The Length of Creation

In Genesis we are taught creation was done in six days and on the seventh day God rested. We are taught that a day is from sundown to sundown (24 hours). However, in 2 Peter 3:8 Peter tells us that to God a day can be one thousand years or one thousand years a day. Can this be construed to mean creation may have taken several thousand years? Where do we get the determination that the reference to day in Genesis is the normal 24 hour period?

Answer: 

The text of Genesis specifically says that each day of creation was from evening to morning, or a period of darkness followed by a period of light.

Peter is saying nothing about the days of creation. He is saying that time is irrelevant to God. God could have created the world in no time at all. The days of the account in Genesis are days to us, not days to God. They are the pattern for our week.

Even if the days were millions of years, this would solve nothing of the conflict with evolution since the creation account specifically excludes evolution from one kind to another. The only honest way to hold to evolution is simply to reject the creation account and not attempt to make it say something it cannot say.


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