Question:  Greg,

            You have touched on this subject, but not quite in a way that answers my question.  Do you hold that between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 there exists a large period of time during which Satan may have rebelled against God?  Secondly, can this Satanic rebellion be used to explain the uninhabitable state of much of the universe?  And, thirdly, as such does Genesis 1 deal primarily with the re-creation of the universe (especially earth) to make it habitable by man?

            David

Answer:  Dear David,

            You refer to the “gap theory.”  While the gap theory lacks biblical or linguistic support, PTM takes no dogmatic position about the gap theory.  The gap theory is a rather dated attempt by Christians to reconcile science and scripture, proposing “two” creations and thus allowing for the fact that the earth is billions of years old.  The gap theory proposes that Genesis 1:2 should read “the earth BECAME formless and empty” rather than “the earth WAS formless and empty.”  Most Hebrew scholars see no reason to translate the word as BECAME, but the Scofield Reference Bible, which popularized the gap theory, insists (in order to make the theory fit) that there were two creations, and that the word must be translated BECAME.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht