THE GAP THEORY

 

SHEPHERD TO SHEEP 

THE GAP THEORY 

(Gen 1:1-2) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 

According to the Gap Theory, creation can be explained as follows: In Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth, complete with dinosaurs and other prehistoric life that we see in fossil records. Then a catastrophic event took place such as a flood (indicated by the "deep waters" in verse 2) brought on by Lucifer's rebellion and fall from heaven to the earth. Consequently the earth was ruined or destroyed, reducing it to the "formless and empty" state of Genesis 1:2. In verse 3, God began the process of restoring life. 

The Gap Theory was first introduced in 1814 by Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers in an attempt to unite the six-day biblical creation account with the newly defined geologic ages being proposed by leading geologists of that time.  The gap theory became quite popular among evangelical Christians in the early part of the 20th century, largely because it was included in the study notes of the Scofield Reference Bible published in the 1917 edition.   

There are many overwhelming gaps in the Gap Theory. The idea that the geological ages took place in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is prohibited by the plain Biblical statement in the Ten Commandments, where God said, ‘In six days, the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is’ (Exodus 20:11). That is, He was telling man that he must work six days and rest one day because God worked six days and then rested one day. The context goes on to say that everything in heaven and earth and in the sea was made in six days.  

The geologic column (which is the “bedrock” of the evolutionary theory) shows every evidence of having been deposited quickly by Noah’s Flood and not over long periods of time as proposed by the Gap Theory.     

If the fossil record is to be explained by the millions of years in the gap, that means death, pain, and disease were common many ages before Adam fell. But the Bible tells us that it was Adam’s sin that introduced suffering to the world: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12).  

As you can see there are gaps in the Gap Theory, but it is no deal breaker when it comes to fellowship in Christ.  But the reason for this writing is to encourage Bible believing Christians to: Be…rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15)  And also to heed the apostolic warning:  (1 Tim 6:20) O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called. 

Louie