A picture study, verse by verse. Every picture is tied to a verse you can open.
Genesis 1:1–2 — A Former World, Then the Six Days
One way to understand the opening verses: a created heaven and earth, a judged earth under water, and six days that begin when the verse says, “Let there be light.”
Text says what the verse plainly saysOne way to understand this. Weigh it yourself.Just a theory an idea to think about, not a teaching
Scripture the verse being studiedCross-reference another passage that proves the point. Turn to it.
These three verses are not one moment (Genesis 1:1–3).
Verse 1 is the creation of the heaven and the earth.
Verse 2 finds that earth without form and void. It is dark. Water covers it.
The six days begin when God speaks in verse 3.
The world before Adam is a different world from the six days.
The days themselves stay evenings and mornings. This view does not stretch them into millions of years. It does not fill the space between verse 1 and verse 2 with millions of years either.
Count the years in the family lists after Adam. The earth is still under 10,000 years old.
Verse 1 names a finished act. God created the heaven and the earth. Verse 2 describes a condition. Verse 3 is the first “God said” of the six days. Cross-check:John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17; Exodus 20:11.
In simple terms: Verse 1 makes the heaven and the earth. Verse 2 finds that earth empty, dark, and under water. Verse 3 starts the six days (Genesis 1:1–3).
Read the three verses in order. Each line has its own job.
Genesis 1:1 is a full sentence. God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 does not repeat that act. It says what the earth was like. It was without form, and void. Darkness was on the deep. Water covered it.
Genesis 1:3 is the first command. The six days are counted from there.
One way to understand this: something stands between the world of verse 1 and the dark water of verse 2. That earlier world is not Adam’s world.
Another view says: verses 1 to 3 are one event. Verse 1 names the work. Verse 2 gives the first condition. Verse 3 starts to shape it. Weigh both by the lines that follow.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
One way
Under 10,000 years, not millions
In simple terms: The six days are still evenings and mornings. The verse says the LORD made heaven and earth in six days (Exodus 20:11; Genesis 1:5). This view does not use a gap to add millions of years. With the family lists after Adam, the earth is still under 10,000 years old (Genesis 5; Genesis 11).
A gap is not a pass to turn the days into long ages.
Genesis 1:5 ends day one the same way every day ends. It says “the evening and the morning.”
Exodus 20:11 says the LORD made heaven and earth in six days.
One way to understand this: put the six days and those years together. The earth is still under 10,000 years old. The space between verse 1 and verse 2 is not a hidden age of millions of years.
“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Text says
Christ created the heaven and the earth
In simple terms: All things were made by the Word. By Him all things hold together, the things you can see and the things you cannot (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17). The heaven and the earth in Genesis 1:1 still come from Christ. A world before Adam would still be a world He made.
Cross-check:Genesis 1:1 has a name later in the Bible.
John 1:3 says all things were made by Him. Without Him was not any thing made that was made.
Colossians 1:16–17 adds the rulers you cannot see. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers were created by Him and for Him. Those words name kinds of rule. By Him all things hold together.
If there was a world before Adam, that world was still His.
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Verse 2 does not start with “when.” It does not restate verse 1. It starts with “And.”
The same word opens the acts that follow, one after another.
One way to understand this: “And” marks the next event. Verse 2 happens after verse 1. It is not the same moment.
Another view says: verses 1 to 3 are one event.
Verse 1 stands. Then “And” moves the story into verse 2, then into the light, then into the evening and the morning. The same pattern runs through the days. Cross-check:Genesis 1:2; 1:3; 1:4–5.
In simple terms:Genesis 1:2 starts with “And.” So does each act after it (Genesis 1:3–5). That chain of “And” puts the events in order. Another view says: verses 1 to 3 are one event.
Put verse 1 next to verse 2. Look at the first word.
Verse 1 has no “And.” It states the creation.
