The first verse of the Bible “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” has been the subject of more commentators than any other verse in the Bible. There are many different interpretations of this verse also. There are nearly as many interpretations as there are commentators! I want to scream, “More detail, God, would have been appreciated.” But no, that’s all we really get! Alright, then let’s use Kipling’s six brave men. He wrote in poetic form, “I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.” There is a lot more to that poem, but I’ll limit my research to these six honest serving men. Today, I’ll just look at the “when.”
Let’s think about “when.” This question has been another one of those “hot topics” in the theological community. There are many different opinions on this. There are really only two options as I see it. It’s either a short period of time or a long period of time. Bishop Ussher, using the various clues in the Bible argues that God created the world around 4004 BC, just a little over 6 thousand years ago. He made this calculation based on the genealogies from the King James Bible. There are still many adherents to this view today. John Lightfoot agreed with James Ussher and together their view is called the “Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.” But Lightfoot called for a slightly earlier date of 3928 BC.
There are other orthodox believers who would argue that it’s possible that the earth is old like modern geologists suggest. The Bible simply says that God did it, it makes no determination on when. One of my old professors puts it this way, “Other orthodox Christians defend their stance by accepting the possibility of an old universe of billions of years and pointing to the fact that the Bible nowhere commits them to a young universe. They usually point to several factors. First, Genesis 1:1 only says there was a “beginning” but not exactly when that was. Second, the “days” of Genesis may represent long periods of time. Third, there may be a time gap before the days of Genesis begin (as in some form of Gap Theory). Fourth, there are known gaps in the genealogical record (see Genealogies, Open).”[1] In my opinion, both could be right. One thing is for sure. God created the earth to be inhabited by man. Then he created man. Let me end this article the way I did my last one on “why” God created. God created the world to demonstrate His love for us so that we would love him. 1 John also says that we can love God because He first loved us. But the fact of God’s loving creation did not convince anyone. So, as Romans 5:8 tells us, “God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we are yet sinners Christ died for us.”
[1] Norman L. Geisler, “Scientific Dating,” Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 701.