When one reads the account of creation in Genesis in the first two chapters, one is awed by the narration and its succinctness. Its day by day and step by step accounting of creation leaves the reader awestruck, while simultaneously opening the imaginative and inquisitive space to wonder about all the missing details like – what about the dinosaurs, what about the fallen angels etc. But it’s helpful to keep in mind that Moses’ divinely inspired narration of events was not meant to be exhaustive, but a concise account that reveals God’s intimate involvement in creation, culminating in the creation of man following the intense counsel He held among Himself (Gen 1:26).
The key tenet to bear in mind while reading the account of creation is that it speaks to a spiritual reality as well as to a physical, literal one. This is often misunderstood by many, both believers and unbelievers alike. Some Christians only see Genesis as a pure historical rendering of creation. They interpret everything in these chapters literally (as they should), but nothing more. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are some great Christian thinkers who interpret the creation account figuratively to varying degrees, and for them at least parts of it were not to be understood literally, such as the chronology or sequence of events. Some notable examples include Origen, Augustine of Hippo, and Philo
The key to understanding the account of creation in Genesis is to recognize that there are two parallel realities expressed. One points to the obvious, physical reality which lends credence to the literal interpretation and the other to the higher, spiritual reality encapsulated as allegories and metaphors using figures, symbols, and types. In the next post, we shall look at a few cases of these two realities expressed in the book of Genesis