Introduction
The Gap Theory states that there was a huge gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. There are different variants of this belief as some believe that the earth was destroyed by a flood the first time before the six days of creation. Some even believed that it was Satan who created the animals during the period allotted by the gap theory. Entire books have been written on the subject, but I’ll cover it briefly here.
Gap Theory
Gap theorists believe that there is a huge gap between the first verse of Genesis and the second verse of Genesis. Thomas Chalmers was preaching this theory in the early 1800s. The gap theory states that at some distant time in the past, the earth and the heavens were created. However, before we get to verse two in Genesis 1, a whole bunch of things happened within that gap. Some believe that this is when war was waged in heaven between Satan and his angels and God and his angels. Some believe that this was the period when such beasts as the dinosaurs ruled the earth. Then one day God destroyed the earth and remade the earth in six days. They use other verses to justify their point.
2 Peter 3:5-7 – “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (6) Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: (7) But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
A Prior Flood?
Gap theorists often claim that there was a flood prior to the flood of Noah’s Ark that destroyed whatever lived upon the earth at that time. This passage makes a comparison between the “heavens of old” and the “heavens and the earth” which are now. This argument states that Adam and Noah were under the same heavens, but the heavens of old were referring to the heavens before Genesis 1:2. They also say that with the earth standing out and in the water, it was more likely that the earth was floating on a large body of water that covered the entire solar system. This is really hard to visualize since the bottom of space has never been discovered.
Generations
Genesis 2:4 – “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens”
Being that generations are plural, gap theorists suggest that the heaven and earth had a generation before the six-day creation.
This theory tries to reconcile what scientists believe regarding an old earth while still believing that young-earth creationists were correct in believing that the days in Genesis 1 were intended to be literal 24-hour periods of time. The gap theory seems to answer a lot of problems when it comes to evolution and creation. However, like the other theories, there are problems. For example, the sun is still created on the fourth day after the gap, which puts the sun at about six thousand years old. However, science puts the sun at approximately 4.6 billion years old. Some gap theorists say that the sun was rebuilt on the fourth day.
World & Age
Some gap theorists believe that when the term “world” is used in the Bible, it is referring to an age upon the earth.
Hebrews 1:2 – “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”
Gap theorists often believe that the term “world” here is referring to more than one age. The age or ages before the six-day creation and the age after the six-day creation. So, what about sin and death entering the world through Adam?
Did Death Come With Sin?
Romans 5:12 – (12) “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
Being that the word “world” is being used, gap theorists interpret this saying that sin and death entered in this age through Adam. The ages before could have had death, but death and sin reentered the world when Adam sinned.
The First Earth
So what happened during the time of the first earth? Gap theorists may resort to this passage:
Job 38:4-11 – “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?”
This verse supposedly talks about the first creation, and according to gap theorists, this is when the angels inhabited the earth.
Day Four
Some gap theorists believe that on day four the sun, moon, and stars were in a sense, resurrected on that day and that is why we can see the light of stars from so far away. They may make the comparison with Jesus raising Lazereth from the dead (John 11:38-44) and since Lazereth still appeared his age, they believe that after being resurrected that the sun, moon, and stars would also appear their true age to us today.
Ice Age
Being that gap theorists believe that the world was destroyed before the days of creation, they might bring up the cataclysm created by the ice age around 13,000 years ago. According to gap theorists, there was a flood that came and then after that was the ice age. They believe that the earth was quickly frozen. The type of human that was living during the ice age went extinct and modern humans are descendants of Adam.
Fallen Angels
However, one of the arguments has to do with fallen angels. In Genesis 6:2-4, the Sons of God came down and mated with human woman and produced offspring. The argument states that angels could have also come in contact with the Neanderthals and similarly mated with them to produce offspring. This could have been the reason for the flood before Adam. I would say that this idea is stretching it a little, but that is the argument I came across. The idea of fallen angels mating with human women is a whole other argument which I intend to bring up when I get to Genesis 6. However, over the past 10,000 years, scientists have found that there has been an acceleration in human evolution (Keim, 2012). This could account for why there is so much of a difference between modern humans and Neanderthals.
Young Dryas Event
There was a time in history referred to as the Younger Dryas event, which occurred over a span of 1,200 years. It happened from approximately 12,900 to 11,700 years ago. During this time, the Earth’s temperature dropped dramatically and rapidly. One hypothesis of how this started is that a swarm of carbon and water-rich comets collided with Earth. The evidence of this is that diamond particles have been found in sediment dating to about 12,900 years ago. For Further information, Click here.
