People cannot, or simply refuse, to take the Bible at its word. People say that there is no way Adam and Eve alone could have populated the earth as God commanded (Gen.1:28). Therefore, they say, God had to have created more humans other than Adam and Eve…after all, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say He did not. As briefly as possible, we’re going to take a look at how this thinking is worldly and how the Bible does in fact say He created only Adam and Eve.
This seems like a strange spot to start, but…: One thing skeptics question is who Cain was speaking of when he says, “whoever finds me will kill me” (Gen.4:14). Adam and Eve would have had more children by this time. Therefore, those who would kill him were his brothers, sisters, nephews, etc.
Skeptics also wonder where Cain got his wife (Gen.4:17). Obviously, Adam and Eve had daughters and other children, who in turn would have had children. Hence, Cain’s wife was his sister, or niece, etc.
This leads us to the argument or observation that, in order to populate the earth, there would have had to be incest. Yes. There was. At this time, incest was the only way to populate the earth, and God had not yet deemed it to be against the law (Lev.18:6). All of God’s creation was good (Gen.1:31,4,10,12,18,21,25,31). “Good” is defined in relation to God, not God in relation to “good.” God is good in that He is perfect. His creation was nothing less than perfect in every way. Adam and Eve had no genetic abnormalities, and neither did their children, and their children, and who knows how many generations later. Eventually, the effect of sin that came through Adam would take place and bring about genetic problems.
These observations still leave skeptics to wonder how Adam and Eve could have had enough children to “populate the earth.” Because Adam was genetically perfect, with no health problems or genetic disorders to speak of, Adam lived 930 years (Gen.5:5). (Can you imagine!?). We can easily presume that Eve would have lived an equally long amount of time. 930 years leaves many, many years of childbirth! Giving them 700 years of childbearing, at, say, one (1) child every four (4) years, would give them 175 children! And their children lived hundreds of years and had children…. Amazing.
Now we’ll look at Scripture references that point to Adam and Eve being the only humans created.
When skeptics say God could have created other humans, they don’t usually tell us when He would have created them. Would it have been before the fall of man (Gen.3:1-7), or after?
First, God put the “man,” not the “men,” in Eden (Gen.2:8,15). Throughout the rest of Genesis chapter 2, God speaks of one man (Gen.2:16,18,19,20,22,25). This alone makes it clear that there were no other humans created prior to the fall. Also, think about it. If there were more than one (1) perfect created man in Eden, then every single one of those men would have had to have been involved in the Fall; all the men would have had to sin, otherwise it would have been only Adam’s line that would have been under the curse of sin. However, Scripture tells us that it was indeed by one man, and one man only, that is Adam, that sin came, and with it death, to all men (1Cor.15:21-22). We are also told that we all are from and bear the image of the “first man” (1Cor.15:47-49). Also, in chapter 3 after the Fall, God speaks to the “woman” (v.16), to the “man” (v.17), and makes several other references to only one man and woman, including verse 24 where God “drove out the man” from Eden (vv.21,22,23, emphasis mine).
This would lead skeptics to suggest that God created more humans after the Fall and after Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. This, however, is completely impossible. For God to have created humans after the Fall, He would have had to have created them, not only imperfect and with sin, but also bearing Adam’s genes, since all men are from Adam. Yes, humans in Adam’s gene pool, so to speak, could have been created by God, since He can create anything in anyway. Except imperfect. All of God’s handiwork is “good” to align with His nature, which is perfect. God, being perfect and holy, cannot sin and cannot look on sin with favor, and certainly would and could not create something that is corrupted with sin.
People also forget that all mankind, except for eight people, were destroyed on the earth (Gen.6:9-8:19, Lk.17:27, 1Pt.3:20). Therefore, the earth had to be populated once again, this time by Noah and his sons (Gen.9:1,7). The method was the same, except this time there were four couples, all from Adam, and all blessed by God.
In the beginning God created Adam and Eve. And that’s it. Saying anything more is both adding and taking away from Scripture. Scripture will always support Scripture. And I love it! Have a wonderfully blessed day.
In His Wonderful Name,
Niki