Hi. A view supported by many, if not most of you guys here is that there is a gap between the creation of the heavens and the earth and Day 1. However, if this were the case, why does it call Genesis 1:3-5 the first period of time if there was a period before that?
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Actually, few here subscribe to the “gap” theory of creation. Pretty much that is a hybrid interpretation that allows an old universe with a form of 6 day creationism, so you may not get much positive discussion of the merits of that view here.
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Is Genesis 1:1 a summary statement?
I think it’s a introduction statement. But summary would be close enough to my views.
One reason I believe this is because genesis 2:4, which is the beginning of the second creation narrative opens up with a summary as well.
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It’s debated and I have read arguments for both ways of viewing it. However, this is how I currently view it.
HarperCollins Study Bible
Another issue is Exodus 20:11/31:17, which state that in SIX days he made heaven and earth.
Rohan, homework assignment. What did yom mean in ancient Hebrew? Hint, going by how it is translated into English, or any other language, doesn’t count.
Gap theory is even rejected by most Old Earth Creationists in favor of progressive creationism. Do you even read this forum, dude?
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Most here don’t even take Genesis 1 as any kind of science text telling how God created. The takeaway is pretty much that God created everything we know about and that is all. Obviously there is far more to the universe than what the people of that time knew about and Genesis 1 doesn’t say anything about those things.
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The texts are poetic theological statements that tells us about God and his relation to creation and all that is. The time markers in these theological statements are poetic, not historic. Focusing on them takes one’s focus away from the purpose of the texts.
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Seems weird it’s pretty much always translated as day if it can mean longer periods of time…
Why so? People often use day in English and it is not always a 24 hour period of time. The fact that yom is sometimes used for something other than a 24 hour day (which, BTW, is not how yom is actually understood in Hebrew) kind of shoots down the YEC claims.
Earth’s morning has long since passed and its day nearly spent. Its evening will be over when the bright Morning Star returns.
So weird.
Not that I personally hold to the gap model, but is this supposed to be a “gotcha” question? One thing that can always be helpful is to try and understand someone’s position before coming in and asking such questions. It’s kind of like how some people say “if humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys” thinking it is somehow a good argument against the theory of evolution. Or how some people say “psh, the climate is warming because of the sun obviously” thinking it’s a good argument against anthropogenic global warming.
It’s not like adherents to gap creationism just somehow missed such a silly thing as “how can you call when you start something the first day if time existed before that?” While I think the overall interpretative frame is wrong, here’s a small summary from Wikipedia of the development and arguments for gap creationism:
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I didn’t think the interpretation that I described was the gap theory, but I could be wrong.
Since that sounded poetic rather than weird, I guessing this was being sarcastic.
It sounds exactly like it, which is how everyone here read it. What then did you mean by:
there is a gap between the creation of the heavens and the earth and Day 1.
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No sarcasm, but maybe some mild irony was implicit in my “So weird.” 
oh, my bad lol
Wrong wording. Isn’t really a gap.
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