Verse 2 adds the next line: “And the earth was…”
Verse 3 adds another: “And God said…”
Verse 4 adds another: “And God saw the light, that it was good.”
Verse 5 names the light and the dark. Then it closes the day: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
One way to understand this: the chapter is not stacking words for one instant. It walks forward. Verse 2 happens after verse 1.
Another view says: verses 1 to 3 are one event. The creation is told, then described. Weigh the word “And” in the order the verses stand.
“Without form, and void” is not a recipe for getting a world ready.
The only other place the King James uses that full phrase is a scene of judgment.
The verse shows the earth without form and void. The heavens have no light. There is no man. The birds have fled. A fruitful place has turned to wilderness. Cities are broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger.
This is not a world being furnished for the first time. The fruitful place has become a wilderness. Cross-check:Jeremiah 4:23; 4:26–27.Jeremiah Context
When: The verse says the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the days of King Josiah. It kept coming until Jerusalem was carried away. (Jeremiah 1:1–3)
What Judah did wrong: The verse says the people left the LORD, the fountain of living waters. They made broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
What Judah did wrong: The verse says they traded their glory for something that does not help. (Jeremiah 2:11)
What Judah did wrong: The verse says Judah turned away and would not stay faithful. (Jeremiah 3:6–8)
What Judah did wrong: They refused correction. They refused to return. (Jeremiah 5:3)
What Judah did wrong: The verse says God spoke early and called them, but they did not hear and did not answer. (Jeremiah 7:13)
What God did: The verse says trouble would come from the north, and the cities would sit empty. (Jeremiah 4:6–7)
What God did: Later the verse names Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. Those nations would serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (Jeremiah 25:8–11)
What God did: The land looked ruined: without form, and void, the cities broken down, by fierce anger. (Jeremiah 4:23–28)
The hope: The verse says the whole land would be empty, but He would not make a full end. (Jeremiah 4:27)
In simple terms: The verse shows the earth “without form, and void.” The heavens have no light. The land is empty because of fierce anger (Jeremiah 4:23–28). Set next to Genesis 1:2, the phrase is about judgment. Another view says: the earth was simply not finished yet.
The picture has a before and an after.
There had been a fruitful place. There had been cities. The verse shows them broken down.
The heavens have no light. There is no man. The birds have fled.
The verse says the whole land shall be desolate. It also says He will not make a full end. The earth mourns because He has spoken.
One way to understand this:Genesis 1:2 uses the phrase for an earth already brought to that ruined state. It is not raw stuff waiting for its first shape.
Another view says: “without form, and void” means the earth was not ordered yet, and the six days were about to order it.
Jeremiah 4 shows what the phrase looks like the next time the Bible uses it.
“I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.”
How you understand verse 2 decides what kind of story the six days are.
Another view says: the dark deep, the moving Spirit, and the waters are the first stage of creation. The earth is taking shape out of the water. That view fits accounts of a world slowly forming.
Seeing verse 2 as destruction does not fit those accounts. A judged earth is not a nursery for deep time.
This view still keeps the whole earth under 10,000 years.
The difference is the condition of the earth when the six days start. A process still being born can be stretched. A destruction cannot be turned into the birth story. Cross-check:Genesis 1:2; Jeremiah 4:23; Exodus 20:11.
In simple terms:Another view says:Genesis 1:2 is a watery start, while the earth is still being made. One way to understand this: the same verse is an earth already without form and void. That view does not open the six days, or the time before them, to millions of years (Genesis 1:3; Exodus 20:11).
If verse 2 is the earth in the middle of being made, a long story can be laid over it.
Picture water, darkness, and the Spirit moving, while the world slowly comes up. Ideas about evolution use that kind of watery beginning.
If verse 2 is the earth after judgment, the way Jeremiah 4:23 uses the phrase, the verse is an end. It is not a start.
The new start is verse 3. The words are “Let there be light.”
