Biblical Texts to Explore:
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 – And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gap Fact Belief Premise:
The Gap Fact believers are taught that the “and” at the beginning of every verse in Genesis chapter 1 is always sequential statement, meaning its something new.
Michael Pearl on “And” in Genesis 1:2
“They disregard all the rules of grammar with their assertion. Note the appearance of the connective word And throughout the first chapter. After verse one it is the first word in every verse with but one exception. It introduces each step forward in the sequence of events. In grammar the And is called a sequencing connective, as it enables the writer to develop a logical sequence of ideas—to show chronological order, as in, “and after that, this happened.” We learned this part of speech in grade school. Hebrew scholars of old assert that the same is true in the Hebrew text. Simply reading the text in any language makes it obvious that verse three follows verse two in a sequence of events. Read the whole chapter right now and note the use of And. Without doubt all sides of the debate would agree that beginning in verse three, And is employed as a sequencing connective, expressing the chronology of events. How then could one suggest that the first two uses are not expressing sequence?”
Michael Pearl – The Gap Fact and Out-of-Whack Creation Scientism – Page 21
Peter Ruckman on “And” in Genesis 1:2
“and not one time in thirty-one verses does it refer to the verse before it.”
Peter Ruckman – Ruckman Reference Bible – Genesis 1:2 Commentary
Brother Jeff Trout Commenting on Peter Ruckman’s Commentary
Listen to Brother Jeff Trout explain where he got his belief in this premise:
Brother Perry Demopoulos’ View on “and”
“The first word in this verse is “And…” This word alone can be proven from scripture that it separates and not only joins one and the same event, but rather separates two different events with a GAP in between those two events.
“A closer look at all the words in the second verse in the entire Bible is rather an enlightening experience. The word “and” is used about 148 times in Genesis 1-2 to
separate the 102 recorded independent acts of God. Verse 2 is as independent of verse 1 as to time and subject matter as all the other separate acts of God.”
Perry Demopoulos – Page 54 – The Gap Fact
While Brother Demopoulos goes into great detail explaining other examples of Gaps in the bible using the word “and” he missed the fact that many times in Genesis 1 it is used as a subordinating conjunction which is a further description as we will show below. I agree with him that the KJV translators were masters at what they did. In the end of this section of this book he also quotes Dr. Ruckman as I have above.
My Response to these Arguments and Premise
And we have many further explanations in Genesis chapter 1. It is not always sequential or a sequencing connector (coordinating conjunction). It also is used as a subordinating conjunction,
A subordinating conjunction is used to introduce a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause gives more information about the main clause.
This is also learned in grade school as well. Let’s break apart the verses and see how they are further describing a previous action. Look at the pattern we see in the first 3 days.
“And” in Genesis chapter 1, is a further explanation many times…
Be careful with commentaries written by men
- Col 2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
- Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
- Col 2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Further Addressing Brother Michael Pearl’s Grade School English Lesson
- Brother Pearl asserts that the “and” at the beginning of every verse in Genesis 1 is a sequencing connective. What he really wants to also say is that the “and” in Gen 1:2 is a “coordinating conjunction” which is sequencing. Connectives and Conjunctions are the same thing.
- A coordinating conjunction is used to link two independent clauses.
- In reality we see the word “and” many times in Genesis 1 (including Gen 1:2) is what is called a subordinating conjunction.
- A subordinating conjunction is used to introduce a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause gives more information about the main clause.
- We see above in the table that many times in the first 3 days of creation alone we have many verses that begin with “and” and are clearly subordinating conjunction’s that give more information.
- Example :
- Main clause: Genesis 1:1
- Subordinate clause: Genesis 1:2
English Grade School Reference
Connectives, Conjunctions & Clauses | Definition & Examples (twinkl.com)
Hath God Said,
Did God really use “And” at the beginning of verse that is further describing the subjects in the previous verse?
Yes
Do we see this writing style consistently in Genesis 1
Yes
Is it really important to be a Berean and not believe everything your told without checking it against scripture
Yes
Implication:
We see the explanations listed by the Gap Fact brethren do not match what we actually find when we read and study the scriptures ourselves.
Acts 17:11 KJV – These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
