Fully Devoted: CreationSample

And There Was Evening, and There Was Morning

The time has come to answer a question many people ask: Did God actually create the universe in six days? And if so, doesn’t that go against everything scientists have discovered over the last century?

First, we have to remember that the Bible is not a textbook with the answers to all our questions. Instead, it’s a story that leads us to Jesus and changes us to be more like Him. The Bible was written in a wide variety of literary genres by authors who lived in different times, places, and cultures than we do. 

One of the fastest ways to misunderstand Genesis 1 and 2 is to treat these chapters as a lab report describing exactly what happened and how it happened. That would be placing our modern assumptions on an ancient text instead of being good students of their culture. 

Second, there are many people who believe Genesis 1 was written as Hebrew poetry. This means we must use wisdom and learn to read these portions of Scripture literately and not just literally. This again invites us to set aside our modern questions and step into the context of the biblical authors. When we do this, we see how Genesis is poetically written and structured. 

Third, there are way more words in the English language than there are in Hebrew. Which means that the same Hebrew words are often translated as a variety of different English words depending on the context. For example, the Hebrew word for “day” used in Genesis 1 is yom—and yom can mean multiple things depending on the context. It can mean a literal 24-hour time period, or the time when the sun is up, or a year, or even a long but finite period of time. 

These details matter because when we see this portion of Scripture through the lens of the original audience, it’s a revolutionary reframing of who God really is and what it means to be human. 

So don’t read this Scripture as a lab report, because it can become a stumbling block or roadblock to our faith journey. You can be a faithful follower of Jesus who believes in a literal six-day creation, or you can be a faithful follower of Jesus who believes the universe was formed billions of years ago. The most important question is not: Is Genesis literal or metaphorical? The most important question is: Who is Jesus to me? 

Journaling Questions 

• Have you ever considered what this portion of Scripture—or any other portion—would have meant to the original audience? Why or why not?
• What would change about your questions if you started approaching the Bible from the perspective of the original audience? Write one or two questions you would start asking. 
• Begin trying to put yourself in the shoes of the original audience—a  recently freed Hebrew. What does this passage tell you about God?

Memory Verse

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV