Classes
This Week’s Class: Genesis 1
Restoration, Calling, and Identity
Join us as we explore Genesis 1 through a fresh, biblically grounded lens. We’ll look at the “Gap Theory” and the evidence for a pre-Genesis history, examine God’s restoring work in the creation week, and unpack how function precedes identity in the biblical story. We’ll also discover what it truly means to bear God’s image—not just in who we are, but in the vocation we’re called to carry out. This session breaks down forming and filling, bara/asah/yatsar, and the unique role of humanity in God’s restored world.
In this third installment of the Cosmic Turf series, we explore one of the most intriguing debates in biblical interpretation: the Gap Theory and its implications for how we understand creation, judgment, and the origin of evil.
This class investigates questions that arise as soon as we read the opening chapters of Genesis:
• Was there a long gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2?
• How do we interpret the condition of the earth before God said, “Let there be light”?
• Could an earlier creation have fallen and been judged before the account of Adam and Eve?
• Where does spiritual rebellion fit in the opening narrative of Scripture?
• How do ancient Hebrew words like tohu wa-bohu (“formless and void”) inform our understanding of early earth conditions?
We also look at how this topic connects to:
• The cosmic rebellion introduced by Lucifer and other heavenly beings
• Later biblical references to judgment and restoration
• The relationship between divine activity and natural catastrophe
• How different interpretive traditions — including Gap Theory and young earth, old earth, and literary frameworks — seek to make sense of the text
Rather than promoting a single human theory, this class models faithful engagement with Scripture, linguistic context, and theological coherence. We examine the strengths, weaknesses, and biblical evidence surrounding these ideas so viewers can think clearly about what the text actually says.
Cosmic Turf is a multi-part teaching series that explores spiritual rebellion, divine council theology, cosmic geography, and the biblical storyline of God’s plan to redeem a broken world. Each class connects ancient Scripture to the bigger story of heaven, earth, and God’s unfolding purpose for humanity.