Should Genesis be Taken
Literally?
By Russell Grigg
Creationists
are often accused of believing that the whole Bible should be taken literally. This is not so! Rather, the key to
a correct understanding of any part of the Bible
is to ascertain the intention of the author of the portion or book under
discussion. This is not as difficult as it may seem, as the Bible obviously contains:
Poetry—as in the Psalms,
where the repetition or parallelism of ideas is in accordance with Hebrew
ideas of poetry, without the rhyme (parallelism of sound) and metre (parallelism
of time) that are 
important
parts of traditional English poetry.
Parables—as
in many of the sayings of Jesus, such as the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3–23), which Jesus Himself
clearly states to be a parable and about which He gives meanings for the
various items, such as the seed and the soil.
Prophecy—as in the books of the last section of the Old Testament (Isaiah to Malachi).
Biography—as in the gospels.
Autobiography/testimony—as
in the book of Acts where the author,
Luke, after narrating the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus as
a historical fact (Acts 9:1–19), then
describes two further occasions when Paul included this conversion experience
as part of his own personal testimony (Acts
22:1–21; 26:1–22).
Authentic historical facts—as in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, etc.
Thus
the author’s intention with respect to any book of the Bible is usually quite clear from the style and the content. Who
then was the author of Genesis, and
what intention is revealed by his style and the content of what he wrote?
The
Author
The
Lord Jesus Himself and the gospel writers said that the Law was given by Moses
(Mark 10:3; Luke 24:27; John 1:17),
and the uniform tradition of the Jewish scribes and early Christian fathers,
and the conclusion of conservative scholars to the present day, is that Genesis was written by Moses. This does
not preclude the possibility that Moses had access to patriarchal records,
preserved by being written on clay tablets and handed down from father to son
via the line of Adam–Seth–Noah–Shem–Abraham–Isaac–Jacob, etc., as there are 11
verses in Genesis which read, “These
are the generations [Hebrew: toledoth = ‘origins’ or by extension ‘record of
the origins’] of….” As these statements all come after the
events they describe, and the events recorded in each division all took place
before rather than after the death of the individuals so named, they may very
well be subscripts or closing signatures, i.e. colophons, rather than
superscripts or headings.
If
this is so, the most likely explanation of them is that Adam, Noah, Shem, and
the others each wrote down an account of the events which occurred in his
lifetime, and Moses, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, selected and
compiled these, along with his own comments, into the book we now know as Genesis.
Chapters
12–50 of Genesis were very clearly
written as authentic history, as they describe the lives of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and his 12 sons who were the ancestral heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The Jewish people, from earliest biblical times to the present day, have always
regarded this portion of Genesis as
the true record of their nation’s history.
So,
what about the first 11 chapters of Genesis,
which are our main concern, as these are the ones that have incurred the most
criticism from modern scholars, scientists, and sceptics?
Genesis
1–11
Are
any of these chapters poetry?
To
answer this question we need to examine in a little more depth just what is
involved in the parallelism of ideas that constitutes Hebrew poetry.
Let
us consider Psalm 1:1, which reads
as follows: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
Here we see triple parallelism in the nouns and verbs used (reading downwards
in the following scheme):
|
walketh |
counsel |
ungodly |
|
standeth |
way |
sinners |
|
sitteth |
seat |
scornful |
As
well as this overt parallelism, there is also a covert or subtle progression of
meaning. In the first column, ‘walketh’ suggests short-term acquaintance, ‘standeth’
implies readiness to discuss, and ‘sitteth’ speaks of long-term involvement. In
the second column, ‘counsel’ betokens general advice, ‘way’ indicates a chosen
course of action, and ‘seat’ signifies a set condition of mind. In the third
column, ‘ungodly’ describes the negatively wicked, ‘sinner’ characterizes the
positively wicked, and ‘scornful’ portrays the contemptuously wicked.
Other
types of Hebrew poetry include contrastive parallelism, as in Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds
of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful,” and completive
parallelism, as in Psalm 46:1, “God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of need.”
And
so we return to our question. Are any of the first 11 chapters of Genesis poetry?
Answer: “No,” because these chapters
do not contain information or invocation in any of the forms of Hebrew poetry,
in either overt or covert form, and because Hebrew scholars of substance are
agreed that this is so.
Note:
There certainly is repetition in Genesis
chapter 1, e.g. “And God said…” occurs 10 times; “and God saw that it was good/very
good” seven times; “after his/their kind” 10 times; “And the evening and the
morning were the…day” six times. However, these repetitions have none of the
poetic forms discussed above; rather they are statements of fact and thus a
record of what happened, and possibly for emphasis—to indicate the importance
of the words repeated.
Are any of these chapters
parables?
No,
because when Jesus told a parable He either said it was a parable, or He
introduced it with a simile, so making it plain to the hearers that it was a
parable, as on the many occasions when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is
like….” No such claim is made or style used by the author of Genesis 1–11.
