The Credibility of Genesis 1-11 in the Light of the Old and New Testaments

The fact that God created the world plays such an important role in the Bible, that we should investigate to what extent the rest of the Bible deals with the first eleven chapters of Genesis — the descriptions of the Creation, of the Fall of Man, the Flood, the Tower of Babel and the ancestors of Abraham. A short review of relevant Scriptures will demonstrate that the theory of evolution cannot be considered Biblical, even without using the first chapters of the Bible as evidence. The theological questions cannot be separated from those of history and science.

One example out of the book of Romans makes this clear. According to Romans 5:12-21, all men live under original sin, for all are descended from Adam, the first sinner. What if Adam were not the first man after all? What if the Fall of Man were not an historical event? What if Man were not descended from Adam? Paul’s arguments are so closely bound with the historical truth of the first chapters of the Bible, that his theological dogma depends on them.

The following sketch will first demonstrate that both Testaments assume the historical reliability of these reports, and then point out the aspects of these chapters which contradict the theory of evolution.

A. God’s creation of the world is used continually in both Testaments as arguments for various teachings:

In the Old Testament: Gen. 4:11, Deut. 4:32, Job 12:1- 9+15, 32:22, 35:10, 36:3, Ps. 29:10, 33:6+9, 89:11+47, 90:2, 102:25-27, 104:1-11, 148:5, Prov. 4:31, 8:22,17:5, Eccles. 12:1, Isa. 22:11, 40:26+28, 41:20, 42:5, 43:1+5, 45:7+9+12+18, 54:9, 65:17, Amos 4:13, Mal. 2:10. (Further references are given below.)

Psalms 33:9 teaches, just as does Genesis, that the world was created instantly by God’s word: “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” The message of Hebrews 11:3 is similar: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The question is, therefore, not how God created the world in only six days, but why he let a whole day go by between the individual events. The actual creative act lasted only as long as the speaking of a few words, not several days.

In the New Testament: Mk. 13:19 (refers to Gen. 2:4), John 1:1-4, Acts 4:24 (Gen. 2:2), Acts 14:15,17:24+26 (Gen.l0:32), Rom. l:20ff, 1 Cor. 15:45+47 (Gen. 2:7, 3:23), Eph. 3:9 (Gen.2:3), Col. 1:16, 1 Tim. 4:4, Heb. 1:10, 2:10, 3:4, 4:10, 9:11, 11:3, James 3:9, 1 Pet. 4:19, Jude 14-15 (Gen.5:21-24), Rev. 3:14, 4:11 (Gen. 2:3), 10:6 (Gen.2:l), 14:7 (Gen. 2:4). (Further references given below.)

B. All New Testament writers refer to Genesis 1-11.

All books of the New Testament, except 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 2 John and 3 John, contain references to the first eleven chapters of Genesis.

Every one of the first eleven chapters of Genesis is mentioned in the New Testament. Jesus mentions each of the first seven.

We must ask ourselves, what the consequences for our beliefs on the following subjects would be, if the events of Genesis 1-11 were not historical fact:

1. Noah and the Flood: Matt. 24:37, Luke 17:26, 1 Pet. 3:20, 2 Pet. 2:4-5, Heb. 11:7 (Gen. 6-8).
2. The creation of the species: 1 Cor. 15:39-40, (Gen. 1:11+21+24).
3. The creation of light: 2 Cor. 4:6 (Gen. 1:3-5).
4. Man the image of God: Col. 3:10.
5. The serpent’s deception of Eve: 2 Cor. 11:3 (Gen. 3:16), 1 Tim. 2:13-15 (Gen. 2:23-24), Rev. 20:2+3+7.
6. The tree of life: Rev. 2:7, 22:2-3.
7. The rules for the Sabbath: Ex. 20:11, 31:17, Heb. 4:3b-4+10 (Gen. 2:2-3).
8. Creation of the sexes and the institution of marriage: Matt. 19:4-8, Mk. 10:7-9, Acts 17-26, 1 Cor. 6:16, 11:7-9, Eph. 5:31. 1 Tim. 2:13 (Gen. 2:22-24, 5:2).
9. Death as punishment for sin: Rom. 5:12-21, 6:23, 1 Cor. 15:21-22+45 (Compare Rom. 8:19) (Gen. 2:17, 3:19).
10. Cain: 1 John 3:12 (Gen. 4:8+24), Jude 10-11 (Gen. 4:16).
11. Abel: Matt. 23:35, Luke 11:51, Heb. 11:4, 12:24 (Gen. 4:3-5).
12. Enoch: Heb. 11:5, Jude 14-15 (Gen. 5:21-24).
13. The ancestry of Jesus: Matt. 1, Luke 3, Heb. 1:4-7 (Gen. 5:3-29, 11:10-24).
14. Descent of all mankind from Adam: Acts 17:26, Rom. 5:12-21.
15. The Last Judgment: Matt. 24:37-41, Luke 17:36- 36, 2 Pet. 3:3-8 (Gen. 6-8).
16. The religions: Rom. 1:20-28, Acts 14:11-18, 17:16- 34 (Gen. 4:3+26)

C. Statements from Genesis 1-11 which disagree with the theory of evolution (in the order they appear).

1:1      Creation of time and matter.

1:3      Light created before the existence of the sun.

1:5      Evening and morning first day of the Creation.

1:6-8   Belt of water above the atmosphere (Compare 2:5, 9:12-17).

1:9-10 Geological processes in historical time.

1:11    Species created in their final form.

1:14-1  Sun, moon and stars younger than the earth.

2:1-3   The seventh day as day of rest not instituted by Man.

2:18-25          Monogamy not gradually developed, hut as old as Man.

3         Death did not exist until Fall of Man.

3:21    Clothing a sudden break with the past, not a gradual development.

4:2      Sheep-herding and farming began with the second generation of mankind.

4:3-4   Monotheism original religion; polytheism developed later.

4:17    Cities existed at a very early period in history.

4:20    Early existence of herds of livestock.

4:21    Music an early part of culture.

4:22    Iron tools existed from the very beginning. 

4:26    Worship of Yahweh existed from the very beginning.2

5:1      Existence of a hook as old as humanity.

5:1      Man could write from the very beginning.

5+11   Man recorded genealogies from the very beginning.

5+11  The existence of genealogies from the creation of mankind up to the birth of Christ, proves that the earth is only hundreds of generations old, not thousands.

6:3-4   Giants existed in historical times.

6:14ff  Noah’s ark.

6:19ff  There is a fixed number of animal species.

7:11    Exact date for the beginning of the Flood.

7:21   All species became extinct, except those on the Ark

8:2     The belt of water above the atmosphere rained out.

8:22    Seasons did not exist until after the Flood.

9:12-17 The rainbow did not exist until after the Flood.

10:1    The separation of mankind into nations is only a few thousand years old.

10:8ff  Founding of the city of Nineveh.

10:25  The fissure of the earth (continental drift?).

11:1-9 Division of human speech into different languages only a few thousand years old.

11:9+31         Early founding of the cities of Babel and Ur.

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1 Translated out of the author’s German book Galilei-Legenden (Bonn: 1996) by Cambron Teupe 

2 The historical-critical view teaches that Israel’s worship of Yahwe had developed out of the worship of other gods.