Lord's Day Service: "Are There Two Creation Accounts?"

Corporate Worship and Prayer for Mercy in Troubled Times

And let's stand. And less than one of my son and I read you come forward were going to begin today. By reading you may be seen.

To read a chapter from the scriptures that we've been doing each week, my story to us all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers of the authorities in heaven and the heavenly places.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and confidence and access through him in faith. Therefore I ask you do not lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf for they are for your glory.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the power of his spirit in your inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you would be rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think according to the power that works within us to him be the glory in the church and in the Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever amen.

Amen. Right now in our world there's a lot that is troubling to the spirit troubling to the heart. As we stand and sing this next song let's remember who it is who made the heavens.

And the earth and who we should find our rest in. Let's stand. Why should I fear man when you made the heavens. Why should I be afraid when you put the stars in place. Why should I lose heart how great you are.

Why should I give up when your plans are full of. But you have overcome the world. Should I be afraid the stars. Should I lose heart how great you are. Why should I give up when your plans are full. So brother Keith had already mentioned the days that we live in brothers.

And sisters are trying. Kind of gets to you after a while. I would ask us also to this morning want to mention something as a source of thankfulness as a source for prayer. As many of you know my son is a fireman and when that ship caught on fire his crew was the first crew in there.

He was on the same floor that exploded they had just come out with his team because it was so hot it was melting the paint off the walls and so they had to come out and get a break. The next team went in and that's the team that when it exploded my son had to go back in there with his team and get them out and he called us because he didn't want us to worry because we would see it on the news and he said dad we went in to get them and their skin was falling off their face and falling off their hands and they found their boots and their helmets seven floors away and so now six of them or five of them probably will never work again and so I ask us to pray that God will be with those firemen and not only that that we would in our own prayer life be so thankful for God's rich mercy.

We almost felt guilty saying I'm glad it wasn't you but I must admit I was glad it wasn't my son. So as we pray let us pray for so many things and that's just one story in the myriad of stories and happenings in this world but nevertheless friends what a privilege it is to bow our heads before the living God and pray and know that even as brother Mike read that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask and all we think.

So let us pray. Our father and our God you who are the exalted one you who are the king of kings and the lord of lords you who are the the triune God revealed in your word the living God the true God the everlasting king we come before you now as your creatures we come before you now because of your great grace as children children of the living God oh God thank you for saving our souls.

May we never lord forget how dead we were and by your grace and through the work of our lord Jesus Christ on Golgotha's cross and by the the possession of the spirit of God we who were so dead are now so alive that we shall be with you forever more.

We pray lord this morning as your people lord we pray for this country lord we are in such a mess we live in a nation when we have become more and more accustomed to calling the things that are evil good and then we turn right around lord and we call the things that are good as evil.

We pray for those who have rule over us. Oh God that you would you would move on their hearts. That you would move in their lives and in their souls that they might that they might look to you for wisdom and direction God not merely that we would profit or that we would be able to to do what we want.

But we do ask you lord that you would could tell so much of the evil that we might live a quiet and peaceable life. That we might be able to worship you as we are gathered here this morning. And lord that you would even in the midst of this of of disease and and and protests and all the things that are taking place in hurricanes and and fires and murders and all the other things.

Oh God that you would save some lord we can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to live in a land where many were directed by your word and by your spirit. But we do live in this land. And we thank you for it lord.

We thank you for a country that you have you have provided for and blessed us. Oh lord as a nation we're so blessed. We eat like kings we we live like kings and queens compared to so many others. And yet for all of that lord we still are such a rebellious nation.

We still murder babies. Lord we still resist the truth. Oh God forgive us cleanse us empower us. And may we as your people. Oh lord Jesus may we as your people. May we speak the truth. May we live for the truth.

Oh God help us help us to be mothers and fathers who bring up our children in the fear and their admonition of the lord. Help us to be children to grow up and to obey our parents and to see you high and lifted up.

Oh God raise up a generation that will that will look to you that will submit to your authority that will love you that will trust you. We have so many in our nation today. Oh lord young people who who have no reason in their own understanding of why they do the things that they do except that it just seems to be the thing to do.

Hmm. Thank you for your word this morning lord. Thank you that your word works in us by the workings of the spirit of God. Thank you for brother Keith who comes week after week who opens your word and and brings it to us be with him this morning.

What. Be with us all. May we not be unmoved but maybe be moved maybe maybe be changed by your grace this morning. And lord I just again want to mention those firemen those whose lives in that day they woke up not knowing what it would be and they have ended their day and their lives are changed forever.

