Genesis 1:16 - Explicitly stated metaphor?

[Equipped_4_Love]

Love your post, thanks for the contribution It sounds like you really know what you're talking about, so you'll have to bear with me because when it comes to etymology my knowledge starts and ends with my concordance
I appreciate what you're saying, but it's tricky to really ascertain whether the meaning of the word would encompass a reflected light, being that there's no parallel for us to compare with. In the case of a lamp or candle the light itself is sourced within the object which could be referred to as a 'light'. I can see myself saying to someone "Can you bring that light?" Referring to a torch or whatever, so it makes sense to me that the word could operate in this sense. I guess it's a judgement call, so we'll assume the term does encompass reflected light; does it strike you as odd that He would refer to sunlight and reflected sunlight as two distinct lights, if He were talking literally? God made two great lights. Only He didn't

I'm surprised that no one has brought up the point that the sun is actually a star:

Gen. 1:16 Then God made 2 great lights: The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

So, then, why would the Scripture not classify the sun as a star? Simply because man had no idea that it was a star...to him, it was a great light.
The creation account was written for man; likewise, God inspired it in a way that man could comprehend.
The Creation account was not written as a technical treatise...It was written as a basic outline to explain how the world came into existence, through the creative hand of God. I do believe that the creation account is authoritative, but only to the extent that man would be able to understand.

[ImmenseDisciple]

I'm surprised that no one has brought up the point that the sun is actually a star:

Gen. 1:16 Then God made 2 great lights: The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

That's a great point, I had completely overlooked that.

So, then, why would the Scripture not classify the sun as a star? Simply because man had no idea that it was a star...to him, it was a great light.
The creation account was written for man; likewise, God inspired it in a way that man could comprehend.
The Creation account was not written as a technical treatise...It was written as a basic outline to explain how the world came into existence, through the creative hand of God. I do believe that the creation account is authoritative, but only to the extent that man would be able to understand.

I agree with that actually, it's the extent to which we can understand which is my only real issue - because while we may not have progressed very far (at all, actually) since Genesis was first read, we're certainly capable of understanding a little bit more

[ImmenseDisciple]

Good question. One thing we do know is that Christ referred to this text (Genesis 1) in a manner not so metaphorical, so we need to be careful.

I know He spoke of Adam and Eve, and being that Adam is the start of His blood line I'm certainly not questioning that. Unfortunately there was no real cause for Him to say "When my Father created the world exactly as laid out in Genesis." that would really clear things up

But IMO it may be referring to allowing those "great lights" to becoming visible to the earth's surface (inhabitants).

There's certainly a case for that.

The focus of this text is not science, but salvation - mankind's fall and need for a plan of salvation.

BD

Absolutely, this is a minor issue of no real significance.

[ImmenseDisciple]

No more metaphorical than when God made the sun "stand still" when the Hebrews prayed for it. We commonly accept that the "standing still" part was no more literal than saying something like "sunrise" or "sunset."

This is where my lack of knowledge becomes very obvious Could you tell me the passages you're referring to? Thanks

We know that the sun itself is not setting, we simply use terms that come from our perspective. So when Genesis says God created to "great lights," it is being spoken of in our perspective that the moon gives off its own light. Getting caught up in terminology and whether the Bible speaks scientifically correct is only going to cause confusion to ourselves.

I'm certainly not aiming for confusion, but I think we should all have a healthy flexibility to our beliefs. It's nice that I've brought this up and people seem to have given it some thought when they've no doubt not really considered the issue in years.

The intended meaning is that God created two objects in space that give off light, whether by internal or external sources, but it's not going to spell out everything to us in a scientist's language.

I have no doubt that was the intention of the hand that wrote it, but God's intentions could be twofold, threefold or a millionfold

[markedward]

Could you tell me the passages you're referring to? Thanks

Joshua 10:1-15.

From human perspective, the sun "stood still" in the sky, though in a scientific view, it had to have been the earth that stopped rotating, not the sun having stopped moving. But despite that Joshua probably didn't understand that the earth rotates on an axis as it orbits the sun and that it would have to have been the earth that "stood still" rather than the sun, he did understand that he needed the sun to stay visible in the sky and God obviously understood the intended meaning of what Joshua was praying for.

The key point, though, is that it was a statement made from human perspective, not scientific knowledge. From human perspective, the sun and moon are two "great lights" in the sky, in that they are both large in size and give off more light to the earth than any of the stars. Scientifically, the sun is a star, yes, but from human perspective it is a unique light in the sky, far brighter and far larger than any of the stars we ever see. And scientifically speaking the moon does not give off its light, but from human perspective it is a large source of light, but lesser than the sun, just as the Genesis account shows.