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Bible Questions

Here is a collection of Bible questions we've received - and Stephen's answers.

Were there people before Adam?

Anthony asked: I believe people existed before Adam and Eve, but my pastor tells me I’m wrong. Can you please elaborate on this?

Hi Anthony,

I agree with your pastor that there were no human beings on earth before God created Adam and Eve. Adam was the first man and Eve was the first woman. All of the human race came from that first couple. 

And Anthony, this is very significant theologically. The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as the second or last Adam. From him comes a new race. Paul describes this for us in Romans. The first Adam sinned and fell. He represented us all, and we are all fallen because of Adam’s sin. Jesus, the second Adam was perfect. He is God the Son who secured our salvation. And by faith, He represents us before the Father. If Adam was not the father of the human race, much of what the Bible teaches loses it's meaning. 

The days of creation were six, literal, 24-hour days. In Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3, you have the description of creation, which includes the creation of Adam and Eve. But chapter two is where you might have gotten confused. When you get to chapter two, it isn't sequential. Chapter two gives us more details about what God did after the creation of human beings.

So, keep this in mind Anthony. Genesis 1 is the beginning of the universe and the account of God creating it. Genesis 2 is not another creation. It's more of the details regarding what happened in chapter one. 

I hope that helps you, 

Stephen

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Comments

Dwight Osborne says:
Many otherwise sound Bible teachers including J. Vernon McGee and Warren Wiersbe wrongly teach a pre-existent earth and people before Adam and Eve due to Genesis 1:2. They read into this verse an event that supposedly happened between verse 1 and 2, namely that satan was cast out of heaven due to his rebellion. The controversy comes from the use of the Hebrew word "hayetah" (a form of the verb HAYAH). This word occurs 1320 times in the OT and 24 times it means "to be" and in this instance they claim it must be rendered became rather than "was". However, according to Biblical facts this view just isn't tenable. Genesis 1:1 says on day 1 He created the heavens and the earth. Exodus 20:11 indicates that everything associated with the "heavens" (includes all the different levels of the heavens) was created in 6 days. Andaccording to what we glean from Job 38:4-7 this includes the "morning stars" which according to Isaiah 14:12 are the angels. The angels then were created after the heavens but before the earth. The Bible teaches creation ex nihilo with the exception of man who was created out of the dust of the earth. Hence, those who teach a prior earth age are proven wrong from the New Testament passages of Romans 4:17, 1 Corinthians 1:28 and Hebrews 11:3. They now know they were wrong, the most of them being deceased
Lavern Jones says:
Im so confuse. science have predated human 5 million years ago. Perhaps they had some human similarities, and not quiet the essence of Adam & Eve or in likeness of God. But bones were discovered. Also animals dated 230 million years ago i.e dinosaurs. There was life before Adam & Eve …certainly, perhaps not humankind & perhaps soul-less life. How do you explain this? I also… do not take Genesis 1, literally. I feel that God created the heaven & the earth millions of years ago in human time, he later, decided okay… there are no longer life, let me clean up the earth & bring new life to it. This is after the extinction of dinosaurs etc. then birth the creation store explained in Genesis. But you cannot say.., nothing exist before Adam & Eve because it is absolutely not true. Dunno, I just read & the understanding comes.
Mikey says:
Jeremiah verse 4:23-28 speaks of a judgement in the past before Adam and Eve.
Tammy R Everidge says:
In chapter 1, God told them to go and replenish the earth and chapter 2, God placed them in the garden which limited them. I have questions
Susie fisher says:
If Adam and Eve were the first humans. Who did Cain marry.
chris chapankwani says:
Also Genesis 4:14-17 may be more confusing, Cain was warned by God that who ever finds him, will be killed giving a picture of others who lived before him also note that CAIN left his family and got married. This proofs that human beings existed before Adam. Pastor kindly Elaborate more on this sir.
Anita says:
just so I'm clear in genesis 1 God created man in his own image both male and female. Chapter two God formed the garden of Eden formed Adam out of dust breath life into him. Made Eve from Adam's ribs. Now when Adam and eve sinned he banish them from His garden. Eve had Cane and abel cane kills abel. God banish cane, question 1. Who did God form in his image, 2. Who did cane marry and have children with? Most say his mother eve, but that would be incest or a relative?
Dwight Osborne says:
No, Mikey, Jeremiah 4:23-28 doesn't speak of judgment before Adam and Eve; rather, God was looking at Judah and Ephraim and describing the ravages of the invasions of the Assyrians against Ephraim and the Babylonians of Judah. There simply was no preexisting earth otherwise the New Testament is wrong in teaching creation ex nihilo, creation out of nothing referenced in Romans 4:17, 1 Corinthians 1:28 and Hebrews 11:3.