If “light” refers to a period of light in verse 5 and in verse 4, consistency demands that we extend the same understanding to verse 3, and here is where the “aha!” moment occurs. We are compelled by the demands of verses 4 and 5 to translate verse 3 as “God said, ‘Let there be a period of light.’ ” If we had previously been inclined to treat this as an act of material creation, we can no longer sustain that opinion. For since what is called into existence is a period of light that is distinguished from a period of darkness and that is named “day,” we must inevitably consider day one as
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