Method of calculating the Years in Genesis Genealogies

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

In Genesis 5 it stands written concerning the descendants of Adam through to Noah and his sons.
Now, in making my own chronology of years, I have come across an issue in applying the numbers together: The term “He was X years old” is used in the same fashion as saying “In his X year”. This could mean two things:

1. The year spoken of is to be understood in regards to how many full circulations of the sun he has experienced since his birth.

or

2. The year spoken of is to be understood as the year in which he participated in, be it 1 day or 359 days.

Example:

Adam was created Year 6/1/1, and so would he then be 2 years of age when the date was 6/1/2, one complete year’s length later, or when it was 1/1/2, at the beginning of the second year?