Question: .

How many generations have humans been on earth and how are these generations broken (listed or identified) down by years/centuries? Thanks!

- George

Answer:

Dear George,

The Bible uses the word "generation" in several different ways - two primary Hebrew words are used, and four in Greek. In Hebrew it can refer to genealogical history, it can refer to a classification or type of individuals ("this generation"). In Greek it can refer to those who God calls, a chosen generation - it can refer to the offspring and descendents of a family - it can mean all the people living at a particular time, and it can refer directly to the time of one's birth.

Some refer to the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness for an exact period of time (in their case 40 years) to determine what the Bible "means" in terms of exact years that encompass a generation. But the Bible does not give a definition that fits across the board - from the time that the young marry, to the time that their offspring themselves mature, marry, and have children. Most scholars would say that we would be safe by assuming 30-50 years, but we cannot be precise.

Further, efforts to be exacting are complicated by the fact that we have no biblical record of how many generations humanity has been on this earth. There are genealogies that are recorded in the Bible, but no complete set - for the period of time from creation to 100 A.D. - which is when we would have to begin to look to secular history. Many have tried to reconstruct a chronology of history from the genealogies given in the Bible, but in so doing they are using these lists of names, adding assumptions (such as an exact number of years for a generation) and jump to conclusions with the data they compile. Nearly all of these conclusions that I am aware of are erroneous, and do not add to our fund of knowledge, do not edify, and are in fact flying leaps of speculation. I would caution against the construction of a chronological history from the biblical record. In fact, the best efforts of the best scholars have been unable to arrive at a definitive chronological ministry of Jesus Christ - simply 3 1/2 years and that in spite of having four gospel writers devoted to his ministry. Adequate information simply is not there. Chronological accuracy is not one of the purposes of Sacred Scripture.

Hope this helps.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht