Is the Creation Account in Genesis One an Historical Account or a Myth?

1Moreover Elihu answered,

2“Hear my words, you wise men.

Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.

3For the ear tries words,

as the palate tastes food.

4Let us choose for us that which is right.

Let us know among ourselves what is good.

5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,

God has taken away my right.

6Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar.

My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’

7What man is like Job,

who drinks scorn like water,

8who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,

and walks with wicked men?

9For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing

that he should delight himself with God.’

10“Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding:

far be it from God, that he should do wickedness,

from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

11For the work of a man he will render to him,

and cause every man to find according to his ways.

12Yes surely, God will not do wickedly,

neither will the Almighty pervert justice.

13Who put him in charge of the earth?

Or who has appointed him over the whole world?

14If he set his heart on himself,

if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

15all flesh would perish together,

and man would turn again to dust.

16“If now you have understanding, hear this.

Listen to the voice of my words.

17Should even one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

18who says to a king, ‘Vile!’

or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’?

19He doesn’t respect the persons of princes,

nor respect the rich more than the poor,

for they all are the work of his hands.

20In a moment they die, even at midnight.

The people are shaken and pass away.

The mighty are taken away without a hand.

21“For his eyes are on the ways of a man.

He sees all his goings.

22There is no darkness, nor thick gloom,

where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

23For he doesn’t need to consider a man further,

that he should go before God in judgment.

24He breaks mighty men in pieces in ways past finding out,

and sets others in their place.

25Therefore he takes knowledge of their works.

He overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.

26He strikes them as wicked men

in the open sight of others;

27because they turned away from following him,

and wouldn’t pay attention to any of his ways,

28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him.

He heard the cry of the afflicted.

29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn?

When he hides his face, who then can see him?

He is over a nation or a man alike,

30that the godless man may not reign,

that there be no one to ensnare the people.

31“For has any said to God,

‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.

32Teach me that which I don’t see.

If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

33Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it?

For you must choose, and not I.

Therefore speak what you know.

34Men of understanding will tell me,

yes, every wise man who hears me:

35‘Job speaks without knowledge.

His words are without wisdom.’

36I wish that Job were tried to the end,

because of his answering like wicked men.

37For he adds rebellion to his sin.

He claps his hands among us,

and multiplies his words against God.”

Topical Study | Gen 1:1 | Hershel Wayne House

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