Recently the renowned evangelical apologist Gavin Ortlund produced a video arguing that the Genesis Flood was local rather than global. Does this idea ‘hold water’ – and why does it matter?
For most of church history, the prevailing view has been that the Genesis Flood was indeed worldwide. In Genesis 6:7 God says, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created and with them the animals, the birds, and the creatures that move along the ground.’
Genesis 7:23 confirms that only those who were on the ark survived. If people living elsewhere also escaped, the covenant which God made with Noah and his descendants in Genesis 9:8-9 could not be applied to all humanity.