One way to understand this: this view answers those long-age ideas without borrowing their ages. The earth is still under 10,000 years old.
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
When the foundations of the earth are laid, Job is not there. Someone is.
The morning stars sing together. All the sons of God shout for joy.
One way to understand this: the sons of God are the angels. They are already there at the foundation. That foundation is the creation in Genesis 1:1, before the six days that begin at verse 3.
The question only works if the founding was before Job. The choir that shouted was not mankind. Cross-check:Job 1:6; Genesis 1:1.
In simple terms: When the earth’s foundations were laid, the morning stars sang. All the sons of God shouted (Job 38:4–7). In another place, “the sons of God” come before the LORD, and Satan comes among them (Job 1:6). One way to understand this: angels were there at Genesis 1:1, before Adam and before the six days.
The questions in Job 38:4–6 are about measures, a line, foundations, and a corner stone.
Verse 7 dates the scene. It was “when” the morning stars sang and all the sons of God shouted.
People are not in that choir. Adam is not made until day six.
Job 1:6 uses “the sons of God” for those who present themselves before the LORD. Satan is among them.
One way to understand this: the angels were there when the foundations were laid. That places them at the creation in verse 1. Their story was already going before Genesis 1:3.
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Isaiah 45:18 says God formed the earth and made it. He set it up. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be lived in.
Genesis 1:2 says the earth was without form, and void.
The Hebrew word behind “without form” in that verse, and behind “in vain” in Isaiah, is the same word, tohu. Tohu means empty or wasted.
One way to understand this: God did not create the earth in the condition verse 2 describes. He formed it to be lived in. Verse 2 is a later condition.
The verse is about the God who created the heavens and formed the earth. The line “he created it not in vain” is a denial. Next to it is a purpose: the earth was made to be lived in. Cross-check:Isaiah 45:18; Genesis 1:2; Jeremiah 4:23.
In simple terms: God created the earth not in vain. He formed it to be lived in (Isaiah 45:18). Genesis 1:2 is an earth without form and void. One way to understand this: that cannot be the condition He first gave it.
The verse stacks the actions. He created the heavens. He formed the earth. He made it. He set it up. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be lived in.
The earth in Genesis 1:2 is not lived in. It is without form, and void. Darkness is on the deep.
Jeremiah 4 uses that same English phrase for judgment.
The Hebrew word tohu means empty or wasted. It stands behind “without form.” It also stands behind “in vain” in Isaiah 45:18.
One way to understand this: verse 1 is the creating. Verse 2 is the earth no longer in the condition the verse says He gave it. He formed it to be lived in. Something left it empty.
“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”
The lament over the king of Tyrus does not stay inside a human city.
The one addressed was in Eden, the garden of God. He is the anointed cherub that covereth. A cherub is a kind of angel. He was perfect in his ways from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him. Iniquity means doing wrong.
In Isaiah, the verse says he will ascend into heaven. He will lift his throne above the stars of God. He will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
To ascend means his place was below those things.
A wish to ascend into heaven, above the stars and above the clouds, puts the throne underneath them. Ezekiel places that person in Eden before iniquity was found. Iniquity means doing wrong. Cross-check:Isaiah 14:13–14; Ezekiel 28:13–15.
In simple terms: The lament calls him king, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. He is in Eden, the garden of God. He is the anointed cherub. A cherub is a kind of angel. He is perfect until iniquity is found. Iniquity means doing wrong (Ezekiel 28:12–15).
One way to understand this: this is not only the human king of Tyre. A created cherub in Eden, perfect and then fallen, fits a world before Adam’s fall.
Another view says: the whole chapter is only about the king of Tyre.
The passage opens as a lament for the king of Tyrus.
Then the lines go past what a city king can be.
He was in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was his covering. He was the anointed cherub that covereth. God set him there, on the holy mountain of God. He was perfect from the day he was created, until iniquity was found in him.
