Does the Bible teach that the earth is flat?

Even the early Fathers of the church taught philosophy only a little less foolish than that. Lactantius wrote, “The rotundity of the earth is a theory, which no one is ignorant enough to believe.” When we come to the Scriptures the rotundity of the earth is implied as forcibly as if stated in so many words.

The ancients believed that the earth was supported on the shoulders of a hypothetical giant, named Atlas. The balancing of the earth in space and its maintenance in an orbit by gravitation was known to Job, 1000 years before Socrates. God "hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7) was his inspired reference. While Egyptian philosophy was propounding the "flat earth" theory, Isaiah was found stating that God sits upon the circle of the earth and sets a compass or decrees a circle on the face of the deep, thus proclaiming the spheroidal shape of the earth. The Psalmist tells us that "His going forth is from the end of the heaven." (Ps. 19:6). The refined astronomical measurement of the 19th century has revealed the fact that the solar system is moving through space towards a point in the constellation Hercules.

There was a time when men believed the earth was flat. It was long before astronomers believed that the earth was a globe in shape. But Scripture, without setting out to teach science as such, in a statement of our Lord, proves that the earth is round, though centuries after the Romish Church was ready to excommunicate any who dared to affirm this, as in the case of Galileo (about 1609). Speaking of His coming as the Son of Man to earth, our Lord said,

How can an event take place at one and the same moment, when it is night, when two men are in bed; and morning when two women are grinding the food for breakfast; and broad daytime when two men are working in the field? We carry a diary in our pocket telling us what time it is in different parts of the world. When it is 12 o’clock noon at Greenwich, England, standard time, it is 11.30 at night in Auckland, New Zealand; 8 o’clock, breakfast time, at Buenos Ayres, Argentina. How can this be? Only if the earth is round, and revolving on its axis day by day. How did our Lord know this? Was He not the Creator of the universe? Did He not plan all this? Can those who refuse inspiration tell us how Scripture embodies this view of the earth being round, when all around for centuries learned men thought otherwise? We leave such to answer this question.

How is it that the truth of the rotundity of the earth lay enshrined in the Scriptures over fifteen centuries before Galileo was born. Yet so it is. We read, "In that night there shall be two men in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together: the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left" (Luke 17:34-36).

Here are two men in bed, night-time; two women grinding corn, breakfast-time; two men working in the field, day-time. How can one event find those it affects at one and the same time at different hours out of the twenty-four. Extend this statement, and the one event would find those it affects during every hour and minute of the twenty-four hours, forming a complete day and night. That could only be if the earth were round, and performed its diurnal motion of turning round on its axis in relation to the sun once in twenty-four hours. The Bible is an amazing Book, and leaves us speechless with astonishment. Inspiration is clearly marked upon it. It is the Word of God.

I shall be told at once that it is not by the Bible. But I must ask, Why not by the Bible? Shall I be met with the stereotyped objection that it is full of contradictions, and is altogether wrong as to the plan of the universe; that it makes it geocentric, and has spoken of the earth as a plain. It has done nothing of the kind. It is so carefully written, that its statements never jar upon the mind of the most advanced scientist, not do they cause the most illiterate to move in the direction of astronomical discovery. But may I ask, what impression does the universe convey to the mind of the ordinary mortal, as he looks abroad into the starry night from his cottage door? Will he not conceive of the earth as a flat plain, and the dome of heaven as a hemisphere, resting upon the rim of the earth? Could He who is infinite in wisdom have made the visible things no other way? The truth is that the heavens and the earth are so ordered that moral impressions are conveyed to the mind. Everything away from earth is upward and above man, and man is made to look upward to God who has His dwelling-place in the heavens. The Bible has a way of its own, by which it leaves these impressions undisturbed. If it gave other impressions, and taught the Newtonian theory, we might with some show of reason conclude that the God of creation is not the God of the Bible. I am not attempting to prove by this, that the Bible owes its origin to the Creator, I am only showing, that if the Bible leaves undisturbed the impression that creation itself gives to the naked eye of the ordinary observer, that is no proof against the divine origin of the Scriptures.

I shall be told at once that it is not by the Bible. But I must ask, Why not by the Bible? Shall I be met with the stereotyped objection that it is full of contradictions, and is altogether wrong as to the plan of the universe; that it makes it geocentric, and has spoken of the earth as a plain. It has done nothing of the kind. It is so carefully written, that its statements never jar upon the mind of the most advanced scientist, nor do they cause the most illiterate to move in the direction of astronomical discovery. But may I ask, what impression does the universe convey to the mind of the ordinary mortal, as he looks abroad into the starry night from his cottage door? Will he not conceive of the earth as a flat plain, and the dome of heaven as a hemisphere, resting upon the rim of the earth? Could He who is infinite in wisdom have made the visible things no other way? The truth is that the heavens and the earth are so ordered that moral impressions are conveyed to the mind. Everything away from earth is upward and above man, and man is made to look upward to God who has His dwelling-place in the heavens. The Bible has a way of its own, by which it leaves these impressions undisturbed. If it gave other impressions, and taught the Newtonian theory, we might with some show of reason conclude that the God of creation is not the God of the Bible. I am not attempting to prove by this, that the Bible owes its origin to the Creator, I am only showing that if the Bible leaves undisturbed the impression that creation itself gives to the naked eye of the ordinary observer, that is no proof against the divine origin of the Scriptures.

The natural impression we have from the order of creation is, that the earth is a fiat plain, and in the heavens above our heads are stored the light, the warmth, and the refreshment, that make life possible upon earth. And when we come to the Scriptures we find no absolute contradiction of this. We are left, as far as these things are concerned, in our native ignorance. By the way in which He has placed us with respect to these things we are taught moral lessons, which are of more importance to us than astronomy, however interesting a subject it be. By the way in which the universe presents itself to our gaze we learn that every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (Jas. 1:17). The lights in the heavens give us, as I have said, light and warmth; and they are for signs, seasons, days, and years; and the clouds drop down the rain, and water the earth, and therefore there is seed for the sower, and bread for the eater, and men’s hearts are filled with food and gladness.

The Hindus taught that the earth was flat and triangular and composed of seven stories. This in turn was sustained on the heads of elephants, and the movements of these unwieldy animals produced earthquakes. In contrast how was it that Job, writing over 3000 years ago, uttered this profound truth, "He … hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7). How did Job know this? What could he know of the earth being suspended in space? What could he know of the law of gravitation? In that simple statement he put on record a scientific fact utterly unknown in the writings of the Egyptians, Hindus and the like. How was it? He was inspired.

The early Church, the dispenser in those days of what scientific knowledge there was, taught that the earth was flat, that it was the centre of the universe, and that the sun was subservient to it. Lactantius wrote, "The rotundity of the earth is a theory, which no one is ignorant enough to believe."

There are plain and manifest signs that God did indeed inspire Moses in his record of creation. Take the uninspired accounts of creation, that the earth was flat and triangular, seven stories high, supported on the backs of elephants, in turn supported on the back of a tortoise with no visible support under it; that the heavens were a solid vault over the earth, studded with stars; that the mountains were created to act as chains and anchors to keep the earth from moving. Such are samples of the puerile, fantastic, crude accounts of creation in ancient times, which no one today would give credence to for a moment.

For instance, on a clear night we see the moon and the stars, as if floating in space. How is it possible for anything the size of our earth to float in space? And yet this is just what the Scriptures affirm, and which we see with our own eyes. We read, “He [God] stretches out the north over the empty space, and hangs the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).