And they may never be able to work again. They may never be able to be normal again but be with them lord. Be with their wives and their children. Be with us all. Lord. May our may our prayer to you be real.

May we not pray to be seen of men but may we pray to have fellowship with you. Bless us now as we continue in worship and may we all grow in the grace and knowledge of the son of God who so loved us that he gave.

Himself for us. Amen. I love you and I am so thankful for our friendship. I really am I I you know that sounded like a joke but I enjoy the camaraderie that the elders have that we're able to uh to poke fun at each other.

The Question of Two Creation Accounts

So I will remember that if you would open your bible with me and turn to Genesis. Chapter uh two. And we're going to continue our study of Genesis this morning. As you're opening I want to begin with a question.

It's a question that maybe you've uh maybe you've asked yourself. Maybe someone else has asked it. And it's it's caused you to have a question. Um the question is this. Have you ever heard that the have you ever heard the accusation that there are two opposing accounts of creation in the bible and not one unified account.

More specifically have you ever heard an unbeliever appeal to creation and the narrative of Genesis 1 and 2 as an example of a contradiction in the bible. We exist in a time where the authenticity the historicity and the reliability of the bible are constantly being called into question by an unbelieving world.

Often this criticism begins in the very first chapters of the bible. In our previous messages we've looked at the questions that come from Genesis 1. We've seen the arguments that are made about the days and the periods of time.

Did God really create out of nothing. Are the events of chapter 1 genuinely chronological. And so on and so forth. We've heard all those questions and those questions don't stop when we get to a new chapter.

In fact chapter 2 gives rise to even more questions because some take issue with how the events in this chapter do not seem to be explained in the same way that they're understood in the first chapter.

And some go as far as to say we have two mutually exclusive creation accounts which means the bible has a contradiction. Well my goal today is to give an overview of chapter 2 and demonstrate that it is not a contradiction of chapter 1 but instead is a complement to chapter 1 what chapter 1 did in explaining the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Chapter 2 will do explaining creation of mankind and in the garden of eden rather than doubt. This passage should encourage confidence in God who would go to such great lengths to explain to us the very origin of our own existence in such detail.

So we're going to read a long section of scripture. Now when when we come to the section that we are going to preach i invite everyone to stand and if you are able to stand i would encourage you to. But if you can't it's okay because it is a long section but we're going to we're going to read verse 4 all the way down to verse 25 if you'd like to stand with us.

This is genesis chapter 2 beginning at verse 4. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the lord god made the earth and the heavens when no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the lord god had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.

Then the lord god formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature. And the lord god planted a garden in eden in the east and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the lord god made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flowed out of eden to water the garden and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is pishan it is the one that flowed around the whole land of habala where there is gold and the gold of that land is good.

Bedellium and onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is gihan it is the one that flowed around the whole land of kush. The name of that third river is tigris which flows east of assyria.

And fourth the fourth river is the euphrates. The lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work it and keep it. And the lord god commanded the man saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Then the lord god said it is not good for man should be that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the lord god had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

And whatever the man called every living creature that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds and to of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

So the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the lord god had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. May god add his blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his word. And may god bless us as we study. And may god keep me from error as i preach amen.

You may be seated. There are two methods which can be used to study just about any subject the broad method and the narrow method. One might liken the broad method to looking at a piece of property from atop a tower.

From atop a tower the entirety of the land can be surveyed. The borders of the property are easily determined. The variation in the landscape is discernible. Its size and shape are easy to define. From atop the tower you can see everything in a shot.

But the problem is when you're on top of the tower you can't do any micro investigation. It's all macro investigation. It's all looking at the big picture. If you want to look at that which is small you have to come down from the tower.

You have to come down to the to the to the earth itself. And then you might not be able to see the borders as well. You might not be able to see the shape of the property as well. But you can reach down and feel whether or not the soil is soil or sand.

You can walk over to the trees and see whether they're fruit bearing trees or or not. And you can reach out and touch and see what kind of plants there are if they're poisonous or not. You can make a better observation when you're up close than you could when you were atop the tower.

And therefore when you are studying any subject it's often good to take the broad view and look at everything. And then come down and take the narrow view and look at it more closely. Well i believe this is what we see in the first two chapters of the book of genesis.

In genesis 1 god gives the broad view of the forming and the filling of the world. In the first three days he forms the world. In the next three days he fills the world and then on the seventh day he rests.

