4. Basil and Calvin on creation
Now “Basil,” continues Calvin, is the first “pious writer” after Moses whose views on creation “especially” it is “of importance” for us “to attend.” Basil stated around 370 A.D. that after creation in the beginning (cf. Genesis 1:1), “at last” our world was added in the “epoch” when God said: “Let there be light!” Cf. Genesis 1:3.
Thus commenced the ‘formation days’ which foreshadowed “the day of the Lord” (Amos 5:18). That, said Basil, “is the day that the Psalmist calls ‘the eighth day.’” For “whether you call it ‘day’ or whether you call it ‘eternity’ – you express the same idea.” Even “the first day [Genesis 1:5] is the type of eternity.” For “at that time, it was not according to the movement of the sun.”