Question of the week: Is it possible that God’s seventh day (Genesis 2:1–4) refers to the extended period of time that Adam spent in the Garden of Eden?
My brief answer: I give an in-depth answer to this question in my book, A Matter of Days, 2nd edition, pages 85–87. Very briefly, there is no closure on God’s seventh day in Genesis 2:1–4. The lack of the “evening was, morning was” phrase for God’s seventh day indicates that in the time frame of Moses the seventh was not yet completed. Three other Bible texts, Psalm 95, John 5, and Hebrews either directly declare or imply that we are still in God’s seventh day. Thus, God’s seventh day must extend up until at least the time of the author of the book of Hebrews.
Theologically, the seventh day is when God ceases from his work of creating. The ongoing fossil record enigma (the enormous amount of speciation events before the advent of humanity and the near total lack of such events after the advent of humanity) affirms that we are still in God’s seventh day. The seventh day will not end until the full number of humans God intends to redeem are in fact redeemed (Romans 8:22–25) and God creates again in the new creation (Revelation 21).
The doctrine of creation ex nihilo (“creation out of nothing”) has been firmly and uniformly taught throughout church history and was declared in important...
