NT six literal days

"FOR IN SIX DAYS the LORD MADE the HEAVENs and the EARTH the SEA and all that is in them".

The SAME SIX days that we are to work in --

Ex 20
8 ""Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 "" Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 "" For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Gen 2
]Genesis 2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed[/b], and all their hosts.
2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.[/quote]
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.[/b]


It is left as an exercise for the reader to SEE What the Bible has said CLEARLY in these pointed texts EVEN if some others would flee these texts calling them "keyholes to be avoided".

In Christ,

Bob

 

BobRyan:

"Never -- not not once! No not in ALL of SCRIPTURE are these symbolic or allegorical terms for "day" used in the form "EVENING and MORNING were the Xth-day" with cardinal numbers assigned to each day and evening-morning time units given AND such units even used in LAW "SIX days you shall labor and do ...
.The point is that simply "making stuff up" as you are doing does not form a valid substitute for actual Bible exegesis of the topic.

Why is that such a hard concept?"

GE:

Re this last question of yours, because people just hate the fact that there is a Sabbath Day "God thus concerning did speak", namely, "the Seventh Day", the Day "God finished all his works". That is why nothing else.
You yourself will also have to pay attention to the words, "ALL, the works of God".

 

Tell you what, DHK. When you decide to discuss rather than attack and insult, we'll talk, OK?

 

Tragic_pizza, I have stood many times with you on threads where certain Christian groups were being attacked for things they do not believe nor practice. Overall, you have been a wonderful voice advocating Scriptural standards and Christ-honoring demeanor in areas of Christian disagreement.

However, here is one case I have to suggest you are in the wrong. On the very first page of this thread, here is what you said about the Genesis 1 account meaning 6 day/night periods:

Knowing full well that many here take Genesis 1 as meaning how the ancient Hebrews would have understood it, such a statement could not have been taken in any way other than an insult.

Why? You basically said `One would expect primitive people to accept this account.' Applying this to modern persons is going to come off as insulting.

If this is not how you intended it, I believe you need to clarify in detail what your intentions were. From where I sit, people have good reason to be angry with you.

 

I honestly had no modern person in mind when I wrote about how a prescientific people would have tried to understand how the world came into being. The phrase "prescientific" refers not to a group of modern individuals of any description, but to the period of time in history before scientific theories and apparati began to be developed.

The first creation account is a hymn or poem, with each verse bracketed by "On the ___ day..." and "and there was evening and morning, the ___ day."

The hymn was intended to provide solid theological truths to the listener. There is a Creator, and there is an order to Creation. More than this -- the chemical makeup of the sun, the specifics of gravity and atmosphere and photosenthysis, for example -- was unneccesary. All they needed to know was that God, their Creator, had ordered things and was in control.

If one were so inclined, one could look at the formation of the earth as some scientific theories have posited and see similarities to the opening verses of Genesis. In other words, one does not have to be hammered solidly to a young-earth, absolute six calendar day creation hymn in order to be a solid believer in the Creator and in the One whom the Creator sent to redeem us.

 

Says who?

Why can't the Bible just mean exactly what it says?

 

It does. Why do you ask?

 

That is pure wishful thinking. It is opinion without any basis in fact. There is no poetry there--not in English, and not in Hebrew. The first recorded poetry recorded in Scripture (agreed on by virtually all Bible Scholars) is recorded in Genesis 4, and spoken by a murderer called Lamech:

Genesis 4:23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
Genesis 4:24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

 

If you look at the quote that I supposedly attacked you and insulted you in, you will find that it is full of questions and advice. Did you answer the questions I gave you? Did you take my advice. If not, then there is no basis for an intelligent discussion, is there?

 

C. John Collins provides strong linguistic grounds for calling the Genesis creation genre "exalted prose narrative".

And of course I stand solidly with the those who take the Bible literally:
I believe that the creation passage is NOT talking about 24 hour days. :thumbs:

Rob

 

And why should I trust any of Collins' works?

Read the entire article here:
http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/bib...nthropomorphic-days-of-c-john-collins-part-2/

 

I don’t ask you to trust Collins, DH.
I only provided an experts opinion that was half way between the Tragic message of “hymn or poem” and your denial, “no poetry there”.

His "Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary" of Genesis 1-4 is a good read, I'd be willing to lend you my copy if your interested.

UGGGH That just took me to 3000 posts, now I'm an old timer.

Rob

 

I realize this. However, your statement that "one would expect pre-scientific peoples to accept this account" was posted on a board where there are modern people who accept the account.

You created a link that connects modern 6-day/night creationists to primitive societies. You may not have intended to do that -- but that is what got the `blood boiling.'

 

Wow! Is anyone left standing? Did anyone speak directly to the OP?

Personally, I think it was 6 literal days ~~ but I could be wrong..... :laugh:

 

I think post #2 and #3 did a good job summing up that there are no direct references in the NT.

Rob

 

Because in Genesis we are give 6 days of creation - 6 days. Not 6 poems. Not 6 verses of poetry. 6 days.

If God's Word is wrong here, then where else is it wrong? Who gets to decide?

 

In Hebrew poetry, antithetic parallelism frequently consists in saying the same thing positively and then again negatively. A good, yet simple example is found in John 1:3: In the first part, he says, "All things came into being through him". Very positive. Then, John says negatively what he had said positively in the first part of the verse: " And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

You will find this sort of chiastic structure all throughout the Scriptures. Not only there, but also in much ancient secular writing.