Are any of these chapters prophecy?
Not
in their full context, although two promises of God are prophetic in the sense
that their fulfillment would be seen in the future. One of these is Genesis 3:15, which was the
pronouncement by God to the serpent (Satan) in metaphorical form: “And I will
put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your
seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on
the heel.” (NASB).
Many have interpreted the ‘seed’ in this verse as the Messiah, including most
evangelicals and even the Jewish Targums hence the Talmudic
expression ‘heels of the Messiah’. The Messiah would suffer
wounds to His feet (on the Cross), but would completely destroy Satan’s power.
This verse also hints at the virginal conception, as the Messiah is called the
seed of the woman, contrary to the normal biblical practice of naming the
father rather than the mother of a child (cf. Genesis chapters 5 and 11, 1
Chronicles chapters 1–9, Matthew
chapter 1, Luke 3:23–38). The other
is Genesis 8:21–22 and 9:11–17, “And
the LORD said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s
sake…and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Are
any of these chapters letters, biography, or autobiography/personal
testimony?
This
is where we need to consider some of the subscripts mentioned above.
If
Adam knew the events of Creation Days 1–6, they must have been revealed to him
by God, as Adam was not made until Day 6, and so he could have known them only
if God had told him. This view is reinforced by the words, “These are the
generations of [NIV: “This is the
account of “] the heavens and of the earth when they were created…” in Genesis 2:4a. The details of Day 7, the
rest day, are included before this in Genesis
2:2–3, thereby completing (as we might expect) the record of a full seven-day week,
before this subscript or closing signature appears.
Then
follow the events of Genesis
2:4b–5:1a. This section tells us about Adam, his wife Eve, and their sons, and
reads very much like a personal account of what Adam knew, saw, and experienced
concerning the Garden of Eden, and the creation of Eve (chapter 2), their
rebellion against God (chapter 3), and the deeds of their descendants (chapter
4 to 5:1), albeit written in the third person. This section ends
with the words, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.”
Is
it feasible that Adam could have written Genesis
1:1–2:4a as the result of his pre-Fall conversation with God, and Genesis 2:4b–5:1 as the record of his
own experiences? There is no problem concerning his ability to have done so. Adam
was created a mature man, endowed with all the DNA, knowledge and skill he
needed to perform all the tasks assigned him by God. No cave-man he! Adam knew
enough horticulture “to dress and to keep” the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15), and ample intelligence to
recognize and name the distinct kinds of animals (Genesis 2:19). He (and Eve) could converse with God without ever
having learned an alphabet, and there is no reason to suppose that he was not
fully skilled in writing also.
Supposed
contradictions
What
about the supposed contradictions between the order of events in Genesis chapter 2 and the order given in
chapter 1?
There
are none! If, with the NIV, we read “Now
the LORD God had planted a garden in the east…” (Genesis 2:8) and, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground
all the beasts of the field…” (Genesis
2:19), it is clearly seen that chapter 2 states that the plants and animals
were formed before Adam.
When
Adam named the animals (Genesis 2:20),
they obviously were already in existence. There is no contradictory
significance in the order of animals listed in Genesis 2:20; it is probably the order in which Adam met the
animals, while the order of their creation is given in Genesis 1:20–25. Dr. Henry Morris comments: “It was only the animals
in closest proximity and most likely as theoretical candidates for
companionship to man that were actually brought to him. These included the
birds of the air, the cattle (verse 20—probably the domesticated animals), and
the beasts of the field, which were evidently the smaller wild animals that
would live near human habitations. Those not included were the fish of the sea,
the creeping things, and the beasts of the earth mentioned in Genesis 1:24, which presumably were
those wild animals living at considerable distance from man and his cultivated
fields.”
Concerning
the names of geographical sites, we have no idea what the configuration of the
land or the rivers was before the Flood, because the pre-Flood world was
completely destroyed. The land areas and rivers named before the Flood do not
correspond to similarly named features after the Flood.
The
purpose of Genesis 2:18–25 is not to
give another account of creation but to show that there was no kinship
whatsoever between Adam and the animals. None was like him, and so none could
provide fellowship or companionship for him. Why not? Because
Adam had not evolved from them, but was ‘a living soul’ whom God had created ‘in
His own image’ (Genesis 2:7 and
1:27). This means (among other things) that God created Adam to be a
person whom He could address, and who could respond to and interact with
Himself. Here, as in many other places, the plain statements of the Bible confront and contradict the notion
of human evolution.
There
is therefore enough evidence for us to conclude that Adam most probably was the
author of Genesis 2:4b–5:1, and that
this is his record of his own experiences with respect to events in the Garden
of Eden, the creation of Eve, the Fall, and in the lives of Cain, Abel, and
Seth.
The
next section is from 5:1b to 6:9a, and deals with the line from Adam to Noah,
ending with, “These are the generations [or origins] of Noah.”
