A Brief Look At The Gap Theory

In the 19th Century, Darwin publishes his book Origin of the Species. Biologists, Geologists, Anthropologists claim that, to reconcile God and Science, there needs to be a “gap” of time to allow for evolution. Contemporary of Darwin was a man named Thomas Chalmers. Chalmers was a Scottish Theologian and attended the University of Edinburgh with Darwin. Chalmers set out to try to harmonize so-called Science and the Bible. He felt he succeeded by developing the Gap Theory.

The basis for this theory was the reading of Genesis. He stated that the phrase “was without form and void” is a mistranslation in the KJV. He argued that it would read, “became without form and void.” So note, he had to change the book to teach his theory. The theory becomes popular because now we can prove that God and so-called Science harmonize. There are even some prominent theological authors that ascribe to this theory: George Pember; Clarence Larkin; Merrill Unger; Arthur Pink; and C. I. Schofield who put this theory in his study notes in the book of Genesis. Since his study bible is widely used, we’ll address some of the arguments of the theory from his work.

 

The Gap Theory basically says this:

 

Sometime in the dateless past, God created the original earth (Gen. 1:1). Lucifer was given dominion over the original earth (No verse). This original earth contained a Pre-Adamite Race without souls (No Verse). Lucifer sinned (Isaiah 14:12-13). God floods the original earth in judgment (II Peter 3). Now, billions of years gap the original earth and the present earth. This is where fossils show up; dinosaurs live and die here until God recreates the present earth (Gen. 1:3).

Let’s examine this position, again, taking arguments from Schofield’s notes.

Genesis 1:1; 16 (Schofield’s argument)

1. God “created”…

2. God “made”

a. Sun was created for the original earth

b. Sun made visible after the chaotic earth is flooded

3. However, there is no biblical distinction between created and made. Notes these references and compare them.

a. Genesis 1:26-27

b. Exodus 20:11

c. Colossians 1:15

d. John 1:3

Isaiah 14:12 (Schofield’s Argument)

1. Reference to the fall of Lucifer and the chaotic earth’s judgment

a. No judgment upon earth in this verse

b. Nations are mentioned, but whoops, no nations until after Adam’

2. Ezekiel 28:13-14 – Lucifer’s Position in the Garden

a. In the garden of Eden, Satan was still the “Anointed Cherub”, which is the guardian of the throne of God

b. Therefore, Lucifer couldn’t have fallen before the garden was created, and couldn’t have fallen before Adam because nations didn’t exist until Adam

c. The only logical time Lucifer could have fallen from his position is sometime after the creation of man and woman.

I Cor. 15:21 – the idea of Sin itself refutes the Gap Theory

1. Death is a result of sin (Romans 6:23)

2. Death began with Adam, because of Adam’s sin

a. Gap Theorists will say that Satan sin caused Physical Death and Adam’s Sin caused Spiritual Death

1). However, Jesus is called the Second Adam

2). Romans 5 says Jesus tasted death for us

3). If Adam’s sin caused “spiritual” death, why did Jesus have to die a “physical” death?

Jeremiah 4:23 – This verse is used to show the “without form and void” argument

1. “without form and void”

a. Argument is that the same phraseology is used here as it is used in Genesis

b. Notice that it is a mistranslation in Genesis 1, but when it fits their argument, it is not a mistranslation

c. However, the prophet is looking forward to the Babylonian captivity and not looking back at creation.

Isaiah 45:18 – Another poor attempt and word juggling

1. The argument is that “vain” = void

a. However, vain means without purpose

b. While void means empty

c. The prophet is looking forward to the Tribulation and the Millennium and the context of the whole passage is Israel’s salvation, not creation

Genesis Chapter 1 – How is it written?

1. All but verses 1 and 27 begin with the word “and”

2. Verse 1 obviously starts things off, there is no “and” at the beginning of something

3. Verse 27 is just summarizing verse 26

4. “And” is a conjunction, meaning it connects a previous thought with the latter thought to achieve a continuous time movement. (No Gap)

II Peter 3:4-7 – The “first” Flood

1. How can we be willingly ignorant of a flood we are never told about?

2. “Lucifer’s Flood” is never mentioned in the Bible (which it wouldn’t be since the author of this theory had to change the Bible to teach his theory)

3. The only flood ever mentioned is Noah’s flood, as previously referenced in I Peter

4. Jesus must have forgotten about the Luciferian flood because he only mentions Noah’s flood

II Peter 3:6 – The earth never “perished” in Noah’s Flood as it did in Lucifer’s Flood

a. Genesis 6:10 says the earth was “destroyed” in Noah’s flood

II Peter 3:5 - Earth standing in the water and out of the water to a Gap Theorist

1. Picture this: The earth is bobbing up and down in a sea called the Deep (Genesis 1:2)

b. Lucifer’s sin caused the earth to fall into this “deep” and be drowned or flooded (again, no verse)

2. However, remember that Earth isn’t always a direct reference to this planet

a. Gen. 1:10

1). God calls the dry land, earth

2). Earth standing in the water and out of the water

a). Sounds like the earth today

b). Do Continents stop at the shoreline?

c). Continents extend under the ocean to ridges or plate boundaries (i.e. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge)

The Gap Theory concludes that the present earth is actually the 2nd earth and that the 1st earth perished during the Luciferian flood.

1. Revelation 21:1

a. A new heaven and a new earth are to replace the 1st heaven and the 1st earth

b. But, according to the theory, these were replaced by the present heaven and earth

c. Scripture won’t contradict itself into an irreconcilable error

d. When a theory is made that calls for a change in one verse, it can then contradict other portions of scripture

Genesis 1:28 – what about the word “replenish”?

1. Replenish means to fill again because of the prefix “re”

2. Definition = to fill, in 1611

3. Another example of a definition change

a. “Let” used to mean to prohibit in some cases, now it means to permit.

4. Context of the passage ALWAYS determines the usage of the word

Hopefully you can see that the Gap Theory does not harmonize the Bible with Science because the Gap Theory can’t even harmonize the Bible. What else is interesting is that God’s word contains many references to natural, Scientific principles.

To see just some of these principles, visit http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencebible.html#7XI5t69sIFh0