In the Western world, we tend to thing of things linearly. A story has a beginning, a body, a climax, and an end. But, in ancient languages, without punctuation, etc., they would often use this sort of parallelistic poetry, and the stories are circular: A beginning, a body, a climax, the body in parallel contrast, back to the beginning. (This is a very simplistic explanation of chiasmus. If anyone's interested, I'll start a new thread on the subject.)

In fact, the creation account contains chiastic structures within chiastic structures. If the creation account is not poetry, nothing is!

The general construction of the creation account is set up like this:

A “He [God] created” (1:1b) [Reading the Hebrew, "he created" comes before "God", which makes little sense in English, so it's switched in English.]
B “God” (1:1b)
C “heavens and earth” (1:1b)
X FORMING AND FILLING OF THE EARTH (1:2-31)
C’ “heavens and earth” (2:1)
B’ “God” (2:2)
A’ “He [God] had made” (2:3)

Then, Genesis 2:4 makes a great conclusion:

A “heaven”
B “earth”
C “created”
C’ “made”
B’ “earth”
A’ “heaven”

Not only this, but there are seven 7's in this passage. "7" is the number of perfection or completion:

7 paragraphs: The arrangement of Genesis 1:1—2:3 consists of an introduction and seven paragraphs. The introduction identifies the Creator and creation (Gen. 1:1-2); six paragraphs corresponds to the six creation days (1:3-21). The seventh paragraph marks the climactic seventh day, the day of consecration (2:1-3).

Seven announcements of commandments. "God said" occurs 10 times, but it's grouped into 7 groups: (Gen. 1:3; 6; 1:9; 1:11; 1:14, 1:20;
1:24; 1:26, 28, 29). (10 is the number of testimony, law, and responsibility.) [I have a comment to make on the 10 here and the 8 below, if anyone's interested.]

The order formula: “Let there be . . .”, while occurring eight times, the formula
is grouped into seven (Gen. 1:3; 1:6, 9; 1:11; 1:14; 1:20; 1:24; 1:26).

The fulfillment formula: “And it was so” occurs seven times (Gen. 1:3; 1:7; 1:9;
1:11; 1:15; 1:24; 1:30).

The execution formula: “And God made” occurs seven times (Gen. 1:4; 1:7;
1:12; 1:16; 1:21; 1:25; 1:27).

The approval formula: “God saw that it was good” occurs seven times (Gen.
1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:18; 1:21; 1:25; 1:31).

The subsequent divine word: God’s naming or blessing occurs seven times
(Gen. 1:5; 1:8; 1:10; 1:22; 1:28).

Seven days affirmed: There are seven days mentioned (Gen. 1:5; 1:8; 1:13;
1:19; 1:23; 1:31; 2:2).

Even day four is poetic:

A “to divide the day from the night” (1:14a)
B “for signs, for fixed times, for days and years” (1:14b)
C “to give light on the earth (1:15)
D “to rule the day” (1:16a)
D’ “to rule the night (1:16b)
C’ “to give light on the earth” (1:17)
B’ “to rule the day and the night” (1:18a)
A’ “to divide the light from the darkness” (1:18b)

Klaus Potsch gives the following:

A Literary Structure of Genesis 1:1—2:25
by Klaus Potsch
a 1:1-3 bareness of matter
b 1:4-5 separation of light and darkness
c 1:6-8 separation of the waters above and the waters below
d 1:9-10 separation of dry land and the sea
e 1:11-13 fulfilling of the earth
f 1:14-19 filling of the sky with lights to govern and to measure time
g 1:20-23 filling of the waters below and the waters above with animals
h 1:24-25 filling the land with animals (living beings)
i 1:26 God's concept of mankind
j 1:27 creation of mankind, transfer of image
k 1:28 mankind's habitat - the earth
l 1:29-30 the basis of food for the living creatures
m 1:31 the heavens and earth made, day 6
n 2:1 God creation completed in content
o 2:2a God's creation completed in time
p 2:2b God rests on the 7th day
x 2:3a THE HOLY GOD BOTH BLESSES AND SANCTIFIES
p' 2:3b God rests on the 7th day
o' 2:3c God's works created and made
n' 2:4a the heavens and earth created (finished, completed)
m' 2:4b the heavens and earth made in a timespan
l' 2:5-6 basis for life in the garden plants, moisture
k' 2:7a man's origin = dust
j' 2:7b man's creation, transfer of life
i' 2:8 man's place = the garden
h' 2:9 filling the garden with plants (tree of life)
g' 2:10-14 filling the garden with water
f' 2:15-17 filling the garden with a caretaker + measure for good and evil
e' 2:18 fulfilling Adam's life
d' 2:19-20 separation (discerning, naming) of the animals
c' 2:21-23 separation of man and woman
b' 2:24 separation of parents and children
a' 2:25 bareness of man

 

In case God's Word is of concern in this discussion.

If the texts above are "to be believed" -- then SIX REAL days it IS!

In Christ,

Bob

 

As the John 1 point illustrates "Chiastic does NOT mean -- NOT TRUE".

so we are back to a trustworthy - accurate literal, TRUE Creation "account".

In Christ,

Bob

 

What "scripture" was been read and followed by the NT writers??

Hint - Eph 6:1-4