Days Of Genesis 1 — “How Readest Thou?”

By Larry Ray Hafley

Once, when “a certain lawyer” attempted to ensnare Jesus with a question, the Lord replied, “What is written in the law? How readest thou” (Luke 10:26)?

Regarding the current controversy concerning “the days of Genesis 1,” let us ask, “How readest thou?” Are the days referred to literal days, or are they long ages of time as evolutionists theorize? Let us cite a portion of the text, and ask, “How readest thou?”

And God said, Let there be light; and there was light . . . and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day (1:3-5).  

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years . . . And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day (1:14-19). 

Without argument, just by reading the text, what is your sense or understanding of the language? Are the days figurative, referring to long periods of time? Does each day represent millions of years? “How readest thou?” 

Truth Magazine Vol. XLIV: 24  p4  December 21, 2000