"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Protestant Theologian Rupertus Meldenius (c. 1627)
The Evangelical scholar and systematic theologian, Wayne Grudem reminds us: “…there is a danger that Christians will spend too much time arguing over the age of the Earth and neglect to focus on much more important and much clearer aspects of the overall teaching of the Bible on Creation.”
Within the Church there seem to be three main views. There are those who believe in a relatively young Earth (Young Earth Creationists or YEC), those who believe in a much older Earth (Old Earth Creationists or OEC) and those who believe in Theistic Evolution – the idea that God created the cosmos but used evolution to do so (Please see notes below for some further explanation on beliefs about Creation). There are difficult issues of theology and science with each of these views but let us be clear – there is no real contradiction between true science and true Biblical theology. As for traditional Darwinian Evolution, it is clear that it teaches that there is nothing outside of nature and therefore there is no God. This we must all reject in unity.
If we are being honest, the current science seems to be overwhelmingly in favour of an old earth (or at least the appearance of one) and there are many conservative Evangelicals who are open to that idea all while maintaining a high view of Scripture. Consider Ravi Zacharias’ organization RZIM:
“RZIM does not have an official ministry position on the age of the earth. The focus of RZIM is apologetics and evangelism, and thus we do not address particular questions about creation, though we are committed to defending theism against naturalism. …Though there is some diversity of views within RZIM, we are all firmly committed to the integrity of the Bible as God’s infallible Word and believe our world has been intelligently designed and created by God, who made humanity in His own image.”
Both Young Earth Creationists (YEC) and Old Earth Creationists (OEC) are very concerned – and rightly so – about keeping the Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy. This is the essential belief that the Bible is reliable, trustworthy and free from errors – it is the very Word of God. The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy, drafted by dozens of conservative Evangelicals in 1978, sums up truthfully and concisely what this doctrine means.
But what is absolutely key to understand in this debate is that the age of the earth is not an essential issue to the Christian faith. The doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy is. So let us never confuse the two.
The sequel to the Chicago Statement (Hermeneutics) has this to say in regards to how we should interpret Scripture:
“Since all facts cohere, the truth about them must be coherent also; and since God, the author of all Scripture, is also the Lord of all facts, there can in principle be no contradiction between a right understanding of what Scripture says and a right account of any reality or event in the created order. Any appearance of contradiction here would argue misunderstanding or inadequate knowledge, either of what Scripture really affirms or of what the extra-biblical facts really are. Thus it would be a summons to reassessment and further scholarly inquiry….
“…What the Bible says about the facts of nature is as true and trustworthy as anything else it says. However, it speaks of natural phenomena as they are spoken of in ordinary language, not in the explanatory technical terms of modern science; it accounts for natural events in terms of the action of God, not in terms of causal links within the created order; and it often describes natural processes figuratively and poetically, not analytically and prosaically as modern science seeks to do. This being so, differences of opinion as to the correct scientific account to give of natural facts and events which Scripture celebrates can hardly be avoided.” *
The paramount thing then for Christians, is not to agree with each on every detail of the Creation narrative, but rather to wholeheartedly agree with each other that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and that He created the Earth and the Universe for His glory. It is, in fact, much more important to know and to teach why God created the Universe than how He created it. Sometimes the wisest and humblest thing to do is simply admit that we don’t know everything and practice some Christian charity.
We should therefore implore fellow Christians and the Church at large to strive, above all, towards joyful fellowship with each other and the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
Recommended reading: “7 Days That Divide the World” by Dr. John Lennox.
Notes:
* Many YECs believe the earth at least appears to be old and thus God created it with maturity – just like Adam was created as an adult, not an infant.
*One theory of note is described below by Dr. John Lennox, a Christian, devout Bible Believer, Mathematician and Philosopher of Science at Oxford:
“…the initial creation act ( Gen 1:1-2) is separated from the 6 days of creation that follow it. You will find this structure followed, for instance, in the section of the ESV. The reason is that there is a clear pattern to the days: they each begin with the phrase “And God said” and end with the statement “and there was evening and there was morning, Nth day.” This means that, according to the text, day 1 begins in verse 3 and not in verse 1. This is made clear in the original text by the fact that the verb “created” in Genesis 1:1 is in the perfect tense, and “the normal use of the perfect at the very beginning of a periscope is to denote an event that took place before the storyline gets under way.
This implies that “the beginning” of Genesis 1:1 did not necessarily take place on day 1 as is frequently assumed. The initial creation took place before day 1, but Genesis does not tell us how long before. This means that the question of the age of the earth (and of the universe) is a separate question from the interpretation of the days, a point that is frequently overlooked. In other words, quite apart from any scientific considerations, the text of Genesis 1:1, in separating the beginning from day 1, leaves the age of the universe indeterminate.
It would therefore be logically possible to believe that the days of Genesis are twenty-four hour days (of one earth week) AND to believe that the universe is very ancient. I repeat: this has nothing to do with science. Rather, it has to do with what the text actually says. There is a danger of understanding the text saying less than it does, but also a danger of trying to make it say more.” (From his book '7 Days that Divide the World')
*The Chicago Statement goes on to say: “It should be remembered, however, that Scripture was given to reveal God, not to address scientific issues in scientific terms, and that, as it does not use the language of modern science, so it does not require scientific knowledge about the internal processes of God's creation for the understanding of its essential message about God and ourselves. Scripture interprets scientific knowledge by relating it to the revealed purpose and work of God, thus establishing an ultimate context for the study and reform of scientific ideas. It is not for scientific theories to dictate what Scripture may and may not say, although extra-biblical information will sometimes helpfully expose a misinterpretation of Scripture
In fact, interrogating biblical statements concerning nature in the light of scientific knowledge about their subject matter may help toward attaining a more precise exegesis of them. For though exegesis must be controlled by the text itself, not shaped by extraneous considerations, the exegetical process is constantly stimulated by questioning the text as to whether it means this or that.”
