Days of Creation in Early Christian Writings

Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Supporting witness

... rest upon them.” The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of creation like this: “And God made in six days the works of His hands, and finished on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it.” Pay attention, my children, to the meaning of the phrase, “He finished in six days.” This implies that the Lord will complete all things in six thousand years, for with Him a day is like a thousand years. And He Himself confirms this by saying, “Behold, today will be as a thousand years.” Therefore, my children, in six days, meaning in six thousand years, all things will be completed. “And He rested on the seventh day.” This means that when His Son returns, He will destroy the time of the wicked, judge the ungodly, and change the sun, moon, and stars, then He will truly rest on the seventh day. Moreover, He says, “You shall sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart.” If, therefore, anyone can now sanctify the day which God has sanctified, unless they are pure in heart in all things, we are mistaken. Behold, therefore: certainly one properly resting sanctifies it when we ourselves, having received the promise, and with wickedness no longer existing, and all things having been

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching

for we read that in six days­— which is the perfect number — this world and all things in it were finished.

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Direct teaching

Thus, to take an example, after God had made the world, and all things that are in it, in the space of six days, He rested on the seventh day from all His works by which statement I do not mean to affirm that He rested because He was fatigued, but that He did so as having brought to its perfection every creature which He had resolved to introduce.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching

Man, therefore, God made on the sixth day, and made known this creation after the seventh day, when also He made Paradise, that he might be in a better and distinctly superior place.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.” This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

...oreover, his human, low, and very weak idea about God is shown in the way he begins to describe the creation of all things from the earthly things down here. A man, being below, begins building from the ground. He cannot properly make the roof unless he has first laid the foundation. But God's power is shown in this: first of all, He creates the things that are made out of nothing, according to His will. For the things that are impossible with men are possible with God, as Luke 18:27 says. Therefore the prophet also said that the creation of the heavens happened first of all, like a kind of roof, saying, "In the beginning God created the heavens." That is, by means of the first principle the heavens were made, as we have already shown. And by "earth" he means the ground and foundation. By "the deep" he means the great mass of waters. And he speaks of "darkness" because the heaven that God made covered the waters and the earth like a lid. And by the Spirit that is carried over the waters, he means what God gave for giving life to the creation, just as He gave life to man, mixing what is fine with what is fine. For the Spirit is fine, and the water is fine, so that the Spirit may

Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Supporting witness

And first he transferred what Moses had related as the beginning of the creation of the world.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

But do not let your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth days of the week. But you should either fast all five days, or on the fourth day of the week and on the day of the Preparation. For on the fourth day the sentence against the Lord went out, when Judas promised to betray Him for money. And you must fast on the day of the Preparation, because on that day the Lord suffered death on the cross under Pontius Pilate. But keep the Sabbath and the Lord's Day as a festival, because the first is the memorial of creation, and the second is the memorial of the resurrection. But there is only one Sabbath to be observed by you in the whole year, and that is the Sabbath of our Lord's burial. On that day people ought to keep a fast, and not a festival. For since the Creator was then under the earth, sorrow for Him is stronger than joy for the creation. For the Creator is more honorable in nature and dignity than His own creatures.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...free time to go to church for instruction in piety. We have said that the Sabbath is because of the creation, and the Lord's Day because of the resurrection. Let slaves rest from their work during all the great week, and the week that follows it: the first in memory of the passion, and the second of the resurrection. For they need to be taught who it was that suffered and rose again, and by whose permission He suffered, and who raised Him again. Let them have rest from their work on the Ascension, because it was the conclusion of the divine arrangement by Christ. Let them rest at Pentecost, because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, who was given to those who believed in Christ. Let them rest on the festival of His birth, because on it an unexpected favor was granted to men: that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, should be born of the Virgin Mary for the salvation of the world. Let them rest on the festival of Epiphany, because on it there was a manifestation of the divinity of Christ. For the Father bore witness to Him at His baptism, and the Paraclete, in the form of a dove, pointed out to the bystanders the One about whom that witness was given. Let them rest on the days of the a

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

God completed the world and this admirable work of nature in the space of six days, as is contained in the secrets of Holy Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day, on which He had rested from His works.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

For in six days the world was made, and (the Creator) rested on the seventh.

Genesis 2:3 Background

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 20:11 Background

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.

