Genesisand Creation
Genesis opens with creation, and careful readers still disagree about what its first three chapters are telling us. On The Dig In Podcast, four guests made their case in full: a cosmic temple, a garden that was not a temple, a young earth, and one story of grace running from creation to Chronicles.
The Bible was written for us but not to us.
Same chapters,
three readings.
Pick a question and see how each guest answers it, side by side and in their own terms. The show does not referee. Each guest got the floor, and the follow-up questions, for an hour.
Cosmic temple
Dr. John Walton Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Wheaton College. PhD, Hebrew Union College.What is Genesis answering?Walton argues Genesis 1 is an account of order and function, not material manufacturing. The Hebrew verb bara is about God giving things their role, and the chapter answers what kind of world this is and what our place in it is, not how God made all the stuff.
What was the first world?Walton maps the seven days onto a cosmic temple inauguration. The cosmos is set up as God's dwelling, and Day 7 is the climax of the account: divine rest means God taking up residence in the world he has ordered, not God recovering from work.
What is at stake?Reading Genesis 1 the way its first audience heard it, including what they understood about the sun, moon and stars, removes it from the science versus faith fight entirely. Critics say this cuts Genesis loose from real history, and Walton answers them in the episode.
A failed commission
Dr. Desmond Alexander Senior research fellow in Biblical Studies, Union Theological College, Belfast.What is Genesis answering?Alexander reads Genesis 1 to 3 as the opening of one storyline that runs from Eden to the New Jerusalem. Humanity is commissioned to rule over the creatures of the earth on God's behalf, and the rest of Scripture follows what becomes of that commission.
What was the first world?A garden, but not a temple. Alexander studied under Gordon Wenham, whose work launched the Eden-as-first-temple idea, and he has moved away from it. He notes the guarding language used for Adam is later applied to the cherubim, and suggests the temple may have worked as a barrier more than a bridge.
What is at stake?The first rebellion was a failure to rule before it was a piece of fruit. The serpent is an animal of the field, from outside the garden, and Adam and Eve agreed with it instead of subduing it. The story then runs through Babel, the tabernacle and Pentecost to a city with no temple in it.
Literal history
Dr. Kent Hovind Young-earth creationist, former high school science teacher, creator of the Creation Seminar Series.What is Genesis answering?Hovind reads Genesis as literal history and holds that the Bible is accurate scientifically, historically and mathematically. Adding up the ages given in the genealogies, starting with Genesis 5, he concludes the earth is about 6,000 years old.
What was the first world?A planet unlike ours. Hovind reads the water above the firmament as a canopy around the earth, argues for higher oxygen and air pressure before the flood, and links that world to 900-year lifespans and to dinosaurs, which he holds lived alongside humans.
What is at stake?If Genesis is not literal history, Hovind argues, original sin stops making sense, because Romans 5 builds on a historical Adam. He also frames creation as the ground of morality: if God made the world, God sets the standard for right and wrong.
All three take Genesis seriously as Scripture. They part ways on what kind of account it is: an ancient picture of God taking up residence in his world, the opening of a royal vocation that runs all the way to Revelation, or a literal record of how and when the world began.
Four guests,
one first page.
The newest conversation is first. Tap a thumbnail to watch here, or open the show notes and the full transcript for any episode.
The Garden Was Not a Temple
with Dr. Desmond AlexanderWhy the first rebellion was a failure to rule, why he changed his mind about Eden as the first temple, and how the story runs from the garden to Pentecost and a garden city.
The guestFrom Genesis to Chronicles, One Unbroken Redemption Story
with Dr. Carol KaminskiSix periods, one story of grace, and a word in 2 Samuel 7.
Before God Made Anything, He Built a Temple
with Dr. John WaltonOrder and function, the verb bara, and Day 7 as the climax.
Creation vs. Evolution: Why the Battle for Genesis Matters
with Dr. Kent HovindThe age of the earth, the flood and dinosaurs, read as history.
