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In this post, I respond to a video produced by BioLogos, a group that promotes theistic evolution (the idea that God used evolution to create. You can watch the video below. In this video, Pastor Daniel Harrell presents a compromise theory about the historical accuracy of Adam and Eve. I have provided the transcript along with my comments. Pastor Harrell's words are in red and my comments in black.
I guess I appreciate
how, for many conservative Christians, a historical Adam and Eve is very, very
important. I think one of the things that have been discussed here is how, in
Corinthians and Romans, Paul's referent back to Adam and Eve is almost necessary
as a historical figure given the way that he is describing them.
Pastor
Harrell refers to Romans 5, a passage in which Paul tells us that sin and death
entered the world through Adam. Paul
goes on to explain that Adam was a prototype of Jesus, i.e. they were both firsts. Adam was the first man and the first sinner. Adam’s sin passed death on to all of his descendants
in that all of us have sinned. Jesus was the firstborn from the dead and
through Him righteousness is passed upon all of His spiritual descendants.
He
also references 1 Corinthians 15:45, which says: “So it is written: The first
man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.”
(HCSB)
No, Pastor Harrell, these passages don’t make the historicity of Adam “almost
necessary”, they demand that the historicity of Adam is absolutely necessary.
According to these passages; Adam was the first man, Adam was the first
sinner, Adam introduced death into the world because of his sin, and Jesus is
the last Adam. There is no hint here or anywhere
else in Scripture that Adam was anything other than the first man, just as
described in Genesis.
Something that has been helpful to me is that I don't think that
a historical Adam and Eve is problematic from a Biblical historical context. I
think Adam and Eve as the first humans is what the problem is.
What
Pastor Harrell apparently means is that even though the Bible does say that
Adam and Eve were real historical people, he does not believe that they were the
first humans.
You could say, and I think we've had some pastors say, that God
does this special creation thing of Adam and Eve in the context of the
evolutionary epic. God could do that, and that's fine.
Here
he refers to the theory that God used evolution to create, and somewhere upon
the evolutionary timeline, God stepped in and made Adam and Eve. Of course this is absolutely contrary to the
inspired creation account written in Genesis.
Genesis says that God created everything in six days, culminating with
the creation of man on day six. There
was no evolution: God created everything “after their kinds” and created man “in
His image”.
Notice
how Pastor Harrell says, “God could do that, and that’s fine.” Yes, God could
have done it that way if He had chosen to do so. However, we don’t have to guess or speculate
as to how or when God created Adam. God
clearly tells us in Genesis 1 that He created man on Day Six of the creation
week and, in Genesis 2:7, God tells us how He did it: “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from
the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man
became a living being.” So there is
really no need for speculation.
I don't think you
have to say that. I think you could also say that God specially selects Adam
and Eve for this covenant relationship, much as he did with Abraham, say, in
the Biblical epic, and so Adam and Eve become representative of the kind of
relationship that God intends to have with all people.
Pastor
Harrell now puts forth his own theory.
The premise of his theory is that Adam and Eve were not the first humans. They
were simply two humans among many other humans existing at that time. Pastor Harrell speculates that God selected
Adam and Eve out of the populace in order to give us an example of the “kind of
relationship that God intends to have with all people.”
Besides
being completely contrary to the plain words of Scripture, Pastor Harrell’s
theory fails in many other points as well.
First, he offers no proof for his theory. How does he know anything about Adam apart
from what the Scriptures say?
Second,
the Scripture says that sin was introduced into the world by Adam and death
because of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). Pastor
Harrell’s theory implies that there were other humans who were living before
God supposedly selected Adam. Since
death is the result of sin and since Adam introduced sin into the human race, then
why did all of those humans living before
Adam die? How do we know they died? They must have died because they are not
still living today. If they weren’t sinners they would not have had to pay the
penalty of sin which is death. They are not alive today, therefore they must
have sinned before Adam did, but this is contrary to Romans 5:12.
Third,
this theory accepts the idea of human evolution. It says that God didn’t directly create Adam
from the dust but rather that Adam already existed as a product of human
evolution. God simply selected Adam out
of the rest of the mass of humanity. But
the Bible tells us that the Adam is a unique creation of God, created in God’s
own image, not evolved from lower life-forms which were not created in God’s
image. The Scriptures say that Adam was formed from the dust, not selected from
existing humans. In Luke’s genealogy
Adam is called “the son of God” (Luke 3:38), meaning that he had no earthly
father. In Genesis 2:21-22, we are told
that Eve was created from a rib taken from Adam’s side. She had no earthly mother or father. In Genesis 3:20, Eve is called the mother of
all humans, excepting Adam, of course.
Pastor Harrell’s theory is impossible according to Scripture.
That is a point of possible convergence that allows those who
are very worried about a historical Adam and Eve to breathe easier, and those
who are very concerned about integrity with DNA findings and evolutionary
science to also breathe a bit easier because at least there's a possibility of
hermeneutics. The Bible doesn't give us much more, but that is one way to look
at it.
Here
we see the reason Pastor Harrell invented his theory. He wants to ride the fence between
evolutionary theory and Scriptural truth.
He seeks a “point of convergence” that would allow for a historical Adam
and Eve and, at the same time, fit the godless idea of human evolution. Instead of completely rejecting Adam and Eve,
he reinvents the story to try to accommodate evolution. The Adam and Eve he has in mind is not the
biblical first couple.
Video Transcription taken from (