Creation week

The Creation Week is the seven days described in the Bible during which God created the universe, including the day of rest. The length of time that people believe Creation Week to take is a good test of orthodoxy.

The Bible does not of course say that each day was 24 hours, because hours are a later human invention, but there is sufficient reason for believing the days to be normal days. These reasons include:

• The Hebrew word yom (day) must mean a normal day in the context of Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, each day is numbered and used with the words "morning and evening".
  • Yom only ever means a normal day when used with a number.
  • Yom only ever means a normal day when used with "morning".
  • Yom only ever means a normal day when used with "evening".
• God used the seven days of creation as a basis for keeping the sabbath every seven days, in the Ten Commandments.
• Each day is defined as comprising a morning and an evening.

That the passage describes normal days is the consensus of the experts. Professor James Barr, former Oriel Professor of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture at Oxford University, wrote:

...probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that: ... creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience ... Or, to put it negatively, the apologetic arguments which suppose the "days" of creation to be long eras of time ... are not taken seriously by any such professors, as far as I know.

The Sabbath Rest

The common literary feature of the creation week is that it is broken down into days. Different English translations have different styles in the English, but the main feature is the way the creation week is broken down into listed days. The following is the last verse in the first creation day.

Genesis 2:1-3 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished 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 hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

This change in literary structure is important because it conveys an idea that is found in several other Bible stories: The seventh day is still continuing, it never ended.

The theology behind this change in literary structure is important. Mankind was created in day six, likely the last thing created in that day. Mankind then fell. God, in his mercy is at rest in this day of mankind's fall, but he is working doing one thing: Rescuing fallen mankind.