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SUBJECT: Genesis 1 and 2
QUESTION: There seems to be a contradiction here as
chapter 1 shows man being created on the 6th day
and again in chapter 2 on or after the 7th day.
Please explain.
ANSWER:
There is not a contradiction here. Man was created on the
6th day, as chapter 1 states. It is well known that there
are actually two accounts of creation in the first two
chapters of Genesis, but this need not cause us to conclude
that they are incompatible, as some have suggested. The two
sections actually complement each other. Genesis 1:1-2:4a (first
part) presents a wide-angle view of all seven
days of creation and deals with the creation of man and
woman as a single act. Then in Genesis 2:4b (last
part)-24, the author zooms in on the sixth day,
giving details which were not possible in an overview like
chapter 1. The separate origins of man and woman are
brought into sharp focus. Therefore, chapters 1 and 2 are
not chronological, but 2:4b-24 presents in greater detail
some of what 1:24-31 merely summarizes.
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