Did Eve come directly from Adam or through preexisting animals? Were Adam and Eve the first two people, or do they represent in some way the human race? Are we descendants of one man and woman, or are we descendants of animals that evolved into humans?
The issue about whether Genesis teaches a literal Adam and Eve was in the press again this month in regard to a situation at Bryan College, Tennessee. This is the Christian college named after the famous William Jennings Bryan who went head to head with the ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow at the famed Scopes trial in 1925.
Now let me say first that I do not have first-hand details of what has been happening at Bryan College—only news reports like the one I linked to below. Also, I need to state that even if a college takes a stand on a literal Adam and Eve, that does not necessarily mean they also stand on six literal days of creation, a young earth (and universe), or stand against evolution of the various kinds of animals and plants.
I thought, however, that I would use this news item to outline some basic teaching on what the Bible teaches about the origin of Adam and Eve.
This news article I’m referring to, which comes from a Christian magazine, states the following:
The Bryan College board of trustees yesterday held to its insistence on a college statement of faith clarification likely to push out professors who do not believe that God created Adam by a special formative act rather than through the process of evolution. . . .
The key debate here concerns the historicity of Adam, created—according to Chapter 2 of Genesis—by God’s special formative act. Bryan’s situation is not unique: Professors at many Christian colleges, often influenced by the BioLogos Foundation, contend that God worked through evolution to produce Adam. Some say there were many Adams, others suggest that God made a spiritual change in one hominid from among a herd, and other theistic evolutionists propose additional theories. (http://www.worldmag.com/2014/04/high_noon_at_bryan_college)
Sadly, the BioLogos Foundation has infiltrated the church with compromise teaching on Adam and Eve that undermines the authority of Scripture—and the gospel message. In points nine and ten on their belief statement, BioLogos on its website states the following:
- We believe that the diversity and interrelation of all life on earth are best explained by the God-ordained process of evolution with common descent. Thus, evolution is not in opposition to God, but a means by which God providentially achieves his purposes. Therefore, we reject ideologies that claim that evolution is a purposeless process or that evolution replaces God.
- We believe that God created humans in biological continuity with all life on earth, but also as spiritual beings. God established a unique relationship with humanity by endowing us with his image and calling us to an elevated position within the created order. (http://biologos.org/about)
Now let’s judge what BioLogos states versus what the infallible Word of God clearly declares.
Adam was made from dust (not from some preexisting animal, as BioLogos would have us believe):
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (1 Corinthians 15:49)
Eve was made from Adam’s side—and they are one flesh—Eve was taken “out of Man.” Eve could not have come from some preexisting animal (as BioLogos would have us believe):
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:21–24)
Also these verses:
For man is not from woman, but woman from man. (1 Corinthians 11:8)
For as woman came from man . . . (1 Corinthians 11:12)
But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. (Malachi 2:15)
And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? (Matthew 19:4–5)
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Ephesians 5:31)
Furthermore, the Bible clearly teaches that Adam and Eve were the first two people:
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20)
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)
There are, of course, many other Scriptures we could point to. But the above verses are enough for us to know with 100 percent certainty that Eve was created from Adam (and not through some previously existing animal), and that Adam was made from dust.
BioLogos is wrong. What BioLogos teaches was written by fallible, fallen, finite humans! There is only one way to sum up this organization: “Let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
This blog post was written with the assistance of Steve Golden.