Would it be safe to say that Genesis 1 neither affirms nor denies the theory of evolution?
This text is from an article written by David Gooding in 1986.
Not necessarily. It depends in the first place on what is meant by the term 'evolution'. In some theories, both ancient (e.g. the Epicurean) and modern, evolution is held to account for everything without the existence or intervention of a creator. Such atheistic evolution is obviously and categorically denied by Genesis 1.
In other theories, evolution is simply a means and method which the Creator has used to bring the universe to its present state, and obviously this kind of evolutionary theory has a greater chance of fitting into the revealed truth of Genesis 1. Whether or not it does is, of course, a very debatable question; not least because the theory of evolution itself contains so many scientifically unsatisfactory and implausible elements. The theory is nowadays under increasing attack not only from creationists but also from people who do not believe in a creator.
It is true that the Bible does teach development as well as creation. Creation produced one man and one woman. Development—under God's control, of course—has produced from the 'one man' (Acts 17:26) all the different races in the world. But Genesis teaches very clearly—and we are required to believe it—that the great advances recorded in each one of the six days were each set in motion by a creative word of God, an 'And God said'. It is instructive to note that, on day three, the phrase 'And God said' is used a second time within one day, where it marks the difference between the organic and the inorganic. Similarly on day six, where it marks the difference between animal life and human life. In other words, the inorganic did not merge into the organic, nor animal into human life, by development: the existence of the organic and the existence of human life are the result of special creation.
Perhaps a good and useful book to read would be Nigel M. de S. Cameron Evolution and the Authority of the Bible with an appendix Biblical Authority and the Facts of Science by Dr Christopher Darnbrough. Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1983.
At a more popular level, but with much useful scientific detail and helpful bibliographies and references: Josh McDowell and Don Stewart Reasons Skeptics should consider Christianity. California: Here's Life Publishers, 1981, pp. 103–217.
More philosophical and mathematical, and arguing for the existence of God and creation: William Lane Craig The Kalam Cosmological Argument. United Kingdom: Macmillan, 1979.
For a non-Christian attack on traditional evolution theory: Professor Sir Fred Hoyle and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe Evolution from Space. London: J. M. Dent, 1981.
