There are some Christians who believe that the creation account in Genesis is actually a “re-creation” account, and that there was an inhabited earth BEFORE Adam and Eve were created. In order to reconcile the Bible with the extended geological ages proposed by evolutionists, some Christians began to teach that there was a gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Hence “The Gap Theory”.
This idea was originally promoted by a 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century Scottish clergyman named Thomas Chalmers, who credited it to a 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century Dutch theologian named Simon Episcopus. But it was really the Scofield Reference Bible of the early 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century which popularized this idea, as well as writers such as Clarence Larkin (who was generally sound in his Christian beliefs but way off base in this regard).
After admitting that “The manner of the "creation" of the Pre-Adamite Earth is not revealed in the Scriptures” Larkin presented the following hypothesis in Dispensational Truth:
1. The original earth existed in the “dateless past” as the “pre-Adamite earth”
2. Satan was placed “in charge” of the original or primeval earth.
3. Satan sought to be equal with God, therefore the earth was “thrown into a chaotic state”
4. Satan and his evil angels were cast out of Heaven to dwell in the second heaven
5. Satan then sought to regain control of the earth through the Fall of Adam and Eve
6. There may have been humans on earth before the creation of Adam, and dwelling in cities, and their bodies are buried under the Atlantic and Pacific oceans when God brought judgment on this “pre-Adamite earth
7. The reason the earth was “without form and void” (Gen 1:2) is because there were violent sub-surface convulsions, and the oceanic waters covered the whole earth until the time of “re-creation”, when “darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2).
While it is true that Satan and his evil angels were cast out of God’s Heaven, and it was the Devil who deceived Eve (in the form of a serpent) and thus brought a curse upon God’s creation, everything else postulated above is pure conjecture and speculation.
However, when we turn to the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2, we find that the whole universe (since the stars are also mentioned) was created in six literal 24 hour days (bounded by “evening and morning”) and that God saw everything which He had made and it was “very good” (perfect).
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day... Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens...” (Gen 1:31-2:4 KJB).
“In the DAY that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” does not mean one day but is a metaphor for the six-day Creation Week. Also the fact that “the heavens” are mentioned means that the atmosphere, the stratosphere, and outer space were all created within that time frame,
We also know that everything was created out of nothing (Latin ex nihilo), but this can only be understood “through faith”: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Heb 11:3). As we can see in Genesis chapter one, “God spake and it was done”. Thus we have “and God said” repeated nine times. And we know from many other Scriptures that God can simply speak things into existence and they come into being.
But one of the most critical confirmations of the six days of creation is to be found in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), which were carved in stone by the finger of God:
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger thatis within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Those who claim that there were human beings on earth who died before Adam was created actually contradict Scripture (Rom 5:12-14; 1 Cor 15:21,22):
Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come... For since by man [Adam]came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
This idea was originally promoted by a 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century Scottish clergyman named Thomas Chalmers, who credited it to a 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century Dutch theologian named Simon Episcopus. But it was really the Scofield Reference Bible of the early 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century which popularized this idea, as well as writers such as Clarence Larkin (who was generally sound in his Christian beliefs but way off base in this regard).
After admitting that “The manner of the "creation" of the Pre-Adamite Earth is not revealed in the Scriptures” Larkin presented the following hypothesis in Dispensational Truth:
1. The original earth existed in the “dateless past” as the “pre-Adamite earth”
2. Satan was placed “in charge” of the original or primeval earth.
3. Satan sought to be equal with God, therefore the earth was “thrown into a chaotic state”
4. Satan and his evil angels were cast out of Heaven to dwell in the second heaven
5. Satan then sought to regain control of the earth through the Fall of Adam and Eve
6. There may have been humans on earth before the creation of Adam, and dwelling in cities, and their bodies are buried under the Atlantic and Pacific oceans when God brought judgment on this “pre-Adamite earth
7. The reason the earth was “without form and void” (Gen 1:2) is because there were violent sub-surface convulsions, and the oceanic waters covered the whole earth until the time of “re-creation”, when “darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2).
While it is true that Satan and his evil angels were cast out of God’s Heaven, and it was the Devil who deceived Eve (in the form of a serpent) and thus brought a curse upon God’s creation, everything else postulated above is pure conjecture and speculation.
However, when we turn to the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2, we find that the whole universe (since the stars are also mentioned) was created in six literal 24 hour days (bounded by “evening and morning”) and that God saw everything which He had made and it was “very good” (perfect).
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day... Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens...” (Gen 1:31-2:4 KJB).
“In the DAY that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” does not mean one day but is a metaphor for the six-day Creation Week. Also the fact that “the heavens” are mentioned means that the atmosphere, the stratosphere, and outer space were all created within that time frame,
We also know that everything was created out of nothing (Latin ex nihilo), but this can only be understood “through faith”: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Heb 11:3). As we can see in Genesis chapter one, “God spake and it was done”. Thus we have “and God said” repeated nine times. And we know from many other Scriptures that God can simply speak things into existence and they come into being.
But one of the most critical confirmations of the six days of creation is to be found in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), which were carved in stone by the finger of God:
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger thatis within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Those who claim that there were human beings on earth who died before Adam was created actually contradict Scripture (Rom 5:12-14; 1 Cor 15:21,22):
Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come... For since by man [Adam]came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
