Should the Creation Days Be Understood Literally?
Left to his own subjective devices, man cannot correctly answer this question: A literal understanding of the six-day creation account is important because it answers the following questions: From where did all things come? What purpose is there for life? From where did evil come? What is evil anyway? Without the literal understanding of the six-day creation account, man’s answers to these questions are often inconsistent and confusing. This produces a dilemma: not all the answers can be right. So what is the answer? The correct answer must make sense, and be in line with historical observations. This answer can only come from outside of mankind. We call this “Special Revelation” from an Omnipotent Being. The Judeo/Christian Scripture makes the claim to be this Special Revelation (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
From this understanding, a literal consideration of God’s creative account provides the context of what humanity is in light of Creation. Isaiah 45:18 states that our Creator had a purpose for bringing the world into existence, it says, "…He formed it to be inhabited…" If the creation account and the consequent history of the first eleven chapters are not important, then God could have simply started Genesis with the person of Abraham c.f. Genesis 12, and moved forward from there. Instead, we find that the first eleven chapters of Genesis do provide a succinct yet detailed account of the primordial history of mankind, which culminated in the loss of a full-fledged, ancient civilization in a global cataclysm under the sea.
Chapter one outlines the history of the universe. The words, "God created the heavens and the earth" states that the universe is the product of a Creative Being Who existed before creation. The rest of the chapter outlines the order of God's creative efforts with each twenty-four hour period building on the material of the previous day culminating in the special creation of man on the sixth day.
Why is this literal understanding of the six-day Creation account so important in today’s context? The key reason is because – Without it, the Gospel message has no foundation.
The Great Commission states to go into the world and preach the gospel to every nation (Matt 28; Mark 16). This means that every nation needs this message. For the nations to benefit from the Gospel, the message must relate to them. The Bible states that all humanity is the offspring of one man, Adam. “In Adam’s fall, we sin all” as the McGuffey Reader so eloquently states it.
That Jesus died for the sin of all humanity raises the question, “From where did this sin come? The answer: from the historical first man, Adam who passed it to all humanity, his descendents. This is central to the Gospel message (Romans 5:12; 19; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45-47). Without the first “Adam” and his fall into sin, there is no need for the Second “Adam” (Christ) and His vicarious payment for sin. This idea was succinctly stated by anti Christian evolutionist, G. Richard Bozarth:
“Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus' earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death.(sic) If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing."
Remove the historical, Scriptural Adam as literally described in Genesis 1:26-30; 2:12-24 and redemptive history as it unfolds through Scripture becomes shattered, and the rest of what the Bible states becomes unimportant.
One can consider many accounts of “origins” to answer to questions like “Where did it all come from?” The Scriptures answer these kinds of questions and are the only written source that actually states that this Sacred Text is given by direct inspiration from God (2 Timothy 3:16). This God-given Source begins with a literal creation, which reveals the One Supreme Being called “GOD” The denial of the literal, six-day, 24 hour creation days does the following: (1) denies the direct revelation of God as the Powerful, Orderly Creator, (2) removes man’s accountability to the Lord God, (3) by eliminating the special creation of Adam on the sixth day, it abolishes man’s sin problem, and man’s necessity for a Savior, thus, (4) it negates the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, Who is to be worshiped and adored as the Source of all things. He is the Lord of all lords; the King over every King. – Except for Him, there is no God! Without Him there is no way into heaven (John 14:6), nor pardon for sin (1 Corinthians 15:16-22).