WHAT IS THE GAP THEORY?

by Ken Ham

What about the Gap Theory?

This is a question often asked at creation seminars.A good many well-

meaning, Bible-believing Christians hold to what is called the

"Gap Theory" because of the popular belief that geologists provide

undeniable evidence that the world is exceedingly old (i.e., 4.5

billion years). They do not accept evolution, and therefore claim

to hold to a literal Genesis. This article will show that the

typical "ruin/reconstruction" Gap Theory actually destroys the

foundation of the work of the cross, by accepting the non-proven

evolutionary geological time scale.

February 1990

What is the Gap Theory?

A long period of time, perhaps millions or billions of years, sup-

posedly fits between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Although modern

expressions of it are quite varied, the traditional view is best

summarized by Weston W. Fields in his book, Unformed and Unfilled

(page 7), where he states: In the far distant, dateless past God

created a perfect heaven and perfect earth. Satan was ruler of

the earth which was peopled by a race of "men" without any souls.

Eventually, Satan, who dwelled in a garden cf .-den composed of

minerals (Ezekiel 28), rebelled by desiring to a

become like God (Isaiah 14). Because of Satan's fall, sin entered

the universe and brought on the earth God's judgment in the form

of a flood (i nd indicated by the water of 1:2), and then a global

ice-age when the light and heat from the sun were somehow removed.

All the plant, animal, and human fossils upon the earth today date

from this "Lucifer's Flood" and do not bear any genetic

relationship with the plants, animals and fossils living upon the

earth today.

Mention should be made here that some modern advocates

propose a Gap only for the purpose of attempting to account for

Satan's fall. Many others hold it to allow for evolution and an

old earth, thereby accepting both evolution of the previous world

and creation of the present world.

Difficulties and Inconsistencies with the Gap Theory

1. The "Lucifer's Flood" concept destroys the reason the Gap

Theory was first proposed.

Gap theorists accept the earth as very old (billions of years),

because evolutionists claim that the fossil containing rocks were

supposedly laid down over millions of years.

To account for the fossil record that is thus said to predate

man, some Gap theorists propose that the fossil-containing

sediments were formed by "Lucifer's Flood" (as described above)

which supposedly occurred between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 millions of

years ago due to the fall of Satan. By doing this, they are

saying that the fossil record was formed by a catastrophe. But

this means they have just destroyed the very reason they wanted a

gap in the first place-the idea that the sediments were formed

slowly over millions of years; thus the earth is very old. This

is a major inconsistency.

Those who hold that the fossils record evolution over a long

time ignore the fact that a catastrophe, b

which could utalll if e and leave the earth dark and completely

underwater, would destroy the fossil bearing strata as well. In

both scenarios, there is an unsurmountable inconsistency.

2. The flood of Noah's day must have been only a local or tranquil

event.

If the fossil record is explained on the basis of either

"Lucifer's Flood " or the evolutionary ages, then the flood of

Noah's day must have left virtually no trace. Thus, Noah's flood

must have been just a local event or a tranquil flood that did no

geologic work. This is the reason most ardent Gap theorists

insist Noah's flood was just a local event.

However, Genesis depicts Noah's flood as a catastrophic event

that covered the whole world. It was not a local flood, and it

certainly was not a tranquil event. (Read Genesis 6-9.) If the Gap

theorist wants to explain the fossil record with a catastrophe,

why not do it with one the Bible does talk about (Noah's flood)

rather than one it doesn't talk about ("Lucifer's Flood")?

3. There is much scientific evidence indicating a young earth.

The true Gap theorist also ignores the large amount of evidence

amassed by scientists that is consistent with a belief in a young

age for the earth and universe. Cosmic dust, breakup of galaxy

clusters, existence of comets, decay of the earth's magnetic

field, chemicals in the oceans, etc., all point to a

recent creation of all things.

4. The Gap theorists believe that there was animal death before

Adam, but the Bible teaches adamantly there was no death

before Adam. To accept death before Adam is to destroy the

foundational message of the cross.

On the basis of a number of passages of Scripture (e.g., Romans

5:12, I Corinthians 15:21), it is understood that there could not

have been sin or continued on page C

death before Adam. I Corinthians 15 makes it plain that this is

physical death, not just spiritual death. This is consistent with

the fact that Genesis 1:29 and 30 teach us that the animals and

man were originally created vegetarian.

In Hebrews 9:22, we are told that "without the shedding of

blood there is no remission" of sin. In other words, God

introduced death and bloodshed because of sin as the means by

which man could be redeemed. If death and bloodshed of animals

(or man) existed before Adam sinned, then the whole basis of

atonement-the basis of redemption-is destroyed. WHY DOES IT

MATTER?

