How Can The First Three Days Of Creation Week Be Normal Days If The Sun Didn’t Exist Until Day 4?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, June 11, 2025 (Donate)
I’ve heard this question for nearly 30 years! It just keeps
popping back up. Yet it is surprising simple to answer. Let’s “enlighten”
ourselves to the solution.
A Normal Day
Having a “normal” day without the sun during Creation Week is entirely possible because the definition of a day does not require the sun’s existence. A day is a measure of time based on a rotating earth and a light source. A month is essentially the length the moon goes around the earth and a year is the duration of a earth going around the sun.
In Genesis 1:3–5, God created light on Day 1, and this light
was sufficient to mark the cycle of night and day. Notice that night came
first, then the daylight portion. This is why ancient peoples had the new day
begin at sunset—and in our modern standardized understanding, we push it back to
midnight because some summer days can have a really late sunset and this
attempts to make sure the sun has set.
Of course, those who live really far north or very far south…the
sun sometimes doesn’t set for a long time and sometimes doesn’t come up for a
long time either! But for most people midnight is a good standard time to
switch to a new day.
Nevertheless, God separated the light from darkness, and
there was “evening and morning,” forming the first day—this was prior to the
creation of the sun, which occurred later on Day 4 (Genesis 1:14–19). So there
was an initial light source and this is allows for a normal day.
Days, Weeks, Months, And Years
The Hebrew word for “day” (yom) paired with a number
or night and the phrase “evening and morning” consistently refers to a literal,
24-hour day throughout the Old Testament.[1]
Therefore, Days 1–3 must also be normal days based on Scripture, regardless of
the sun’s presence. What defines a day is the rotation of the earth and the
presence of a light source, not specifically the sun.
God, who is all-powerful, simply used another light source
until He created the sun on Day 4. That original light source no longer takes
on those duties but the sun now performs them. What was the original light
source? We don’t know for sure—some suggest it emanated from God Himself but
others suggest it was a temporary light from a created source that was only
required for 3 days.
God doesn’t need natural processes to accomplish His
purposes—keep in mind this was a miraculous time—Creation Week. The sun, moon,
and stars were created later not because they were needed to regulate time, but
to serve as signs and for seasons, days, and years (Genesis 1:14) for man—and the
works in the heavens gives glory to God (e.g., Psalm 19:1). Note, that a week
is not based on any astronomical cycle but from God’s work of creation alone.
This shows God's authority over His creation and His ability
to sustain it without relying on the “usual” mechanisms we see today—which, by
the way, only exist because God upholds things into existence and He does so in
particular ways, just as He promised (e.g., Genesis 8:22).
Enlightened
Keeping it short, to have a day, all you need is a rotating earth and light source. Both were created on Day 1. So having normal, approximately 24-hour days for the first 3 days (prior to the sun’s creation) isn’t a problem.
[1] The
days of creation: A semantic approach, James Stambaugh, first published in
the TJ 5(1):70–78, April 1991, (there is a later revision with
slight modification published at the Evangelical Theological Society), http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4204tj_v5n1.asp.
