from the outset having already been brought into being by God's divine power. In fact, that would be the assumption in the ancient Near East. God commands them to obey and with each command they come into increasing alignment with His good purposes.
Day 1 and the history of Earth
The original recipients of the Genesis 1 revelation could only imagine a time when the world in which they lived was chaotic, the land was barren, there were no people or animals or plants, the skies above were dark, and a great turbulent ocean surrounded everything. All who entered there would surely perish. They compared the devastation brought by war to such a place and time. Even so, in the beginning, it was even more barren and bleak than any warscape.
The Bible testifies to many historical events, such as the Israelites living in Egypt and coming out through the sea to escape the pursuing Egyptian army. Biblical archaeologists cannot yet demonstrate with certainty what year that escape took place or by what route they traveled. Still, Christians believe that these events really happened in the past. Other scientists have employed science to study the history of planet Earth. They have pieced together the long journey of this planet from an uninhabitable and lifeless world up to the the present moment. As with the stories of the Israelites, not all details are known and everything that is posited comes with a measure of uncertainty. That said, there is a time in the history of the Earth that resembles the conditions described in Genesis 1:1-5.
During the Hadean Eon, 4600 to 3950 million years ago, the whole Earth was a desolate wasteland, uninhabitable and uninhabited. There was no life on this world, not even at the microscopic level. Thick clouds blocked the light of the Sun and the Moon and the Stars from reaching the surface of the Earth. Darkness was over the face of the ocean. Even if some light broke through occasionally, it was a chaotic blaze, not yet channeled by God into life-sustaining rays. It did not yet rule over each Day as appointed.
Then something absolutely amazing happened. There, in the waters of the deep, over which the Spirit of God hovered, life was born. The first cells sprang into being. This is a material origin event that the functional origin story in Genesis 1 only alludes to obliquely, if at all. The thick clouds thinned and light shone through - just enough and not too much. This began the Eon that scientists term the Archean.
For the next 2700 million years, light poured forth over the surface of the deep and swarms of microscopic cyanobacteria photosynthesized carbon dioxide into oxygen. God presided over the world as these tiny organisms bubbled into the waters of the deep the oxygen that soaked up toxic metals and turned the oceans clear and clean. The iron ore deposits throughout the world bear witness to this work.
The light was good. Its spectrum was good, its intensity was good, its stability and repeatability were good. Photosynthesizing cyanobacteria are good. But the Bible did not reveal advanced scientific concepts to the ancient Israelites. Instead, God simply revealed that He was working to make a chaotic world habitable.
Then, when all the iron was rusted out of the waters, oxygen began escaping into the atmosphere. This would be the next effect that would make the world more habitable. But something dramatic happened, something almost unimaginable.
As oxygen increased and the powerful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide decreased in the Earth's atmosphere, the temperature of Earth dropped. What scientists have termed the Great Oxidation Event precipitated a Global Snowball Earth scenario. From pole to pole, the Earth and its waters were covered in ice. The bright white ice reflected the Sun's warm rays back into space. For hundreds of millions of years the Earth was wrapped in ice. It would have looked like a snowball from outer space.
There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Then, God caused the mountains to shake and spit fire and volcanoes replenished the atmosphere with Earth-warming greenhouse gases. The ice melted and the Earth emerged in a new age that the Bible calls Day 2 and that scientists call the Proterozoic Eon. Earth passed through a tipping point between the Archean and the Proterozoic and emerged fundamentally changed, fundamentally more habitable.
Day 2
The next command issued by God is "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters." v.6
In the functional view, God's command does not bring new material into being. Rather, God's command operates on the material that is already present, the waters. The expanse has a function to perform - it separates at God's directive.
What is the expanse? The word translated expanse or sometimes firmament is the Hebrew raquia. It literally means an extended surface and was considered by ancient Hebrews (and the ancient Near Eastern culture in general) to be a solid vault supporting the waters above. A material view of creation places much concern on what the expanse (or firmament) is materially and begs the question, Does the Bible really teach that God created a solid dome over the Earth? But in the functional view, the question becomes, What function is performed by the expanse?
Looking at the expanse (or firmament) functionally, the concern is on what it does, not what it is. What the expanse does is to form a visible surface or in other words provide the appearance of a surface. The expanse looks like an extended solid surface that is supporting the waters above because of what it does and not because of what it is.
In the functional view, the focus of Day 2 is on the order that God brings by separating the waters to create the space in which His later creations will operate.
The narrative goes on to state that "God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so." v.7
The verb asah is translated made in many English Bibles, but it means "to do, fashion, accomplish, or make." Strong's describes this word as a primitive root that means to do or to make in the broadest sense and the widest application. Among its various usages are: accomplish, advance, appoint, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, and be busy.
In a material-oriented view of creation, one might think that God fashioned a solid dome. But in the functional view, He accomplished the appearance of a surface. God brought order to his creation and assigned the waters to their domains of function, thereby creating habitable space in which He would perform further works.
Verse 8 states "God called the expanse Heaven" which, by virtue of calling, further identifies the expanse itself as a domain of function rather than a material structure. Verse 14 shows that the lights have a function to perform in the domain of heaven and verse 20 says that birds appear to fly (a function) across the surface of the domain of heaven.
If Scripture taught that God created a literal, material, solid dome over the Earth, one could argue that the Bible contained a factual, scientific error. In a material view of the creation narrative, this is sometimes hidden behind the translation of the Hebrew raquia as expanse or sky instead of firmament. But, in the functional view, there is no such problem because it is only concerned with what the raquia does and how it appears doing it, and not what it is.
Accepting the functional view allows the understanding that what God accomplished on the Second Day relates to establishing the function of the heavens as a habitable domain. In other words, He caused the atmosphere to become livable. The separation of the waters aids in habitability.
Day 2 and the History of the Earth
The original recipients of Genesis 1 probably could not really imagine what kind of change happened to the Earth on Day 2. It might seem like the ocean was covered by a great, thick fog that lifted to become a cloud revealing the water below. But that is only to relate Day 2 to a common phenomena that can be witnessed from time to time.
