_{Handout 15}

How the Rest of the Bible Views the 2nd Account of Creation

[ = How the Rest of the Bible Views Genesis 2:4 → 4:26 ]

A. Some Examples from the Old Testament:

1. Adam is listed in a genealogy (Gen 5) which runs down to Noah; then Genesis 10 & 11 trace that same lineage all the way to Abraham. Adam is viewed as a real person who really lived.

2. In Gen 3:20, we are told that Adam named his wife “Eve,” because “she was the mother of all the living.” This verse takes Eve to be a real person. And the natural reading of this verse is that the entire human race (except for Adam) came from her. (In the NT, Acts 17:26 says something very similar.)

   To Note: Some Christians argue that life on earth evolved until there was an entire race of human-like creatures, “humanoids.” Then, in their view, God conferred his image upon them, He gave them his image. That is when they became true “human beings.” Their view allows for evolution, and yet also affirms the image of God in us.  However(!),the natural reading of Gen 3:20 does not fit the idea that God conferred his image to an entire race of humanoids. Rather, it tells us that we were all descended from one woman.

3. In Gen 5:3 we are told that Adam fathered Seth (through whom the line traces to Noah, then to Abraham, etc.) when he (Adam) was 130 years old. Genesis 5:4 adds that after that, Adam lived another 800 years, “and had other sons and daughters.” It views Adam as a real person.

4. That genealogy from Adam to Abraham (to King David!) is then repeated in 1 Chronicles (and again in Luke 3!). The Point: Adam is not treated in the Bible as a mythic character lost in time and legend, but as a direct ancestor whose descendants are real people, all the way down to David, and then in the NT, all the way to Jesus.

B. From the New Testament:

To my knowledge, the following are all the NT's direct references to Adam, Eve, Cain and/or Abel.

Consider the cumulative impression of the following NT passages:

• Matt 19:4–5

  4He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’?” [from Gen 2:24.]

• Mark 10:6–8 – is essentially the same as Matt 19:4–5, above.

• Luke 3:38 – is a NT genealogy that traces Jesus back to Adam.

• Acts 17:26

  “And he [God] made from one man → every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth . . .”. [See also Gen 3:20, which is similar.]

• Rom 5:12–19 12

  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- [ . . . ] 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 [ . . .] For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 [ . . . ] 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

• 1 Cor 6:16

  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” [ ← This refers to what was said concerning Adam & Eve in Gen 2:24.]

• 1 Cor 11:8–13

  8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. [ . . .] 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

• 1 Cor 15:21–22

  21For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor 15:45–49 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [ . . . ] 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

• 2 Cor 11:3

  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

• Eph 5:31

  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [ ← Again, this refers to what was said concerning Adam & Eve in Gen 2:24.]

• 1 Tim 2:13–14

  13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

NT Verses that mention Cain and/or Abel:

• Matthew 23:35

  so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

• Luke 11:51

  from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

• Heb 11:4

  By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

• Heb 12:24

  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

• 1 John 3:12

  We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

• Jude 1:11

  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.

C. Observations & Conclusions:

The above verses refer to the accounts of: the creation of Adam from the dust of the earth, and then of Eve from Adam; Eve’s being deceived by the Serpent; their/Adam’s first sin; their being the parents of the entire human race; Abel’s and Cain’s offerings; and Cain slaying Abel. We submit that the NT writers took these events in an entirely straight-forward manner, and made theological arguments based on such a straight-forward reading.

(!) Yet it is noteworthy that all of the specific events referred to in these NT passages come from Genesis chs. 2–4, the second account of creation.

By way of contrast, the speaker does not know of any NT passage which bases its argument on which creation day of Genesis 1 a specific event took place. But as seen, several NT passages do base their arguments on the specific details of the 2nd creation account. The NT writers took those events in a straight-forward manner, and so should we.