Bible Secrets Debunked: Was Adam a Historical Individual?

Fighting for the Faith

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:02

If you've ever had that nagging feeling that something has gone terribly wrong in the

00:07

Christian church and that there has to be more to Christianity than a rock and roll smoke and light show with messages that are supposed to help you dream bigger dreams, alleviate credit card debt, have better sex, or find your purpose, then you're in the right place.

00:22

This video blog will help you discover the true depth and meaning of the historic Christian faith. But be warned, just like Morpheus and the

00:29

Matrix, this video blog is like the red pill. Once you decide to let me remove the wool that's been pulled over your eyes, you're going to find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

00:39

And once that happens, there's no going back. My name is Chris Roseborough. I'm a Christian theologian, apologist, radio talk show host, and a pirate

00:48

Christian. And this is Fighting for the Faith. Welcome to the

00:54

Fighting for the Faith video blog. I'm Chris Roseborough, your servant in Jesus Christ. In this episode, we'll be doing some basic Christian apologetics by debunking one of the arguments put forward by the latest

01:05

History Channel series entitled, Bible Secrets Revealed, which by the way, is a complete misnomer because they didn't actually reveal any of the

01:14

Bible secrets because there aren't any. Instead, the series, for the most part, gave an opportunity for some of the world's most notorious skeptical liberal scholars to trot out a bunch of tired, old, decrepit, and long ago debunked arguments, which if you take some time and do your homework, you'll find that debunking them is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

01:35

But today, however, I'm going to walk through one of the arguments that was different than the typical liberal skeptical arguments and show you how to debunk it both biblically and with an ace card that I'm going to play.

01:47

I will then explain why this doctrine is important for Christians to believe as well as defend.

01:53

Now, the argument that we'll be looking at is the claim that Christians have been misled into believing that Adam was an actual individual human being due to a mistranslation of the

02:04

Hebrew word Adam. Now, here's the clip from the Bible Secrets Revealed series.

02:10

Like many works that are translated from another language, otherwise simple words are often subjected to intense scrutiny and widely differing interpretations.

02:24

In Genesis, the very first statement made about humanity, it says that God made

02:30

Adam, which is often translated man in his image as male and female.

02:38

And in fact, this word Adam is a common noun, meaning the entire human race, not a single individual.

02:45

So that's an example of the translation that was made, misled people into misunderstanding what the text is saying.

02:53

Gasp! Have we Christians been duped into believing that Adam was an individual human being when in fact all

03:00

Genesis was trying to tell us was that God created the human race? Is the whole idea of a literal

03:06

Adam and Eve nothing more than an erroneous idea due to a translation error?

03:12

Well, no. We're going to test this argument by first looking at the Hebrew text in Genesis to see if this claim by Bible Secrets Revealed holds up under linguistic scrutiny.

03:24

And then I'm going to play my ace card, and after that, for good measure, we'll apply the hermeneutical technique of using other passages of scripture to shed light on and interpret scripture in order to demonstrate that the

03:35

Bible throughout its pages teaches that Adam and Eve were literal historical individuals.

03:40

And lastly, I'll explain why this doctrine is vital for Christians to believe as well as defend.

03:47

We'll begin by looking at the appearances of the word Adam in the Hebrew text of the opening chapters of Genesis.

03:53

And fortunately, I have a degree in biblical languages, Va 'anim avinavrit, therefore

03:59

I'm equipped to help test this claim to see if this argument can hold up under informed linguistic scrutiny.

04:06

So let's start by asking the question, what does the Hebrew word Adam mean? Well, according to good

04:12

Hebrew lexicons, the word Adam appears 546 times in the Old Testament, and its valid definitions include man, human being, humankind, or the human race, people often in contrast to animals, or the proper name

04:27

Adam, which refers to the first man, or the name of a city located in the Jordan Valley.

04:32

So as you can see, the word Adam has several definitions, and humankind, or the human race, is one of them.

04:38

Now, the question that we need to answer is this, when the word Adam appears in the opening chapters of Genesis, is it referring to humankind, or the human race, or is it referring to an actual individual human being?

04:51

So in order to figure this out, we're going to employ a simple technique used by translators to help them determine if they're applying the right definition to a word in any given context.

05:02

Now, the way the technique works is to substitute the word that you're trying to translate with one of its definitions to see if that definition makes sense in the context in which that word appears.

05:13

Now, let me give you an example of this technique using the English word up. When we look up the word up in a dictionary, we find that it has many, many definitions, and those different definitions are not synonymous with each other.

05:30

Therefore, the context in which the word up is used will determine that correct definition.

05:36

So here are just four of the many, many definitions for the word up found in the dictionary.

05:42

Definition number one, in or into a higher position or level. A sample sentence for this word would be, she stood beneath the window and called up to her friend.

05:54

Definition number two, to or toward the sky or ceiling. Sample sentence, he looked up at the stars.

06:03

Definition number three, to or toward the north. Sample sentence for this definition would be, the weather is much colder up north.

06:12

And then definition number four, up means out of bed. Sample sentence would be, what time did you get up this morning?

06:20

Now, if we were learning English, the word up would be one of those words that would give us grief because it has so many different definitions.

06:27

So how would we know if we were applying the correct definition to the word when we came across it?

06:33

Well, a simple way would be to substitute different definitions of the word to see if the definition fits how the word is being used in the context in which it appears.

