Episode 40: Is Genesis Literal History?

• Christianity is an historical religion. Its truth is dependent on historical facts.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:13-26: 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

• 2 Peter 1:16: For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
  • 2 Peter 3:5-6: For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
• The prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles consider the creation account, the flood, and all of Genesis as historical events upon which our faith and morals are dependent.
  • Mark 10:6- Adam and Eve: 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
  • Matthew 24:37- Noah, Flood: 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
  • Exodus 20:11; 31:17- Creation: ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. … 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
  • 2 Peter 3:5-6- Creation, Flood: For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
  • Romans 5:12-21- Adam: 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
    15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
    18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45- Adam: 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. … 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
  • Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24- Sodom (Gen. 19): 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. …. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
  • 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 (for Exodus): 10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
  • Mark 12:26 (Exodus): 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
  • Acts 7: Stephen’s speech- Abraham, etc.
  • Hebrews 11:3ff- Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noah, etc. All these overcame by faith!
  • Luke 3:38- Adam: the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
  • 1 Timothy 2:13-14- Eve: For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
  • 1 Peter 3:20-22- Noah: because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
  • Romans 4:1-16- Abraham: What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in[a] him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” 9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
  • Galatians 3:6-29- Abraham: 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[a] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. 19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
• The Prophets repeatedly state that their word is the Word of God.
  • Word of the Lord: Repeatedly throughout prophets
  • Lord Spoke:
    • Is. 34:16; 40:5; 58:14; 62:2; Jer. 9:12; Numbers 23:19
  • Thus says the Lord
• Jesus repeatedly states that the Scriptures are the Word of God and are reliable, that they cannot be broken.
  • Mark 12:26: What God said in the passage about the bush…
  • Have you never/not read: Mark 12:10; Matthew 21:6, 42; Mark 2:25
  • Scripture must be fulfilled: Matthew 26:54; Luke 22:37; 24:44; John 15:25
  • Scripture cannot be broken: John 10:35
  • John 5:39: Scripture bears witness of Christ
  • Matthew 5:17-20: Will not abolish Scripture
  • Matthew 4:4-5; 22:43 (Temptation and Psalm 110)
  • Luke 24:25: And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
  • Mark 12:24: Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
• The Apostles repeatedly state that the Scriptures (including their own words) are the Word of God, which cannot err.
  • Galatians 1:1: Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 8-9: ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.; Romans 1:1-6: Paul, a servant^[a] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David^[ according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,; 1 Corinthians 2:10: these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God., … 12-13: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. ; 14:37: If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.; 2 Cor. 5:20: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.; 1 Thess. 2:13: And we also thank God constantly^[a] for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men^[b] but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.; 2 Thess. 3:14: If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.
  • 2 Peter 3:15-16: ¹⁵ And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶ as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17: ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
  • 2 Peter 1:19-21: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
• The clearest and plainest understanding of Genesis 1 is that the six days of creation are literal days. He says, “And there was evening and there was morning.” What could Moses have possibly written to make it clearer that he meant a literal day? If Moses did intend to speak of a literal six days, what language would he have used?
• Genesis speaks of geographical locations (the four rivers flowing out of Eden, the ark resting on the mountains of Ararat) and dates (the years of Noah’s life in correspondence with the days of the flood). This is not how mythology is written. This is how historical records are recorded.
• The events of Genesis chapters 1-11 are written in the genre of history. We have examples of poetry within this narrative as well as other chapters of Genesis and the Old Testament.
• Scientific conclusions concerning expanses of time beyond human observation, whether that is the accumulation of ice in the polar regions, of dust on the moon, of the decay of rocks, the movement of light, when extrapolated to millions or billions of years, are by all accounts the least reliable conclusions made in the scientific realm. Scientific conclusions that can be observed in real time, repeated, and verified are much more reliable. This is why we are able to accept the fact that the earth is a sphere, which revolves around the sun. It is demonstrable in real time. Yet, we do not have to accept a conclusion concerning millions and billions of years, because no one can prove that any extrapolation would remain consistent and unaffected over such long periods of time.
• Questioning the historicity of the creation account has theological implications for
  • The relationship between death and sin.
  • Original sin.
  • The universal atonement.
  • The resurrection.
  • The reliability of Scripture.
• The questioning of the historicity of the creation account, the flood, or any other account in Scripture, or the implication that these events are metaphors, analogies, or myths, is not based on the plain reading of the text, nor does it appear to be the intention of the writer, nor is it based on the historical interpretation of the text from other biblical writings or extra biblical writings, but rather from an attempt to reconcile scientific conclusions, which conflict with a literal, historical reading of these biblical accounts. Yet, these scientific conclusions, as has been mentioned earlier, are the least reliable conclusions we can find in scientific study, because they are impossible to verify. Also, they depend on certain presuppositions, which from the outset deny any biblical record or even an existence of God. Furthermore, God warns against becoming persuaded by such human reason.
  • Romans 1:20-25: For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
  • Isaiah 55:8-9: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
  • 1 Corinthians 2:14, 16: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. … “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
  • 2 Peter 3:3-7: ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
• The creation account is a nonrepeatable event. God completed the creation, although He continues to preserve it, so that kinds increase according to their kind and the physical universe functions according to what we observe as natural laws. Yet, the creation account cannot be repeated by man nor can it be determined how it happened or what physical events happened during it, because the current world is not undergoing a spontaneous creation. Likewise, the global flood was a miracle of God. We may observe the aftereffects of the flood these thousands of years later, but we cannot definitively prove how God caused it to happen, since we do not know exactly what the world was like, because we were not there to witness it.

Conclusion

The plain understanding of Genesis 1-11 is that it is an historical count, expected by its author to be taken as literal history. This is how the vast majority of believers have understood it. There is no convincing grammatical reason to reject the intention for a literal interpretation. The only reason to try to find a non-literal interpretation is the pressure of the scientific community. The scientific conclusions regarding the age of the earth are the least reliable scientific conclusions made by scientists, because they depend on impossible to prove assumptions and cannot be verified by any certain test. We should not question the certainty of Scripture because of uncertain scientific opinions, which are formed within a worldview, which denies the truth of Scripture and even the existence of God. This is not a minor matter. There are serious theological issues that result from denying the historical account of Genesis. The Christian religion depends on historical facts.