At the creation, God did not just say that He created the sea creatures, those that fly in the air and the land animals.
No, He used a very interesting term:
- the great sea creatures… according to their kinds,
- every winged bird according to its kind…
- living creatures according to their kinds,
- livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds…
- the beasts of the earth according to their kinds…
- livestock according to their kinds…
- everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. (Genesis 1:21-25 ESV)
God had designed and created all creatures, not as stand-alone creatures, but in specific groups.
Within these groups, the creatures would have certain similar characteristics, but these groups were not the same as species groups.
God also created the vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bears fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. See Creation days 2 and 3.
Major update: 1st March 2023
Table of Contents menu:
Table of Contents:
1. According to their kinds – creation days 5 and 6
On creation day 5, we see the sea creatures and those that fly in the air being created, all according to ‘their kinds’.
On day 6 we see the land animals being created according to ‘their kinds’ along with mankind.
When we look at Genesis and science does it stand up?
The very important phrase ‘according to their kinds’ is repeated ten times throughout the Creation account.
While biologists debate what constitutes a species, the Bible alludes to a much broader category, called a ‘kind.’
‘Natural-selection – speciation’ Answers in Genesis 1
The biblical kind often includes many different species, but they still belong to the same family.”
There are so many different dog breeds – all bred by man. But the first ‘dog’ had an original ‘kind’ (not species).
For a detailed look at this, see the article: ‘Do dogs prove evolution and are Bible kinds species?’
It also looks at the evolution, or not, of bacteria.
God designed and made the wolf-like ancestor which we would classify as being from the family: Canida and the Genus: Canis.
From this developed domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals, dingoes, and other dog-like mammals, all of which are agreed by evolutionists and creationists to share a common wolf-like ancestor.
Man’s selective breeding has evolved the Bulldog, the Great Dane, etc.
But these are all dogs.
They form a small part of ‘their kind’ – the Canida family.
And God said,
Genesis 1:20 – 23 NIV
‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.’
So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
God blessed them and said,
‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’
And there was evening, and there was morning–the fifth day.”
The fossil record is a faithful witness to God’s diversity, to all His different kinds that God has produced.
Insect fossils look very much the same as modern living insects.
Why is that?
The cockroach, supposedly, has not evolved in 300 million years.
With biblical kinds, there can be no in-between links where creatures change from one kind to another.
Creatures can change within their kinds, for example, dogs and wolves as we mentioned earlier.
There may be similarities when looking at two kinds, but that doesn’t mean they all came from one ancient, single creature.
We can try to catalogue creatures into sub-groups according to bone structure, skin, scales, etc, but similarities can also occur because One Designer formed the different parts and chose to overlap some design features.
It doesn’t mean that they have all evolved from one particular creature.
Within the biblical kinds, there are variations, say colour, but a flipper would not change into a foot.
The foot was specifically designed for its environment and a flipper for its environment.
Some people say that it is crazy to think that everything was created as individual kinds.
But stand back from the theory of Evolution and look at what is being proposed and that can easily be seen as being crazy.
Can a creature completely change its shape and become a different kind of creature?
To see the other days of creation see this article: Does Genesis fail scientific study? Day 1 where the Earth experienced light and darkness upon a formless rotating sphere.
Or this article on Creation days 2 and 3 where the atmosphere was created taking up one complete day and then the next day vegetation appeared.
On day 4 was the Creation of the sun moon and stars which to our human brains seems illogical, why did God create the sun at this point? Is Genesis scientific?
Zonkeys, zorses and hebras
If two animals can produce a hybrid, then they are considered to be of the same kind.
‘What Are “Kinds” in Genesis?’ by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Georgia Purdom 3
However, the inability to produce offspring does not necessarily rule out that the animals are of the same kind, since this may be the result of mutations (since the Fall [in Genesis three]).
Zonkeys (from a male zebra bred with a female donkey), zorses (male zebra and female horse), and hebras (male horse and female zebra) are all examples of hybrid animals.
Hybrid animals are the result of the mating of two animals of the same “kind.”
Perhaps one of the most popular hybrids of the past has been the mule, the mating of a horse and donkey.
So seeing something like a zorse or zonkey shouldn’t really surprise anyone, since donkeys, zebras, and horses all belong to the horse kind.”
There are also Ligers – mating a male lion and a female tiger (only in captivity).
Tigons mating a female lion and a male tiger.
