The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Nelly Kaye of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, from the tape, GC 1301-E, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 7."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1976. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Is the belief in Adam and Eve, being the only first ones created, a major doctrine of the Bible? I know of someone who believes God created mankind, not just one Adam. Does this distort the truth?

Answer

In other words [what this question is asking is], that when it says the God created Adam, the Hebrew, 'adam meaning man, it means that God created a race rather than an individual. So that what we really had in the garden was a whole race of people. Well, if you take that view then immediately you have a problem. Because which of those Adams got Eve, or did all of them get Eve? And if you have all Adams and all Eves then how many trees are there? And whose eating of what? And you have lots of problems. And did they all eat at the same instant? You see what you have to do as soon as you have removed Adam and Eve from being single individuals you have to explain away and allegorize the whole rest of the Genesis account, because nothing makes sense. 

Now let me draw your attention backwards to Genesis and show you a couple of things about this, why we can’t do this. In Genesis chapter two. You know it’s no problem for me, because I just take what the Bible says. I don’t need to extrapolate and interpret and go any further. If it says He made Adam and Eve, then that’s one man and one women, I don’t have a problem with that, I don’t need to explode that to accommodate some genealogical, sociological or whatever perspective. In Genesis 2:18, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone." Now the first thing we learn about man, whoever this one was, that he was what? Alone. Now it seems to me that if you got somebody who is alone you just have one somebody, or he wouldn’t be alone, right? " …I will make an help meet…" or "a help fit for him." A "helper." "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;" now there is plurality, right? Every beast and every fowl. "… and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to the cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an helper fit for him." 

Now you see that what you’ve got is a plurality of animals and a plurality of fowl and in contrast you have one man who is all alone. Now that is the whole point of the passage. God is trying to say that man shouldn’t be alone. And He makes a clear contrast between the beasts who had their’s and the fowl who had their’s and man who has no one. And the Lord God gave him a divine anesthetic: a deep sleep, "he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh," did a little surgery there. "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.' Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked;" Now, both in any language means how many? The man and his wife, "they were naked and they were not ashamed." I don’t know what would have happened if there was a whole lot of them there naked. There may have been a different response. 

Now back in Genesis one, you have an indication paralleling Genesis two, in verse 20, "Let the waters bring forth the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth…" And God created great sea monsters and every living creature that moves in the water…and all I want to point out to you here is that God is creating in multiples. Lots of fish, and lots of birds and lots of animals. In verse 24, He says, "...all kinds of cattle and creeping things and beasts and..." Oh, it goes on and on, and then He gets down to man and He just makes one; and it’s singular all the while. Why, if God was making a plurality of men did He not speak in the same plural terms that He had been speaking in reference to animals just in the verses prior? No. So we conclude then, that there is but one Adam and but one Eve who become the mother and father of us all. 

Now, this interpretation in supported in the New Testament. For example, the whole argument of the Apostle Paul in Romans five is predicated on a single Adam. On a one Adam. If you want to eliminate the fact that there is one Adam, then you have just wiped out Paul’s whole argument in Romans five. Because Paul is trying to show in Romans chapter five...you see Paul is saying, Christ has died and provided salvation for every man, right? That’s the first part of five, 5:1-10. Christ has died and provided salvation for every man and the Jewish mind is saying, now wait a minute. How can one man’s deed affect everybody? How can Jesus Christ do one thing? One man, doing one thing, and it affects everybody? And Paul says let me show you how in verse twelve. Here’s a good illustration, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed on all men, for all have sinned:" 

By how many men did sin enter the world? How many? One man. One man. Now, Paul’s argument here is this; you shouldn’t be hung up on the fact that salvation came through one man, did you forget that sin also came through one man? See his parallel? If by one man sin entered in the world then by one man can come eternal life. Now his entire argument is predicated on the fact that Adam was only one man. So if you’re going to fiddle around with Adam and make him a group of people then you have just destroyed Paul's whole argument. And then you have got problems in the New Testament. 

And I would draw you to one further indication in Matthew 19:4-5. In Matthew 19:4-5 we have the testimony of Jesus to the voracity of record of Adam and Eve. And Jesus agreed with it the way it was recorded. Just listen. And He’s talking about divorce here, and the Pharisees are giving Him a little trouble, "And He says, 'Did you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they..." how many?…"two shall be one flesh." Jesus here is giving credence to the Genesis record. Jesus did not treat it as an allegory. He treated it as an absolute. 

And so on the basis of the Genesis account, on the basis of the testimony of Jesus, on the basis of the argument of the Apostle Paul in the Book of Romans chapter five, there is only one conclusion, and that is that Adam was one man and out of his [side] was taken one woman, Eve, and they were those who were the forerunners of the whole human race. 

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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