This week I dived into two great resources considering the topic of Adam as a historical person. One is a book called Adam in the New Testament by J.P. Versteeg (translated from Dutch by Richard Gaffin). The other book is titled Did Adam and Eve Really Exist: Who They Were and Why You Should Care by C. John Collins. Versteeg wrestles through the references to Adam found in the New Testament and argues that he was no mere “teaching model” used by the writers, but rather a very real person in history. Collins, as a scientist with two degrees from MIT and expert Hebraist, deals with different ways of achieving harmony with Scripture, science, and the stance that Adam and Eve are the headwaters of the human race, our first parents.
These are two short and excellent books but neither one is an easy read. Then again, the plain truth of Scripture is before us, but we should be careful not to have an easy believism when it comes to important topics. In other words, it’s worth it to do the work of thinking seriously about the topic of historical Adam.
The simplest thing that can be said about the subject is that the Bible portrays Adam as an historical person. His disobedience to God set the course for humanity as we know it today—sinners who constantly sin against one another. Without historical Adam and his fall, it is impossible to make sense of what the Bible says about an historical Jesus who saves us all. For this reason, any view of the days of creation given in Genesis 1 that does not account for an historical Adam fall outside the lines of biblical orthodoxy.
Have you thought through some of these issues? Have questions come to you on this topic as you have considered the reliability of the Bible, or the scientific origins of the world? Sometimes a topic can seem out of place or of little significance, but when we take the time to think through it rather than ignore it we may find that God grows us through the process and meets us where we least expected Him to do so.
To that end, let me admit that a blog post cannot remotely do justice to this topic. But let give you a few reasons for an historical Adam that I found from these two sources in order to whet your appetite to think seriously about this topic and its significance for us all.
Two examples from Versteeg’s book:
Romans 5:13-14 points out Adam’s role as representative for all men. Paul talks about the reign of death that took place from the time of Adam through Moses. It is a fixed historical period with Moses at the end and Adam at the beginning. It doesn’t make sense to think that Paul would outline this historical time period with a real figure, Moses, on the one hand, but a non-historical figure on the other. Adam as first man and as representative-for-all is what Paul says and what Paul means.
Also in Romans 5:12-21, the phrase “the one” is repeated several times. The contrast between "the one” is made clear. Adam as “the one" is the representative head of the old humanity, the humanity marred by sin, but Christ as “the one" is the representative head of the new humanity, the humanity freed from sin and the reign of death. In being “the one” who represents old humanity we hear Paul saying that Adam’s disobedience is not merely an illustration for us, but it points to why we are reckoned sinners. Versteeg says it this way, “[T]he disobedience of Adam is not merely illustrative for all other men but is determinative for all other men.”
Another example Versteeg cites is the genealogy of Jesus found in Luke 3. It points to the first ancestor of Jesus being Adam. The purpose of the genealogy is to establish Jesus’ significance to all nations and all people. Genealogies were carefully attended to by the Jews of the time. Here Versteeg points out, "The ancient writer Josephus tells of Jews living outside of Canaan who sent the names of their children to Jerusalem in order to be registered officially." It is significant to think that there were members of Jesus’ immediate family at the time of Luke’s writing who could have corrected this record if it were spurious. This lends credence to the truth that Luke saw Adam as historical.
Four criteria from Collins’ book:
Collins is a deliberate and meticulous thinker who carefully takes 120 pages to bring us four criteria that should help us “stay within the bounds of sound thinking” regarding the historical existence of Adam and Eve. (If you read this and are tempted to think of these as simplistic then I dare you to walk through those first 120 well written pages and see if you feel the same!)
1. The origin of the human race goes beyond a merely natural process. Said more theologically, the image of God in man is very distinctive, and scientifically, it is really hard to have a process whereby you get a human being.
2. Adam and Eve are at the headwaters of the human race. This does the most justice to the “unified experience of mankind.” Again, said theologically, where else could human beings come to bear God’s image?
3. The fall, in whatever form it took, was both historical (it happened) and moral (it involved disobeying God), and occurred at the beginning of the human race.
4. If someone should decide that there were, in fact, more human beings than just Adam and Eve at the beginning of mankind, then, in order to maintain good sense, he should envision these humans as a single tribe with Adam as the chieftain (preferably produced before the others), and Eve would be his wife. Collins notes, “Some may call this a form of ‘polygenesis,’ but this is quite distinct front the more conventional, and unacceptable kind.”
From what I’ve said and these examples from two great books, I hope two things. First, I hope you see the importance of an historical Adam to Christian faith and that you are encouraged by the work of careful scholars and theologians on the topic. Second, I hope you are made curious enough to search out facts on the topic for yourself knowing that God meets us when we determine to grow by taking His Word seriously and by studying His world seriously.
If you ever want to get together and talk more about this or any other topic, please let me know.