I always thought of the first 2 verses of Genesis as describing Earth in its early stages of development. But you say they don’t, that a gap of time between the first two verses hints that the Earth was created much earlier, that Satan and the angels came to be then, and that there was a great judgment that destroyed the Earth. How can this be? And what about all the fossils? Did they happen back before Genesis? Doesn’t Romans 5 say that sin and death entered the Earth with Adam?
You’re referring to the so-called Gap Theory. As it was originally presented, it postulates a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2, preceding the creation account that begins in Genesis 1:3.
The idea that the creation of Lucifer and the angels preceded the creation of man explains how they could be present from the beginning (Job 38:1-7) even though no mention of their creation is made. Because they were already there, it presumes that their creation and Lucifer’s rebellion took place in the gap between the first two verses of Genesis. The Hebrew language hints that something happened to cause a judgment that rendered Planet Earth an uninhabitable ruin after it was originally formed. It does not say that the Earth was completely destroyed. Lucifer’s judgment could explain this especially if he originally had dominion over Earth, as the Gap Theory proposes. It would also explain His motives in stealing it back as soon as dominion was given to man.
By saying that the Earth was in its early stages of development, you’re relying on the English translation “and the Earth was” in (Genesis 1:2) rather than the Hebrew “but the Earth became.” I believe the Hebrew is more accurate and is supported by other Biblical references.
I also believe that the scientific evidence when viewed objectively shows that fossils have only been created at one time in Earth’s history, and that’s in conjunction with the Flood of Noah. I don’t buy the later manipulations of the Gap Theory that include a pre-adamite race, or dinosaurs, or any other animals dying in a pre-Genesis judgment.
The Greek word translated world in Romans 5:12 is kosmos. It’s primary meaning is “an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government” It is generally translated world, but in the sense that it means our world, the way it’s presently constituted, not any that might have existed before it. It is not the same as the Greek word used for Earth, which is Ge, from which we get geology. The fall of Satan is widely accepted as having taken place before Adam, and does not conflict with the interpretation of Romans 5 that sin entered our world with Adam and death through sin.
In short, the gap theory as I’ve explained it is based on the narrowest and most literal interpretation of Scripture.