Exodus 31:17 Background

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Exodus 31:15 Background

Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching

No one can give a full and worthy explanation and description of every part of this work of the six days. Not even if he had ten thousand tongues and ten thousand mouths. No, even if he were to live ten thousand years in this life, he still could not say anything worthy of these things, because of the surpassing greatness and riches of God's wisdom shown in the six days' work described above. Many writers have indeed copied this account and tried to explain these things. Yet, although they drew some ideas from it about the creation of the world and the nature of man, they did not bring out even the smallest spark of truth. The sayings of philosophers, writers, and poets seem trustworthy because of the beauty of their language. But their teaching is shown to be foolish and empty, because they contain a great number of absurd and pointless ideas, and not even a small piece of truth is found in them. For even if they seem to have spoken some truth, it is mixed with error. And just as a harmful drug, when mixed with honey or wine or something else, makes the whole mixture harmful and useless, so also their eloquence is found to be wasted effort. Yes, rather, it is something harmful to

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...e eighth. For the eighth may possibly prove to be properly the seventh, and the seventh clearly the sixth. And the latter is properly the Sabbath, while the seventh is a day of work. For the creation of the world was finished in six days. For the movement of the sun from solstice to solstice is completed in six months. During that time, at one point leaves fall, and at another plants bud and seeds ripen. They also say that the embryo is fully formed exactly in the sixth month, that is, in one hundred and eighty days, in addition to the two and a half, as Polybus the physician reports in his book On the Eighth Month, and Aristotle the philosopher in his book On Nature. Therefore the Pythagoreans, as I think, count six as the perfect number, from the creation of the world, according to the prophet. And they call it Meseuthys and Marriage, because it is the middle of the even numbers, that is, of ten and two. For it is clearly at an equal distance from both.

Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching

...opinion that Celsus, knowing nothing at all about the meaning and language of the prophets, wrote a work that contained complete nonsense, and proudly gave it the title of a true discourse. And since he uses the statements about the days of creation as a charge, as if he understood them clearly and correctly, though some of those days passed before the creation of light and heaven and sun and moon and stars, and some after their creation, we will make only this observation. Moses must then have forgotten that he had said a little earlier that the creation of the world was finished in six days, and because of this forgetfulness he adds after those words the following: This is the book of the creation of man, in the day when God made heaven and earth! But it is not at all believable that, after what he said about the six days, Moses would immediately add the words, in the day that God made the heavens and the earth, without a special meaning. And if anyone thinks that these words may be connected to the statement, In the beginning God made heaven and earth, let him notice that before the words, Let there be light, and there was light, and also these words, God called the light day

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

For since in six days — the perfect number — the whole world — this perfect work of art — was made, on this account I think that he who transcends all the things of the world by beholding no longer the things which are seen, for they are temporal, but already the things which not seen, and only the things which are not seen, because that they are eternal, is represented in the words, After six days Jesus took up with Him certain persons.

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

But it is not in the least credible, that after what he had said respecting the six days, Moses should immediately add, without a special meaning, the words, in the day that God made the heavens and the earth;

Justin Martyr, Other Fragments from the Lost Writings of Justin Supporting witness

The fact that it wasn't said of the seventh day as it was for the other days, "And there was evening, and there was morning," distinctly indicates the completion to happen in it before it's finished, as the fathers declare, especially St. Clement, Irenaeus, and Justin the martyr and philosopher. They, with great wisdom, comment on the number six of the sixth day, asserting that the intelligent soul of man and his five senses were the six works of the sixth day. Hence, after discussing the number six at length, he states that everything created by God is divided into six categories: intelligent and immortal beings like angels; reasonable and mortal beings like humans; sensitive and irrational beings like cattle, birds, and fish; beings that can move but are insensible, like the winds, clouds, waters, and stars; entities that grow but are immovable, like trees; and insensible and immovable entities like mountains, the earth, and similar things. For all of God's creatures, in heaven and on earth, fit into one of these categories and are defined by them.

Theophilus of Antioch, Connection to Genesis 1:14 Supporting witness

For the sun is a type of God, and the moon of man... and the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

For the creations on the different days followed in a most important succession;

Papias, Fragments Supporting witness

Taking occasion from Papias of Hierapolis, the illustrious, a disciple of the apostle who leaned on the bosom of Christ, and Clemens, and Pantænus the priest of [the Church] of the Alexandrians, and the wise Ammonius, the ancient and first expositors, who agreed with each other, who understood the work of the six days as referring to Christ and the whole Church.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

Moses, therefore, says that the world was made in six days, that is, by six powers, out of which the world was made by the one tittle.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

The world, then, as Moses says, was made in six days, that is, by six powers, which (are inherent) in the one tittle of the iota.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

And six water-vessels are reasonably (appropriate) to those who are purified in the world, which was made in six days — the perfect number.