Questions about Adam and Eve
When were Adam and Eve created?There are a couple different ways of looking at when Adam and Eve were created. One is to use the genealogy in Genesis 5. The chapter is introduced, "This is the book of the generations of Adam." Just a few verses later we read, "When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and named him Seth" (Genesis 5:3). So, we know that Seth was born 130 years after Adam was created. Continuing through the genealogy we can see that Enosh was born 235 years after Adam was created, Kenan 325 years, and jumping ahead, Noah was born 1056 years after Adam was created. When done in this manner, it appears that Adam was created roughly between six and eight thousand years ago. There is, of course, some debate on these numbers depending on which chronology is used.
The other method is similar, but counts backward from the birth of Christ. Using this method, one chronology puts the creation at approximately 4004 BC and another at approximately 6000 BC. The result is ultimately the same. This article is being written in 2022. If you add either 4004 BC or 6000 BC to 2022 you get a date of creation somewhere roughly between six and eight thousand years ago.
Eve was created on the same day as Adam (Genesis 1:26–31; 2:18–25).
Were Adam and Eve saved?
Yes, and no. While that may seem a contradiction, in reality it is the most accurate way to answer the question of their salvation. When we refer to someone being "saved" we are talking about someone who has placed their faith and their hope in Jesus Christ, specifically what He accomplished on the cross and in His resurrection. When a person surrenders their life to Jesus Christ, they are said to be "saved."
Those who lived prior to the cross looked forward to the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation, and those who live after the cross look back on it. In either case, a person is justified before God by His grace through faith (Romans 4:1–5; Galatians 3:5–9; Ephesians 2:8–10; Hebrews 11:6, 39–40). This justification before God by grace through faith is most often what people mean when talking about others being "saved."
It is clear from the text of Genesis that Adam and Eve recognized their sin and their need for reconciliation with God; they had faith and hope in His promise of redemption. As God pronounced the curses after Adam and Eve's sin, He promised coming redemption (Genesis 3:15). He also clothed the couple with animal skins in what is often seen as the first blood sacrifice to atone for sin and thus a foreshadowing of Jesus' work on the cross (Genesis 3:21; Hebrews 9:22–28). In between the pronouncement of the curse and the covering of the couple, we learn that Adam calls his wife Eve. Her name is associated with the Hebrew word for "life-giver" (Genesis 3:22); Adam believed God's promise to provide a redeemer through the woman. Notice what Eve says when Cain is born; "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD" (Genesis 4:1).
Though Adam and Eve were not "saved" in the same way that we are today, there is every indication in the text that they were redeemed by God and they now rest in His eternal presence.
How many children did Adam and Eve have?
There are two ways of answering this question and both of them ultimately lead to the same conclusion: there is no way of actually knowing.
The first way of viewing this question would be in the modern sense. That is, when we ask how many children Adam and Eve had, we are talking about their direct offspring. In other words, their immediate sons and daughters. When we view it in this light, the text only gives us the names of three of their sons: Cain, Abel, and Seth. But we know they had more than just three children. Scripture clearly says, "The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters." The text doesn't say how many, only that he had other sons and daughters.
Aside from this direct statement that Adam had "other sons and daughters," we can infer this reality from the narrative. When Cain kills Abel and is driven away we read, "Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch" (Genesis 4:16–17). So there is no confusion, Cain's wife was most likely his sister, or she was a niece. Adam and Eve are the two people from whom the rest of humanity is descended. The only woman we read about prior to Cain's wife (who is not mentioned by name) was Eve. Therefore, Cain's wife was either his sister, or she was the daughter of Abel (before he was killed) which would have made her his niece.
The text does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve between the birth of Abel and the birth of Seth, nor how many were born after Seth. It simply affirms they had many sons and daughters.
The second way of viewing this question is in light of Adam's place as the human father of humanity. That is to say, God does not create mankind in the way Adam and Eve were created after this first act. Instead, He commands them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…" (Genesis 1:28; cf. Genesis 9:1). Adam called his wife Eve "because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). In other words, every human being that has ever lived since the creation of Adam and Eve were a result of their marriage.
In the ancient Hebrew sense of this question, everyone who is a result of Adam's immediate offspring, is also a child of Adam. So, Seth's children, Noah's children, Abraham's children, all the way down to our children today, are, in the ancient Hebrew sense of family lines, children of Adam. The result is still the same, there is no way of knowing. There are currently around seven billion people on earth, all "children" of Adam.
Please also see Questions about Adam and Eve by GotQuestions.org for answers to these and other questions about Adam and Eve.
Is the Adam and Eve story true? Is it literal?
Does the Bible tell us the age of the universe?
What was the way of salvation for those living in the times of the Old Testament?
Why did God create humanity?
What is the origin of the races of humanity?
Truth about Creation
