The Strand Study Bible

GENESIS

39

GENESIS

important. But compared to our common faith in the person of Jesus Christ and the importance of our loving unity in him, this issue and most other theological issues are peripheral. 18

If CHRIST can tolerate us (and He does), shouldn’t we be able to tolerate one another despite our differences as believers? As Christians we need to learn to agree to disagree on subjects not related to salvation and allow each other the right to think for ourselves when it comes to “secondary doctrines” (Lk 9:50 and Phil 1:18). Todd Friel, host of “Wretched” on Family Net, in quoting John Piper, gave us six biblical guidelines for loving each other amid our differences: 1. Lets avoid gossiping 2. Lets identify evidences of grace in each other and speak them to each other and about each other 3. Lets speak criticism directly to each other if we feel the need to speak to others about it 4. Lets look for, and assume, the best motive in the others viewpoint, especially when we disagree 5. Think often of the magnificent things we hold in common 6. Lets be more amazed that we are forgiven than that we are right. And in that way, let’s shape our relationships by the gospel. 19 THE ADAGE IS TRUE: Unity in the essentials, liberty in the non-essentials, and charity for all ( Psa 133:1b ) 1:2 a In the Septuagint the text begins: “ But the earth had become ruined and uninhabited.” Thus, verse two suggests collapse and thus reassembly ( Gen 1:28 ). James R. and Steven M. Spillman in Breaking the Treasure Code notes:

Long before Adam was created God was at work in the physical creation. If we count back through the generations of Adam to the time of Adam’s creation we end up circa 4,000-5,000 years before the birth of Christ. We know that the world is much older than that. In fact, there is evidence that a pre-Adam people existed. We know, by countless fossils, that huge mammals roamed the earth. These animals have been extinct at least for the duration of written history. We know, too, that huge vegetation forests were located in various parts of the world during this pre-history period. But at some moment long ago in the ether-like past of pre-Adam, there was a great cataclysm, a general chaos. I believe that not only did it happen that way, but that it happened as a direct result of Lucifer being cast down from his exalted place in the heavens to the earth…I am convinced that planet earth came under the scope and span of this judgment, and a catastrophic upheaval of cosmic proportions was set into motion. How long this lasted isn’t even guessable, but when it was finished much of the earth was inside-out.

It seems feasible to think that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there was a chaotic period, this period that we have just described…This could explain the dinosaur fossils, the mountain ranges, the ocean troughs, the earth rifts, the tectonic plates, and the huge lakes of highly compressed animal and vegetable matter couched deep in the earth that we now call petroleum. 20 What had once been formed (long before Adam arrived) was now plowed under and without form . Tony Evans in his Kingdom Agenda pulpit series notes:

The Hebrew word without form and void … means “garbage dump.” When you open up your Bible the first thing you read about the earth is that it was a garbage dump; without form and void , that is lifeless... In fact, God has to separate the water from the dry land. Whenever you have water and dry land mixed together, you have a swamp; you open your Bible to a wasteland that God has to fix up. 21

1:2b This word ( was ) along with the word “ created ” in verse one is in the perfect tense in the Hebrew, distinct from the wayyiqtol verb form used in the remainder of Genesis 1. “ Was ” denotes an event that took place before the main storyline got underway. The verb form indicates the creation of “the heavens and the earth” was seperate from, and preceded, the events of the first creation day ( Gen 1:5 ). The Septuagint translates verse two as follows: But the earth became without form … How long an interval (gap) passed before the earth “ became ” a ruin, we have no means of knowing. 1:2c According to Isaiah 45:18 , the first earth (vs 1) was not created without form . Originally, it was created a perfect world, and would often be visited by angelic beings ( Ezk 28:12 -15). Then Satan and a third of the angels rebelled ( Isa 14:12 -14). As a result, this earth experienced an upheaval and “ became ” without form (vs 2). Thus, the earth had to be remade. NOTE - After a thorough examination of all the evidences there appears to be an unsettled period of time between verses 1 and 2 called a “gap.” Secular historians tend to agree. The Columbia History of the World notes: Yet there has always been evidence, literally at man’s feet, suggesting that the earth of yesterday was indeed different from the earth of today. 22 The vast ages of the geologic timetable might have occurred during this interval, so that the fossils, plants and animals that are found in the crust of the earth are relics of the originally pristine world that was destroyed before the six days of creation. However, unlike secular historians who add evolution to their “gap” ( The Columbia History of the World - p. 25), God’s “gap” does not allow for humanistic evolution or even theistic evolution (the belief that God used evolution after His creation). The reason theistic evolution is such a contradiction is because it is one matter to believe in evolution, quite another to blame God for it. Sadly, a lot of Christians hold to their particular “view” on creation based solely on the opinion of other people. Because they fear rejection from these people, they never weighed the evidences for themselves. It is always hazardous for a Christian to hold to a viewpoint for mere acceptance. Todd Strandberg in his internet article The Pretribulation Rapture notes:

Group mentality may work on many occasions, but when this type of thinking fails to work, it often leads to grievous errors. Creationist’s conclusion that the Earth is 6,000 years old is motivated largely by fears that the acceptance of an old Earth would be part of an evolutionary time scale. Truth is not something that is brought into existence by a popular vote… It is a bit of a contradiction for a creationist to claim that life is too complex to have formed by

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker