Adam (Person)

Adam was the first man and father of the human race. Adam has an important role in the Old Testament. His story also helps readers understand salvation and the identity and work of Jesus Christ.

The book of Genesis describes the creation of Adam and the first woman, Eve, in two accounts. The first account explains their relationship with God and with the rest of creation (Genesis 1:26–31). God created the first humans as male and female in his image. He gave them the task of filling the earth and ruling over it.

The first humans were part of creation because God made them on the same day as the land animals. However, they also had a unique place above the rest of creation. They were the final part of God’s work of creation and the only creatures made in God's image.

The second account has a more specific purpose (Genesis 2:4–3:24). It explains how sin and death became part of human life. It also prepares for the Bible’s account of redemption, which is God’s work to save people from sin.

This account gives details about Adam’s creation that the first account does not include. God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him (Genesis 2:7). God planted the garden of Eden and gave Adam the task of caring for it (Genesis 2:8–15).

God told Adam that he could eat fruit from every tree except one. He must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned that eating its fruit would bring death (Genesis 2:16–17).

The account also describes Adam’s need for a suitable companion. After Adam named the animals, none of them was a suitable partner for him. God then created the first woman (Genesis 2:18–22). God made Eve from Adam’s rib. This shows the close unity and shared purpose that God intended for man and woman.

However, the story does not remain positive. It next describes how Satan deceived Eve through the serpent. The serpent questioned and twisted God’s command (compare Genesis 3:1 with 2:16–17). It deceived Eve, and she ate the forbidden fruit. She then gave some to Adam, and he also ate it. Eve appears to have eaten because she was deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam, however, knowingly chose to disobey God. The result was deeply ironic. God had created the man and woman in his image, yet they believed they could become “like God” by disobeying him (Genesis 3:5).

The results of their disobedience came at once, but they were not what Adam expected. For the first time, shame damaged the unity between the man and the woman (Genesis 3:7). More importantly, their guilt separated them from God.

When God came to Adam after his disobedience, Adam hid among the trees. He already knew that his relationship with God had been broken (Genesis 3:8). When God questioned him, Adam blamed Eve. He also indirectly blamed God: “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree” (3:12). Eve then blamed the serpent (3:13).

According to Genesis, God held all three responsible for their actions. He told each of them the painful results of their rebellion (Genesis 3:14–19).

The blessings God had given at creation were now mixed with suffering. The earth would be filled with people only through the woman’s pain in childbirth. The man would work the ground only through hard labor (Genesis 3:16–18).

The relationship between the man and the woman would also be affected. The text describes either the man ruling over the woman or the beginning of a struggle for control between them (Genesis 3:16b can be understood both ways).

Finally, God announced the greatest consequence. As he had warned, Adam and Eve would die. One day, the breath of life would leave them, and their bodies would return to the dust from which God had made them (Genesis 3:19). On the day they sinned, they also experienced a “spiritual” death, being separated from God, the giver of life, and from the tree of life, which symbolized eternal life (Genesis 3:22).

God sent them out of the garden of Eden, and they could not return. Cherubim (heavenly beings) and a flaming sword guarded the entrance (Genesis 3:23–24). Only God could restore what they had lost.

The story also gives hope. Even then, God showed mercy. He made clothing from animal skins for Adam and Eve. He also promised that one day the woman’s descendant would defeat the power of Satan behind the serpent (Genesis 3:15; compare Romans 16:20). Many scholars understand this promise as the Bible’s first reference to redemption, which is God’s work to save people from sin.

Adam’s importance rests on two main ideas:

The biblical writers present him as a real person in history. Many Old Testament writers understood him this way (Genesis 4:25; 5:1–5; 1 Chronicles 1:1; Hosea 6:7). New Testament writers also treated Adam as a historical person (Luke 3:38; Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45; 1 Timothy 2:13–14; Jude 1:14).

Adam represents more than one person. The Hebrew word ʾadam is not only a personal name. In Genesis, it is not clearly used as a name until Genesis 4:25. The word is one of several Hebrew terms for a human being. It can refer to an individual man or to humanity as a whole.

In many passages, ʾadam refers to one man (Leviticus 1:2; Joshua 14:15; Nehemiah 9:29; Isaiah 56:2). In other passages, it refers to human beings in general (Exodus 4:11; Numbers 12:3; 16:29; Deuteronomy 4:28; 1 Kings 4:31; Job 7:20; 14:1). This wider meaning also appears in the phrase “sons of men,” which literally means “sons of adam.” The phrase refers to human beings or to the whole human race (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 11:4; 12:1; 14:2; 53:2; 90:3; Ecclesiastes 1:13; 2:3).

The broad meaning of ʾadam shows that the Old Testament is concerned with more than Israel alone. It also speaks about all humanity and about God as the Lord of all nations (Genesis 9:5–7; Deuteronomy 5:24; 8:3; 1 Kings 8:38–39; Psalms 8:4; 89:48; 107:8–31; Proverbs 12:14; Micah 6:8).

It is meaningful that the first man was called Adam, a name related to the Hebrew word for “human being.” His name suggests that the story of Adam is also a story about the whole human race.

This idea can be understood through the ancient concept of corporate representation. In this view, one person could represent a whole family, tribe, or nation. This way of thinking was common among the Hebrews and other peoples of the ancient Near East.

Some modern cultures often place strong emphasis on the individual. They may view the social group as secondary to the wishes and identity of each person. The Hebrew view was different. It recognized each person as an individual (Jeremiah 31:29–30; Ezekiel 18:4). However, it also viewed a family, tribe, or nation as one united group with a shared identity.

The representative of the group could stand for the whole group. That person was seen as expressing the group’s character and identity. The representative’s actions and decisions could therefore affect everyone in the group.

In a family, the father usually served as its representative. His actions could bring good or harmful results to his family and sometimes to later generations (Genesis 17:1–8; compare Genesis 20:1–9, 18; Exodus 20:5–6; Joshua 7:24–25; Romans 11:28; Hebrews 7:1–10).

As the first man and the father of humanity, Adam represented the whole human race. Later generations were born in his likeness (Genesis 5:3). The creation accounts suggest that God’s commands in 1:26–30 were not only for Adam and Eve. Through them, these commands also applied to all humanity (compare Genesis 9:1, 7; Psalms 8:5–7; 104:14).

In the same way, the results of sin described in Genesis 3:16–19 affected not only Adam and Eve but also the whole human race (compare Psalm 90:3; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Isaiah 13:8; 21:3).

In Romans 5:12–21, the apostle Paul contrasts Adam with Christ. Adam’s disobedience brought death and condemnation to humanity. Christ’s obedience brings life and justification, which means being declared right with God.

Paul makes this contrast even clearer in 1 Corinthians 15:45–50. He calls Christ the “last Adam,” the “second man,” and the “man from heaven.” He contrasts Christ with Adam, whom he calls the “first man” and the “earthly man”

For Paul, Adam and Christ represent two groups of humanity:

Those who remain united with Adam belong to the “old” humanity. They bear the image of the “earthly man” and share in Adam’s sin and separation from God and creation (Romans 5:12–19; 8:20–22).

Those who are united with Christ through faith become part of Christ’s “body” (Romans 12:4–5; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13, 27; Ephesians 1:22–23; Colossians 1:18). They are recreated in Christ’s image (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18). They become one “new man” (Ephesians 2:15; 4:24; Colossians 3:9–10). They also share in God’s new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).

Christ removes the barriers caused by Adam’s sin (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Galatians 3:27–28; Ephesians 2:14–16). For Paul, Adam and Christ both act as representatives of humanity. Christ restores what Adam lost.

See also Eve; Old and New Self; New Creation, New Creature.