Blynx and Lynxcat are bobcats with lynxes.
All this suggests that there is only one cat kind.
A wholphin is the result of mating a false killer whale and a bottlenose dolphin, etc, etc.
Therefore the conclusion is that there are a lot fewer ‘kinds’ than there are ‘species’.
2. Mankind the pinnacle of creation – Day 6
But that’s not all, geneticists by studying Maternal haplogroups (from the mother) and the mitochondrial DNA, have narrowed all currently living humans back to one woman.
They commonly call her Mitochondrial Eve! See this article.
Yes, an amazing thing has been discovered in the field of genetics.
Scientists are now categorising mankind by studying DNA and mitochondrial haplogroups are divided into three main groups – which is interesting because there were three childbearing women on Noah’s Ark.
Then God said,
Genesis 1:26 – 28 NIV
‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them,
‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ “
Notice God created a fully grown man.
If you had looked at Adam and Eve at the point they were created, you would have said they were, say, 22 years old.
So let’s imagine guessing their age 10 years later.
How old are they?
Do we say that they are 32 years old, or 10 years old?!!
How about another example:
Jesus turned the water into wine, at the wedding in Cana.
How old was this ‘mature wine’ when the master of the banquet tasted it?
There is no problem for God to create something instantaneously.
When God created everything, it would appear to be mature.
For example fully grown creatures and animals, etc, fully mature fruit trees, etc, fully mature Sun, moon, galaxies, etc.
So when we attempt to put an age on the universe, what age do we put on it?
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Hebrews 11:3 NIV
See this article on God naming the day, night, sky, land, sea and stars but not other things – why?
See this article about The Garden of Eden and whether it was a parable or real. See geographical details that make it a real place and not just a story.
A detailed article on ‘Could early man write and not just oral traditions passed on?‘ If Adam and Eve were made as adults, why couldn’t they talk and write?
God made them perfect, their mind was probably more advanced than our brain because mankind has fallen, and has become corrupted.
See this article on Scientific inaccuracies, and other supposed Bible errors.
3. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What does kinds mean in the Bible?
In the beginning, God made animals and plants that could develop in a limited way, but only within their original template. So later there would be distinct animals within their ‘kind’ that could not cross-breed with other creatures from a different group.
So for example, a wolf-like creature was the original ‘kind’ from which came foxes, coyotes, jackals, dingoes, wolves, etc and these could not cross-breed with animals from another group.
So, ‘kinds’ within the Bible explains an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy which is also known as a ‘baramin’, see: ‘Baraminology – A Scientific Taxonomy Based on Created Kinds’
What happened on day 5 of creation?
1) When God spoke, the barren waters of the Earth filled with swarms of living creatures.
2) Birds were created and they flew in the sky.
3) God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply…” (Genesis 1:20-23)
What happened on day 6 of creation?
1) When God spoke, animals were created, livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth.
2) God said “Let us make man (mankind) in our image, after our likeness.
3) God also said for mankind to have dominion over the fish, birds, livestock and creeping things.
4) He created them male and female.
5) God blessed them saying “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…”
6) God told Adam and Eve that He was giving the plants and fruit to eat.
7) He also said that He was giving all the plants for the creatures and animals to eat.
8) God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:24-31)
What is baraminology?
‘Baraminology’ comes from the word ‘baramin‘ which comes from two Hebrew words:
‘bara‘ means ‘created’ and
‘min’ means ‘kind’.
So it means the study of created kinds – the phrase used in the creation in Genesis.
The word ‘baramin’ was coined by Frank L Marsh (1941).
Baraminology is also known as ‘discontinuity systematics’ (ReMine 1990; Marsh 1941, 1976).
Discontinuity systematics is a theory that there are boundaries in living systems whereby one group cannot cross over into another group. So, the task of scientists is to trace back to the limits of the common ancestor of each particular ‘kind’. (ReMine 1993).
Some of the methodologies of baraminology have been applied in near-mainstream research (for example, Scherer 1993).
Baraminologists use several traditional systematic methods and terminology from cladistics to the Analysis of Pattern (ANOPA) method.
Traditional systematists use these tools to try to identify the flow of evolution from one life form to another, whilst baraminologists use the tools to find gaps which separate various groups.
References open in new tabs:
Dog images: thanks to Serif RESOURCE CD. ↩
‘What Are “Kinds” in Genesis?’ by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Georgia Purdom Answers in Genesis ↩