One way to understand this: the king of Tyre is the near name. The anointed cherub is the further one. That cherub was on the earth, in Eden, before the wrong was found.
Another view says: every line stays on the human king. The words “created,” “cherub,” and “Eden the garden of God” are what that view has to explain.
“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
One way
He had to ascend, so he was below
In simple terms: The verse says he will ascend into heaven, above the stars of God, and above the heights of the clouds (Isaiah 14:12–14). A throne that must go up to reach the stars and the clouds sits under them, on the earth, before he is cut down to the ground.
Count where the five “I will” lines point.
Ascend into heaven. Lift the throne above the stars. Sit on the mount of the congregation. Ascend above the clouds. Be like the most High.
You do not go up into a place you already stand in. You do not lift a throne above the stars if it is already above them.
One way to understand this: his realm was below heaven, below the stars, and below the clouds. Then he is cut down to the ground. That fits a ruler of the earth in the world before Genesis 1:2. It does not fit someone who started in Adam’s garden with no realm of his own.
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
Four lines will not sit inside Adam’s week at the same time.
Sin enters the world by one man.
The cherub defiles his sanctuaries, so he had sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are holy places.
He is called king and the anointed cherub, so he held rule.
Adam is then given dominion over all the earth. Dominion means rule.
One way to understand this: the cherub’s rule and fall belong to the world before verse 2. They are not chapters of Adam’s timeline.
If Adam receives dominion over all the earth, that rule is not still the cherub’s. Dominion means rule. If sin enters by one man, the cherub’s iniquity is not inside Adam’s world. Cross-check:Romans 5:12; Ezekiel 28:18; Genesis 1:28.
In simple terms: Sin entered the world by one man. Death came by sin. Death passed upon all men (Romans 5:12). One way to understand this: the cherub’s wrong is not how sin entered Adam’s world. That entrance is by one man. The cherub’s fall sits earlier.
The verse names the gate: “by one man.”
It does not say sin entered by an angel. It does not say death passed upon angels.
The men in view sinned in Adam’s line. The next part takes that up as an objection.
One way to understand this: if sin enters Adam’s world by one man, then the iniquity already found in the cherub (Ezekiel 28:15) is not an event inside that world. It happened before the six days, in the world of verse 1.
“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
One way
He had sanctuaries, and he was king
In simple terms: He defiled his sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are holy places. The lament calls him king and the anointed cherub (Ezekiel 28:18; Ezekiel 28:12; 28:14). Holy places and a kingdom are a realm. After that, Adam is given dominion over all the earth. Dominion means rule (Genesis 1:26; 1:28).
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries” means the holy places were his.
A king holds rule. The anointed cherub was set so by God.
Then Genesis 1:26 and 1:28 give man dominion over the fish, the birds, the cattle, every creeping thing, and all the earth.
One way to understand this: the verse does not give “all the earth” to Adam while a fallen cherub still holds it. The cherub’s kingdom was the earlier world. By the six days, that rule is already lost. The earth of verse 2 is empty of it.
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Scoffers say that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
The verse says they do not know this. By the word of God the heavens were of old. The earth was standing out of the water and in the water. By that, the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
The heavens and the earth which are now are kept for fire.
Noah is not named. The ark is not named. The heavens, plural, are in the sentence. They are in the past, and they pass away in the future too.
One way to understand this: this overflow is the water of Genesis 1:2, from the beginning of the creation. It is not Noah’s flood.
Three stages are named. What was of old. What perished by water. What is now. The heavens are affected with the earth. Cross-check:2 Peter 3:5–7; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1.
In simple terms: From the beginning of the creation, the heavens were of old. The earth stood out of the water and in the water. The world that then was perished. It was overflowed with water (2 Peter 3:4–6). Noah and the ark are not named. The heavens are. Another view says: this flood is Noah’s. One way to understand this: the overflow is the water of Genesis 1:2, at the beginning.