The
next section is from 6:9b to 10:1a, and deals mainly with the Ark and the
Flood, ending with, “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth.” The wording of this subscript suggests that this portion was
written by one of Noah’s sons, probably Shem, as Moses was descended from Shem.
These chapters read very much like an eye-witness account because of the
intimacy of detail which they contain. Consider Genesis 8:6–12 and note how this contains that ring of authenticity
which is characteristic of an eye-witness account. It may even have been Shem’s
diary!
Genesis 8:6–12: “6 And it came to pass
at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had
made: 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the
waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him,
to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9 But the
dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the
ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his
hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10 And he stayed
yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her
mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated
from off the earth. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the
dove; which returned not again unto him any more.” (KJV).
Such
meticulous details are the stuff of authentic eye-witness testimony. They have
the ring of truth.
There
is thus a substantial body of evidence that these portions of Genesis delineated by subscripts were
written by the persons named therein, for the purpose of making and passing on
a permanent record. So then, were these first 11 chapters written as a record
of authentic historical facts? Answer: “Yes,” for several reasons.
Internal
evidence of the book of Genesis
1.
There is the internal evidence of the book of Genesis itself. As already mentioned, chapters 12–50 have always
been regarded by the Jewish people as being the record of their own true
history, and the style of writing contained in chapters 1–11 is not strikingly
different from that in chapters 12–50.
2.
Hebrew scholars of standing have always regarded this to be the case. Thus,
Professor James Barr, Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford,
has written: “Probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class
university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that:
(a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days
of 24 hours we now experience; (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple
addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the
biblical story; (c) Noah’s flood was understood to be world-wide and extinguish
all human and animal life except for those in the ark. Or, to put it
negatively, the apologetic arguments which suppose the “days” of creation to be
long eras of time, the figures of years not to be chronological, and the flood
to be a merely local Mesopotamian flood, are not taken seriously by any such
professors, as far as I know.”
3. One of the main themes of Genesis
is the Sovereignty of God. This is seen in God’s actions in respect of
four outstanding events in Genesis
1–11 (Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the Babel
dispersion), and His relationship to four outstanding people in Genesis 12–50 (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph). There is thus a unifying theme to the whole of the book of Genesis, which falls to the 
ground
if any part is mythical and not true history; on the other hand, each portion
reinforces the historical authenticity of the other.
Evidence
from the rest of the Bible
4.
The principal people mentioned in Genesis
chapters 1–11 are referred to as real—historical, not mythical—people in the
rest of the Bible, often many times.
For example, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and Noah are referred to in 15 other books
of the Bible.
5.
The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Creation of Adam and Eve as a real
historical event, by quoting Genesis
1:27 and 2:24 in His teaching about divorce (Matthew 19:3–6; Mark 10:2–9),
and by referring to Noah as a real historical person and the Flood as a real
historical event, in His teaching about the ‘coming of the Son of man’ (Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–27).
6.
Unless the first 11 chapters of Genesis
are authentic historical events, the rest of the Bible is incomplete and incomprehensible as to its full meaning.
The theme of the Bible is Redemption,
and may be outlined thus: i. God’s redeeming purpose is revealed in Genesis 1–11, ii. God’s redeeming
purpose progresses from Genesis 12 to
Jude 25, and iii. God’s redeeming
purpose is consummated in Revelation
1–22.
But
why does mankind need to be redeemed? What is it that he needs to be redeemed
from? The answer is given in Genesis
1–11, namely, from the ruin brought about by sin. Unless we know that the
entrance of sin to the human race was a true historical fact, God’s purpose in
providing a substitutionary atonement is a mystery. Conversely, the historical
truth of Genesis 1–11 shows that all
mankind has come under the righteous anger of God and needs salvation from the
penalty, power, and presence of sin.
7.
Unless the events of the first chapters of Genesis
are true history, the Apostle Paul’s explanation of the gospel in Romans chapter 5 and of the resurrection
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 has no
meaning. Paul writes: “For as by one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one [Jesus] shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). And, “For since by man
came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…And so it is written, The first
man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:21–22; 45). The
historical truth of the record concerning the first Adam is a guarantee that
what God says in His Word about the
last Adam [Jesus] is also true. Likewise, the historical, literal truth of the
record concerning Jesus is a guarantee that what God says about the first Adam
is also historically and literally true.
Conclusion
We
return to the question which forms the title of this article. Should Genesis be taken literally? Answer: If
we apply the normal principles of biblical exegesis (ignoring pressure to
make the text conform to the evolutionary prejudices of our age), it is overwhelmingly
obvious that Genesis was meant to
be taken in a straightforward, obvious sense as an authentic, literal, historical
record of what actually happened.
Russell Grigg lives in Brisbane
Australia and is a staff member of Creation Ministries International (CMI).
He writes scientific and theological articles for Creation Magazine, edits articles and books written by others,
and reviews books and videos on creation topics submitted to CMI from overseas.