When the Earth entered the Proterozoic Eon after the Great Oxygenation Event, cyanobacteria continued to bubble oxygen into the water. Saturated with oxygen, the water released it into the atmosphere. Continental crust had formed and was rising above the sea level. But much of this new crust was barren rock composed of minerals that had never been exposed to oxygen. Atmospheric oxygen rusted these rocks forming oxides. Banded iron formations found in various places on Earth are among the results of this activity. As the rusting process completed, oxygen finally began to accumulating in Earth's atmosphere in significant quantities. The sky turned blue and an ozone layer formed providing protection from UV radiation for the first time. A stable water cycle was established between the waters above and the waters below.
During the Proterozoic Eon, Earth's present atmosphere is said to have formed. This is when Earth's atmosphere became habitable for oxygen-loving lifeforms. Where Day 1 (the Archean Eon) only supported bacteria and archea, the simplest life forms, Day 2 provided habitability for Eukaryotic cells. This is the cell type of all the plants and animals that God would later create.
And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. v.8
After about 1500 million years, again, the Earth was plunged into Snowball Earth conditions that marked the termination of the Proterozoic's transformation of the atmosphere into livable space. Day 2 ended.
The difference between the Proterozoic Eon and the Eon to follow was like night and day. When the Earth again emerged from a deep freeze a new day would dawn - a day in which the Earth could finally support life on land.
Day 3
Dry Land
The text for the third creation day is commonly formatted into two paragraphs and I will address it in this manner, as two stages.
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear." And it was so. v.9
Materially speaking, nothing is brought into existence at God's command in verse 9. Rather, God issues a decree and His creation organizes obediently in response. God is in absolute control of the processes of His creation. Creation functions as He wills it to function.
What does it mean for the waters under the heavens to be gathered into one place? Solomon writes, "All streams run into the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again." Ecclesiastes 1:7
Indeed, as the waters above rain down on the earth below, streams form and the waters are gathered into one place, commonly, the ocean. But what about inland seas or salt lakes?
In the material view, the focus would be on the one place and the dry land. Is the one place the ocean? Is there only one big sea? Is all the land gathered into one place also? The Hebrew word translated one is echad which also means each or a certain. So the phrase could be translated let the waters under the heavens be gathered into each place.
In the functional view, the focus is on the function that is being performed, in this case, waters being gathered and land becoming dry. In other words, this function of being gathered into one place could be happening all over the Earth. There could be more than one, one place or many each place. The focus is on the function of gathering waters, seeing little streams feed into bigger streams, which feed rivers and then dump into seas. Whether there are a few land-locked seas or whether all the water is truly dumped into the ocean is beside the point in the functional view. It is the same for Solomon. He is hardly denying the existence of the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee when he writes that all streams run into the sea. Solomon is not asserting that every stream on the Earth flows into the Mediterranean Sea, for example, or terminates at the ocean. He is referring to a life-sustaining process that God established by His power and to His glory. Genesis 1:9 can read the same way.
In Ezekiel, poetic language describes beautifully the importance of this function of gathering waters.
The waters nourished [the cedar]; the deep made it grow tall, making rivers flow around the place of its planting, sending forth its streams to all the trees of the field. Ezekiel 31:4
The dry land of verse 9 appears. The world translated appears shares the same root as the word for saw used when God saw that it was good. So logically, it means, became seeable or visible. The word translated dry land is not an adjective and noun pair like in English, but a single word yabbasah meaning dry. It is a distinct term from erets which is translated as earth, land, and countries. It is also distinct from the word sadeh which means field and adamah which is also used to refer to ground and is also the word translates as the name Adam. Taking this all in, verse 9 literally means that dryness became visible in the context of the concept of land.
Looking at this from a functional standpoint, it is easy to see that the narrative is not focused on the material stuff that appeared, but on its functionality - it became dry and it became visible. The land has to be exposed to the light, not covered or drenched in water, in order for plants to thrive on it. This is related to the gathering of waters. Without the waters being gathered into streams, rain falling on barren rock just spreads out and covers everything. Job 38:25 says, "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain"? God, of course, is the answer. And how does God cleave channels? He cleaves them through the process of erosion, a secondary cause. These channels gather the waters into seas. Water evaporates from the seas and rains back on the land to water the earth again.
Between the creation text of Job 38, Solomon's reflections, and the functional view of Genesis 1, it is possible to derive an understanding of the declaration in verse 9 that is consistent with how God is pictured working throughout Scripture and would make sense in an ancient Near Eastern context.
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. v10
Again, God calls the dryness and appoints it as Earth, which establishes God's intention that the dryness (dry land) be the habitat for mankind, animals, and plants, which is shown as the narrative continues. To provide a habitat is the Earth's function, and it is now ready to perform that function by being dry and by being exposed and therefore visible. The Earth is cut through with channels that collect water and funnel it into Seas. The Seas here are plural. This underscores the interpretation that the focus of the decree is on the function of gathering waters not on a material one place. There are many one places; there are many seas; there are many places where the land becomes dry and habitable.
Dry Land and the History of the Earth
Continents rose above sea level in a burst of tectonic activity at the beginning of the Proterozoic Eon, but none supported the vigorous growth of plants or animals. All land masses were still essentially uninhabitable and uninhabited. If anything at all lived on land, it was the barest form of organism because until the ozone shield went up, harsh UV radiation tended to kill everything it could touch. Those organisms that could survive in this harsh environment might have included lichen and fungi.
When Earth's atmosphere became oxygenated a protective ozone layer formed, providing a habitat for life on land. The side-effect of increased oxygen was that the Earth was plunged into Snowball conditions once again. This freeze-over terminated the geologic timespan known as the Proterozoic Eon. The transformations that occurred in the Earth's atmosphere during the Proterozoic Eon brought about the changes that are represented in Genesis 1 by the appearance of the firmament--a thick, uninhabitable layer of choking, toxic fog was replaced by a life-sustaining cycle between blue skies and rain clouds.
Day 3 opens in the Phanerozoic Eon that spans Days 3 through 6 up to the current time. Phanerozoic means visible life and is the age during which the Earth became capable of supporting plants and animals.