Notice what is denied, and what the verse says was ignored.
The scoffers speak of “the beginning of the creation,” as if nothing has ever broken the line.
The answer is the heavens of old, and an earth standing out of the water and in the water.
“Whereby” points back to that water. The world that then was perished.
Verse 7 then names a different pair: “the heavens and the earth, which are now.”
One way to understand this: “which are now” fits only if a world before this one has already perished. Noah’s flood is never named here. Noah’s flood is not said to destroy the heavens.
Another view says: verse 6 is Noah’s flood, because that is the flood people know.
Weigh the words that are here. The beginning of the creation. The heavens of old. The world that then was. The heavens and the earth which are now.
“And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Text says
The heavens pass, and new ones are promised
In simple terms: The heavens shall pass away. The verse looks for new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). A flood set beside “the heavens were of old” is set next to a future in which the heavens themselves pass. Cross-check: the same Christ who made all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17) is the one the promise of new heavens rests on.
2 Peter 3:10 does not say the earth alone is judged. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise.”
Verse 13 looks past that end: “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
Revelation 21:1 shows the first heaven and the first earth passed away.
Cross-check: the pattern is creation, a world that perishes, a world that is now, and a new heaven and earth still promised. Colossians 1:17 says He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. The worlds in this order are His work, including the new one.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
The fish and the birds are told to fill the waters. Adam is told to replenish the earth. Replenish means to fill again.
After the flood, Noah is told to replenish the earth.
When Israel multiplies in Egypt for the first time, the land was filled with them.
The King James does not use one English word for all four.
Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary gives replenish two senses. When the verb takes an object, it means “To fill; to stock with numbers or abundance.” The dictionary illustrates that sense from Genesis 1. When the verb does not take an object, it means “To recover former fullness.”
The blessing starts the same way: “be fruitful, and multiply.” Then the word changes. Noah’s “replenish” is a second filling of the earth with people. Replenish means to fill again. Cross-check:Genesis 1:22; 1:28; Genesis 9:1; Exodus 1:7.
In simple terms: Fish and birds are told to “fill.” Adam and Noah are told to “replenish.” Replenish means to fill again. Israel “filled” the land of Egypt (Genesis 1:22; 1:28; Genesis 9:1; Exodus 1:7). Noah replenishes because a world of people had died. One way to understand this: the same word to Adam means a former fullness put back.
Lay the four sentences in a row.
The fish have no earlier schools of fish in the text. The word is “fill.”
Israel’s growth in Egypt is a first filling. The word is “filled.”
Noah stands after a flood that swept the people away. The word is “replenish.”
Adam, in the same chapter as “fill,” is told to “replenish.”
One way to understand this: the change of word is on purpose.
Webster’s 1828 dictionary lists two senses. When the verb does not take an object, it can mean “to recover former fullness.” When it does take an object, it means “to fill; to stock with numbers or abundance.” That second sense is the one the dictionary illustrates from Genesis 1.
Weigh both. This page takes Adam’s “replenish” with Noah’s, as a filling again. It takes the fish’s “fill” as a first filling.
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.”
Text says
Joseph filled the sacks, then filled them again
In simple terms: The sacks are filled with corn. Later they are filled again with food (Genesis 42:25; Genesis 44:1). Both verses say “fill.” The second time is still a second time. One way to understand this: that picture sits beside “replenish.” A fullness is put back. It is not only a first filling.
The brothers’ sacks are filled in Genesis 42:25. They go home. They come back.
Genesis 44:1 says to fill the men’s sacks with food again, as much as they can carry.
The King James uses “fill” both times. The story shows the second time.
One way to understand this: that is the shape of replenish. A former fullness is put back. It is the shape of the word given to Adam and to Noah. It is not the word given to the fish.
“Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.”
“And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.”
