1) How do the early church fathers interpret Genesis 1?
2) How is the remainder of Genesis interpreted genre-wise?
3) How does the Hebrew terminology used, allow us to interpret the 'day' and 'night' of creation?
4) If we are to interpret the 'days' of creation in their chronological order, would there be any problem?
5) How much time are we to ascribe to each 'day' and 'night' of creation (#3 would be significant here)?
6) Is there any other possible order or interpretation that may have a better 'fit'?
7) How does this interpretation fit into the overall genre of the whole book of Genesis?
Regarding the following study, the reason that I laid out the six days of creation is to show that if paralled in three couplets (part of Genesis followed a Hebrew poetic meter), the days line up into three creation stages (above #6)- days 1 & 4 (earth & universe-heavenly lights); 2 & 5 (expanse & separation- v. 2 was of waters & v. 5 was of heavenly lights); and 3 & 6 (life- v. 3- vegetation & v. 6- human). It is interesting to see not only how the young earth school within creationism lines up in regard to the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, but how its exclusiveness & militancy had seemingly been a manifestation of the anti-intellectualist bent of the fundamenalism of the day (which sacrificed scientific creationism on the altar for all to see- and ridicule- at the scopes trial because its paranoia prevented them from using the best and most capable non-evolutionists in Christendom at that time, on account of their suspicions toward anything from academia). So let us take a closer look at the text.
Day 1 (vvs. 3-5) Day 4 (vvs. 14-19) Creation/separation of light/universe
Day 2 (vvs. 6-8) Day 5 (vvs. 20-23) Creation of vegetation
Day 3 (vvs. 9-13) Day 6 (vvs. 24-31) Creation of animal/human life
Day 7 (2:1-3) The Hebrew word used in this passage, shabbat, is translated simply as 'ceasing' from activity, not as if from exhaustion.
Day 1 (vvs. 3-5)
vs. 3 God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light.
vs. 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness.
vs. 5 God called the light 'day' and the darkness 'night.' There was evening, and there was morning,
marking the first day.
Day 4 (vvs. 14-19)
vs. 14 God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years,
vs. 15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. It was so.
vs. 16 God made two great lights- the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over
the night. He made the stars too.
vs. 17 God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,
vs. 18 to preside over the day and the night and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
vs. 19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
Day 2 (vvs. 6-8)
vs. 6 God said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.
vs. 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so.
vs. 8 God called the expanse, 'Sky.' There was evening and there was morning- a second day.
Day 5 (vvs. 20-23)
vs. 20 God said, "Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
vs. 21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water
swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird, according to its kind. God saw that it was good.
vs. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas , and let the
birds multiply on the earth."
vs. 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day
Day 3 (vvs. 9-13)
vs. 9 God said "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." It was so
vs. 10 God called the dry ground 'land' and gathered the waters He called 'Seas.' God saw that it was
good.
vs. 11 God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: plants yield seeds, according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seeds in it according to their kinds. It was so.
vs. 12 The land produced vegetation- plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seeds in it, according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
vs. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.