The viewpoint that regards the account of Adam and his fall in Gen. 2f as mythical and not historical, as story but not history (cf. Emil Brunner, Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption [Dogmatics, II, Eng. tr. 1952], pp. 46–74), or according to which Adam stands for all men, so that we are all Adam and Gen. 2f is not history but saga (cf. Barth, CD, IV/1. pp. 504–513; Christ and Adam [Eng. tr. 1956]), is not complete with the NT teaching. The following data show how the historicity of Adam and of his fall as recorded in these chapters is assumed and interwoven with the doctrine that Our Lord and His apostles enunciate.
In Mt. 19:4f; Mk. 10:6–8 Jesus alludes to and quotes from Gen. 1:27; 2:24. The appeal to these passages in order to contrast the Mosaic permission of divorce with the original ordinance, and thereby to enforce the high ethic of marriage, would have had no practical relevance if the passages in question did not concern and presuppose human relationships analogous to those existing in the situation with which Jesus was dealing.
In 1 Cor. 15:45, 47 Adam is spoken of as the first man and is contrasted with Christ as the second man. The parallelism and contrast demand for Adam as the first man a historical identity comparable to that of Christ Himself. Otherwise the basis of comparison and contrast is lost. Adam and Christ sustain unique relations to the human race, but in order to sustain these relations there must be to both such historical character as will make those relations possible and relevant. Lk. 3:38 draws strikingly to our attention something correlative with Adam’s being the first man and standing in a unique relation to the human race. The genealogy goes back no further than Adam, and while all others are said to be the son of the forefather in each case, Adam is said to be the son of God; he did not come by human generation. Furthermore, the allusion to Gen. 2:7 in 1 Cor. 15:45, 47 is unmistakable; and Lk. 3:38 is explained by Gen. 2:7.
1 Tim. 2:13 alludes to Gen. 2:7, 20–23 and assumes the temporal sequence there indicated, a sequence that presupposes historicity both before and after. The reference in 1 Tim. 2:14 to Gen. 3:1–6, 13 demonstrates the acceptance of that narrative on Paul’s part
In Rom. 5:12–19 and 1 Cor. 15:22 the reign of sin, condemnation, and death is traced to the sin of Adam, and the reign of righteousness, justification, and life to the obedience of Christ. There is both parallelism and contrast. The sin of Adam is called the transgression, trespass, and disobedience of the one man. There can be no doubt as to the identity of the trespass in Paul’s view; it is that of Gen. 3:19 (cf. 2:17). And the obedience of Christ is that unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). The latter was discharged in time, in the arena of history. To view the parallel and contrasted disobedience of the one Adam in nonhistorical terms is to wreck the structure of Paul’s thought and therefore the doctrine set forth in these passages. The consequences for the plan of redemption are apparent.
All these considerations converge to show that the conception by which Adam and the narratives of Gen. 2f are construed as mythical or legendary and therefore not historical is wholly alien to the NT.
J. MURRAY
Murray, J. (1979–1988). Adam. In G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 1, p. 50). Wm. B. Eerdmans.