Is "Genesis" Written as Poetry?

Some people who profess belief in the Bible will balk when it comes to the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Many believe that "science says" it's not true, so they find reasons to believe it through compromise, such as, "It's poetry or allegory, but not history".

Creation Swap / Matt Gruber

If these people would cognate on it a mite, they'd realize that the early chapters of Genesis are written as narrative, and there is no dividing line where they suppose "real" biblical history begins. In addition, the forms of poetry are markedly different than narrative styles in the Bible. The days of Genesis 1 are clearly defined as literal solar days, not long ages or poetry.

Our ministry supports the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. However, some opponents of biblical (‘young earth’) creation also claim to believe in the authority of Scripture, but claim that Genesis 1–11 is poetry or allegory. Others rebuke us by claiming, “Genesis is not a scientific textbook”. If I’m in a playful mood, I’ll reply, “Thank goodness, because scientific textbooks become outdated in a few years”. Otherwise I reply that we claim it’s really a book about history—events that really happened in the past.

To justify this, it’s important to show what type of book Genesis is.2 To do this, we should compare Scripture with Scripture.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati elaborates. To finish reading, click on "Genesis is history!"