Creation
to Chronicles.
Dr. Carol Kaminski, Senior Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, reads Genesis as the first act of one story. The books of the Old Testament are not in chronological order, so her CASKET framework lays the story out in six periods, with grace driving every one of them.
- Period 1
Creation
Genesis 1 to 11Kaminski takes apart the idea that Noah was chosen because he was good. Genesis 6:8 says Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD before verse 9 calls him righteous. Grace comes first.
- Period 2
Abraham
Genesis 12 to 50God promises Abraham a people, a land and blessing for the nations. Kaminski follows the singular word seed in that promise and argues it points directly to Christ, the reading Paul makes in Galatians 3:16.
- Period 3
Sinai
Exodus to DeuteronomyThe golden calf, she argues, exposes the true character of the God of the Old Testament. Right after it, in Exodus 34:6, the LORD proclaims himself merciful and gracious to the people who just broke covenant.
- Period 4
Kings
2 Samuel 7God promises David a house and a son on his throne. Kaminski points to the Hebrew verb for raising up David's offspring, which the Greek translation of the Old Testament renders with the language of resurrection.
- Period 5
Exile
2 Kings 25The kingdoms fall. In 586 BC Babylon destroys Jerusalem and its temple and carries Judah away. The promises to Abraham and David are still open, and the story keeps moving.
- Period 6
Time of return
Ezra, Nehemiah, ChroniclesPersia lets the exiles go home to rebuild. In the Hebrew ordering, Chronicles closes the Old Testament by retelling the whole story, opening with Adam (1 Chronicles 1:1) and ending with the decree of Cyrus.
Genesis,
asked plainly.
Straight answers on the garden of Eden, Genesis 1 and the age of the earth, with the episode to hear for each one.
What is the cosmic temple reading of Genesis 1?
It is the reading Dr. John Walton has built over four decades of comparing Genesis with ancient Near Eastern literature. He argues Genesis 1 describes God giving the cosmos order and function, not manufacturing matter, and that the seven days follow the pattern of a temple inauguration. Day 7 is the climax: God rests, meaning he takes up residence in the world he has ordered.
Was the garden of Eden a temple?
Many readers were taught that it was, an idea that grew from the work of Gordon Wenham. Dr. Desmond Alexander, who wrote his PhD under Wenham, now argues it was not: Eden was not a sanctuary where God dwelt, and the temple may have functioned as a barrier more than a bridge. In his reading the story moves toward God's presence becoming more real on earth, through the tabernacle and Pentecost. For the tabernacle itself, see Temple, Sacrifice and Purity.
How old does Kent Hovind say the earth is?
About 6,000 years, a figure he reaches by adding up the ages in the biblical genealogies. Dr. Kent Hovind points to the salt content of the oceans, the weakening of the earth's magnetic field and the moon moving away from the earth as evidence against billions of years, and argues that every radiometric dating method rests on three assumptions that cannot be checked: the starting content, a constant decay rate and no contamination.
Does Genesis 1 teach science?
The guests answer differently. Dr. John Walton says no: Genesis 1 is not a science textbook, and reading it through ancient eyes takes it out of the science versus faith debate. Dr. Kent Hovind says the Bible is scientifically accurate in every detail and reads the creation week as literal history. Hear both in full and weigh the case each one makes.
How does Genesis connect to the rest of the Old Testament?
Dr. Carol Kaminski reads the Old Testament as one connected account of redemption in six periods: Creation, Abraham, Sinai, Kings, Exile and the Time of return. Grace drives the whole story, from Noah finding favor to the promise to David, and Chronicles closes the Hebrew Bible by retelling everything from Adam onward.
Did Genesis borrow from Babylonian creation stories?
Genesis shares a world with texts like the Babylonian Enuma Elish, and the guests who read cuneiform show where it overlaps and where it breaks away. Genesis 1 has no war among the gods, and it leaves the sun and moon unnamed. That conversation lives on Israel and the Ancient Near East.
In the
beginning.
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