Question:  Hi Greg,

            I’m a little confused about something.  In the book of Genesis it says how God created the world and in chapter 2:7 it explains how Adam came about.  Who is he talking about in chapter 1:27-30 if Adam and Eve weren’t created until a little later on?

            Donna

Answer:  Dear Donna,

            Most scholars and commentators agree that chapter one through 2:3 is one literary unit – a poetic device explaining what God did, that the one and only true God did this, not any other gods – and that God is supreme, he is the Creator, there is none else.

            Then, in 2:4 we read, “this is the account of the heavens and earth when they were created”.  This can be understood as a summary of what has gone before, and it can be read as an introduction to another creation account.  In fact, 2:4 does give us another account, which duplicates and repeats certain things already said in the first chapter.

            The two accounts are not chronological and consecutive – any more than the four gospels are.  The four gospels give us different perspectives of the same events – a similar thing is happening here.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht