Bible Quotes
Christian Bible Quotes is more than a mere list of famous, inspirational, and/or favorite Quotes. Instead, select scriptures are offered in Bible Commentary form by book, and as Bible Verses by Topic. We feel this method provides opportunity for greater insight into scripture.
Famous Bible Quotes - Book of Genesis:
"In the beginning God ... "
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
(Genesis 1:1-2 KJV)
Commentary:
People who don't believe in God disagree with the Biblical account of the creation of earth and the universe. The problem with theories that do not account for God is that there must be a first cause, and then an effect.
Whether you believe that nothing came from nothing as in the big bang theory, or you believe that God caused the big bang; it takes the same faith to believe in a something from nothing big bang, as it does to believe God caused the big bang.
Speaking of theories, some bible scholars believe in what they call the gap theory. Gap theorists hold that there seems to be a gap between the 1st and 2nd verses of this Bible quote.
Gap Theory:
In verse one, a perfect God created a perfect heaven and earth. But verse two says the "earth was without form and void."
The words without "form and void" is a compound of two Hebrew words (tohu & Bohu) which respectivley mean, "formlessness and emptiness".
The Oxford English Dictionary defines tohu-bohu as: That which is empty and formless; chaos; utter confusion.
Gap theorist reason that a perfect God would not, could not create an imperfect heaven and earh that was "empty, formless, chaotic, and utterly confused."
The idea of formlessness, chaotic, confused; brings to mind images of what war torn: Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, and Hiroshima looked like at the end of WW2. In other words heaven and earth looked like a war zone.
Why would God create a war zone?
The gap theorist reason that it's illogical to think that God would do this. So they conclude that something happened between verse one and two.
They believe that something is war in heaven. There is some evidence in the following Bible Quotes to support this notion:
Revelation 12:7 (NIV)
7 "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back."
The dragon in scripture is always a reference to Satan. Michael is the highest ranking Arch Angel in Heaven.
Revelation 12:9(KJV)
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
(Lucifer is the name of this highest ranking angel in heaven who rebelled against God and was put out of heaven and was cast down to earth. When he was cast out his name was changed to Satan, which means deceiver, a.k.a. the devil)
Luke 10:18 (NIV)
18 He (Jesus) replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
In case you missed it, notice that Jesus says He was there when Satan was cast down to the earth! If this war in heaven took place as suspected before Adam and Eve were created on the earth that implies that Jesus is far more than a mere human carpenter. These and similar statements throughout the gospels confirm that Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh.
Other than these four Bible Quotes which are not chronological, the scripture doesn't say much about angelic warfare. Never the less, Gap theorist speculate that when Satan was cast down to the earth, the earth was very nearly destroyed in the resulting conflict.
So that the creation detailed in verse three is actually a re-creation or makeover of the earth created in verse one.
It's an interesting theory that perhaps explains why scientist continue to find evidence for an earth that is much older that the Biblical record otherwise indicates; I.e. dinosaurs etc..