At the opening of Day 3, all land was covered in ice and snow. Then, with resurgent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the glaciers began to melt, streams formed, channels were carved to the seas, the waters were gathered, and dry land appeared. It would be about 100 million years before the first plants, other than lichen, would take root on the exposed land. When they did, they would take advantage of the river channels to migrate inland. As they migrated, they would transform the planet, making it more habitable. God's organisms are His little helpers in terraforming the world from formless and void to vibrant and full of life.
The melting of the global glaciers not only exposed the dry land, it also dumped enormous amounts of minerals and nutrients into the oceans. As a result, during the first 100 million years of Day 3, the oceans flourished with animal life in miraculous events referred to as the Avalon Explosion and the better-known Cambrian Explosion. Some have thought that this revolution in shallow-water animal life corresponds to God's creative work on the Fifth Day of creation. But the Fifth Day animals were created for man to rule over: have dominion over the fish of the sea (v28). The Avalon and Cambrian fauna went extinct long before mankind was given dominion. In contrast to the Fifth Day fauna, they did not fill the waters in the seas, but rather were confined to shallow regions. The Cambrian Explosion does not mark the beginning of the Fifth Day. It is a remarkable event that occurred on the Third Day, but which God did not reveal in Scripture. But just as the heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1), so too, the fossil record declares the glory of God.
Plants
Verse 11 declares And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so.
Verse 12 echoes with The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
The parallel construction emphasizes that God is the primary cause and the earth's productivity is the secondary cause of all plant life. God's will is carried out - it was so. And the earth's productivity was good. From a functional standpoint, God ordained that plants grow, He ordained what kind of plants grow, and He ordained how they grow. God established natural growth. Plants grow slowly, they spread across the world, they endure ruggedly, and they make the world habitable. Even the time it takes plants to do this is good. This is how God designed plants to function.
When viewed from a material origins position, it is tempting to think of God's declaration on Day 3 as bringing every kind of plant into being. Isn't the word vegetation all encompassing? Not really. The word translated vegetation is the Hebrew noun deshe which means a sprout and the related Hebrew word dasha, translated brought forth, means to sprout. So what the text is really saying is, "Let the earth sprout sprouts - sprouts that grow into plants that reproduce by spreading seeds, and sprouts that grow into trees that reproduce by bearing fruit."
There are many other kinds of plants, including green algae, lichens, spore-producing bryophytes, and ferns. The work God initiates on Day 3 is not directed at all plant life of every kind. Instead, it shows God's special attention to certain kinds of plants that function in a special way. Seen this way, the appearance of green algae or lichen growing at the edges of otherwise barren continents during Day 2 in no way contradicts the flow of the Biblical narrative.
There are two main categories of seed plants: angiosperms, which are the flowering plants and fruit trees; and gymnosperms, which are the evergreen and cone-bearing plants. Some gymnosperms can also produce fruit-like structures bearing seeds. Although it is not true fruit, it functions like it in many ways.
Plants and the History of the Earth
After the dry land was colonized by green algae, fungi, lichens, bryophytes, and spore-producing plants, it was finally time for a revolution in plant biology - the seed. Just as the Biblical narrative of Day 3 is broken into two paragraphs, the geologic timespan corresponding to Day 3 is divided into two Eras - the older Paleozoic and the following Mesozoic.
It took about 100 million years for plants (first as moss-like bryophytes) to colonize land and another 120 million years before seeds arose. It was seeds in particular that allowed plants to disperse into and reproduce in areas that were not waterlogged, allowing plants to colonize previously inhospitable inland and upland areas. In other words, for plants to grow on dry land, seeds are required, just as the Bible says. At this mid-point, Earth passed another stage of development - the dry land that had appeared began to host a lush landscape of of plants bearing high-energy seeds. The period when seeds first appeared is known as the Devonian and encompassed the time from about 420 to 360 million years ago. It would take another 240 million years or so before fruit trees began to radiate across the earth, but during the Mesozoic, seed plants would take off in a big way, coming to dominate plants on earth.
These plants did not live in isolation, but rather in an ecosystem with many kinds of animals that ancient Near Eastern people knew nothing about. Dinosaurs and reptiles ruled the land. But God would remove them from the scene at just the right time. These were not the animals over which God would give mankind dominion saying, "let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock". There were no modern birds, no swarming teleost fish, nor any kind of cattle during this time. The existence of dinosaurs and other animals during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, when earth saw its first seed plants and fruit trees, presents no conflict with the Biblical narrative, because these animals went extinct long before mankind was created. God created new animals to replace these older kinds, whose existence is not revealed in Genesis 1.
Psalm 104:29-31 reads as follows:
When you hide your face, [living things both great and small] are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.
God rejoices in His works, even though it involves the perishing of animals and the renewal of the land. This has happened many times in earth's history on both large and small scales. It is the work of God.
By 113 million years ago, the Great Angiosperm Radiation Event had begun. This was a time when fruit trees began to proliferate explosively across the world, and by 100 million years ago, they were everywhere. At that time, the functions that God established on Day 3 were well established on the earth. And God saw that it was good.
God's work drove the planet from one level of habitability to the next. Cyanobacteria and light-driven photosynthesis took the earth from Day 1, through a Snowball Earth to Day 2. These little creatures, helped by lichens and green algae prepared the atmosphere for life on land and took earth through another Snowball scenario from Day 2 to Day 3. And again, at the end of Day 3, the explosion of plants again cooled the planet. This time, God apparently did not want a giant snowball. Instead, He ushered in temperate seasons as Day 3 drew to a close and as Day 4 dawned.
Day 4
The narrative for the fourth day of creation is one of the most problematic texts in Scripture, largely because it is commonly interpreted from a materialist viewpoint. The problem is often stated as a question, Where did the light come from on Day 1 if God did not create the Sun until Day 4? I am not going to cover all the material solutions to this problem that have been proposed. Instead, I examine whether there is really a problem at all when a functional view of the text is considered.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. v14-15
I have already touched briefly on these verses when I discussed light on Day 1, but I will revisit them now. The first thing that might be noticed is that distinct lights are mentioned instead of just illuminating light. The second thing to notice is that three functions are assigned to the lights: to separate day from night; to be for signs, seasons, days, and years; and to give light upon the earth. Twice it states that the lights will be in the expanse of the heavens.