But then in genesis 2 we have a more narrow view of the work of god informing man and fixing his habitation. In essence chapter one looks at a broad view of seven days and chapter two focuses on the narrow view of one creation day day six.

However what is often accused in genesis chapter two is that what we have is a contradiction. In fact this is often accompanied by accusations of unreliability. Well see your bible can't even get it right in the first two chapters.

Why should i trust anything. It can't even get it right in the first part. And we do know this. The very hallmark of truth is consistency. How do you know someone's lying when their story doesn't add up.

When they say something one day and then they say something completely different the next day you know that person isn't telling you the truth because the hallmark of truth is consistency. And an inconsistent testimony is a false testimony.

Therefore some accuse the bible of being a false testimony lying at this point because the first chapter in the second chapter say different things. And there is a law in logic the law of non-contradiction.

You cannot have something be true and not be true at the same time and in the same relationship. That's called the law of non-contradiction. Something cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship.

Therefore if the bible says one thing in one place and something else in another place then the bible is untrue. And there are entire groups of people who are bent on trying to prove the bible has contradictions.

Because they know if they can find contradictions in the bible they can prove that it's not true and they can demand that other people disbelieve it. Go out onto the internet. There are whole websites dedicated to supposed contradictions in the bible.

And you won't find one of those where genesis 1 and 2 are not mentioned. Because this is on what i would call the scriptural hit list. So here's what we're going to do today. First we're going to examine chapter 2 as a whole.

And by the way that's often my way of studying. Anyway if you those of you who listen to me preach for any length of time. Oftentimes when we get to a new section i'll look at the whole section and then go back and break it down.

And sometimes that's where i get in the in the weeds a little bit because when i go back to break it down i i spend a lot of time. But the very first thing i like to do is get on top of the tower and look get on top of the tower and take a look.

And chapter 2 really deserves that. Before we get into the minutiae of adam and eve and before we get into the minutiae of the creation of man in the garden in the first marriage all those things which we are going to talk about in the weeks to we need to get up on top of the tower and take a look and see how these things fit together.

So we're going to examine the chapter. Then we're going to address the arguments. And then finally we're going to demonstrate that there is harmony between chapter 1 and chapter 2 not disharmony. There is consistency not contradiction between these two chapters.

The Toledot Structure of Genesis 2

So let's look first at the chapter itself. Let's examine the chapter. Most of us would probably think that chapter 2 begins in verse 1 but that's actually not the case. You know the chapter and divisions were not added until later.

Chapter divisions did not come into the bible until many centuries later and even verse divisions were centuries after that. So we know that this is not how the bible was written when it was written. And if anything we do have markers in the bible for genesis particularly because genesis has something called the toledot.

The toledot is a hebrew phrase which means in the generations of. That's how it's translated in your english bible toledot is translated in the generations of. And if you look at verse 4 you'll see that verse 4 is really where chapter 2 begins.

Read it again. It says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth. Now just to point this out and i don't want to spend too much time here. But if you were to go through the book of genesis you'll see that this phrase happens 10 times.

The word toledot in hebrew shows up in greek or shows up rather in the book of genesis 10 times. And it separates the book of genesis into basically 10 parts each one starting with the phrase this is the generation of.

And we see this when it comes to adam in chapter 5 this is the generations of adam in chapter 6 with noah these are the generations of noah. In chapter 10 with with abram it begins to talk about the sons of noah shem ham and japeth.

And then or rather chapter 11 with shem who is the ancestor of abram. And then we have in chapter 11 it comes up again. In chapter 25 it comes up twice. In chapter 36 it comes up twice. And in chapter 37 it comes up once.

So this phrase is the marking posts of genesis and it lets us know this is focusing on this thing. And so the question becomes when we get to chapter 2 verse 4 when it says these are the generations of the heaven the earth when they were created in the day that the lord god made the earth and the heavens.

The question about that phrase and this is one that sort of puzzled me as i was looking at it. Is this the end of chapter 1 or is this the beginning of chapter 2 in the mind of the writer. Because read it again it says these are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created in the day that the lord made the earth and the heavens.

That could be the end of chapter 1 because that summarizes everything we've learned so far. But when we look at this oh and by the way i just want to mention this if you're familiar with hebrew writing we have here something called a chiasm.

A chiasm is a particularly unique form of writing where there is a in the in the greek language there's a the letter key looks like an x. And if you read this phrase it actually comes across in a pattern where it says something and then it repeats it backwards.

