Were Adam and Eve Saved?

Eve’s Faith in the Promise of a Child

Were Adam and Eve actually saved? The Bible does not explicitly state whether Adam and Eve went to heaven. While Adam and Eve later serve as examples of sinful failure in the rest of scripture, we do know at least two instances later in the Genesis narrative where Eve, for example, exhibited faith in God.

In our first example, Eve believed that God was going to send her a promised child, referring to Cain. This is in Genesis 4 .1. Now, the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord.

That's Genesis 4 .1 again. From this first passage, we see that Eve trusted in the promise of God to provide a child. Again, this is after the fall, this is after Adam and Eve sinned. However, tragically, Cain actually kills Abel, and God expels him from the presence of Adam and Eve in Genesis 4 .12 -16.

Not only has Eve lost Abel, she has also lost her firstborn son, Cain, since he's basically sent away. Despite her dire circumstances, Eve continues to trust God to provide. We later read in Genesis, Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, which literally means appointed.

For she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. So in Genesis 4 .25, which was that passage, Eve's showing faith in God. Again, Eve continues to rely on the promise of God.

This time, she actually receives the appointed child, who did not cause the heartache, which Cain caused her. I think a second point we need to make and understand from the passage is that Eve is actually an example of faith.

Justification by Faith and Eve’s Example

According to the Bible, humans were always justified, or made right before God, before God by faith. That's in Genesis 15 .6, Romans 4 .1 -11, and also Hebrews 11 .6 talk about that theme. Therefore, since Eve believed in the Lord, there is good reason to believe that she was actually saved.

Eve in spite of her initial failure in the Garden of Eden, as in Genesis 3 .16, can certainly serve as a model of faith and trust as a result of her later actions of faith in the book of Genesis, as in Genesis 4 .1 and Genesis 4 .25.

If Adam followed her wise example, which is likely since it was through him that Jesus came, he would have been saved also. I think a second point we need to take into account is the fact of the atonement.

The Atonement and God’s Covering for Sin

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After they sinned by eating the fruit, they became aware of their sinfulness and sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves, as Genesis 3 .7 indicates.

Then Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden, as in Genesis 3 .8.

It is quite likely that the reference to the Lord God walking in the garden refers to the pre-incarnate Jesus. This pre-incarnate Jesus then made atonement for Adam and Eve by providing animal skins for their bodies.

It says in Genesis 3 .21, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Typologically, these two passages, Genesis 3 .7 and Genesis 3 .21, may be a reference to man's failed attempt to cover his sin by his own actions, which would be symbolized by the leaf aprons, but God providing his own covering through the atonement with an implied sacrifice, which would be the death of an animal to provide a covering of Adam and Eve with the skins.

If this is the case, then Adam and Eve both would have been saved. So whereas scripture is not explicitly clear on this issue, I think we can argue for good reason that Adam and Eve both were saved.