On Day 1, two of the three functions were established - the separation of day and night and the provision of light upon the earth. But, the function of the heavens was not yet established until Day 2. Therefore, on Day 1, the light that illuminated the earth was not yet discernible as discrete lights. Presumably, the waters above the earth, not yet separated from the waters below, obscured in some way the discrete sources of the light that illuminated the earth on Day 1. That is the simplest explanation and it seems to arise directly from the text itself.
Now the question arises, When God separated the waters above from the waters below on Day 2, did the lights appear in the heavens? As interesting a question as that is, the text does not appear to answer it. What the text focuses on instead is the purpose of the lights. This focus is provided by the chiastic structure (ABA) that is unique to this Let statement.
A: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to (perform Day 1 function: separate day and night),
B: And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
A: And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to (perform Day 1 function: give light).
A chiastic structure is a literary technique commonly used in Hebrew writing to focus the reader's attention on the most important concept by bracketing it with two parallel statements. Characteristically, the two parallel statements are closely related but not identical.
Noting the chiastic structure, the reader is expected to observe that on the Fourth Day, God established the functional purpose of the lights to be for signs, seasons, days, and years. While the lights may have appeared in the expanse of the heavens on Day 2, they were not yet performing this particular time-marking function. The fact that appearing in the expanse is relegated to the bracketing phrase along with the Day 1 functions provides some indication that this appearance was something that had already happened at an unspecified time during Day 2 or Day 3.
The verses that follow relate to what was decreed in the Let statement.
And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. v16
What does it mean that God made the two great lights, and the stars? Materially, stars, including the sun, are huge balls of gas undergoing nuclear fusion and the moon is a big, spherical chunk of rock reflecting the light of the sun. God caused these objects to come into being through the process of gravitational accretion. But in the ancient Near Eastern culture, this was not known. In fact, in this text, the lights are not even characterized as material objects, but rather by the function they perform.
I have already examined the use of the word made in verse 7. There, God made the expanse. Now, if I had insisted upon a material interpretation, I would have said that God physically brought into being a solid dome over the earth, which is something that, it turns out, does not actually exist. Instead, I argued that God accomplished changes to the earth that caused the appearance of a solid surface.
I will reiterate that the verb asah, although translated made in many translations, means "to do, fashion, accomplish, or make." This word is derived from a primitive root that means to do or to make in the broadest sense and among its various usages are: accomplish, advance, appoint, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, and be busy.
God put the lights in place to rule. So, an equally literal and more logical translation of asah would be the word appoint, which is what a Ruler would do in delegating rule to a lower authority.
The verb asah appears in 1 Kings 12:31 both to indicate building and appointing: "He also made (asah) temples on high places and appointed (asah) priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites." (ESV)
The verb asah also appears in 1 Samual 12:6 "And Samual said to the people, "The LORD is witness, who appointed (asah) Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt." (ESV)
God both "made" Moses and Aaron in their mother's womb and then "made" them leaders of Israel. But in context, appointed is what is meant regarding Moses and Aaron. One might almost say that there is a play on words employed in Genesis 1:16. But, since the context is ruling, the literal meaning is appointed. This is especially evident in Genesis 1 given that the light shed and reflected by the Sun and moon, respectively, was present in verse 3, indicating their creation prior to verse 16.
Therefore, v16 could be translated as follows:
And God appointed the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars.
God also appoints the stars because they have a vital role to play it identifying signs and seasons. This would have been obvious in the ancient Near Eastern culture and ties this verse back to the heart of verse 14. It is the function of the stars through their cyclical movement to identify appointed times, which is the literal meaning of the word translated seasons. For example, the Egyptians tied their agricultural cycle to the so-called Dog Star, Sirius, the brightest star seen from Earth. Like other ancient cultures, they had no idea what Sirius was materially, but they studied carefully how it behaved functionally.
Let's look back on one of the problem questions that arise when reading Genesis 1: Where did the light come from on Day 1 if God did not create the Sun until Day 4?
Verse 16 is not saying when God created the sun materially at all. It must have been present, materially, providing illumination for Day (contrasted with Night) back on Day 1. But it was not functioning as a discrete light in the sky at that time, probably because of the obscuring effects of the waters above which had not yet been separated from the waters below until Day 2. On Day 1, Day and Night where places where the light was either shining or not shining. On Day 4, God appointed the lights, now operating discretely, to provide time markers for appointed times, days, and years. This is a functional assignment, not a description of material objects or properties coming into being.
I will note in passing that some interpreters point out that Hebrew does not have the same kind of past-tense verbs as English. Therefore, some materialists will claim that v16 should be translated as "And God had made the two great lights", indicating an action completed in the past, presumably on or before Day 1. If Genesis 1 were meant to be interpreted materially, that would provide an adequate solution to the Where did the light come from? problem, but I think it is weaker than the functional solution.
Verses 17-18 read as follows: And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
The word set in English means to put a material object in a particular place. But the Hebrew word is nathan which is usually translated gave and shares a root with the word for gift. God is giving the lights for a purpose as a gift to mankind whom He will create. And the gift is a good one, for the text says that God saw that it was good.
All English translations save for one translate nathan as set, put, or placed, so how can the idea that the lights are gifted on the Fourth Day instead of installed be validated? Well, the one exception is Young's Literal Translation that says, "and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." So, this indicates that the concept of giving the lights is, at very least, literal.
But Deuteronomy 4:19 also supports this view. "And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the vast army of heavens, and you are lured away, and you bow down to them and worship them--things that the LORD your God has allotted to all nations under all the heavens."
