Does the Bible teach the earth is flat?

Against the background of declining confidence in the elites—be they political, religious or scientific—the flat earth theory has been revived and promoted by a wave of fake news and misinformation circulating on social media. Unfortunately, it has been noted that many Christians have become swept up in this trend, using shaky theology to argue their points. For these Christians, a single Bible verse is considered superior to any number of scientific arguments as PROOF the earth is flat. Popular passages of Scripture used by flat-earthers are sited below with their claims and my responses.

Claim #1

The Earth MUST be flat for these things to happen according to the bible. The essential flatness of the earth's surface is required by verses like these:

Daniel 4.10-11, Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.`The tree grew large and became strong And its height reached to the sky, And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

Matthew 4.8-9, Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

Revelation 1.7, BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

Response #1

Daniel: Come on... he was in the midst of a dream! And for that matter, it's a dream that uses symbolism. How many of your dreams are literal? There is no more of a need to conclude Daniel is claiming the earth is flat than there is to conclude that he is claiming there really is a tree several miles tall! It's a vision, a dream, and one that uses symbols. It is not the basis for drawing conclusions about physical science.

Matthew: How did the devil represent to Jesus 'all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor'? The answer seems obvious: by means of the supernatural. So why does the devil take Jesus up to a 'very high mountain' when he could have used his supernatural powers in a valley, or in a plain, etc., to show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world? Because, a king is elevated. It is the king who has the highest seat in a palace. It is the king who has the highest seat in a coliseum. It is the king to whom others lower themselves by bowing.

As for the temptation of Jesus by Satan: Just for the sake of argument, consider such a meeting, if only for a moment: The Son of God meets Satan. Is there anything about this meeting that wouldn't involve the supernatural? Is this really the best context from which to speculate about the Bible's view of the natural world? Even a mortal person, bound by the laws of nature, can produce a flat two-dimensional map of the world on a letter-size piece of paper. Surely a supernatural being who is trying to tempt the Son of God could also find a way to present the kingdoms of the world.

If the devil is going to tempt someone by offering to make him the king of the world, where else would be more appropriate than the top of a 'very high mountain?' Consider the succession of temptations in Matthew 4.1-11:

The pattern is clear: As the preeminence and gravity of the temptation increases, so does the height from which it is offered. Each successive appeal was aimed at a different level of power and control. No wonder the elevation kept getting higher.

Revelation: How does the "every-eye-shall-see-him" verse teach a flat earth? The earth is indeed spherical in shape but even so, people all over the world see the sun every day. People in China might not be able to view the sun at the exact same moment as someone in England, but the people in China and England are indeed viewing the very same sun. In fact, in this age of television and the Internet, people all over the world can witness the same events, simultaneously.

Claim #2

The Earth MUST be flat because Scripture mentions the "four corners of the earth" several times.

Revelation 7.1, "After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree."

Revelation 20.8, "and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore."

Isaiah 11.12, "And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners [כָּנָף (kânâph | kaw-nawf')] of the earth."

Response #2

Revelation-7: There are three verses in the Bible often quoted by Christian proponents of a flat earth theory. The repetition of the number four creates an obvious connection between the four angels, the four corners of the earth and the four cardinal points from which the winds are about to blow: North, South, East, and West. As Faulkner points out, not even a hyper-literal interpretation of the Bible can disregard the symbolism of the book of Revelation. “The four corners of the earth” is an expression which is widely used in different languages, but always with the same meaning: to indicate the farthest points on earth or a great distance, not literal corners.

Revelation-20: This is also the context in which the expression appears in the second verse often cited. This same sentence also mentions the number of people in the four corners as being as numerous as “the sand on the seashore” supports a non-literal understanding of the text. The alternative is to believe the text speaks of four literal corners containing a number of people mathematically equal to the sum of the grains of sand on all the shores of the world.

Isaiah:This time, the expression used is in which speaks of God bringing the Israelites together. In many other cases in which the expression appears in the Bible, there is talk not of a place but of the people who live in faraway lands, thus strengthening the non-literal understanding of the expression. Once the idiomatic use of the expression in a passage is acknowledged, it is hard to claim that in other similar situations it is used differently.

Additionally, both NT passages, use this Greek word for corners [γωνία (gōnía | go-nee'-ah)].

γωνία (gōnía | go-nee'-ah) G1137

Derivation: probably akin to G1119

Strong's: an angle

KJV: —corner, quarter

Cognate Group: G204 (chief corner), G1137 (corner)

Both have the same equivalent Hebrew word as the passage in Isaiah:

[כָּנָף (kânâph | kaw-nawf')] H3802

Derivation: from כָּנַף

Strong's: an edge or extremity; specifically (of a bird or army) a wing, (of a garment or bedclothing) a flap, (of the earth) a quarter, (of a building) a pinnacle

KJV: [phrase] bird, border, corner, end, feather(-ed), [idiom] flying, [phrase] (one an-) other, overspreading, [idiom] quarters, skirt, [idiom] sort, uttermost part, wing(-ed).

Summary

But, for the sake of argument, what if a person, who lived during the time of Jesus, actually thought that the earth was flat? Would that person really think that if he stood on a high mountain that he would be able to see the entire world - all the kingdoms in their splendor? That would be easy to doubt. You don't have to be a 21st-century scientist to realize that there are limits as to how far the human eye can perceive detail and color. Anyone standing on a hilltop overlooking a valley, or standing on a shoreline looking out to the sea, would realize that the human eye can see only so far before details are washed out into the horizon.

Even a person living in ancient times would have realized that he could not see far enough, under any normal circumstances, to see all of the kingdoms of the world from any one vantage point. Remember, the ancients traveled by foot. They often measured their journeys by the number of days that it took to complete the trip. The Bible records many examples of this. A man living in ancient times, taking a journey that lasted a day or more, would have realized that even when there are no trees or mountains or hills to obstruct your view, you still can't see your destination point at the start of your journey.

One last thing. Be careful NOT to put limits on what God can do, or why He did it that way. We don't know the mind of God, and His ways are not our ways.