What is the accurate Bible teaching on the age of the earth?
The Bible does not specifically cite the age of the earth. Furthermore, many people, including some Christians, contend that the Bible does not contain sufficient information to calculate the age of the earth. This opinion is especially that of persons influenced by geology and evolutionary theory. Yet, conservative religious people reject entirely organic evolution as both unscientific and anti-God, and geology is but the chum of evolution.
Nevertheless, over the years, several Bible scholars have attempted to organize information from the Scriptures to ascertain a relative age of the earth. Critics, though, have criticized each of these chronological outlines for some failing. “In modern times the systems of Biblical chronology that have been adopted are chiefly those of Ussher and Hales. The former follows the Hebrew, and the latter the Septuagint mainly” (Easton’s). “Dating the Creation has also generated endless speculation. Some 300 years ago an Irish bishop, Ussher, computed the date of Creation by studying the genealogies of Genesis. His conclusion? Creation took place in 4004 B.C. But by 1738 there had been over 200 known attempts to compute the date, with proposed times ranging from 3483 B.C. to 6984 B.C.” (Teacher’s).
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia explains the methodology used by Ussher.
The literal interpretation, the best known advocate of which was Archbishop Ussher (d. 1656), whose literal arrangement was introduced into the margin of the King James Version after his death. This theory takes the birth- and death-numbers just as they are, and by addition of the time intervals between the birth of the various patriarchs, together with Adam’s age at the birth of Seth, shows that 1,656 years elapsed from the Creation to the Flood, and 290 years from the Flood to Abraham’s birth, according to the Massoretic Text.
Each of the explanations from chronological information in the Bible rests on the literal interpretation of the Bible’s creation week in Genesis and the utter dismissal of evolutionary and geological theories. We concur with taking God’s Word as Truth and at face value, and at the same time, wholly rejecting evolution and geological timetables. The chief differences between the explanations pertain to whether biblical chronologies are viewed as complete or missing some chronological data. Still, each of them argues for a relatively young earth from 6,000 to 10,000 years old.
Excluding evolutionary theory from the equation and liberal criticism respecting such things as the long lifespans of early mankind in Genesis, true science corroborates the notion that the earth is relatively young, not more than 10,000 years old. Not a part of this treatise, other articles and resources address the age of the earth from a true, scientific perspective.
Works Cited
Easton’s Bible Dictionary. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 2006.
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 2006.
Teacher’s Commentary. CD-ROM. Wheaton: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1987.