That word, alloted, is the Hebrew chalaq that means an allotment, a portion, or a share, often of something given as an inheritance. This supports the idea that God gave the Sun, Moon, and stars as an inheritance, a gift, to all nations. Deuteronomy 4:19 and Genesis 1:17 are not simply two arbitrary verses drawn together as "proof-texts". It was Moses who gave the Israelites the warning not to worship the Sun, Moon, and stars and it was the same Moses who taught the Israelites about the Sun, Moon, and stars using the account in Genesis. This fits into a single, coherent concept: God gave the Sun, Moon, and stars that shine in the heavens as a lasting inheritance to all the nations to be a blessing for which all mankind should be thankful and not to be objects of misguided worshiped. This resonates with the theme of the Genesis narrative--God blessed them [mankind], v28.
A literal, material view of Genesis 1 would have God physically placing the Sun, Moon, and Stars into a solid, probably metal, dome over-arching the Earth, like screwing in so many light bulbs. But under the functional view, verse 17 means that on the Fourth Day, God presented the Sun, Moon, and Stars as good gifts to humanity so that they would have illumination and markers to keep track of time and special events. Day 4 is not the moment of the physical creation of these lights, which is certainly attributed to God, but rather the proclamation of their dedication as gifts.
Day 4 and the History of Earth
Nearly all life on earth, especially animals and including human beings, is dependent upon circadian rhythms that modulate biological activity in sync with the twenty-four hour rotation of the Earth. Studies have shown that staying in sync with this 24-hour clock is vital to the health and well-being of most organisms. But did you know that days on Earth have not always been 24-hours long? Both computer simulations and fossil evidence show that the rotation rate of the Earth has slowed from a blistering once per 6 hours to the present rate of once every 23 hours, 56 minutes.
Ancient corals that lived near the beginning of the Third Day of creation reveal that the earth spun faster in the past, completing 420 revolutions (or days) in the time it took it to make one complete orbit around the sun. That translates to a day length of less than 21 hours. But by the time fruit trees began proliferating rapidly across the globe, the interaction between the earth, the moon, and the ocean tides had further slowed down the rotation rate of the Earth to near-modern levels. From 113 to 100 million years ago, the Great Angiosperm Radiation event occurred - fruit trees went everywhere. At that time, days were about 23 and a half hours long. By 66 million years ago, days were about 23 hours, 48 minutes long and there were about 368 days per year. That is close to the just-less-than 24 hours and 365.25 days that humans experience now. Crucially, it's close enough that our circadian rhythms would be just fine under that regime. Research shows that humans can be entrained to slightly shorter or longer periods of time, from 23.5 hours to 24.65 hours. God's gift of lights to mark time was put in place and fine-tuned just in time for the dramatic action He would take next.
66-million-years-ago God sent an astroid that crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula in Central America and left behind the enormous Chicxulub crater. This impactor was the primary contributor to the K-Pg extinction event that wiped out 75 percent of all species of life on Earth, including all dinosaurs.
The impact marked the end of Day 4, and it left behind a vacated planet on land, in the skies, and in the seas. God had a plan for re-filling the seas, the skies, and the land with creatures tuned to the 24-hour cycle He had just set up and to thrive under new environmental conditions He would establish. These would be the creatures over which mankind would rule. But that's a story for another Day.
Day 5
Correlating the Fifth Day of creation to Earth's history is of profound importance in a concordist model. As with the other Days, I will start by analyzing God's decree.
And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” v20
Now the Earth started out void and these are the first animals mentioned. So, it's natural to imagine that these are the first animals to have ever existed. But that assumption is challenged by careful observation of the text. The phrase "swarm with swarms of living creatures" is not a general description of every kind of animal that lives in the water, but rather a reference to animals that have specific behaviors. A study of the Hebrew words reveal that what is described are highly active (chay) creatures exhibiting intelligent social behaviors (nephesh) that involve forming swarms (sherets) or collections. This does not describe all sea creatures. The parallel with verse 26 in which man is given "dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens" reinforces that what are referred to are fish, and swarms of schooling fish in particular. Teleost fish exhibit the specified behaviors and comprise 96% of all fish species. These are the kinds of aquatic creatures upon which humans have been most dependent and by which they have been the most blessed.
If verse 20 specifically refers to teleost fish, then the narrative is making no claims about when in the sequence of events God created the other kinds of sea animals, except for what it calls the great sea creatures. Verse 26 specifies that the purpose of the fish is to be dominion subjects for mankind. This explains why God mentions these kinds of fish in particular. They were given for the purpose of being a blessing for mankind, and therefore God assigns their functional role accordingly.
Verse 20 is similarly specific about birds. The birds mentioned are to be dominion subjects for mankind, and they are birds that can fly. So birds like penguins and ostriches are out of scope. Genesis 1 never mentions when non-flying birds were created. Some might lump them in with other birds, or assign them to the Sixth Day with other animals. Either way, it would be an assumption. In fact, ostriches could have been created on the Third, Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Day without any receiving mention. The Bible simply doesn't say. Answering the question, When did God create ostriches? could produce a broad range of answers would be compatible with Scripture.
Verse 20 reveals the creation by God of specific kinds of dominion subjects for mankind, namely specific kinds of fish and birds. Verse 22 says that He blessed these creatures so that they would multiply and fill their respective domains, the seas and the heavens. Earth's history can be studied to find out just when those specific kinds of animals where created, and just as importantly, when they began to flourish. Therefore, the narrative of the Bible can be compared to the geologic record with precision.
Verse 21 states: So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
This verse adds an important category of creature - the great sea creatures. Literally, this is the Hebrew tanin and as a category may encompasses the leviathan of Job 41 and Psalm 104. These creatures are known as chaos creatures in ancient Near Eastern culture, but in Genesis 1 they are shown to have a function under God's authority that is deemed good, even though they are not identified as dominion subjects specifically (see Job 41). If these are indeed Psalm 104 creatures, then they are the whales and dolphins that sport about in the ocean. Threatening at times, but playful at others.
Verse 22 states: And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
God's blessing is given on the Fifth Day so these creatures could be fruitful and multiply.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. v23
Day 5 and the History of the Earth
The identification of the Fifth Day creatures in the fossil record is one of the most important correlations made in scientific or historic concordism between the Bible and the paleo-geologic record.