So it says something and listen to it this way these are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created and the day that the lord made the earth and the heavens it's it's it's. It starts one way stops in the middle and then turns around and goes backwards.

This is used several times throughout the old testament and even in the new testament most particularly we see this in psalms and proverbs because this is a poetic use of language. So this is telling us this is a marking post.

Not only has it got the phrase toadote but it's written in such a way as to say this is particularly important and some would say well this is ending the great grand narrative of chapter one which is the first seven days.

I think that's possible. However when you look at toadote throughout the rest of genesis what you find is it's always starting something new. These are the generations of boom and it begins and it starts something new.

These are the generations of boom and it starts something new. So from the perspective of looking at all the other uses it would seem as if this is actually beginning the second explanation. But what happens in the second explanation.

The focus changes. The focus changes from the heavens and the earth to man and the garden. So that leads me back to the idea that maybe this is ending the first because beginning at verse five we're no longer talking about the heavens and the earth.

We're talking about the earth and man. And so the focus beginning in verse five is earth and man particularly man and the garden. But either way it goes. Verse four is the marking post and this stops what was talking.

This stops that narrative and it begins a new narrative not in contradiction but in complementation. This is not stopping the it's not saying that was wrong. It was saying this is a closer picture of what we just learned.

This is coming down off the tower. This is getting down into the weeds. This is looking at it through the microscope rather than through the telescope which shows us the big we're looking now through the microscope in chapter or beginning at verse five we have the beginning of looking through the microscope.

And this is what we see beginning in verse five. We see in verses five and six the condition of the earth and the ground. And it's very interesting. He mentioned some things that honestly still puzzle me.

I i'm going to explain them more in the weeks to come. But the idea there was no rain but there was water that came out of the earth. In some of your bibles it says it was a mist. But actually that's not what it the original word doesn't mean mist.

It means water coming from the ground. It could literally be an irrigation that came up and wet the wet the ground from below and almost like a swamp would would cause the the ground to be wet. We don't know what it looked like.

And again i wasn't there. So i can't draw you a picture. But it's an interesting thought to think about what could it be. And it goes on to talk about the creation of the first man. It talks about him being created as a living soul.

I do not like the esv. It's a living creature. No man is a living soul. I love that. So i can disagree with esv and i know why they chose the word they chose. But the the i think from a from a modern use of the term i think soul is so much more precious because man is a soul he's a living soul.

Then we have the creation of man's habitat the garden. That's verse eight. Then we have the conditions of the garden verses 9 to 14. I look forward to going over that and talking about it because there's a wonderful picture of what god made for man for that first man that beautiful garden to live in that habitation.

Then we have the law given in the garden verses 15 to 17 the law given to man. Then we have the creation of man's companion verses 18 to 23. And then we have the establishment of marriage between man and woman.

Notice again as i go through that list everything in that list is focusing on one thing man let me say it again the creation of the first man creation of the first man's habitat the condition of man's habitat which is the garden the law given to man the creation of man's companion and the marriage of man and woman.

It's it's the focus has changed from the heavens and the earth to the man and his habitat. So again i'm pointing to the fact. It's not contradictory. It's complimentary. It's giving us a closer view of the crown of god's creative work.

What is the crown of god's creative work. Man. The bible says it in genesis 1 it says i made man in my own image not anything else. No bird bears the image of god. No animal. No gorilla no sheep no oxen nothing but man and everything else god spoke into existence.

But man he formed from the dust of the ground and he breathed into him the breath of life. And so you might somebody might take issue and say well the bible is all about god. Yes it is all about god. But god's focus in this section is to get us to understand what he's doing in the creation of of man.

Because this is the this is the high point of his creative work. Now that's the overview of the chapter. I want to now address the arguments that often come in relation to the chapter. The primary argument and this is one that you might have heard or maybe even thought of yourself.

Chronology, Translation, and the Meaning of Day Six

The primary argument regarding genesis 1 is the argument of chronology. The argument is the chronology of chapter 1 does not seem to agree with the chronology of chapter 2. And a cursory reading would suggest that there are certain elements in chapter 2 which are out of order.

If we were to consider genesis 1 to be a strictly chronological account in chapter 1 vegetation comes on day 3. Man does not come until day 6. However when we come to chapter 2 it seems like there's a reversing in the order.

Man is coming. And then later vegetation comes and somebody says well there's a contradiction. So your whole bible is just throw it away. We'll go. We'll go to sunny's and and and you know eat sleep and drink tomorrow we die.

