restoration-creation
Definition
Restoration-creation is the exegetical position that Gen. 1:3-31 does not describe the original creation but God’s restoration of a previously ruined earth. The position — also known as the gap theory or ruin-restoration theory — reads Gen. 1:1 as the original creation, Gen. 1:2 (“without form and void”) as an intervening catastrophe, and Gen. 1:3ff. as the restoration-creation. In this corpus Watchman Nee is the primary exponent of this position; Stephen Jones uses “restoration” differently, namely as eschatological restoration of all things (apokatastasis); Noordzij approaches it as liberation of creation from its bondage to decay (Rom. 8:19-22).
Uses per Author
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
Nee reads Gen. 1:1-2 as evidence of a cosmic catastrophe between the first creation and the six creation days. The six days are therefore restorative work, not first creation. This has christological consequences: all material realities of the restoration-creation are types of Christ:
“God is restoring the earth that had become desolate and empty. All material things that appear in this restoration-creation — food, water, light, land — are types or shadows of Christ as the reality. They all point to Him as the true substance.”
(The All-Inclusive Christ, Chapter 1)
Nee gives special weight to day three of the restoration-creation: the earth emerging from the waters on the third day is a type of Christ’s resurrection. Thus the restoration-creation becomes a complete Christ-typology:
“On the third day plants and trees came forth from the earth — resurrection from death. This is the type of Christ who rose on the third day.”
(The All-Inclusive Christ, Chapter 2)
Stephen Jones
Jones uses “restoration” (apokatastasis) primarily eschatologically: the comprehensive restoration of all things (Acts 3:21) is the ultimate goal of creation. This is broader than Nee’s exegetical position about Gen. 1:
“The Jubilee guarantees the restoration of all things. Just as Leviticus 25 decrees that all return to their original owner at the Jubilee, so the cosmic Jubilee guarantees that all creation returns to its Creator.”
(Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 5; cf. Acts 3:21)
Cees Noordzij
Noordzij approaches “restoration” through Rom. 8:19-22: creation awaits liberation from its bondage to decay. This is not a description of an exegetical position on Gen. 1, but a soteriological interpretation of cosmic restoration dynamics:
“Creation is temporarily subjected to futility by God himself — but in hope. It waits for the liberation into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).”
(Moses and the Way to Sonship, Chapter 4)