1“However, Job, please hear my speech,
and listen to all my words.
2See now, I have opened my mouth.
My tongue has spoken in my mouth.
3My words will utter the uprightness of my heart.
That which my lips know they will speak sincerely.
4The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5If you can, answer me.
Set your words in order before me, and stand up.
6Behold, I am toward God even as you are.
I am also formed out of the clay.
7Behold, my terror will not make you afraid,
neither will my pressure be heavy on you.
8“Surely you have spoken in my hearing,
I have heard the voice of your words, saying,
9‘I am clean, without disobedience.
I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me.
10Behold, he finds occasions against me.
He counts me for his enemy.
11He puts my feet in the stocks.
He marks all my paths.’
12“Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just,
for God is greater than man.
13Why do you strive against him,
because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?
14For God speaks once,
yes twice, though man pays no attention.
15In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
in slumbering on the bed,
16then he opens the ears of men,
and seals their instruction,
17that he may withdraw man from his purpose,
and hide pride from man.
18He keeps back his soul from the pit,
and his life from perishing by the sword.
19“He is chastened also with pain on his bed,
with continual strife in his bones,
20so that his life abhors bread,
and his soul dainty food.
21His flesh is so consumed away that it can’t be seen.
His bones that were not seen stick out.
22Yes, his soul draws near to the pit,
and his life to the destroyers.
23“If there is beside him an angel,
an interpreter, one among a thousand,
to show to man what is right for him,
24then God is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the pit,
I have found a ransom.’
25His flesh will be fresher than a child’s.
He returns to the days of his youth.
26He prays to God, and he is favorable to him,
so that he sees his face with joy.
He restores to man his righteousness.
27He sings before men, and says,
‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,
and it didn’t profit me.
28He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit.
My life will see the light.’
29“Behold, God does all these things,
twice, yes three times, with a man,
30to bring back his soul from the pit,
that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.
31Mark well, Job, and listen to me.
Hold your peace, and I will speak.
32If you have anything to say, answer me.
Speak, for I desire to justify you.
33If not, listen to me.
Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.”
There is controversy today in the Christian community far more important than differences among believers in many decades regarding the nature of the Genesis account in Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Liberal scholars have generally believed the creation account was not truly representative of an actual event but embraced a Darwinist explanation of the creation of the world (what is often called macro-evolution), that contends that all of life on earth developed from very small forms of life that were created by an accident in the primordial fluids of ancient earth billions of years ago. Even so, the current debate extends much further than believing in long periods for the creation days and even accepting some form of evolution. The current debate is whether Adam and Eve and the events transpiring around them in the biblical account ever occurred and whether Genesis is only a myth rather than factual history.
Christians, through most of Christian history (and the Jewish people before Christianity), have embraced a literal and factual creation by God that is found in Genesis 1, as well as the more detailed creation of humans in Genesis 2. In current Christianity, several scholars, who are generally conservative in most areas of theology, are advocating that the Genesis One account is, in reality, a myth or fiction. Moreover, there is a rejection of an actual Adam and Eve, a temptation and fall, and many of the events in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Allegedly, God only inspired a mythical account that provided a story in which He could teach an inerrant truth about Himself being the ultimate Creator of the universe.
However, there are several reasons to reject this manner of interpreting Genesis. First, this alternate view is contrary to the understanding of various persons in the Old Testament, Jesus, the apostles, and the church for most of its history. Second, though the factual account of creation and the fall arguably contains some poetic features, the essence is a true and historical account that is consistent with the mainstream scientific understanding of the chronology of the creative events. Additionally, the biblical account of creation is not in agreement with Ancient Near East creation stories, upon which many current scholars rely in rejecting the factual, historical account found in Scripture, as well as the uniqueness of the Genesis account of creation. As the literary scholar C. S. Lewis once stated, "Myth comes from history and not history from myth."
I would encourage you to view the free YouTube video, Is Genesis History? Click https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE&feature=youtu.be in the browser of your phone, iPad, or Computer for this excellent discussion of the historicity of the book of Genesis.
The writers of the Bible believed in the historical doctrine of the creation of the world and the specific creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible contains about 300 verses on creation.
Gen 1:1-27; 2:1-23; 3:1, 19, 23; 5:1, 2; 6:6, 7; 7:4; 9:6
Exod 4:11, 32; 14:21; 20:11; 31:17
Job 4:7; 9:8, 9; 10:8; 26:7; 28:6; 31:15; 32:22; 33:4, 6, 7; 34:15; 38:4-6; 40:15
Ps 8:3-8; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:6; 52:7; 86:9; 89:11, 12; 90:2, 3; 94:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 102:25; 104:2-5, 19, 24, 25, 30; 115:8, 15; 119:73; 121:2; 125:3, 8; 135:7; 139:14, 15; 146:6; 148:1-5
Prov 8:23-29; 14:31; 16:4; 17:5; 20:1, 2, 12; 22:2; 26:10
Eccl 3:11; 7:14, 29; 11:5; 12:1, 7
Isa 17:7; 22:11; 27:11; 29:16; 37:16, 26; 40:21, 26, 28; 41:20; 42:5; 43:1, 7, 10, 17, 21; 44:2, 21, 24; 45:7, 8, 12, 18; 48:13; 49:5; 51:13, 16; 66:2, 22
Jer 1:5; 10:11-13, 16; 27:5; 29:9; 31:35; 32:17; 33:2; 51:15, 16
Matt 13:35; 19:4, 5, 6, 8; 24:21; 25:34
John 1:3, 10; 8:44; 9:32; 17:24
Rom 1:19, 20; 5:12, 14-19; 8:19-23, 39; Rom 13:1, 4
1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9, 12; 15:22, 38, 45-47, 49
Eph 1:4, 39
1 Tim 2:13, 14; 4:3, 4
Heb 1:2, 3, 10, 14; 3:4; 4:3, 4, 10, 13; 9:11, 26; 12:27
Rev 3:14; 4:8-11; 10:6; 13:8; 14:7; 17:8; 21:1, 5; 22:13
Knowing the Truth about Creation, p. 150, from Norm Geisler, The Importance of Creation (PowerPoint Presentation)