Was there Really an Adam? Genesis 1:26: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. The first chapter of Genesis shows how God created everything, including how he made man. This is the significant event that started his plan to have a relationship with us.
Genesis goes on to explain the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve, the Fall, and much more. There are many Christians that do not believe in a literal translation of Genesis 1-11. Some would believe in evolution created by God, or that Adam and Eve did not really exist. There are many beliefs swirling around about Adam and Eve. Some view them as only the beginning parents of Israel, or even a myth. Some believe in evolution and not a historical Adam, but some believe both. Was there really an Adam, making him the first person and first father and was this the cause of all sin in the world? We will address this looking at theological and biblical evidence. First of all, the Bible was inspired by God. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (ESV) If we believe that the Bible was inspired, and that Jesus is trustworthy, proven by the fact of the Resurrection coming to pass that he said would happen, then we can believe anything he says. Since God inspired the Bible, and he is trustworthy, we can believe what he says. This includes Genesis 1-11. Second of all, if we are to trust God, we should believe the whole Bible, not just choose what we would like. Genesis 1-11 is backed up by a lot of biblical evidence. Even beyond Genesis, multiple Bible writers support the same belief that Adam was a real person, Paul included. Even Jesus in Matthew 19, which would be part of the Bible most people would believe, quoted Genesis as truth. In Romans 5, Paul based important theology on Adam, which he talked of as a real, historical person. (Applegate, 2018). In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul also goes on to compare Adam and Jesus, the “first and the last.” 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is[j] from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will[k] also bear the image of the man of heaven. This shows that Paul believed in a historical Adam, who is a trustworthy source. He also talked about Eve in 1 Corinthians 11:8–9, 2 Corinthians 11:3, and 1 Timothy 2:13–14. Adam is also shown in the genealogies of the Bible. We should believe in everything that the Bible says and not exclude the first chapter. Yes, there are some things in the Old Testament that were rules given to the Israelites at that time for that culture, which we would not take literally to our time but apply those principles to our life. Still, this would not be picking and choosing out of the Bible. We should be consistent and not pick and choose what we would like to believe out of the Bible to match our beliefs, but we should look through the lens of a biblical worldview. There is also historical evidence in the Bible that shows the historicity of Adam. As Answers in Genesis author Dr. Terry Mortenson points out, Genesis is filled with references to real places and real times, backed up by archeological evidence that supports the whole Bible. (2015). Most would believe Genesis 12 and beyond, but there is no evidence that Genesis 1-11 should be excluded from belief. Morten says, “Few evangelicals doubt the historicity of Genesis 12–50, but there is no break in the literary style between chapters Genesis 11 and Genesis 12.” He also says, “The Hebrew verb forms in Genesis 1, which is often claimed to be a unique genre, show conclusively that the first chapter of the Bible is historical narrative just like the rest of Genesis.” There is no evidence to support a belief that does not take Genesis 1-11 literally. There is also no evidence to contradict that Adam and Eve were the first people living, and were the first parents of the Bible. As seen in Genesis, Adam and Eve were the first ones to sin, bringing inherited depravity upon the world and future generations. (Genesis 3). We all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. God made everything good, and then sin brought disaster, but God had a plan to redeem it all. In conclusion, if the Bible was inspired by God and we can trust what he says, we can know that Adam was a real person because of what Jesus and Paul have shown us through biblical and theological evidence. Adam and Eve were the first to sin, and as we all know from our conscience and our past, we are now born with an inherent desire to sin. Our hearts are born with a want to sin, but we can be redeemed if we repent and receive his gift of salvation. God had a plan to save everyone, from the very beginning. Resources: https://biologos.org/articles/why-i-think-adam-was-a-real-person-in-history https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/defense-of-historical-adam/
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about the authorAs a 21 year old aspiring teacher, Karissa loves to write, travel, play piano, and read. Many creative things have her heart. archives
November 2021
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