Bible believing Christians sometimes ask, “On what day was the earth created?”.  The answer is actually quite simple, but people get confused because of how they understand the very first verse in the Bible.

Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Many people understand this verse to be a summary of the verses that follow, or that this verse is describing events before the start of the first day. 

However, if you understand verse 1 to be the start of the first day of creation, it is remarkably simple.  “In the beginning” means the beginning of the physical creation.  We are told how the physical world began.  At the start of the physical creation, God created the heavens and the earth.  What are the heavens that God created?  Outer space and the earth’s atmosphere.  (For more information on this see “What are the three heavens?”)  This does not include the sun, moon, or stars, because they were created on the fourth day.  

The first act of creation on the first day was the creation of the heavens and the earth.  So, “What day was the earth created?”  The start of the first day. 

Verse 2 explains what the earth looked like immediately after God created it. 

Gen 1:2  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The earth was not initially created with geological formations (mountains and rivers); it was without form.  Nor was the earth initially created full of life (plants and animals); it was void or empty.  The earth was covered with water.  There was no dry land at this point, as dry land appeared on the third day. 

God completed the creation of the earth and everything in it in the following days;  vegetation on the third day, birds and sea creatures on the fifth day, and land animals and man on the sixth day.