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stellar space and (3) the heavens where God dwells to which Paul was caught up (2 Cor. 12:2). It is, of

course, true that the existence of the globe does imply the existence of space around it, just as the existence

of God implies a sphere which he fills (Jeremiah 23:24), though this is not able to contain Him (1 Kings

8:27). This can, however, be deduced from the existence of the globe in verse 2 apart from the statement in

verse 1. However, properly speaking there was no expanse until the second day and it is in the expanse

of the heavens that the Sun, moon and stars were put on the fourth day. From our viewpoint the

expanse of the heavens is the sky which is where the heavenly bodies appear.

I have heard the idea put forward that the reference to stars on the fourth day is simply an aside

without implying that they were made then. This is not however the natural reading of the passage. The

only argument for it from Scripture of which I am aware is that from Job 38:7, where it says that the

morning stars sang together when the foundations of the earth were laid. However, as the singing

of the morning stars runs in parallel with the sons of God shouting for joy, the passage would

appear to refer to angelic beings rather than physical stars which cannot take pleasure in

anything.

(3) The summary statement theory

According to this theory the statement that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning is

simply a statement of what is given in detail in the rest of the chapter. This theory overcomes the objections

to the two preceding theories. Thus there is only one creation and not effectively two as required by the gap

theory. There is no problem as to why the heavens were in some way created twice and the statement that

the earth was waste and empty does not have to be forced to make it mean that it became waste and empty.

Further, contrary to the first day theory there is no suggestion of any violation of the statement as

to God's creation in Isaiah 45:18, and it means that the first day begins as all the other days with the

statement "and God said".

The proof that this is the correct interpretation of the passage is the fact that it is not uncommon in

Scripture for such a summary statement to appear at the beginning of a passage, particularly in the Psalms.