For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: When did God divide light from darkness?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
On the first day of creation.
“God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” (Genesis 1:4-5)
On the fourth day.
“God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and ]to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.” (Genesis 1:16-19)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the website’s track record of inaccurate handling of biblical passages. See the many examples of their error we have responded to here in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this post, which is what the remainder of the post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages the Skeptic Annotated Bible cited and see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptic tries to pit Genesis 1:4-5 which the skeptics interpret as claiming “God divide light from darkness on the first day of Creation” against Genesis 1:16-19 which the skeptics interpret as claiming “God divide light from darkness on the fourth day of creation.”
- The skeptic rightly interpreted Genesis 1:4-5 with extrapolating the truth that “God divide light from darkness on the first day of Creation.”
- Notice the second half of verse 4 said “God separated the light from the darkness.“
- The light is then in verse 5 called day while the darkness is called night.
- The skeptic misinterpreted Genesis 1:16-19 when he asserted that it says “God divide light from darkness on the fourth day of Creation.”
- If any “division” takes place, it is not with darkness and light but separation of light into “two great lights” (v.16a).
- These two great lights are further described as distinct in the following matter: “greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also” (v.16b).
- Having two bodies of light to govern night and day is not separating light and darkness (which has already happened). There will still be darkness at night but there will be a lesser light in place during the darkness of the night.
- Since the Skeptic misinterpreted this verse we see it is not talking about separation of light and darkness, so its not talking about the same thing as the first day’s creation with light and darkness. There’s apples and orange comparison being wrongly done here.
- There is no contradiction here. Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
Thanks for bringing this one to light. This is one of the dimmest purported contradictions from our skeptic.
Craig. Your wit always amaze me. Good play on words. Yes this is the dimmest one from the skeptic in my book. Lol 😂 .
I delight that your wit isn’t just with Greek but displayed with your humor. It brighten my day
I try to lighten things up when I can.
I think it may have to do with studying the Scriptures. I’m currently working on exegeting/interpreting a text for a blog post, and I just wrote, “Our Scriptures are rich in literary devices!”
Jesus was quite witty in getting His points across!
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Thanks for reblogging this brother
Great Post – Amen
Willie I appreciate you reading this and sharing your response!
Did anyone else notice how Gen. 1.16 describes our immediate solar system? The clause: “and He made the stars also” can be a reutterance of Gen. 1.1 where God created the universe. Or, God may be referring to Venus, Mars and Jupiter which are prominent in our skies (and much more so to ancients for whom light pollution was not an issue). Ex. 20.11 refers to these seven days where God created mankind and a habitable earth about 6 thousand years ago. The outer universe and planets of Gen.1.1, I believe, were trashed by fallen spirits inhabiting lizards (dinosaurs) from another age with some surviving and trickling through to the present. Since all that God does is perfect, this ruining of original creation and chaos might well be the angelic fall. God creating “light” signals His revelatory action to change the fallen order through an avenue in which He will become flesh. His purpose is to reconcile material creation back to Himself: to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Eph. 1.10 NIV).
Wow thanks for sharing that. I never thought of it that way before; I’ll have to think about it some more but grateful for you sharing this Alex! Grateful you read this brother!
Well done, Slim.
I like exploring Genesis. There really are no contradictions, but there are a lot of mysteries! I like, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” That’s a pretty accurate description of the biodome that exists over the Earth today. We are kind of like a little greenhouse with moisture in the air above us and moisture on the ground beneath us. Kind of funny, weathermen today will often speak of atmospheric oceans and rivers and it always makes me think of that verse.
There’s so much interesting insights from Genesis! Thanks for sharing that!!!
Excellent brother. Obviously no contradiction at all.
Shalom!
Amen no contradiction!! Thanks for reading this! I hope your Saturday is going well?
It is a stunning day in paradise. Been working on new content, a couple of books, and videos. Going to watch a Braves game on TV in a little bit. Go Braves!
Shalom!
Good point in 5.1: “If any “division” takes place, it is not with darkness and light but separation of light into “two great lights” (v.16a).”
Exactly! And with that point, right away, there’s not a contradiction! Thanks Frank for reading this!!!
Perhaps Wells is not presenting what he observes as a contradiction with the proper question. I’ve had trouble connecting Genesis 1:4-5 and Genesis 1:16-19, myself.
How could God have established light and darkness, day and night, and morning and evening before the creation of the sun and the moon? I found the article below from Got Questions helpful.
How could there be light on the first day of Creation if the sun was not created until the fourth day?
https://www.gotquestions.org/light-first-sun-fourth.html
Thanks for the article from Got Questions. I think your question are legitimate. But I think Wells goes beyond that when he said there’s a contradiction here. There’s not a contradiction.
Thanks for reading this. Thanks further you shared your thoughts and also a helpful link which I’m sure others reading this later down the road years from now will also be thinking about as you did.
Was your day well today this Saturday? Rain is coming Sunday; how about you guys?
Thanks! Yup, I absolutely agree the passages are not contradictory and I hope my wording did not imply that I thought they were. But they do present a “first glance” interpretive challenge.
I was busy with outside work all day, including applying the 2nd coat of black sealer over that unsightly paint spill. Looks great now. The weatherman says the weather may be dicey tomorrow like your locale, so I wanted to finish the sealer today.
How did your Saturday go?
Thanks much…
You are welcome and thank you for supporting this ongoing project refuting the skeptics’ attack on the Bible! The Bible still stands as truth amen??!
AMEN‼️✝️🛐🙌🙌🙌
Right as usual, Jimmy. 🙂
Aww thanks!! Hope you are doing well
I wondered this myself so this answered my question
Glad to hear that
Thanks. You seem to be a specialist for these types of things
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You can work on your grammar and writing style. But your reason is sound
Yeah it’s my weakness
I admire your honesty. Few pastors can take criticism these days
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