Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Adam and Eve - created positively good or morally indifferent?

There are many discussions going around about the Scriptural narrative concerning our first parents, Adam and Eve. Some discussions are directed towards the historicity of Adam, of whether or not he even actually existed. Some talk of Adam and Eve being apart of some evolutionary progression, of which they are simply the products of thousands or even millions of years of previous "growth." And lastly, along similar lines from the aforementioned topic, there are some discussions of whether Adam and Eve were created positively good and holy by God, or if they were created morally indifferent. It is to this last topic of discussion that we turn our attention.

Herman Bavinck highlights a few arguments from Scripture that prove that our first parents were, in fact, created by God in their original state to be positively good. He is establishing the point that they were fully grown, aware, freely acting agents - not animals or even very young children. He gives several reasons:
  1. Creation in the image of God (Genesis 1:27, Ecclesiastes 7:29, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10)
  2. The blessing of procreation and multiplication (Genesis 1:28)
  3. Divine approval (Genesis 1:31)
  4. The probationary command (Genesis 2:17)
  5. The naming of animals (Genesis 2:19)
  6. The pronouncement about Eve (Genesis 2:23, 24)
  7. The manner of the temptation (Genesis 3:1ff)
  8. The attitude of Adam and Eve after the fall (Genesis 3:7ff)
Bavinck concludes, after having listed his reasons above, that all of these "attest to the truth that the first humans were created positively good, not morally indifferent."(1)

(1) Bavinck, In the Beginning: Foundations of Creation Theology, pg. 167.

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