Genesis Framework Part two

Genesis Framework

GF 01 Genesis 1:1-2
June 28, 2015
Part 01

Scripture

Genesis 1.1-2

NKJ Genesis 1:1 - 3.1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 "and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life,
I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

NKJ Genesis 1.1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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Assignment:

Read Proverbs 8.1-36, several times.

(Q) Why?

(A) Because it is a beautiful example of the kind of confirmation that God is faithful to give us in His revelation process. He affirms, restates, and generally gives us much help in how to correctly interpret His Word, by means of His Word.

It is actually an exegesis of Genesis 1.1! Vs .22 – .31

This little sentence continues to be considered a somewhat complex and debated Hebrew sentence structure. It has been translated at least 5 different ways, by creationists alone, therefore setting the stage for 5 different translations of the creation week.

1. Young Earth Creationists

They believe that the universe and all that is in it was created by God around ten-thousand years ago or less. They insist that the creation week consisted of a literal week as we know it today, based upon a sequence of six 24 hour days, and that this is the only way to understand the Scriptures. They believe that world-wide biblical catastrophes sufficiently explain the fossil records and the geographic phenomenon that might otherwise suggest the earth is old.

2. Gap Theory Creationists

They believe that the explanation for the old age of the universe can be found in a theoretical time gap that exists between the lines of Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. God created the earth and the earth became formless and void. Therefore God instituted the new creation which begins in Genesis 1:2b. This theory allows for an indefinite period of time for the earth to exist before the events laid out in the creation narrative. Gap theorists will differ as to what could have happened on the earth to make it become formless and void of life. Some will argue for the possibility of a creation prior to humans that died out. This could include the dinosaurs.

3. Time-Relative Creationists

They believe that the universe is both young and old depending on your perspective. Since time is not a constant (Einstein’s Theory of Relativity), the time at the beginning of creation would have moved much slower than it does today. From the way time is measured today, the succession of events in the creation narrative equals that of six twenty-four hour periods, but relative to the measurements at the time of creation, that would have transpired much more slowly, allowing for billions of years. This view, therefore, does not assume a constancy in time and believes that any assumption upon the radical events of the first days/eons of creation is both beyond what science can assume and against the most prevailing view of science regarding time today. This view may or may not allow for an evolutionary view of creation.

4. Old Earth Creationists

They (also known as Progressive Creationists and Day-Age Creationists) believe that the old age of the universe can be reconciled with Scripture by understanding the days of Genesis 1 not as literal 24 hour periods, but as long indefinite periods of time. The word “day” would then be understood representatively, the same as in Gen. 2:4 “. . . in the day that the LORD
God made the earth and the heavens.” While this view believes the universe and earth are billions of years old, they believe that man was created a short time ago. Therefore, they do not believe in evolution.

5. The Framework Interpretation

More recently in the 20th century, another exegetical translation of Genesis, which has appeared called The Framework Interpretation, and has gained a significant acceptance among skilled theological exegetes, while bitterly debated by the Young Earth Creationists of the literalist tradition.

Before we really get into this new area of study, I would like to eliminate one of the 5 mentioned paradigms right off the bat; namely, I want to disregard the work of the Gap Theory Creationists as speculative at best, and not supportable by the best of biblical theological exegesis.

n order to make my opinion plain, we will take a closer look together at the text of Genesis 1.2a.

2. Gap Theory Creationists

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1. There is nothing in the immediate context nor anything within the whole body of the Scriptures that either confirms or supports the translation became.

2. No English translation interprets this verb became.

3. The translators of the LXX did not use a Greek word meaning became, instead used always was, denoting a continuous past tense condition that absolutely cannot be used to express a change.

American Standard Bible in Basic English Darby Bible Douay-Rheims American English Standard Geneva Bible Jewish Pub. Society King James And LXX Eng. New American Bible New Amer. Std NAU The New International New Jerusalem Bible New King James New Living Trans. New Revised Std. Revised Standard Revised Webster Bible JPS Tanakh Webster Bible Young’s Literal LXX was waste and void;
And the earth was waste and without form;
And the earth was waste and empty,
And the earth was void and empty,
The earth was without form and void,
And the earth was without forme and void,
Now the earth was unformed and void,
the earth was without form, and void;
But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished,
the earth was a formless wasteland,
And the earth was formless and void,
earth was formless and void,
Now the earth was formless and empty,
Now the earth was a formless void,
The earth was without form, and void;
The earth was empty, a formless mass
the earth was a formless void
The earth was without form and void,
And the earth was without form,
the earth being unformed and void,
And the earth was without form, and void;
the earth hath existed waste and void,
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Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN

Bibliography

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Aland, Kurt, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren (eds.). The Greek New Testament, 4th rev. ed. Germany: Biblica-Druck, 1994.
Benner, Jeff A. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible. College Station, Texas: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., 2005
Bullinger, E. W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible; Explained an Illustrated. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 2007.
Chapman, Benjamin. Greek New Testament Insert. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977.
Dana, H. E., and Julius R. Mantey. A Manual of the New Testament. Canada: The Macmillan Company, 1957.
Louw, Johannes P. and Eugene A. Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. New York, NY: United Bible Societies, 1989.
The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011.
Metzger, Bruce M. Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek. Princeton, New Jersey, 1977.
Wikipedia contributors. "Xenophon." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Aug. 2014.
Wuest, Kenneth S. The New Testament; An Expanded Translation. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992.
Wuest, Kenneth S. (Revised, Donald L. Wise). The Practical Use of the Greek New Testament, rev. ed. Chicago, Il: Moody Press, 1982.
Walsh, J. Martyn and Anna Kathleen Walsh. Plain English Handbook: A Complete Guide to Good English, 7th rev. ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: McCormick-Mathers PublishingCompany,1977.