Could story of creation in Genesis have actually just been told in 7 days?

Answer 1

The story of the creation account in Genesis can be told in a couple of minutes.

As for the actual creation being done in seven days... please take note of a couple things.

1) God performed the creation of the earth in "six" days... not seven. He created the seventh day, the Sabbath day, by "resting."

2) Take note in the account, that the world was already in existence and covered with water before God got started.

"...the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep [water]." (Gen.1:2)

[or became formless, wasted; the state-of-being verb, 'to be,' is understood or implied in the context of the original text... and the translators settleled on 'was' instead of 'became,' as they easily could have... as they chose 'became' when they translated Gen.2:7: "...and man became {or 'was'} a living soul."

In any case... the Genesis account isn't the creation of the world from atoms [from nothing at all]... it's the RE-creation of a planet already in existence, from a "wasted state" or "condition."

God only "refurbished" the pre-existing earth and prepared it to sustain man.

He caused land to rise above the waters, created an atmosphere for man to breathe, created plants and animals for man to use, both creatively and for food... then, He made man.

John the baptist told the Phaisees that God could make children for Abraham out the rocks on the ground [Matt.3:9]. How hard and how long would it take God to make "one man" from clay?

Jesus restored whithered hands of people, cast out unclean spirits, cured what vexed them, and caused the lame to walk in mere seconds, by "willing" it done.

How difficult would be the restoration of the earth in six 24-hour days for someone with such powers?

The account can be recounted with words in mere minutes. But by the Power of the WORD of God, who "spoke" all these things into existence by "willing" it to be -- He may have actually had to stretch it all out to last six days.

Additonal Comments:

It is not that it was told in 7 days but the (re-)Creation actually occurred in 6 days - on the 7th day God rested.

The Bible is quite clear about how long each day was by the phrase 'So the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:5). So how long is the daylight portion of a day? Jesus told us Himself, 'Are there not twelve hours in a day?' (John 11:9). That means there are also 12 hours in the night as a day has 24 hours to this day :)

Though there are places in Scripture where a day is an extended period of time, a good rule of thumb is this: Anytime in Scripture when the term 'day' is preceded by a numeral, it always means a literal day of the week.

Lastly, God rested on the 7th day - the Sabbath. This is the 4th Commandment and it is still observed to this day - a 24 hour period (Exodus 20:8-11).