Questions and Answers | The Account of Creation

The simple answer is Moses. He wrote the entire Torah (the Law), also called the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy). The Lord Jesus described the Torah as “the Book of Moses” (Mark 12:26) and the apostle Paul said, “Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law” (Rom. 10:5) and then quotes from Leviticus 18:5. Some have objected that these references only refer to Moses as Lawgiver of the Sinai covenant and not as the author of Genesis. However, in John 7:22, the Lord Jesus stated that Moses had given the Jewish people circumcision, referring to Genesis 17:9–14. Further, Paul wrote in Romans 3:31–4:5 that justification by faith was taught in the Law and then quoted Genesis 15:6 as support. The point is that both the Lord Jesus and Paul said that Moses wrote the Torah and they included Genesis as a part of it.

So how did Moses know what happened at Creation if he wasn’t an eyewitness? That answer is unknown, but there are three possibilities. First, God may have given Moses direct revelation (Num. 12:6–8). Second, Moses may have used written traditions passed down to the Jewish people. Or third, he may have received oral traditions from his mother Jochebed. The Bible teaches that whatever source Moses used, he was carried along by the Holy Spirit when he wrote (2 Peter 1:21), and the book he wrote was God-breathed, or inspired, (2 Tim. 3:16). Therefore, this creation account is true and accurate because the Lord Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).