You know if the bible is untrue we have no reason to gather if we can't trust it. There you know that's the point. That's the argument they're making. So that's one of the first arguments. The second argument comes in the same argument of chronology and the argument that the animals were formed before man in chapter 1.

But in the second chapter it seems as if man was formed before the animals. Look at verse 19. Do you have a anybody have a king james bible. I know. Andy does. He just got him a new one. Uh no brother i'm gonna have it printed here.

If you. Uh oh yeah. Go ahead and read it to us. Verse 19. Okay i'll read it. It says. And out of the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto adam to see what he would call them.

Okay. That is how it reads in the king james bible. If you read it in the king james bible it seems as if man is already created and animals are now being created and therefore there would be a reversing of the order from chapter 1.

However if you're in the esv which many of you are you'll notice that the esv shows the translational difference because here's how it reads in the esv. Much different. Now out of the ground the lord had formed the beasts.

Notice the difference. And you say well which one is correct. The esv is closer to the hebrew here because it is in the past tense they had already been formed. This isn't saying that god formed man and then formed the animals.

This is saying they had already been formed. The problem is you get the translation. Let's say you have a king james. And that's all you've ever read. You can see where someone would come to a translational issue here and say wait a minute over here it says he formed man.

Uh second. Here it seems to see he formed man first. But that's not what verse 19 says at all. Verse 19 is not indicating chronology. It's indicating what actually took place. God had formed the animals from the dust of the ground something that he had already done before he had formed man.

And the same can be said about the vegetation. The text that refers to the vegetation is verse five. It says when no bush of the field was yet in in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the lord god had not caused it to rain on the land.

There was no man to work the ground and a mist was going up from the land and watering the whole face of the ground. Then the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground. This would seem to indicate that man came first and then vegetation came later.

But the issue here is what kind of vegetation and what kind of growth. Because this is not vegetation in general. And if you read it back it reads very clearly. This is speaking about the vegetation of the garden.

This is speaking about what god had planted. And what did god plant the garden for for man. And what was the garden's purpose. To give man a habitation and to give him an occupation. See the garden provides two things for man.

It gives him a habitation a place to live but it also gives him an occupation gives him a place to work. Because what is he supposed to do. He's supposed to work the ground. By the way this reminds us and brother mike and i've talked about this many times.

Work is not part of the curse. Work is a blessing. What's the curse. The pain and toil. And and the weeds and the and the and the uh the difficulty of work. One day we're going to be in heaven and i don't think we're going to be sitting on clouds strumming harps for eternity.

I think god's going to have things for us to do. And i don't know what it's going to be. I know this i won't have to preach anymore. But i i figure there'll be you know we'll be in heaven. But but whatever it is god has for me it's not going to be just sitting and doing nothing.

And so man is being created here. This is not saying there's no vegetation anywhere. This is referring to the land of the garden of eden that god had not yet planted. God creates man and he plants for man a garden for the purpose of habitation and occupation.

So there is no disjunction in the order. It's referring to a specific thing. So the first argument the argument of chronology. The answer is simply this chapter two is not providing for us a chronology of creation.

It's not even really providing us a chronology of day six. What it is telling us the things that happen on day six in their relation to man. And the relation to man is god planted a garden for the purpose of giving man a habitation and an occupation.

So that's the first argument. The second argument is that the name of god changes. Look with me again at verse four. It says in verse four. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the lord god made the earth and the heavens.

This is the first time in the hebrew bible that we get the word yahweh. This is the first time that the word yahweh is used in the hebrew bible up until this point the word that has been used is the word elohim.

And the word elohim is the generic word that we would translate simply as god. In the beginning god created the heavens and the earth that is elohim. And god said let there be this and god said let there be.

That's elohim elohim elohim. That word is used all throughout the first chapter. But when we come to the second chapter we have the introduction of the name yahweh. And so some would say that what we have here is an example of another writer.

And they try to divide the writers of chapter one and chapter two and they say see what we have is we have the elohist. That's what they call it. The elohist is the writer who uses elohim as a name and the yahwist the one who uses yahweh as the name.

And he's writing chapter two and they're writing two disjunctive accounts. They're writing two separate accounts. Here's the problem with that they're both in the same verse. So if group number two is meaning to write separately and differently from group number one they stopped them mid-verse and included their part.

This is are you following me on that argument. It does not make sense because it's not as if elohim elohim elohim and then yahweh yahweh yahweh. That's not how it works. What happens is in verse five or excuse me verse four there's an introduction of yahweh added to elohim.