The creation days

The question of whether creation occurred in literal days versus figurative periods remains genuinely contested among evangelical scholars, with thoughtful interpreters holding different positions.

The Case for Literal Days

Arguments supporting a literal interpretation include the narrative’s overall feel, the phrase “evening and morning,” the fact that humans imitate God’s 6/1 work pattern in Sabbath observance, and the observation that the plural “days” in Exodus 20:11 never refers to anything other than literal days.[1] The literal interpretation sees Genesis 1 as clearly describing six 24-hour days.[2]

The Case for Figurative Interpretation

However, the first three “days” occur without the sun and moon to mark day and night, opening the possibility that “day” was not meant literally.[2] Genesis 2:5 suggests that natural processes were occurring during the creation week, which would not seem to make sense if the account is literal.[1] Figurative interpretations include viewing each day as a long period of time, as a day in which truths were revealed to Moses, or as the “framework hypothesis,” where the narrative is poetic and visionary rather than chronological, presenting six different “pictures” of creation.[1]

The Gap Theory Explained

The gap theory, sometimes called ruin-restoration creationism, proposes an unknown gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. After God’s initial creation, Satan rebelled and God pronounced judgment upon the once-perfect earth, bringing about the chaotic conditions described in Genesis 1:2. Beginning in Genesis 1:3, God transformed the earth back into order.[3] This theory emerged when eighteenth and nineteenth-century scientific discoveries in geology, astronomy, and paleontology suggested an old earth, raising the question of how to harmonize this with six literal creation days.[4]

Critical Assessment

The Hebrew verb “hayah” in Genesis 1:2 stands in the completed perfect tense and describes no movement or development, making the translation “became” unlikely, suggesting the gap theory imposes too much on the biblical text.[5] The Church does not require Christians to believe either that the universe came to be in six literal days or that it did not.[6] Many respected theologians—Augustine, Anselm, Hodge, Warfield, Machen—have held figurative views, and traditionally American Presbyterians have accepted a wide variety of interpretations.[1]

[1] John M. Frame, The Collected Shorter Theological Writings (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008). [See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.]
[2] Douglas Mangum, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder, Genesis 1–11, Logos Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2026). [See here, here.]
[3] Kenneth D. Keathley and Mark F. Rooker, 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution, ed. Benjamin L. Merkle, 40 Questions Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2014), 111.
[4] John S. Feinberg, No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God, The Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 584.
[5] William C. Williams, “In the Beginning,” in They Spoke from God: A Survey of the Old Testament, ed. William C. Williams and Stanley M. Horton (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House; Logion Press, 2003), 86.
[6] Scott Hahn, ed., in Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; Auckland: Doubleday, 2009), 177.