The “Gap Theory”

As was noted in the previous article, in order for “theistic evolutionists” (a misnomer if there ever was one) to insert vast geological time spans into the Biblical creation account he has only three choices: 1) before, 2) during, or 3) after. The “Day-Agers” attempt to insert the time during the creation week. But it has been amply proven that doing such not only violates the plain teaching of Scripture, it is not even necessary in order to explain archaeological and anthropological evidence that is available concerning the age of the earth. That being the case, another “explanation” was sought. Thus, we have the “Gap Theory.”

Basically, this theory states that the vast time span required for evolution is to be found between verses one and two of Genesis, chapter one. Gap Theorists maintain that God’s creation mentioned in Genesis 1:1 occurred billions of years ago and that this “original creation” was spoiled by Satan’s disobedience and was destroyed by God, resulting in an Earth that was “without form and void” (an empty wasteland). They would maintain that God then began “recreating” the Earth (Gen 1:2). This assumption is based on the use of two Hebrew words: bara (translated – created, Gen 1:1) and asah (translated – made, Gen 1:7). The argument is that God originally “created” (bara) the universe and after destroying that original creation then “made” (asah) what now exists. The difference being that bara refers to the creation of “something out of nothing.” The idea being that of making something “from scratch” while asah refers to taking materials already in existence and making something else out of that material in much the same way that someone might tear down a house and use the salvaged materials to build a different house. But here the evolutionist encounters a problem. In the Hebrew language these words are used interchangeably in much the same way that created, erected, built, made, and constructed are used interchangeably in the English language. For example, in Genesis 2:4 Moses wrote, “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created (bara), in the day that the Lord God made (asah) the earth and the heavens” (emp. mine – TLM; cf. Psa 148:5; Exo 20:11; et. al.).

Furthermore, in Genesis 1:31 God pronounced the totality of His creation “very good.” If Satan and his followers had rebelled prior to creation such a statement would have been false. If God makes a false statement He cannot be God (cf. Heb 6:18; Rom 3:4).

Another problem the gap theorist has is the fact that the Bible plainly maintains that Adam and Eve were the very first human beings. According to the Gap Theory, the fossil record should be relegated to this “pre-historic” time frame, thus obviating the need to reconcile humans and dinosaurs co-existing. However, Jesus, in referring to the marital union between Adam and Eve, plainly stated that they were “from the beginning” (Mat 19:4, 5). If this union existed from the beginning, how can there be anything before the beginning? Furthermore, the inspired apostle referred to Adam as the “first man” (1 Cor 15:45). Since Paul was revealing what the Lord had revealed to him (cf. Gal 1:12; 2 Pet 1:19-21) Adam must have been the very first person to have existed. Otherwise, Paul was not speaking truth as was promised concerning the Holy Spirit’s guidance: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth… (Jn 16:13).

As you can see, the “Gap Theory” has many “gaps” in it. Any theory with that many holes should be discarded forthwith.

Believe God’s word.

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