The Perceived Contradiction of Genesis 1 and 2
When we talk about the Creation Story and the origins of the Universe, secularists are quick to claim that we should throw out the biblical narrative because it contradicts itself. They claim that Genesis chapter one and chapter two are in direct contradiction with one another. But is that really the case?
The problem is that they assume that chapter two is simply restating chapter one, but it isn’t. Simply put, chapter one is the chronological order of creation while chapter two focuses on the creation of man.
Chapter one show that creation took place in a literal seven-day week. Now, there is debate on the word yom in Genesis 1, but that is for another discussion. But the only contextually honest way to understand the passage is a literal week.
On day one God created day and night. On day two God created the heavens and water. Day three brings about dry land and the seas, plants, and trees. On day four God created the Sun, Moon, and Stars. Day five is the start of sea animals and the birds. And finally, on day six, God creates the animals and man. This is the chronological order of creation (Genesis 1:1-31).
Genesis 2 is a more specific narrative. It is not a chronological account of creation. It is an account of creation that is focused on the creation of Man. God’s crowning achievement in creation.
Chapter two says in verses five and six that the plants had not yet sprung up because it had not rained. This does not say that there are no plants. We know plants were created before man from chapter one. What this says is that there was no new growth. After all, we are still in the same week. Then the chapter focuses on man being created.
To say that there is a contradiction here is to ignore context and to ignore the actual words of the passage. The reality is that there is no contradiction at all.
We know how everything was created. The Creator told us how in Genesis chapter one.
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it’s great how David ignores that the events are not in the same order in the two different creation stories. Focusing on the creation of man doesn’t explain how the order of events is entirely different.
I do love this:
“Chapter two says in verses five and six that the plants had not yet sprung up because it had not rained. This does not say that there are no plants. We know plants were created before man from chapter one. What this says is that there was no new growth. After all, we are still in the same week. Then the chapter focuses on man being created.”
curious how his bible says this “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; ”
So no plants in the earth, until there was rain and there was a “tiller”. This does not say there was no new “growth”, it says there were no plants. Nice to see just how christians try to lie, David.