FIRST THINGS FIRST

GENESIS 1:1-5

Pastor Rick Jackson

People say that you can interpret the Bible to say anything you want. In a sense, that's true. It's true in the same way that you can interpret the newspaper to say anything you want, a book, a conversation, a song. You can interpret white to mean black, bad to be good, young to be old... in short, you can interpret whatever you like to mean whatever you want until the (in our case) English language means nothing. Of course, we don't do that because the results would be chaos and confusion. We generally use simples rules of interpretation in our every day lives without thinking about them. We should approach the Bible with the right rules of interpretation in mind.

I. THE FIRST RULE OF INTERPRETATION

"When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense. Therefore take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate text, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, clearly indicate otherwise."

Put simply:

1. When the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

2. The Bible should be taken literally but not "letterally".

We use figures of speech in our everyday language and no one thinks a thing about it. "You are pulling my leg." Is a figure of speech. So it is in Luke 13:32 when Jesus said unto them, "Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." Jesus was casting out demons but no-one thinks Herod was a four-legged animal.

When we approach the Bible this should be our approach. When we approach Genesis this should be our approach. When we approach the Creation account in Genesis 1 & 2 this should be our approach. When we approach the first few verses of Genesis 1 this should be our approach.

3. Scripture should interpret Scripture

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

II. THE FIRST DAY [GN. 1:1-5]

1. THE DAY IS SETTLED [Gn. 1:1-5, 31; 2:1-3; Ex. 20:9-11, Heb. 4:4]

2. THE DATE IS SETTLED [Gn. 1:1, Mt. 19:4-6]

"Controversy has raged over whether these are literal twenty-four-hour days or geological ages. This controversy completely misses the point of the Genesis account. It should be clear to anyone reading the passage that Genesis does not focus upon the question of time." -RCS

To which I would reply, "What? What Bible are you reading?" Gn. 1:1, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31, 2:1-3

"In the beginning" of what? The beginning of the time-space-matter continuum (i.e., creation) which Jesus plainly states Adam and Eve were "in the beginning" that is, present the last 2 days of the first week [Mt. 19:4-6].

3. THE DIFFERENCE IS SETTLED

Daniel 1:4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

The so-called gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 was only invented after Christians tried to reconcile the Bible to the untested theories of some scientists instead of taking the Word of God, Who was there, Who never lies and Who has revealed what He Himself did, how He did it, when He did it (to within a few thousand years-not billions) and how long He took to do it and even why He took that long!

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

The Gap Theory is unbiblical, unscientific and completely unsatisfying. It has caused multitudes to wrest the Scriptures, many to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).

III. THE FIRST LIGHT

1. A DIVINE LIGHT [v. 3, Jn. 1:1-9, Rev. 21:23-24]

2. DIVIDING LIGHT [v. 4]

3. A DEFINING LIGHT [v. 5]