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[Concept]

Did God create life on Earth on the 3rd day of creation?

"11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good."

I ask because, regarding the fifth day, it says:

"20 ¶ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

which is the first mention of life.

[jimwalton]

I subscribe to the recent and sensible analysis of Dr. John Walton, that Genesis 1 is about function, not structure. It's about God giving order to chaos, and making the universe functional ("good"). While the Bible certainly teaches that God is the creator of all, Genesis 1 is not about material creation, but about God ordering the universe to be his temple (where he would dwell) and creating humans to be his priest and priestess (establish a loving relationship with people). As such, it's a temple text, not an expression of material origin.

In the ancient world, their concern was not material origin (a given) but functionality and order. They wrote about why it was there and how the gods had ordered it to function. So also Genesis 1-2. And in the ancient world, every temple dedication ceremony is a seven-day dedication, hence the days of Gen. 1. And on the 7th day God would come to "rest" in his temple, meaning come to live there and engage with his people. Therefore what Gen. 1 is about is not the manufacture of a material universe, but about the ordering of time (day 1), climate (day 2), agriculture for the sustenance of life (3), the calendar and seasons (4), the cycles of life (5), and the function of humans to populate and maintain sacred space (the earth) as co-regents with God. God ordered everything to function appropriately ("God saw that it was good") and then took up residence to engage people and their lives as their God.

So he didn't create life on the 3rd day. On the 3rd day he was separating the dry land from the seas so the earth could function in a way as to provide sustenance for life. And on the 5th day he was filling the "firmament" with life function in cycles and balance to sustain and nurture life on the planet.