Can you explain the creation order in Genesis 1? How are the sun, moon and stars created on day four, when light and dark are mentioned in day one?

This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1994.

What interesting questions this chapter raises!

We should, of course, never forget the emphasis repeated throughout the series, 'And God said', showing us that creation took place by the word of God. That is to say, both by his command and by his imprinting on matter his divine design and its potential for development.

Did the activity described in verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1 take place in the course of day one? Certainly, days two to six inclusive all begin with the formula, 'And God said'. That formula occurs in connection with day one, but it is not mentioned until verse three. If day one conforms to the same pattern as days two to six, then the activity of verses one and two all took place before day one commenced. So it is possible that an unspecified length of time took place before day one.

Some people think, of course, that the activity of verses one and two did in fact take place in the course of day one, and they have various explanations why the opening formula for day one does not occur until verse 3. The matter lies open for debate.

Day six includes both the creation of cattle, creeping things, beasts of the earth, and the creation of man. Certainly on day six, God announces his intention, 'Let us make man in our image after our likeness'; and so he did create them and bless them.

On the other hand, if you only had the account of the creation of man in Genesis 1, you might imagine that Adam and Eve were both created instantaneously and together. However, when chapter 2 fills out the details, it shows that man and woman were not both created together. And even if Adam was created instantaneously in a moment of time, Eve certainly was not. Moreover, while chapter 1 tells us that God created man in his own likeness and image, it does not tell us what man was made of. Chapter 2 tells us that man was not created out of nothing: his body was made of pre-existent material. So, on day one, God created all the animals, created Adam of pre-existent materials, called all the animals to Adam so that he could name them, then he put Adam to sleep and created Eve out of his side. My question is whether all that activity took place within twenty-four hours—or shall I say within twelve hours, because I do not suppose God brought the animals to Adam during the dark. They presumably were brought to Adam in daylight.

These are all interesting questions, are they not? And God tells us these things so that as his children we may begin to take an intelligent interest in the work of our Father.

Regarding the fact that the sun, moon and stars are said to have been made on day four, sincere believers hold different views on its implications. Some hold that Scripture means that the sun, moon and stars were not created until day four, and therefore, when day one indicates the alternation between dark and light, the light source was not the sun or the moon or the stars, but some other form of electromagnetism or photons, or whatever else you may think of. It is a fact, of course, that the alternation of dark and light is something that we experience daily, and the light source in question nowadays is, without doubt, the sun.

Others hold that, when day four announces that God made the sun, moon and stars for signs to regulate day and night, and stars and constellations for guidance, both for farmers and for navigators, day four is not talking about the creation of the heavenly bodies, but of their organization.

Again, the matter is debated; and that should not distress us. Our stance should be that we believe what God's word says, and, believing it, we then do our best to understand it. And where we cannot understand everything fully as we would like to, we wait for God to give us further light. But we can set our feet very firmly on the fact that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. And secondly, that it was our Lord Jesus in whose mind the universe had its origin, who was the agent in its actual creation, and the goal for which it was all made. It is a glorious fact to reflect upon, that our Saviour, by whose blood we have been redeemed, is also the creator and head of every principality and power and might and dominion in the whole of the universe.