“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and empty. And darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3; MKJV)
TWO CREATION ACCOUNTS?
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the chance to study the different theories of creation.
I want to present to you one of them that you may or may not have heard of.
Here it is:
There are scholars who suggest that the account of creation recorded in the book of Genesis is not just one account only, but two!
The first creation takes place in v. 1, they say.
And then after an interlude of “chaos” in v. 2, there comes a second creation – a re-creation – in Genesis 1:3 and following.
This theory of two creations is called the “Gap theory.”
THE GAP THEORY
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” as Genesis 1:1 states.
But then something happened after v. 1 in an indeterminable “gap” of time.
During this period something caused the first creation to go bad.
The question is: What happened?
When we consider the fall of man and how he went bad due to sin, maybe it was something similar that took place with God’s “first creation.”
Gap theorists agree.
They suggest Lucifer’s expulsion from heaven was the event that introduced “chaos” to the earth during that time.
Jesus Himself talked about it when He said, “I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning” in Luke 10:19.
It was some time after this that God started the re-creation of the planet.
RESPONSE TO THE GAP THEORY
My response to the “Gap theory”?
I think it’s fascinating to consider these things.
Ultimately, however, whether it took place that way or not I mustn’t allow the debate to distract me from trusting Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance via the grace He gives me. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
And then when I meet Him some day, He can set me straight on how the world was made.
After all, He made it! (Colossians 1:16)
(The Earth seen from Apollo 17 picture file above is in the public domain: click here.)
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