Gap Theory between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2

In my further research about God's creation of the world in the Book of Genesis, I came across this interesting theory known as the “Gap Theory”.

The main reason why it is called the Gap Theory is that this theory suggests that a catastrophic event occurred during the time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.

There is a huge question among various scholars about why the earth was described as “formless and desolate” in Genesis 1:2. So they came up with a theory that there was probably a “fully functional earth” that was filled with all living creatures which includes those extinct dinosaurs.

However, this earth was unfortunately destroyed due to Satan who was one among the “fallen angels” who rebelled against God. When God casted him out from Heaven, Satan fell down into the earth which caused such tremendous impact that it completely devastated it. As a result, earth became “formless and desolate”.

Since earth got destroyed, God had to restart and create again everything starting from the ruined earth.

Some Flaws of the Gap Theory

In my own personal opinion, this Gap Theory did not really happen since there is really not enough evidence to support the catastrophic event. If it did then it would have been recorded as well in the Book of Genesis rather than leaving us all trying to speculate and come up with ignorant hypotheses.

Another flaw that I saw on my own personal perspective is the “light”. God had not created light yet until Genesis 1:3. You have to know that light is very important for the survival of all living creatures here on earth. Without it, it would be impossible for them to live and thrive unless Satan destroyed it as well when he got casted out.

Perhaps the real question here is, “Why was the earth from the very beginning of God’s creation of the world referred to in the Holy Scripture as “formless and desolate”?

Again, the answer to this question is based on my own personal opinion only. If God Who is our Almighty Creator wanted to create earth in an instant, then He can do so by simply giving His powerful command. As a result, everything is going to be completed just on the first day.

However, there is a reason why God had to do it in a step-by-step manner. God probably designed everything here on earth to be formed or created in a manner where it will take some certain amount of time. A good example are the plants and animals. They actually do need some time to grow and reproduce. This is probably why God had also started redesigning earth from the scratch.

Moreover, there is no such thing as a time gap that occured between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. God’s creation of the world from the very beginning was continuous without any interruptions. One of the main reasons why the Holy Scriptures have to describe God’s detailed creation of everything is to demonstrate His Power which makes Him worthy of being served as our only One and True Almighty God.

7 Days of God’s Creation of the Universe

God’s creation of the universe was entirely discussed in the Holy Bible, particularly in the Book of Genesis. His creations start right exactly in the very first verse of the Holy Scripture.

First Day

The first day of God’s creation of the world can be read in Genesis 1:1-5.

Clearly described here in Genesis 1:1-5, God’s first creations are the foundations of all His creations which is the universe. It was then followed by the creation of the formless and desolate earth.

Next to the unfinished earth was the separation of the “light” from “darkness”. After separating them, God named the light as the “day” and “night” for the state of darkness. All these things were God’s creations during the first day.

Second Day

Moving to the second day of God’s creation can be read in Genesis 1:6-7.

As mentioned in this Holy Scripture, God created the “dome” which is currently a very controversial topic being discussed by most scholars today. Anyway, we will cover this on a separate post.

God named this dome as “sky” where its main purpose is to keep the water separated into two places, one above it while the other below it. This completed God’s second day of creation.

Third Day

The third day of God’s creation can be read on Genesis 1:9-13.

In this third day of God’s continued creation of the world, He designed the water from the surface of the earth to give space for the lands. Thus, the lands had appeared where He named it as the “Earth” while “Sea” for the water.

After causing the land to appear, God created all plants that produce edible fruits and grains. If you come to think about it, God already had the intention to create mankind on this third day. It was because, who else will benefit from eating these foods?

Fourth Day

As we proceed, we are now on the fourth day of God’s creation which can be read on Genesis 1:14-19.

God’s fourth day of creation are the objects from the sky which are the sun, moon, and the stars. Among these three, the sun brings the brightest form of light so God had assigned it as the ruler of the day. Second to the sun is the moon in which God had assigned it as the ruler of the night.

Since God clearly made the separation between the day and the night, God had intended it as the main basis for counting time, days, years, and marking all celebrations of religious festivals.

Fifth Day

Moving into the next day is the fifth day which can be read on Genesis 1:20-23.

The fifth day was the day when God created the very first living beings or creatures to roam around the earth. And, they were the birds. Followed by the birds were sea dwelling creatures. After creating them, God had important instructions to them which was to reproduce or increase their numbers.

Sixth Day

On this sixth day, we can read God’s creation described in Genesis 1:24-31.

Sixth day was another day when God created the beings that dwell on the land. He first created the animals and then followed by the human beings.

When it comes to human beings, God created them (of course us) to have resemblance with Himself. So He created made and then followed by female. And just like the others, God had blessed and instructed them to have many children who will populate the entire earth.

Seventh Day

Finally, the seventh day marks the completion of God’s creation of the universe which can be read in Genesis 2:2-4.