Many old earth creationist authors have identified the swarms of living creatures created on Day 5 with the first aquatic animals that appear during the Cambrian Explosion about 540 million years ago. There are substantial problems with that correlation, however. The Cambrian fauna went extinct, never coming under the dominion of mankind. The Cambrian fauna did not include teleost fish or other creatures exhibiting the all behaviors indicated in verse 20. Therefore, these are not the right creatures to identify with God's Day 5 creative activity.
Misidentifying the Day 5 swarming, living creatures causes other problems for concordism. The worst problem is that there were no seed plants or fruit trees 540 million years ago, so the plants of Day 3 can only be correlated with green algae and perhaps lichens that existed prior to that time. A similarly difficult problem is that there are no birds of any kind 540 million years ago. This is where concordism gets a bad read from skeptics - both inside and outside of Christian circles.
Now to be fair, the Cambrian Explosion was first discovered in 1840 and the fossils document a remarkable event in Earth's history where habitability of the planet had increased to the level that allowed for an amazing diversity of shelled animals to live in shallow water for the first time. The explosive adaptive radiation of bird and fish species that I will address next was not well established until perhaps as late as 2015.
There was time in Earth's history that bears examination, when God brought one day to a climactic end and started a new one. Sixty-six million years ago, right at the end of what I have identified as Day 4, God did a global reset of animal life. This is well known as the K-Pg extinction event. God wiped out the dinosaurs and the giant sea and flying reptiles. All told, seventy-five percent of all species went extinct. They had had their day. God was moving on, making the world more habitable. Humankind was not intended to live with dinosaurs, so the dinosaurs had to go.
All modern, flying birds originated more recently than 66 million years ago. And at the same time, teleost fish expanded dramatically in diversity, extent, and significance in the ecosystem. In the vacated ecosystems left by a major extinction event, fish were fruitful and multiplied and filled the waters of the seas and birds multiplied on the Earth. Between 66 million and 34 million years ago, everything that the Bible describes as happening on the Fifth Day occurred, including the origin of whales and dolphins.
The material origin of the very first fish or fish-like creatures came long before the time when God blessed modern fish and gave them dominion in the seas. Genesis 1 relates a functional view of God establishing order for the purpose of blessing mankind in particular. It does not reveal everything about how God prepared Earth for human beings, but it does reveal an amazing sequence of events that can be readily aligned with the emerging scientific understanding of Earth's history.
From 66 to 34 million years ago, the Earth was warmer than it is now, shifting between what are called hothouse and warmhouse global climates. Then, 34 million years ago, those climate trends came to an abrupt end. The Earth entered a period in which God would again fine-tune Earth to make it even better suited for mankind, whom He had yet to create. While birds and fish would continue to flourish, many land animals went extinct and the Earth entered a new phase of colder climates. The Sixth Day had begun.
Day 6
On the Sixth Day, God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. v24
God's order for the earth to bring forth living creatures is manifest in the earth becoming productive for the benefit of animals. The animals don't come from the earth in the sense of emerging out of the ground, nor is this a reference to naturalist processes producing animals. Imagine herds of deer coming forth from the forest to graze in the fields or herds of goats coming down from the heights to drink from a lake. The earth produces or brings forth animals in the sense of providing a rich habitat in which they can reproduce successfully and increase in numbers. Using the same verb, the Bible says Moses brought forth the people out of Egypt. Moses led them and provided for them through God's power. In a similar sense, the earth provides for animals and directs animals in where they should go. Animals migrate, shelter, and feed according to the provision and cycles that God has established on earth.
Verse 25 says, And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
God made the beasts of the earth and the earth brought forth the beasts of the earth. This is an example of primary and secondary causes. The primary cause is God ordering His world in such a way that secondary causes related to habitability would result in an increase in animals on the earth. The verb asah translated made also conveys the meaning to do, to accomplish, or to bring forth and its use indicates God as the primary actor, or first cause.
Material imagery is invoked in supposing that God formed animals as a potter would form clay, and then supposing that He brought them to life as in the story of Pinocchio in which a wooden puppet becomes a real boy. Thinking of it functionally reduces the imaginary sense of the narrative and grounds it in God's blessing of the created order to function in such a way that the animals that God desires to flourish, do indeed flourish, and those which he desires to diminish, do indeed diminish. In fact, this could be referred to as the created order or the natural order, because God created the natural order. They are one and the same to those who believe in the sustaining, providential power of God.
By first looking at verse 24 functionally and literally, the focus begins with the functions which God ordered and then moves to the animals that these functions support. One of the functions of the land that enables it to bring forth animals is to grow plants. Verse 30 states: And God said, “And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
By giving every green plant for food, God blessed the earth so that it would bring forth animals. In this way, God is said to bring forth animals or to make them come forth.
The kinds of animals brought forth on Day 6 are specific. All of the animals are called living creatures which comes from the Hebrew chay nephesh meaning animals that are active and lively (chay) and soulish (nephesh). Nephesh conveys the idea of behaviors that are intelligent, emotional, and social. Mammals, birds, teleost fish, and some reptiles exhibit these characteristics. Here, the text is focused on the land animals over which mankind will be given dominion.
Just as modern birds and teleost fish began to flourish on the Fifth Day, specific kinds of mammals, including various kinds of cattle, began to flourish on the Sixth Day. The Hebrew word translated cattle includes many kinds of domesticated animals such as sheep, camels, donkeys, and yes, cows and bulls. Creeping things are small animals that move close to the ground. Since they are also chay nephesh (lively, active, intelligent, emotional, and social), this likely refers to small mammals and possibly some reptiles. Beasts of the earth includes wild animals and probably both herbivores like deer and carnivores like lions. This depends on whether the giving of green plants for food is considered as a primary or secondary benefit to the animals. Carnivores benefit from the green plants that their prey consume.
The earth has brought forth many kinds of animals, some of which no longer exist in the world today. The scientific discovery that God created some kinds of animals at the same time, or even before, He created seed plants in no way contradicts the Biblical creation narrative. The Day 6 account specifies that God ordained the special blessing of certain kinds of animals that would greatly benefit mankind. It does not speak generically of all animals that lived at all times.
