The four key tenets of the precreation chaos gap theory are that “the heaven and the earth” in Genesis 1:1 refers to the complete organized universe, Genesis 1:1 is a summary statement of the six days of Creation, Genesis 1:2 looks forward to Genesis 1:3, and Genesis 1:2 describes a chaotic state that existed prior to the Creation mentioned in Genesis 1:1. This theory, which first appeared in the 11th–12th centuries A.D., and in a modified version has increasingly become the choice of scholars, was evaluated and found to be incorrect. “The heavens and the earth” does not always refer to the complete organized universe, and specifically, does not have that reference in Genesis 1:1, where it instead refers to the two places where things can exist. The commonly acknowledged summary is at Genesis 2:1, which differs from Genesis 1:1. The circumstantial clause of Genesis 1:2 does not look forward to Genesis 1:3, but rather back to Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:2 does not describe a chaos contrary to creation, but rather the condition of the earth as it first came from the hand of the Creator.