Actually, God had already completed his creations on the sixth day so on this seventh day, He rested. Other than this, He blessed this seventh day and made it a “special day”. God made it a special Holy day for us to serve Him as our Almighty God or Creator.

How Long are the Days in Mentioned in Genesis 1

Today, we commonly refer to one single day as a composition of a 24 hours period of time. Due to this reason, many are so curious if the days mentioned in the Book of Genesis were also equivalent to a 24 hours time period for each day.

If we are going to read Genesis 1:5, we can find in this Scripture about what composes a day.

Genesis 1:3-5

As mentioned in Genesis 1:3, God created the light to bring brightness into the world particularly onto the surface of the earth. But aside from the brightness offered by the light, it also serves as the basis for time or counting the number of days.

This Holy Scripture stated that the very first day which was during God's creation was composed of an “evening that passed” until the “morning came”. Based on my own common understanding, it does sound like a 24 hours period.

The same description about the second day is mentioned in Genesis 1:8 of the Holy Bible.

Genesis 1:8

Similar to the first day, the second day of God’s creation was also composed of an evening that passed up until the next morning. It also goes the same with the other succeeding days which were the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days of God’s continued creations.

Literally, the “passing of an evening until the next morning” is what’s composed of a single day. But when it comes to many number of days, the Scripture also used the term “many evenings and mornings”. We can read the example in the Book of Daniel 8:26.

Daniel 8:26

Above all, the most important Scripture from the Holy Bible regarding the days can be read in the Book of Exodus 20:9-11.

Exodus 20:9-11

Clearly explained by God, He wanted us to follow His daily routine when He worked or created everything that exists in this world. He wanted us to spend our regular days during the six days period. While on the seventh day, we need to take a rest because this day is blessed by God as the Sabbath day or Holy day for us to worship Him.

Moreover, my own personal opinion regarding the 24 hour period of time which is composed of a day has something to do with innovation or increase of knowledge by man. During the ancient days, the prophets or Moses who had written the Holy Scriptures knew nothing about accurate measurement of time. They solely rely on the sunrise and sunset as a basis for counting the number of days. Thus, this is probably the reason why they could not use a 24 hours time period as a description for one single entire day.

Wiseman Hypothesis or Tablet Theory Regarding the Book of Genesis

Many have their own doubts about the Book of Genesis on how it got preserved and passed down from one generation to the next generations. So in this post, we are going to cover one interesting theory about this topic which is known as the “Wiseman Hypothesis” or more commonly known as the “Tablet Theory”.

The person behind this theory is a British scholar, Percy Wiseman. Hence, he named his theory after his last name.

The main reason why some individuals prefer to call Wiseman’s theory as the tablet theory is because his theory suggests that the Scriptures of Genesis were originally written or engraved on clay tablets. Thus, the Scriptures in these clay tablets got passed down starting from the very first generations of man which was Adam. Then followed by Noah, Shem, Isaac, Jacod, and finally Moses who compiled them.

Before Noah's flood, the theory claims that these ancient tablets were carefully passed down into the care of several generations until Noah’s time. Before the flood was about to occur, Noah took these clay tablets and safely kept them inside his ark. Thus, the clay tablets never stopped from being passed down to the next generations.

When Moses finally got the clay tablets in his hands, he compiled them and even used them as reference materials. We can read the references in the Book of Genesis from the words that composed of “these are the generations of.”

There are a total of 10 generations where these words were used which you can check in your own Holy Bible.

The Generations Of

By studying it closely, Adam was the very first man who could probably recorded the second tablet. The theory suggests that he may even have done the first as well. Then, the next generations who held the clay tablets were again Noah, Shem, Terah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, and down to Moses.

The clay tablet theory is indeed quite interesting. However, the problem is that there is not enough evidence to support its existence. The Holy Bible actually does not contain any of its Scriptures that these objects did exist in the past. Nor, any archaeological evidence that got uncovered or discovered. It is simply a mere hypothesis which is considered as one among the many possibilities of explaining the event.

If you are going to think more about it, the tablet is not actually necessary for the Holy Scriptures to be passed down from the earliest generations to the next. It’s because God can always use his divine powers, particularly the Holy Ghost to directly communicate to Moses which guided him in documenting the Book of Genesis. We can actually read this as described in Book 2 of Peter 1:21.

Peter 1:21

The Scripture states that no “human will” or personal thoughts of man were introduced into the Holy Bible. It is clearly stated that God had chosen someone or the right person to deliver His message to the world. And, they were able to fulfill it through the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Thus, this had rendered the ancient clay tablets useless or not necessary.

Moreover, what’s really important is that God’s Words were accurately preserved and recorded up to this current or present period of time for us to read. And His Words are now commonly compiled into one Book which we call as the “Holy Bible”.