Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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The following is part of a letter I wrote to a reader who had asked me some questions about Genesis 6:1-4. They were discussing the question of its historicity and trustworthiness with a friend and wanted my input. It may be beneficial to all of you so here it is:
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I suppose that the way you view Genesis 6:1-4 should be determined by the way you take Genesis 1-11 as well as the entire book of Genesis as a whole. Genesis as a whole purports to portray the events it describes as historical (as opposed to mythological). Granted, it is not written the way that history would be written today, but it would be unfair to impose our standards of writing and research on ancient documents. Genesis was also a theological work, it beings with God’s creation and tells the story of sin, the fall, the condition of the human heart, who God is, what God is like, and so fort. It is more a collection of brute facts, it is also an interpretation of those facts.
Also consider we are culturally separated from the original audience of Genesis. It was written to ancient people who spoke Hebrew. They were either born in Egypt as slaves of Pharaoh or in the 40 year wandering after the exodus from Egypt. We are separated from them by time, language, culture, education, religious understanding, etc. Thus we should not be surprised when certain parts of Genesis don’t immediately makes sense. The fault may be in one of these areas of separation rather than in the text of Scripture.
Although God had commanded mankind to multiply and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28) there was something that He disapproved of in the sexual relations which occurred between the “sons of God†and the “daughters of man.†We are not told exactly who these groups are or what exactly they did to cause God to say “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years†(Gen. 6:3).
The Nephilim (Gen. 6:4) are not identified with any specificity either. The word is used in Numbers 13:33 which may or may not be the same group. The Hebrew word means “fallen ones†and for some reason early Greek translators used a word which meant “giants.†It may be too much of a leap to say that these two groups are the same as they are mentioned in text which describe two different periods of time. Also, one is pre-flood and one is post-flood. Whoever the Nephilim were in Genesis 6:4 they were all drowned in Noah’s flood.
We may have to exercise faith that God, through Moses, speaks accurately. Genesis 5 is a genealogy (not likely a myth) and Genesis 6:5 and following tells the story of Noah. It is doubtful that Noah’s account was mythological, Noah is recorded in the genealogy (Gen. 5:32) and specific lengths of time are used in the story. Also consider the episode in Noah’s tent after the flood (Gen. 9:20-29). If this were a myth, why would the myth-teller soil the character of Noah after he had done such a noble thing? On the other hand if the story of Noah is historical the history-teller is free to write down what happened without having to make-up a “better†Noah. Following Noah’s story we find yet another list of nations, another indication that if Moses was spinning a myth, he sure made it sound a lot like history!
My conclusion is this: We don’t have all of the evidence which would confirm Genesis 6:1-4 with 100% certainty to a skeptical mind. If someone is looking for an excuse to dismiss the Bible as coming from God, and therefore having authority, they will find something. I can’t prove to a skeptic with 100% epistemological certainty that Genesis 6:1-4 is true historically, neither can you. It is a part of scripture which seems to be speaking historically. It was originally written by Moses, a man who was fiercely dedicated to God and not given to myths or fairy tales. As far as we can tell, the later writers of Scripture took Genesis as historical. Jesus speaks of the creation as historical (Matt. 25:34; Mark 10:6; John 17:24). Jesus speaks of Noah as a historical figure (Matt. 24:37-38; Luke 17:26-27). If someone wants to assert the presence of a myth in Genesis they need to explain why it is sitting uncomfortably between huge sections of text which are by all accounts intended to be taken as historical and were, in fact, interpreted as history by the original audience and by Jesus during his earthly ministry.
I hope this helps!
Glenn
Greg Koukl answers the question of whether the canon is reliable in light of ancient controversies over the inclusion of certain books (like Revelation or Hebrews).
In conjunction with my comment policies I am responding to this anonymous comment to my blog post: Dearborn Update: Footage from David Wood’s Camera
 DoesNotMatterwhatever@yahoo.com 68.40.155.28 |
Submitted on 2010/07/19 at 8:46pm
I am a Muslim and I agree things did not have to escalate the way they did. The problem is that you were talking to a bunch of Muslim kids that did not know much about their own religion. |
DearDoesNotMatter,
First off, may I say that I am impressed you were able to sign up for the email address whatever@yahoo.com. Getting single words without having to add a line of numbers to them is rare nowadays.
In regard to your comment I believe those Muslim kids did know enough about their religion to ask good, penetrating questions to Nabeel. Dr. Qureshi complimented them on their line of questioning in the video if you recall. However, the problem is not whether some kids in Dearborn, MI knew as much as you do about Islam. The real problem is that those kids know more about Islam than the Dearborn police know about the constitution.
I would pose this question to you (and by extension, to Muslims everywhere): How can you challenge the authority of the Bible when the Qur’an says things like this?
It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong). (Surah 3:3)
And Allah will teach him the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel… (Surah 3:48)
And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah. (Surah 5:46)
There are more citations I could provide of the Koran pointing its readers back to the Bible. If you are truly a Muslim then how dare you downgrade the Bible to just another book in the library! Look, I don’t think the Quran is God’s word, but what I do know is that if you do you need to believe ALL of it, even the parts that say Allah sent down the Law and the Gospel.
When you read that Gospel you will see statements from the lips of Jesus that speak very highly of the Bible:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17 )
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came- and Scripture cannot be broken- do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? (John 10:35-36)
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18)
Those three citations are from Jesus. More could be listed from Paul, Peter, Luke, etc. The point is this: The Bible is not some book that is equal among other books, rather, it is God’s holy word which is entirely true (it is “truth”).
p1 Manuscript, c. 250 A.D.
You would think that finishing the semester would free up more of my time for writing and research. HA! I’ve been able to eek out a few pages on the site. A few on New Testament manuscripts, p1, p2, p3, and p4. More of those to come.
I’ve also posted outlines of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. You guessed it, more of those to come as well.
Thanks to all of the people who have become a fan of Eye On Apologetics on Facebook.
I am pleased to announce that I have placed an order for bibles on Amazon.com for distribution in personal evangelism. I placed the order for 5 ESV paperbacks which include:
Please pray for guidance as I interact with people. It is easy to pass out free books and I do not want to give these out indiscriminately. Evangelism is more than merely passing out literature, it is interaction with people over time.
Hey again! Slowly but surely the site is coming along. I just finished an outline of the book of Genesis. 1 down 65 to go. Hopefully someone out there will find it useful, that’s all I ask. Get into the Bible and study it. Learn about God. Some day this website is going to be FULL of great Bible info! Keep reading!
I just created a page for each book of the Bible. They are all under the Bible category. So far all they contain are two statistics about each book: the number of chapters and verses. Of course more will be added as I have time to research and write.