{"id":19794,"date":"2026-02-25T06:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=19794"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:02:58","slug":"how-should-we-interpret-the-genesis-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=19794","title":{"rendered":"How should we interpret the Genesis week?"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Robin Schumacher<\/span><\/span>, Exclusive Columnist Monday, February 23, 2026<\/span>Greg Rakozy\/Unsplash <\/span><\/p>\n

I really believe there\u2019s never been a better time to feel justified in crediting God with creating the universe.<\/p>\n

With the only two rational choices for answering the primary question of metaphysics, \u201cWhy do we have something rather than nothing at all?\u201d being an eternal universe or aneternal creator, and having so much evidence available today pointing towards a non-eternal universe, the idea of a creator God is looking pretty good.<\/p>\n

Physicist Dr.\u00a0Alexander Vilenkin\u00a0puts what I think is the nail in the coffin of an eternal universe when he\u00a0says:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics of the God hypothesis used to normally punt towards the multi-verse theory to explain away our universe\u2019s beginning, but today many now admit that no empirical evidence supports such a thing (they need\u00a0faith<\/em>\u00a0to believe it) and so are coming around to Dr.\u00a0Richard Swinburne\u2019s position on the matter: \u201cTo postulate a trillion-trillion other universes, rather than one God, in order to explain the orderliness of our universe, seems the height of irrationality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists are supposed to follow the evidence instead of their own bias, but resistance towards the idea of God and a universe with a beginning is still strong with some. Dr.\u00a0John Lennox\u00a0sums up the incongruity of the situation when he\u00a0writes, <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is rather ironical that in the 16th century some people resisted advances in science because they seemed to threaten belief in God; whereas in the 20th century scientific ideas of a beginning have been resisted because they threatened to increase the plausibility of belief in God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Stephen Hawking admitted that,\u00a0writing: \u201cMany people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, it does.<\/p>\n

And the acceptance of divine intervention being needed for reality is making more atheists and agnostics believers. Take, for example,\u00a0Charles Murray, a political scientist and former agnostic who wrote a book entitled\u00a0Taking Religion Seriously<\/em>\u00a0last year. In his\u00a0Wall Street Journal review\u00a0of Mr. Murray\u2019s book, columnist Barton Swaim describes how Murray\u2019s conversion: \u201cBegan in the early 2000s, when he read a few theoretical accounts of the universe\u2019s origins, among them Martin Rees\u2019s Just Six Numbers<\/em>\u201d (1999). So wildly improbable were the conditions necessary for the so-called big bang, it seems to Mr. Murray, that the whole business, whenever it happened, sounded very much like what Christians call creation. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m thinking this,\u201d he recalls reflecting, \u201cbut it\u2019s the only plausible explanation\u201d \u2014 \u201cit\u201d meaning the divine origin of everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, the science and evidence supporting a divine origin always lead back to the Bible and its first book, which means \u201cbeginnings\u201d (Genesis), with its opening line: \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth\u201d. Such a simple verse, but out of it come all sorts of positions and questions on\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0God went about creating everything we know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And with that follows all sorts of disagreements, divisions, and more that can lead to disruption in the body of Christ. But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.<\/p>\n

A look at the Genesis week<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theologians have different lists as to the various interpretations of the Genesis week (mine has nine). But no matter the list, when you step back and perform some due diligence into what they actually assert vs. the caricatures presented by their detractors, they all affirm at least two things: 1. the direct supernatural creation of everything and the opposition to naturalism; 2. the historicity of Genesis account, meaning actual creative acts took place and the people described are real.<\/p>\n

Where they differ is the age of the earth\/universe and whether the days\/event descriptions are literal or allegorical.<\/p>\n

On the young earth side of the house, you have two primary theories: standard six-day creation (which I doubt I need to explain) and one called \u201cideal time,\u201d which\u00a0asserts all things were created with the appearance of age. The former has many strong supporters, such as one of my favorite teaching pastors,\u00a0John MacArthur, whereas the latter hasn\u2019t many followers at present.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The old earth category has more choices, at least in my list. The \u201clong days\u201d option has the days of Genesis being much longer than our 24-hour day. The \u201crevelatory days\u201d theory says the six days were 24-hour days of revelation that God gave to Moses, who wrote Genesis, with them representing the past series of creation events.<\/p>\n

One old-earth theory called \u201cday age\u201d states that the six days were 24-hour days of actual creation, but between each day there was a long period of time. I used to poo-poo this idea until I read John Lennox\u2019s book,\u00a0Seven Days That Divide the World<\/em>, in which he makes a pretty good case for it.<\/p>\n

Another old-earth option having a growing fan base is \u201cLiterary Framework\u201d, which\u00a0asserts the six days were an ancient writing device used to frame certain periods of time in order to encapsulate them in literary form, much like we use a chapter in a book.\u00a0C. S. Lewis\u00a0liked this possibility, saying in his essay\u00a0Dogma and the Universe<\/em>:\u00a0\u201cThe first chapters of Genesis, no doubt, give the story of creation in the form of a folk-tale.\u201d\u00a0Tim Keller\u00a0prefers this possibility also, as does\u00a0William Lane Craig.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A niche old-earth theory is called \u201cIsrael focus\u201d and says the first Genesis week speaks only of Israel\u2019s land creation. The last one in my list is called \u201cruin\/reconstruction\u201d or \u201cgap\u201d that claims there is a time gap between the first two verses of Genesis, where verse one has God initially creating everything and then verse two kicks off following an unknown period of time that elapsed with the re-creation of the earth after God decimated it because of Satan\u2019s rebellion.<\/p>\n

So, which of these creation theories is correct?<\/p>\n

I remember many years ago listening through a series of podcasts from William Lane Craig\u2019s Defenders series on creation while working out at the gym. In his typical style, Craig worked through the various young and old earth theories, stating both the pros and cons of each.<\/p>\n

At the end of the last episode, Craig said: \u201cNow I\u2019m sure all of you want to know which theory I believe is correct.\u201d \u201cFinally!\u201d, I thought, so I quickly sat down on a weight bench, eagerly waiting for the answer. Craig paused and then said: \u201cI have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

NO!<\/p>\n

A guy who has two Ph.D.s, was a former seminary professor, and widely acknowledged to be one of the world\u2019s top Christian apologists and thinkers, hadn\u2019t reached a firm conclusion on Genesis? To be fair, Craig did say he found the combination of the literary framework and long days to be in union with Scripture, but maintained he still wasn\u2019t 100% certain how God created everything.<\/p>\n

Quite the letdown at the time, let me tell you.<\/p>\n

However, one of my takeaways from that experience is that great Christian thinkers who are devoted to Christ can differ on how God went about creating all that we know but still lock arms over affirming a creator God exists and rejecting time + matter + chance being responsible for everything. It\u2019s a great topic of discussion, but not one for caustic division.<\/p>\n

No matter which interpretation of the Genesis week you hold to, I think we can all embrace what\u00a0Francis Schaeffer\u00a0wrote in his book\u00a0The God Who is There<\/em>\u00a0about the core truths communicated by the Bible\u2019s first book: \u201cTake away the first three chapters of Genesis, and you cannot maintain a true Christian position nor give Christianity\u2019s answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agreed.<\/p>\n

Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master’s in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robin Schumacher, Exclusive Columnist Monday, February 23, 2026Greg Rakozy\/Unsplash I really believe there\u2019s never been a better time to feel justified in crediting God with creating the universe. With the only two rational choices for answering the primary question of metaphysics, \u201cWhy do we have something rather than nothing at all?\u201d being an eternal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[133,1772,561],"class_list":["post-19794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-genesis","tag-interpret","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}