The context of Genesis 1 does not clearly require one meaning of day over another, and if scientific data, drawn from many different disciplines and giving similar answers, convinces us that the earth is billions of years old, then this possible interpretation of day as a long period of time may be the best interpretation to adopt.įor those who hold to an old earth, the situation is something like that faced by Christians who first held that the earth rotates on its axis and revolves about the sun. ”), and Ecclesiastes 7:14 (“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider”).Įven the first use of the word day in Genesis 1 does not mean a day of 24 hours but simply the daylight hours: “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Genesis 1:5). Other examples of the word day to mean a period of time include Psalm 20:1 (“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!”), Proverbs 24:10 (“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”), Proverbs 25:13 (“Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest. in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” Here, day refers to the entire creative work of the six days of creation. We see this in the immediate context, in Genesis 2:4: “. The word day as used in Genesis 1 translates the Hebrew word yôm, which often refers to 24-hour days, but in other contexts clearly refers to an unspecified period of time. In the following material, I will explain the factors that led me to this conclusion about Scripture and then summarize some scientific indications of the age of the earth. I do not believe that God intended in Scripture to tell us the age of the earth.
Earth thousands of years later full#
Access the full set of articles and responses on the “ How Old Is the Earth?” series page.
We asked professors Wayne Grudem and Jason DeRouchie to offer arguments for their respective old-earth and young-earth views, and then respond to each other.
In the absence of a clear biblical stance on the issue, Christians should be willing to consider interpretations of Genesis 1 that fit with an old creation. Evidence from astronomy and various earth sciences, however, suggests that our universe and our earth are billions of years old. ABSTRACT: The book of Genesis was not written to teach us the age of the earth, and so it can legitimately support either a young-earth or an old-earth view.
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