Genesis records a catastrophe responsible for destroying all land

organisms that had the "breath of life" in them, except for those

preserved in Noah's Ark. Christ refers to the global flood in

Noah's day in Matthew 24:37-39, and Peter writes that, just as

there was once a world-wide judgment of mankind by water, so there

will be another world-wide judgment, this time by fire (11 Peter

3). To call Noah's flood either a local or tranquil flood which

followed long geologic ages destroys the doctrine of coming

judgment.

Furthermore, to advocate death before Adam sinned is

diametrically opposed to the Scripture's explanation that death

came after Adam sinned and became the necessity for man's

redemption. We need to give up the Gap Theory!

That the word "replenish" in Genesis 1:28 in the King James

version does not mean "refill?" (Researched by Dr. Charles Taylor,

linguist with the Creation Science Foundation of Australia).

Some have used the word "replenish" to support the Gap

Theory, which makes it necessary for God to refill the earth after

"pre-Adamites" perished due to Satan's fall. Does "replenish"

really mean "refill?"

1 . The Hebrew word translated "replenish" simply means

"fill"-not "refill"! The Hebrew word occurs 306 times in the

Old Testament and in not one instance does it mean "refill."

2. The Latin pref ix "re" originally meant "again," but then it

lost this meaning. At the time the King James Bible was

translated in 1611, "replenish" was just a scholarly word

for "fill." They almost certainly came to use it because an

old word, "plenish," was dying out.

3. An examination of the Oxford English dictionary shows the

English word "replenish" was used to mean "fill" from the

13th to the 17th centuries. In no case, during these five

centuries does it mean "refill."

4. In the 17th century, English scholars began trying to restore

original meanings to words and prefixes, so "re" in English

once more came to mean "again." Today, most words with "re"

do mean again, such as "rewrite," etc. There are other

instances, however, as in "replete," where there is no such

meaning.

In the King James version, Genesis 1:28 means "fill the

earth," not "refill the earth"!

The so-called Gap Theory, proposed early in the 1800's, but which

became popular around the turn of the century, has very few

scholarly advocates these days. However, many Christians do still

hold to it, mostly by tradition, having never examined it closely.

There have always been many scientific and theological problems

with the idea of a long gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2,

but perhaps the "death" of the Gap Theory came with the 1978

publication of Dr. Weston W. Fields' fine book, Unformed and

Unfilled. In it, Fields specified the many Biblical problems

inherent in the concept, and with only a few exceptions, Bible

scholars have now abandoned it. Some of his main arguments are

briefly summarized below.

Gap advocates hold that only the surface of the earth was

"created" during the six-day series of events detailed in Genesis

1:2 through 2:25. This creation followed a global holocaust

brought on by the fall of Satan which destroyed a supposed

pre-Adamic world. But the all inclusive summary statements of

Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20 ' 1 1, and elsewhere, argue otherwise;

"the heavens and the earth ... all the host of them ... all that

is in them ... all His work which God created and made," seem

better to refer to all of creation, not just the earth's surface.

Some have claimed that in Exodus 20:11 the verb "to make" is

used instead of "to create, "and, that, therefore, the summation is

referring only to the earth's surface, leaving the rock strata and

the earth's interior untouched. But in reality, while there is an

important distinction between the words in Genesis 1, both are

used in Genesis 2:2,3 and Nehemiah 9:6 to refer to all of

creation; and are even used in synonymous parallelism in Genesis

2:4, Exodus 34:10, Isaiah 41:20, and Isaiah 43:7.

Another oft-repeated claim is that Genesis 1:2 should read,

"the earth became without form and void," as opposed to the

traditional understanding that when God first created the earth in

verse 3, it "was without form (i.e., not yet in completed form)

and void (i.e., not yet inhabited)." The verb's normal meaning,

however, is simply "was," and while it may be translated "become,"

the context does not warrant it, and all accepted versions of the

Bible use "was."

Each verse in Genesis 1, except verse 1, begins with the

conjunction "and," thereby connecting each verse sequentially to

those before and after. There is no hint of the passing of

millions or billions of years of time between verses 1 and 2.

Gap advocates frequently turn to other portions of Scripture

for support, particularly those which use the words "without form"

and "void" (Jeremiah 4:23, Isaiah 24:1, and 45:18 are most

important). In each case, the prophet refers to a wasted state

due to the judgment of sin, thereby implying that Genesis 1:2

likewise implies a condition brought about by judgment. But in

each case, the context regards the land of Israel, not the

original earth. There is no justification for postulating long

ages present in a supposed gap in Genesis.

The Gap Theory, as with all efforts to harmonize Genesis with

the geologic ages, faces insurmountable problems on several

fronts. How much better to take God at His Word and simply

believe what He says.