Kevin DeYoung Shares 10 Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam

Today on his DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed blog, Kevin shares 10 Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam. I found this to be a breath of fresh air in light of the many posts on the historical Adam making their way around the blogosphere. Below is a summary version of his “top 10″ list:

1. The Bible does not put an artificial wedge between history and theology.
2. The biblical story of creation is meant to supplant other ancient creation stories more than imitate them.
3. The opening chapters of Genesis are stylized, but they show no signs of being poetry.
4. This is a seamless strand of history from Adam in Genesis 2 to Abraham in Genesis 12.
5. The genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1 and Luke 3 treat Adam as historical.
6. Paul believed in a historical Adam (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 45-49).
7. The weight of the history of interpretation points to the historicity of Adam.
8. Without a common descent we lose any firm basis for believing that all people regardless of race or ethnicity have the same nature, the same inherent dignity, the same image of God, the same sin problem, and that despite our divisions we are all part of the same family coming from the same parents.
9. Without a historical Adam, Paul’s doctrine of original sin and guilt does not hold together.
10. Without a historical Adam, Paul’s doctrine of the second Adam does not hold together.

I strongly encourage you to read Kevin’s post in its entirety here:  LINK.

HT: Craig Hurst