Your mention of air, water, earth, and fire could be a little simplistic, but light is a form of energy, and energy and matter are interconvertible. Photosynthesis is what allows plant life to flourish. But the water mentioned in Gen 1:1-2 was actual water (which was converted into vapor later on). There is much that is hidden from view.
Brother N6,
The creation story was written 3000 yrs ago.
Bringing modern science into the formula to attach modern definitions to the words and events distorts the description of the events.
Moses could explain the events perfectly from the understanding of the world at that time, 3000 yrs ago.
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When we begin to read the story, we want to apply our modern understandings to it. We say, "How can there be life without the sun?" Or, "The earth was created before the sun."
You see, we are stirring our modern knowledge of science into a story 3000 yrs old.
Before people understood the science behind the creation, say the 1800's or so, the story was accepted as literal, some still hold to those traditional understandings.
But by the investigation of the world around us we have seen that the story CANNOT be literal,
speaking of Gen ch 1, only.
The does not prove that the creation story is wrong, it only proves that the literal understanding of the story is less than perfect. The story is still true, it is just a symbolic representation of the creation.
An explanation of the creation, to people who were mainly tribal herdsmen and farmers, without the details.
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When we read the story, we should apply the symbolism to the events and entities, then the story becomes clear.
Good and evil, light and dark, mixing and separating, heaven above and darkness below away from God, all these principals should be recognized, and the literal understanding diminished.
We should face the fact that the story cannot be literal. As symbolism the story is shown to be perfect, as literal it is not perfect.
Why should we try to hold on to our traditions of being literal, when the truth is shown that it is symbolism from 3000 years ago?
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So the waters described in Gen 1:1-2, can be understood as literal, if you look at the story from the viewpoint of 3000 yrs ago. From the viewpoint of modern science we see that it cannot be literal.
But taken as symbolic, the story remain true from both viewpoints.