Human-like Beings Wiped Out
Some proponents of the gap theory believe that this was the time period when the old human-like beings before Adam and Eve were wiped out. They state that it seems impossible for a hunter/gatherer society to quickly switch to an agricultural society. When Adam and Eve “sinned” in the garden, the people after them became herdsmen and tillers of the soil.
Without Form and Void
Gap theorists often interpret that when Genesis 1:2 says that the earth was “without form and void,” that God would not create anything that was void, so something had to have been destroyed. Verses such as Jeremiah 4:23 and Nahum 2:10 use the same terms and both refer to destruction. They also relate the idea that the earth was covered with water during Noah’s flood, indicating that the world has been flooded at least twice. God gave the sign of the rainbow to promise that he would never flood the earth again, so does that mean he has used flooding more than once?
What Happened During The Gap
What happened during the period of the gap? Some say that this is when the battle between Satan and his angels was fought against God and his angels, and Satan was cast out of Heaven. Most Christians assume that the serpent, Satan, and Lucifer are all the same character. The serpent was already in the Garden of Eden when it was made, and there is no indication of a significant battle in Heaven during the making of creation. Then it makes the most sense to say that this battle and the fall of Satan happened within the gap suggested by gap theorists.
However, the counterargument is that God created everything and that he said it was good indicates that Satan hadn’t fallen yet. However, it can be said that only that which was created in the six days of creation was good, and therefore Satan could have been created before the six day creation.
Renewed Earth
Then there is Psalm 104:30 where God renews the earth.
Psalm 104:30 – “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”
This renewal is thought to be referring to the six days in Genesis. If the earth had to be renewed, that means it existed prior to the six days of creation and was in need of renewing.
Evening And Morning Were A Day
It could be pointed out that each day of the six days begins with “And God said” and “The Evening and Morning were the “day.” However, this formula wasn’t used in the first two verses of Genesis.
Replenish the Earth
Genesis 1:28 says to replenish the earth and the same command was given to Noah in Genesis 9:1.
Genesis 1:28 – “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Genesis 9:1 – “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
This seems to indicate that the earth needs to be refilled. However, this word can also be translated to just mean “fill.”
In Six Days
Both Exodus 20:11 and 31:17 say that God made the heavens and Earth in six days.
Exodus 20:11 – “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Exodus 31:17 – “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
To some, this implies that Genesis 1:1 would be included in the six days. The gap theorist’s objection to this is that the words “create” and “made” have different meanings. The word “Create” is used in Genesis 1:1, and it means that Heaven and Earth came into existence. However, the word “made,” as used in the two above exodus verses, means to make something, or put it together, kind of like making cookies. Everything is already there to make the cookies, they just need to have the ingredients put together.
There are some problems with the Gap theory
No Clear Evidence
First, there is no absolute clear evidence in the Bible for a Gap Theory. It seems that verses of the Bible need to be reinterpreted in order to support the gap. However, there are also no clear verses supporting the Trinity, yet most Christians believe it. There are some hoops that one has to jump through in order to have the Bible say that there is a gap there. One is that the true translation of the first verse in Genesis is a singular “Heaven” and that in Genesis 2:1 it says “Heavens.” It is thought that the singular Heaven refers to where God is, whereas the heavens refer to the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. It seems a little flimsy, but I see how it could work.
Adam Brought Death Into the World
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 mentions that Adam was the first man and was the first living soul. ‘
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 – “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (46)Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (47) The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.“
However, gap theorists generally don’t believe that a man such as Adam or modern man lived in the age when the supposed gap took place. Does that mean that those who lived during the “gap” were soulless?
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 mentions that sin and death came into the world through Adam. This presents a problem for gap theorists since they believe that sin and death were part of the old world before the six days of creation.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 – “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
However, they point out that the serpent in the garden was also in existence in the garden before man sinned, and therefore, there was evil present.
No Bible commentaries written before the 1700s mention anything about a gap, indicating that it wasn’t something that was believed at an earlier date.
Conclusion
This, of course, doesn’t negate the idea that there could be a gap. Whether the Bible promotes a gap or not is a debated topic, and I can see where both sides of the argument are coming from. I personally think it is the best theory when interpreting the Bible in context with science, but it also has its downfalls.
Resources:
Custance, Arthur C – Without Form and Void
Keim, Brandon, (2012) Human Evolution Enters an Exciting New Phase.
Lemonick, Michael (2014). Human and Neanderthal were actually neighbors. Time.
Pember, G. H. – Earth’s Earliest Ages
Phys.org (2016)
Book (Affiliate Link)
Biblical Geology
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