“The first earth” is this earth, set against the new one
In simple terms: The verse shows a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away (Revelation 21:1). Another view says: “the first earth” proves there was never an earlier world. One way to understand this: “first” is set against “new.” It is the earth which is now (2 Peter 3:7), set against the one still promised (2 Peter 3:13).
Revelation 21:1 is a contrast inside one vision. It is new, because the first has passed.
2 Peter 3 uses the same contrast. It promises new heavens and a new earth, after “the world that then was” is already set apart from “the heavens and the earth, which are now.”
One way to understand this: “the first earth” is this present earth. It is first in the pair that gives way to the new one. It is not a claim that no world perished before the world which is now.
Another view says: the phrase closes that door. The same chapter that speaks of the earth which is now also speaks of the world that then was.
“Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
One way
Death passed upon all men, and the verse says “men”
In simple terms: Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12). Another view says: the verse rules out any death, of any kind, before Adam. The line itself names men. Angels are not men. The cherub’s wrong is not “death passed upon all men.”
The objection is fair to raise. If death enters by Adam and passes upon all men, can a world already have been judged before him?
Read the limit in the verse. Death passed upon all men, “for that all have sinned.” The reason is human sin, in the line of the one man by whom sin entered.
One way to understand this: the verse does not say death passed upon angels. It does not say the cherub could not have fallen in a world that was not Adam’s. It fixes how sin and death entered for mankind.
That is why the same verse was used above. It keeps the cherub’s iniquity off Adam’s timeline. It does not deny the verse.
The last one is not a separate proof by itself. It is what the dominion lines explain. Dominion means rule. The hostility toward people comes once Adam is given the rule that had been lost.
Each line has a passage next to it in the sections above. The eighth is the connection those dominion verses make with the enmity in the garden. Dominion means rule. Enmity means deep hostility. Cross-check:Genesis 1:28; Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:15.
The last connection is the hostility. Adam is given the rule the cherub lost. The serpent meets the woman already set against her (Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:15).
Walk them once more, in order. Each point is one idea.
1. “And” opens Genesis 1:2. Verse 2 follows verse 1. Another view says: verses 1 to 3 are one event.
2. “Without form, and void” is the phrase the verse shows under fierce anger (Jeremiah 4:23–26). Seeing verse 2 that way makes it a ruin. It does not leave room for a long watery start. It does not bring in millions of years.
3. God created the earth not in vain. He formed it to be lived in (Isaiah 45:18). Verse 2 is not that condition.
4. The morning stars sang. All the sons of God shouted when the foundations were laid (Job 38:4–7).
5. The anointed cherub was in Eden, perfect until iniquity (Ezekiel 28:12–15). Iniquity means doing wrong. His throne had to go up to reach the stars and the clouds (Isaiah 14:12–14). Sin enters Adam’s world by one man (Romans 5:12), so that fall is not inside Adam’s week.
6. The world that then was perished, overflowed with water. The heavens of old are named with it, from the beginning of the creation (2 Peter 3:4–7). Noah and the ark are not in the passage. Revelation 21:1 likewise has a heaven passing, not the earth only. Cross-check: what is still looked for is new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13).
7. “Fill” is the word for the fish and for Israel’s first filling of Egypt. “Replenish” means to fill again. It is the word for Adam and for Noah (Genesis 1:22; 1:28; Genesis 9:1; Exodus 1:7). In Webster’s 1828, when the verb does not take an object, one sense is “to recover former fullness.”
8. The connection: Adam is given dominion over all the earth (Genesis 1:26; 1:28). Dominion means rule. That is the rule a king and anointed cherub had held and spoiled (Ezekiel 28:12; 28:14; 28:18). By Genesis 3:1 the serpent is already there, already subtil (that means crafty), already against the word that had been spoken. Genesis 3:15 names the enmity. Enmity means deep hostility. That hostility toward people fits a ruler who lost the earth to the man put in his place. Christ remains the one by whom all of it, seen and unseen, was made (Colossians 1:16–17).
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”