But if God did create some kinds of animals on the Third Day and the Fourth Day, why does the Genesis 1 account not say so? Because God was under no compulsion to reveal that information; because many, or most, of those species would go extinct; because an accurate description of creatures the kinds of which humans had never seen would make the account seem fantastical, leading to disbelief; and because what He did reveal is sufficient for our faith and piety.
Ultimately, everything discussed so far underscores the fact that God's purpose in creating the Earth was to prepare a habitat for mankind. Human beings were the end goal from the outset. Each Day of God's creative work advanced the habitability and suitability of Earth and its ecosystems toward the goal of enabling human beings to thrive in this world, despite the challenges it presents.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." v27
Here, God gives dominion to mankind which He created. The important connection between being in God's image and having dominion seems to relate to the functional role assigned to human beings by God. Being in God's image and likeness can mean more than that, but it does not mean less. It implies that humans have been given additional attributes that support their assignment to their role as dominion rulers. Mankind was given dominion over animals, and those would, logically, be those kinds of animals that still existed when mankind was created. It follows that God's work on the previous creation days contributed directly to the animals that would come to exist when mankind was given dominion. Therefore, the narrative need not mention animals that had gone extinct before the creation of man.
Verse 28 is part of a chiastic structure (ABA) enclosing key doctrinal points. Its text ends with a repetition of the dominion clause: have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
This structure provides the following focus:
A: dominion statement
B: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it..." v27-28a
A: dominion statement
This highlight these truths: 1) God is mankind's creator; 2) God assigned mankind as His image bearers; 3) God assigned male and female functions; 4) God is the one who blesses mankind; 5) God has authority to command mankind.
These doctrinal truths are echoed in Genesis 5:1a-2
When God created man (1), he made him in the likeness of God (2). Male and female he created them (3), and he blessed them (4) and named (5) them Man when they were created.
These five truths appear to form an early creedal statement that distinguishes those who follow Yahweh from those following other religions in the ancient Near East and today.
God blessed mankind by giving them every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. v29
Mankind is blessed by every kind of plant. This is true even when they are not a primary food source. Some plants are poisonous or inedible to humans but edible to animals. Humans are still blessed by those plants being in the ecosystem. In a similar way, carnivores are not the primary consumers of green plants, but the benefactor of the plant-eating herbivores that they prey upon.
God had His whole plan laid out from before the beginning of creation. Regarding the LORD's foreknowledge and wisdom, Psalm 8 says, "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth." Wisdom was set up before the ages of creation that I have been writing about. These are the acts of old that scientists uncover in their diligent research. Hebrews 11 testifies that, "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things that are visible." The word translated universe is the Greek, aions, from which the English word Eons is derived. It means ages. The past ages of creation are revealed in the geologic history of Earth. The future ages are yet to come, but fully known by God.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. v31
Throughout the narrative, the verb asah translated made indicates God as the primary cause and force which accomplished the results, typically through secondary means. The results are deemed good, because the functions which God established and the roles that He assigned are fulfilled. Very good is a totaling up of the results and an indication of completeness.
The goodness of God's creation includes suffering and death, which is a remarkable fact. Adam and Eve, who alone were given access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2), subsequently forfeited that access through willful sin (Genesis 3). As for the rest of creation, the circle of life (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, 3:1-8; Psalm 104) serves as a testimony to human beings of God's authority to grant life and to take life. Death issues a grave warning to us, just as it did to Adam and Eve, to not scorn the gift of eternal life that God freely offers.
The great hope of humanity is found only in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:24-28 testifies that:
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
This text speaks of ages past and the age to come. In ages past, since the foundation of the world, there was suffering and the potential to suffer, but Christ, in the perfect sufficiency of His sacrifice, was offered once. Romans 8:18-23 teaches that the glory to be revealed is worth all the suffering necessary. The more suffering, pain, and death that are observed in the past, present, and future, the greater should be the expectation of the glory to come. Amen.
Day 6 and the History of the Earth
The K-Pg global extinction event that occurred sixty-six million years ago marked the end of Day 4. Between 66 and 34 million years, the Earth had persistently warm and hot climates that enabled birds and fish to flourish and populate the vacated earth and seas. This I identified with Day 5.
Starting 34 million years ago, profound changes occurred on Earth. The global average temperatures cooled profoundly, permanently, and quickly, causing Earth to enter into a time of persistently cool and cold climates. This change initiated the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event. While not nearly as extensive as the K-Pg, it particularly hit the diversity of land mammals that had flourished over the preceding 34 million years. God was preparing a new ecosystem of living creatures, composed of new species representing livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth that are ideally suited to benefit the human species. Scientists studying Asian fauna call this the Mongolian Remodeling, whereas for European species it is known as the Grand Coupure, meaning great break. This is the beginning of God's Day 6 work.
Genesis 1:29 refers to God giving plants to animals and mankind. The first thing that comes to mind are the plants that God created on Day 3. But starting about 34 million years ago, in the cooler, dryer climates of Day 6, these plants, including seed-bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees, were blessed in an amazing way. Dozens of species of seed-bearing and fruit-bearing plants adopted a more efficient form of photosynthesis known as C4 photosynthesis. This was not an extinction-replacement event for plants, but a broadly-occurring adaptation that independently affected many families of plants.
C4 photosynthesis transformed which plants flourished and therefore which animals flourished. These changes sparked the growth of savanna landscapes which brought forth the savanna fauna such as zebras, oryx, and gazelles, as well as the lions and tigers that would hunt them. This also supported the emergence of species of animals that could be easily domesticated including cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. Importantly, the erect hominin form took shape in the savanna environment.
During the Last Glacial Period that occurred from 115,000 to 11,700 years ago, evidence for modern human behavior appears suddenly in the archeological record. The abundant examples include elaborate cave art, symbolic markings used in combination, the first manmade structures, and sophisticated weapons such as the bow and arrow. Also occurring during this last ice age was the extinction of all non-modern-human hominins such as Neanderthal and Denisovans, which had at some point inter-bred with modern humans. God completed His creative work and swept the workbench clean.
