The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Lorraine Hannaford of Ontario, Canada from the tape, GC 1301-L, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 14."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1980. All Rights Reserved.

Question

I would like you to comment on the credibility of Howard C. Estep as a teacher. Also he has taught and many other people have taught, that between verses 1 and 2 in Genesis 1 that there is an indeterminable amount of time where there were beings on earth and a flood which would of course have been prior to Adam and Noah. Could you comment on that please?

Answer

Yes. I do not believe there is any biblical evidence for “gap theory.” The gap theory basically was the brainchild of a man named George Pember who wrote a book called “Earth's Earliest Ages” and was pastor I think at Calvary Baptist Church in New York back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. And George Pember came up with this idea and basically it’s not defensible scripturally. They like to stick a gap between verse one and two of Genesis 1--it’s a good place to stuff a whole lot of stuff like the fall of the angels and all kinds of stuff you don’t know what to do with.

Some people, I think is it Unger or somebody, believes that the gap is before verse one. But there is no biblical evidence for anything between those two verses. You’re really pushing hard. So I don’t accept a gap theory. There are a lot of good things being written today to show that that probably is not true.

As far as Dr. Estep is concerned I think he is generally pretty solid, biblically. He’s on TV, on "The King is Coming” and I think you could pretty well trust his...you may not agree with every little nuance. But the gap theory--to me that’s not heresy or something, that’s just a personal preference. He wants a gap between verses one and two...I mean who can argue right? There’s nothing there for sure anyway in my Bible. But if you want to stick something in there...he simply takes the fall of the angels and certain things that he wants to explain.

The problem with it is this: basically, in the past, some Christians have felt that you’ve got to have somewhere a long period of time to sort of bend to the Evolutionists. And so they find a convenient place to stick it. I don’t think you need to do that. And I think, more and more, modern science is showing that we don’t need any of that stuff. The Evolutionist is the guy who's out to lunch. You know they don’t even want to debate us anymore because they don’t have any answers. And science is really on the side of the Creationists. So I think anything he would stick in the gap would probably be some biblical event that you could trust. So I wouldn’t be concerned. I think he’s a good man and he rightly divides the word. Howard Estep, he’s written lots of little books on prophecy and things like that.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986