UNDERSTAND DAYS
We have said in many ways that the creation story is very difficult to interpret symbolically. A major reason for that difficulty is the fact that it is laid out in a sequence of days that seems to progress logically from day one to day seven. This language creates an indelible image of God creating heaven and earth in one, seven day week. While this understanding is predictable and logical from a human perspective, it does not accurately represent what was created (i.e. transformed) or the sequence by which heaven and earth were transformed.

Despite what the literal, Biblical creationists say, the correct way to handle God’s references to “days” in the creation story is to interpret them as divisions of time, a lifetime, or a time period. Interpreting Genesis literally in terms of a succession of twenty-four hour days is a big mistake religious people make that affects their perspective of the bible from Genesis to Revelation. Once again, applying human logic to bible interpretation is always a stumbling block for anyone who wants to correctly handle God’s word.

STUDY TIP: See Time: Hours, Days, Weeks and Ages for understanding of how to interpret biblical references to time.