The Fact of Adam vs. Fancy of Evolution – Part 1

Without Biblical Compromise

In the next two posts, I’ll be commenting on the Bible with regards to the persons of Adam and Jesus in order to show that belief in the entire Bible as God’s inspired inerrant word and the idea of evolution cannot reasonably be held simultaneously.

To begin, let’s consider two popular views that Christians hold onto regarding who Adam might be. Firstly, there are those who believe in a literal Adam, a real person, and also the first person, as stated throughout scripture. Then there are those who, in order to accommodate evolution, believe that Adam (& Eve) are only mythical figures in the Biblical story of creation, representing mankind that evolved out of a former evolutionary state. Some who believe this suggest that the opening stories in Genesis start with a mythical Adam and possibly continue with an account of a real person. And, along these lines, some say that Adam was not necessarily the first human.

I’m sure that the variations of thought are numerous, but I would like to show that, under fair scrutiny, only the first view stands as a literary possibility and in harmony to what the various authors in the Bible intended. To do so, I’m going to reflect on how Adam relates to Jesus in the Scriptures.

The Adam to Jesus Connection

Reflection on the texts found in the Bible concerning Adam show that he is spoken about throughout as one and the same real-life person. This is clearly seen both through the type of literature used and logically through the argument of the literature. Previously, I made an argument focusing on the type of literature. This time I want to consider the logic of the Biblical texts. (For a list of texts, see my first post on this theme, Some Biblical Considerations Refuting the Theory of Evolution.)

In the opening book of the Bible, Adam’s sin brings about the curse of death and an inherited sinful nature for all his future descendants. (Notice that you never have to teach a child how to misbehave. It comes naturally.) Later the New Testament states, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to everyone, because all have sinned.” (Rom 5:12) and “But God’s free gift is not like Adam’s offense. For if many people died as the result of one man’s offense, how much more have God’s grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus Christ, been showered on many people!” (Rom. 5:15). Here the Bible speaks not only of the impact of Adam’s sin on each subsequent generation, but also of God’s solution.

The Bible also shows that the solution had to be someone in Adam’s bloodline. And Jesus was that Someone, a Savior to break the curse! Notice that the New Testament gives careful account of Jesus’ own genealogy, showing it to go all the way back to Adam. He was born of God and of a virgin in order to bypass the transmission of the sinful nature passed on through the male descendants. He then died on the cross, carrying the sin of all who have come from Adam, so that we could be free from the power of sin and death and be restored in our relationship to God. “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, an innocent person for the guilty, so that he could bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18 ISV).

Go here for The Fact of Adam vs. the Fancy of Evolution – Part 2

Rob Morley