The Last Glacial Period marks the end of Day 6 with a bold stroke. It is reasonable to conclude that at some time during the LGP, God planted the Garden of Eden and created Adam and Eve, thus beginning the human story and our relationship with God.
Day 7
The conclusion of the creation account is found in Genesis 2:1-3:
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
The ESV translates the word asah as done, rather than as made as some translations do. The translation done maintains the same meaning of accomplish that I have used in the functional reading of Genesis 1, and eschews using the material-oriented English verb made.
Because the Seventh Day does not contain the terminating phrase, "and there was evening and there was morning", it is generally understood to encompass the current age. Since Day 7 is regarded as an age, or long period of time, all of the Days of creation should be regarded similarly.
The importance of the "evening...morning" phrase lies in communicating the idea that there were transitions between God's work activities. I have identified the noteworthy, corresponding transitions in the paleo-geologic history of Earth.
Regarding the creation Days as God's work days that are like but not the same as mankind's days is called the analogical-days interpretation. This view is supported by the paleo-geologic history of the earth; by the narrative about the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2; by Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night"; by 2 Peter 3:8 "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."; by the Sabbath pattern being applied to years, and not just to days (Exodus 23:10-11).
Genesis 2:4 is rendered in English variously depending on how the word toldot is translated, which can be rendered generation, account, or history. Here is one translation:
This is the history of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day Yahweh Elohim ordered the heaven and the earth.
This verse is sometimes thought of as a bridge verse linking the creation account in Genesis 1 with the creation of Adam and Eve that follows. There is another interpretation, however, that is based on the idea that this creation narrative was originally written on a clay tablet. Clay tablets of the era when Genesis 1:1-2:3 was likely written were marked with a colophon, which is a statement on the back, bottom, or side of a tablet identifying its content. In copying the tablet to a scroll, it is thought that the colophon was preserved by adding it to the end of the narrative.
If Genesis 2:4 is a colophon, it has these literary attributes: 1) it alone identifies Yahweh with the creation account; 2) it clarifies that the narrative is indeed meant as a history of the Earth; 3) "in the day Yahweh Elohim [asah] the heaven and the earth" forms an inclusio (bracket) with Genesis 1:1 by echoing the initial verse, "in the beginning Elohim [bara] the heaven and the earth."
Summary
The Genesis 1:1-2:3 creation narrative contains a rich mix of material and functional concepts. Each Day of Creation advances the habitability of Earth toward the ultimate goal of providing a habitat for human beings. Looking at Scripture with consideration given to the order God was bringing through the functions He was establishing sheds fresh light on an old problem, which is, how to reconcile Genesis 1 as an historical account with the paleo-geological record of Earth's history.
Looking at both Scripture and scientific discoveries reveals refreshing insights. In broad strokes and using round numbers, the story reads as follows:
In the beginning, the Earth was uninhabitable and uninhabited, during the Hadean Eon, 4600 to 4000 million years ago.
Then God created life. The world was no longer completely void, becoming habitable for single-celled organisms. From 4000 to 2300 million years ago, good light illuminated single-celled cyanobacteria that produced oxygen through photosynthesis. Accumulating oxygen led to a Snowball Earth event, marking the End of Day 1.
From 2300 to ~600 million years ago, increasing oxygen transformed the Earth's atmosphere and created a habitable space above water in which advanced life could thrive. The earth became habitable for Eukaryotic cells. Accumulating oxygen again led to Snowball Earth conditions, marking the End of Day 2.
From ~600 to 100 million years ago, dry land emerged from under both frozen water and ocean depths. Plants transformed the habitability of Earth enabling complex animals to thrive on land. A proliferation of seed plants and fruit trees led to climate changes and marked the End of Day 3.
From 100 to 66 million years ago, God fine-tuned the Earth's clocks, the movement of the Sun, Moon, and stars, to enable the thriving of advanced animals and human beings. The K-Pg extinction event vacated the world's ecosystems in preparation for new kinds of animals and marked the End of Day 4.
From 66 to 34 million years ago, God caused the rapid diversification and proliferation of modern birds, teleost fish, and whales under warm climate conditions. Mammals also diversified, but God caused a major climate change which put the Earth into a permanently cooler, drier climate and precipitated the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event. This marked the End of Day 5.
From 34 million years ago to the Last Glacial Period (115-11.7 thousand years ago), God blessed seed plants and fruit trees with C4 photosynthesis which created new ecosystems with enhanced habitability for human beings and the animals they depend upon, such as domesticated cattle. God filled the world with animals over which humans would have dominion. The Last Glacial Period, during which God created Adam and Eve, marks the End of Day 6.
Day 7 continues to the present time.
The Biblical interpretations on which this blend of Biblical and scientific details is based, are sound and justified by a faithful reading of the text. The scientific details are well established, high level, and not subject to controversy or dependent upon highly-speculative theories. In other words, this is a robust alignment between the Bible and historical science that appears ready to stand the test of time and progress.
This reconciliation of the Bible with science underscores the labor of love that God undertook to create a habitable world for mankind; it motivates the worship of God and the acknowledgement of His hand in creation throughout Earth's history; it highlights the dominion role humans have to play in maintaining Earth's habitability and spreading the knowledge of God's love and God's requirements to all people; it underscores God's faithfulness and inspires faith in God's promise to return; it raises expectations for the glory to be revealed in the new Heavens and new Earth, knowing that all the pain, death, and suffering that has been experienced in this world will pale in comparison to what is to be revealed.
Thank You
I wish to express my thanks to my wife who labored intensively identifying hard to read sentences, grammatical mistakes, typos, and other problems with the text. Because I have revised the text repeatedly, I may have reintroduced problems after she had me fix existing ones.
I would like to thank you, dear Reader, for taking the time to consider my thoughts on the interpretation of Genesis 1:1-2:4. I hope you were blessed by the effort you made to do so. Please feel free to leave comments or send feedback to agesofjoy@gmail.com
For Further Reading
Genesis Chapter 1: Functional Creation vs. Material Creation
Material or Functions in Genesis 1? John Walton Responds
Defending Concordism: Response to the Lost World of Genesis One
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