OttoNeubauer
Puritan Board Freshman
Without getting into science, I am curious to hear, from those who believe that Genesis 1-3 describe 24-hour days, that the earth is younger than millions of years, or that there was a historical Adam--how did you evaluate the textual/literary evidence to come to that conclusion? Specifically I would like to know how you have looked at the following elements in your interpretation.
Thank you! I am trying to better understand how the literal perspective deals with these textual phenomena.
- How does the fact that Moses wrote the Pentateuch affect your interpretation? What was his pastoral purpose in writing Genesis 1-3, and how does your interpretation take that into account?
- Given that Genesis is divided into nine 'chapters' by the toledoth formula ("these are the generations of..."), and that the first of these occurs in 2:4, how does this affect your understanding of chapter one with respect to the rest of Genesis? Is it a different genre, or a prologue, or something else?
- The toledoth formula in 5:1 is different from the others (at least in my English translation), reading "This is the book of the generations of Adam." This seems like the kind of thing you would find written at the top of a scroll or tablet or something to indicate what it is. Why do you think this toledoth is different from the others? Does it indicate that 5:1 was once the beginning of a text and that chapters 1-4 were later additions?
- One common argument for a literal interpretation is that because Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:21 and in Romans 5 states that sin entered the world through "one man" and connects this "first Adam" to Christ, the "second Adam", therefore we must believe in a historical Adam, and to deny a historical Adam is to break a key link in Paul's argument. How then do we understand 1 Timothy 2:14, where Paul states that "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor."? If interpreted literally these contradict, so Paul must at least in one of these cases be referring to a larger group (at least the couple). How does the fact that Paul at various times describes two different individuals as the first sinner affect your understanding of Genesis 1-3?
- What is your interpretation of the theological differences in creation between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3 (for example, in Genesis 1 God creates ex nihilo by speaking, while in Genesis 2-3 God creates using existing matter [dust, a rib] through physical actions)?
- How do you interpret the statements in chapter 4 that so-and-so "was the father of those who" do various occupations? Are these literal or figurative statements, and how do they affect your interpretation of Genesis 1-3?
- Some of the latter parts of Genesis seem not be in chronological sequence (for example, Genesis 17 states that Ishmael is 13 years old while Genesis 21 is written as if he were a baby). How does this affect your understanding of Genesis 1-3?
Thank you! I am trying to better understand how the literal perspective deals with these textual phenomena.