The Genesis Creation Account
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.Genesis 1:1 · World English Bible
Original Language & Text
The Hebrew word 'yom,' meaning 'day,' can mean a 24-hour period, just the daylight hours, or a longer, indefinite stretch of time (as in the phrase 'the day of the LORD'). This range of meanings sits at the center of the debate over whether Genesis describes literal days or long ages. The Hebrew word 'bara,' meaning 'create,' is used only with God as the one doing the creating, and is often set alongside a different word, 'asah,' meaning 'make' or 'form.' Scholars debate whether 'bara' implies God created out of nothing, or whether it is simply a special, exalted word used for God's activity. The phrase 'tohu wabohu,' meaning 'formless and empty' (Genesis 1:2), describes a state of chaos before creation. The Hebrew word 'raqia,' translated 'firmament' or 'expanse' (1:6), is debated between meaning a solid dome over the earth (reflecting how ancient Near Eastern cultures pictured the sky) or a more neutral open 'expanse.' Genesis chapters 1 and 2 also differ from each other in their structure and in which name for God they use ('God' in chapter 1, and 'the LORD God' in chapter 2).
Key Terms in the Original Language
“to create” (Gen. 1:1)
This verb is used in the Hebrew Bible only with God as its subject, which many read as marking creation as a uniquely divine act; it does not, on its own, settle whether the text intends creation from nothing or from pre-existing material, a separate and disputed question.
“day” (Gen. 1:5 and throughout)
Young-earth creationists read yom as an ordinary 24-hour day throughout, pointing to the “evening and morning” formula; day-age and framework readings note yom is used elsewhere in the Old Testament, including Gen. 2:4, for longer, non-literal periods.
History & Authorship
Scholars who study how the Bible's books were put together traditionally assign Genesis 1 to a priestly group of writers, often dated to the time of or after the Jewish exile in Babylon, and Genesis 2 to an earlier group of writers; though this older theory (called the Documentary Hypothesis) has been increasingly questioned or adjusted by newer, more piecemeal theories of how the text was composed. The Genesis creation accounts share some structure with, and appear to argue against, Babylonian creation myths like the Enuma Elish and Atrahasis, rejecting those stories' picture of warring gods in favor of one single, sovereign Creator. Early Christian theologians such as Origen and Augustine already read the creation 'days' as non-literal, long before modern science raised the question. A strict belief in a young earth hardened later, after an Irish archbishop named Ussher calculated a specific creation date in 1650, and hardened further in reaction to 19th and 20th century discoveries in geology and evolutionary biology.
How This Debate Developed
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early 5th c.
Augustine's Literal Meaning of Genesis
Argues, perhaps surprisingly given the title, for a non-24-hour, more figurative reading of the creation days.
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1859
Darwin's Origin of Species
Triggers the modern creation-evolution debate that still shapes how Genesis 1 is read today.
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1925
Scopes Trial
Dramatizes the young-earth vs. evolution conflict in American public life.
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1961
The Genesis Flood published
Whitcomb and Morris relaunch modern young-earth creationism as an organized movement.
The Popular / Mainstream View
Catholic, Orthodox, and most mainline Protestant churches accept an old universe and biological evolution, reading Genesis 1-2 as theological writing about God's power and purpose rather than as a scientific timeline (sometimes called 'theistic evolution' or 'evolutionary creation'). A significant minority, especially within American evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity, holds to Young Earth Creationism: the belief that creation happened in six literal 24-hour days and that the universe is only around 6,000 to 10,000 years old, a view often organized around groups like Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research.
Minority & Alternative Views
Young Earth Creationism
This view holds that Genesis 1 describes six literal 24-hour days of creation that happened within the last several thousand years, and that most of Earth's geology (such as rock layers) is explained by Noah's flood rather than by long ages of gradual change. It is held by a significant minority of evangelicals but is rejected by mainstream geology, cosmology, and biology.
Old Earth / Day-Age View
This view holds that each creation 'day' in Genesis actually represents a vast, indefinite period of geological time, harmonizing the Genesis account with an old universe and gradual biological development, while still reading the order of events in the text as a real historical sequence.
Framework/Literary View
This view treats Genesis 1 as a theological literary pattern rather than a step-by-step timeline: the first three days (where God forms different realms, like sky and sea) are matched by the next three days (where God fills those realms with things like birds and fish). Many evangelical and mainline scholars hold this view, treating the six-day structure as an artistic way of showing order and completeness rather than a strict chronological account.
What Scholars Say
Mainstream science, in geology, cosmology, and evolutionary biology, holds near-total agreement that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old, the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and that all living things share common ancestry. These conclusions are overwhelmingly accepted by professional scientists, including many Christian scientists, such as those in the BioLogos organization. Bible scholars generally read Genesis chapters 1 through 11 as ancient theological literature written in the style of its time, rather than as a modern scientific report. Young Earth Creationism remains a minority position among both professional scientists and academic Bible scholars, though it still has substantial support among everyday churchgoers.
What the Confessions Say
Reformed
“It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost... to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein... in the space of six days; and all very good.”
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), 4.1
Catholic
“God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity, and order... Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, §337, §338
Sources & Further Reading
- Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation epic)
- John Walton, "The Lost World of Genesis One"
- Claus Westermann, "Genesis 1-11" commentary
- BioLogos and Answers in Genesis position statements
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- How do young earth creationism, old earth/day-age readings, and the framework/literary interpretation each handle the Hebrew word "yom" (day) in Genesis 1 differently?
- What does John Walton's "functional" reading of Genesis 1 (creation as temple inauguration rather than material origins) add to — or subtract from — the traditional debate between literal and figurative readings?
- How do the Babylonian Enuma Elish and Genesis 1 compare and contrast as ancient Near Eastern origin accounts, and what does that comparison suggest about how Genesis 1 was meant to function for its original audience?
- Where do BioLogos and Answers in Genesis, as organizations built around opposite conclusions, actually agree about what is exegetically at stake in Genesis 1?
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