Did Creation Take Place in 7 Literal Days?

Biblical creation is one of the most difficult things to take by faith for many people. I don’t know if it is that God is not ‘big enough’ or if it is so contradictory to science that we are unable to believe it. Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say.

First of all, proper hermeneutics is critical to an understanding of the creation accounts. Many people want to take certain stories, such as Job and Jonah, and say that they did not actually take place; rather they are stories which God designed in order to teach us something. Often times a large part of Genesis is put into this category.

The truth is that these are all Old Testament narratives, though. It does not matter if you are reading 1 Kings or Genesis 1, they are narrative and ought to be used the same. The Hebrew people, where they did make use of allegory, metaphor and other forms of imagery, reserved this practice for shorter proverbial or parabolic situations where something could be taught on the spot. The creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 were written into a time line of the history of God’s chosen people. It should be understood as being historical.

So, it is not so much the fantastic elements that people reject. We understand that God is hear and working in this world to bring about the completion of His plan. But, we are used to seeing God work through this creation, so a seven day creation becomes very abstract and difficult to believe.

Here is something to ponder—not doctrine, but my own musings:

2 Peter 3.8 says, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (NASB). It seems to say that a day to the Lord, who is the one who created all things according to John 1, time is relative. So could it be that 7 days took place over some extended period of time according to Jesus’ divine control over time?

I have heard it argued repeatedly—and I tend to agree—that the Hebrew word used for day, literally means one day, a 24 hour period, sun down to sun down. Therefore, it had to take place in 7 earthly days. I myself am more interested to see how the Greek speaking Hebrews from before Christ viewed a day. In the LXX (the Greek translation of the Hebrew texts) they translate the word day in the Genesis account as ἡμέρα (aymera). This is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 26.61 to denote the number of days it would take for the temple to be rebuilt. Therefore a day is a day.

Where this seems to support the argument for a true 7/24, there is one other element to consider in the semantic argument. In 2 Peter 3.8, the word used is also ἡμέρα. So, in the end, what I see is a 7/24 (really 6/24) creation, where Jesus has taken divine control over time in order to complete what science says would take millions of years into 7 temporal days.

I’d encourage you to consider this and make your own judgment, according to the Spirit. Seek out the truth from scripture for yourself. I think this might just be one of those things we are to take on faith and may not be able to conclusively be settled until the Lord returns and we are given understanding.