“Now we know from Moses that about six thousand years ago the world was not yet in existence, though of this fact no philosopher can be convinced. Hilary and Augustine, these two brilliant lights of the Church, are of the opinion that the world was created suddenly, or all at once, and not successively in the course of six days. Augustine trifles with the six days in a strange way, making them days of hidden meaning, according to the knowledge of the angels, and does not let them be six natural days. So far as the opinion of St. Augustine is concerned, I hold that Moses spoke literally and not figuratively or allegorically, telling us that the world with all its creatures was made within six days just as the words read … we will pass by all such questions as unnecessary and rather listen to a better teacher, whom we may follow more safely than the philosophers that dispute about such things which they do not know without the Word of God.”
From Luther’s Commentary On Genesis, (Zondervan Pub. House, copyright 1958) Luther’s Preface to the first chapter
Evidence News, 2 September 2009