The First Chapter of Genesis – Literal or Not? – Greg Albrecht

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Question:

I am beginning your online CWR Bible Survey. In your intro for Genesis you claim that it is not important whether or not I take all the accounts in Genesis literally or not. Are there any particular accounts that ARE important for me to take literally?

Response:

Your question is about literalism and your question includes the idea of “importance.”  How one must read the Bible in a literal manner is often taught as the most important priority. However, much of the Bible is not written (in terms of the literary genre used) to be understood in a literal manner. Important? If I say to my wife, “your eyes are like diamonds” – is it more important for her to hear of my love or that I obviously lack the ability to see that her eyes are not literal diamonds?  When we read that the Lord is our shepherd, is it important for us to think of him as a literal shepherd or is this teaching about our spiritual relationship with him, and his to us? When God is described to us as a rock, or that he has feathers, or arms and hands — is it imperative that we think of God as a rock – is that a literal description of God?  

The initial chapters of Genesis are written as poetry, using what are called “Hebraisms” in the Hebrew language. The intent is to tell us that God, not a host of polytheistic gods, created the universe and this world. There is no intent, in the Hebrew, to tell us exactly “HOW” he accomplished it, how “LONG” the “days” of creation were, etc – the lesson is that he and he alone did it. No one else. What of all the details in the creation accounts – there are two of them of course in the early chapters of Genesis. How literal are all the details, over against how important is the meaning and teaching? And how important is it, in terms of our relationship with God, that we draw a line in the sand and insist on literal details given in the Bible within biblical genres such as poetry (a HUGE chunk) of the Bible and in the process we miss the meaning he is giving. What is the priority here?

Here are but a few critically important literally truthful assertions made by the Bible, as I see it.  1) God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit.  2) God’s love for us. That is the plan, if one likes that word, the purpose, the priority of life – the reason we are here in life is to know we are loved by God, to be loved by him.  3) Salvation by grace through faith. God’s grace is how he saves, loves, rescues, redeems, empowers and enables us.  4) The birth, cross and resurrection of Jesus are literally true.  Literally. 

How literally we read details in symbolic and metaphorical passages in the Bible is not the reason we are here on earth. Then, having embraced and accepted the love and grace of God, which he makes known to us, our purpose on this earth is to love others, passing on God’s love and grace to them, as he has loved us … that includes folks who may not subscribe to our views about how literal portions of the Bible are. 

Reading the Bible literally, even parts that are quite obviously not written to be taken literally, is not the proof of our faith. Our faith is “proven” by our risen Lord who lives his life within us – literally.  Literally – he is risen. Not symbolically – literally. He died on the cross. Literally. 

When religion and its methodologies and denominational injunctions and dogmas insist on what God does not, it and all of its churches/temples/mosques are way over their heads, and far beyond their pay grade. Plain Truth Ministries places an emphasis on Christianity Without the Religion – on all Jesus all the time – on faith alone, grace alone and Christ alone. We believe Jesus is the center and core of our faith. 

We believe the main teachings of the Bible are about God, his love and his grace… the gospel of Jesus Christ .. that is the main and plain teaching of the Bible. Others issues, details, how many this, how long was that, how many children someone had, how long someone lived, exactly how God did what he did – not the issue. Such literalisms are trivial  compared with the overwhelming supremacy of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus rubbed mud on the eyes of a blind man once before he healed him – should we try to find that mud and give it to the blind? Should we attempt to find the remnants of Noah’s ark on the top of a mountain in Turkey, and thereby “prove” the Bible to be true? The Bible and its central and compelling message – the gospel of Jesus Christ — does not stand or fall on our literal interpretations, and our assignments about what is literal and what is not.

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