06:41

Now here's a simple example sentence. The author is good at building up suspense.

06:47

What does up mean in this context? We'll substitute a few definitions to see which one works best.

06:55

So here's the sentence again. The author is good at building out of bed suspense.

07:01

Notice I substitute the word up with the definition out of bed. Notice this doesn't work.

07:07

So this is not what up means in this context. How about another definition? The author is good at building toward the sky or ceiling suspense.

07:14

That doesn't work either. The author is good at building a higher level of suspense.

07:22

Notice that that definition works. And now that you know how the technique works, let's come back to the book of Genesis and the

07:30

Hebrew word Adam. What we're going to do is we're going to read portions of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, and every time the

07:38

Hebrew text uses the word Adam, I'll insert the words human race to see if the text still makes sense when we do that.

07:45

Now the reason for this is simple. As I've already shown you, human race is one of several legitimate definitions for the

07:52

Hebrew word Adam. But just because human race is one of Adam's legit definitions does not mean that every time the word

07:59

Adam appears in the Hebrew text that it means human race. By employing this simple substitution technique, we'll be able to test the

08:07

History Channel's claims. We'll begin by taking a look at Genesis 1, verses 26 -28.

08:13

And here's what it says, Then God said, Let us make the human race in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

08:28

So God created the human race in His own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female, He created them.

08:34

And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

08:45

Now note, the History Channel's argument sounds plausible if we only read

08:52

Genesis 1, verses 26 -28. And the reason for this is simple. In that text,

08:58

Adam probably does mean human race. But let's see if this argument still holds up when we read

09:04

Genesis 2. We'll begin with Genesis 2, verse 7, and here's what it says, Then the

09:10

Lord God formed the human race of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human race became a living creature.

09:19

It's not really working, is it? Well, let's take a look at the same chapter, verses 15 -25.

09:24

Now I know this is a little long, but it makes a point. So then the Lord God took the human race, and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it.

09:33

And the Lord God commanded the human race, saying, You shall surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

09:42

For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the human race should be alone.

09:49

I will make for him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the human race, to see what he would call them.

10:00

And whatever the human race called every living creature, that was its name. The human race gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field.

10:09

But for the human race there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human race, and while he slept, took one of his ribs, and closed up its place with flesh.

10:21

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the human race he made into a woman, and brought her to the human race.

10:27

Then the human race said, This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of the human race.

10:37

Therefore a human race shall leave his father and his mother, and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

10:43

And the human race and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed." No, that doesn't work at all, and the claim that the translators made a mistake and have misled us into believing that Adam was an individual human being, well that collapses under the weight of the absurdity of the translation of Genesis 2 that would result.

11:03

Now the really odd thing about this argument from the History Channel is that the argument was supposedly made by Dr.

11:09

Robert Mullins of Azusa Pacific University. Now the reason that I say that it's odd is because Dr.

11:15

Mullins is not a skeptical liberal scholar, and he is fluent in Hebrew, he did his graduate studies at Jerusalem University College, and he earned his

11:23

Ph .D. from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. So there's no way that he could make such a claim regarding the historical

11:30

Adam considering his depth of understanding of the Hebrew language. Which then leaves us with only one of two options.

11:37

Option one, Dr. Mullins is purposely employing half -truths and lies in order to undermine the biblical text, or option two, he was misquoted by the

11:47

History Channel. Now it's time for me to play my ace card. Before recording this episode of the

11:52

Fighting for the Faith video blog, I spoke with Dr. Mullins via Skype. Here's my conversation with him.

12:07

All right, on Skype I have Dr. Robert Mullins. He's been working with Azusa Pacific University, although he's not teaching right now.

12:17

Dr. Mullins, mashalom ha -hiyom. Besher ha -gamor, mashalom ha -hiyom. I'm good, thank you.

12:24

All right, so we've got this interesting dilemma that has come up as a result of the

12:31

History Channel's Secrets of the Bible Revealed, and you appeared on there.

12:38

And in the first episode, they were talking about the

12:44

Hebrew word Adam and how it's used in Genesis, and the way your quote got used, it made it look like you were arguing that we wrongly have understood

12:54

Adam to be a historical individual. But then when I looked on the Azusa Pacific University website and saw that you have a graduate degree from Jerusalem University and spend time digging in archaeological sites in the

13:10

Holy Land, I figured you were a guy who has a pretty commanding understanding of the

13:16

Hebrew language and realized that there has to be a different explanation. I don't think that somebody with your ability in Hebrew would be arguing that we've misunderstood

13:24

Genesis to be teaching that there is an individual guy by the name of Adam.

13:30

So let's talk about that real quick. Sure. Your argument actually holds water if we're looking only at Genesis chapter 1.

13:40

Let's talk about that. In Genesis chapter 1, when the Hebrew text brings up the Hebrew word

13:46

Adam, I think you have a legitimate point that it's not actually talking about the individual

13:51

Adam, but it's talking about something else. Let's talk about that. Yes, that's precisely my point, and actually the

13:57

History Channel correctly represented me on that because we were referring in the program only to Genesis 1.

14:05

I think what happens is that people conflate Genesis 1 with Genesis 2 and 3, and so even though you're only talking about the first chapter, people are also thinking about the second and third chapter and not realizing that the same

14:19

Hebrew word, Adam, is being used differently. Pete Right. And, you know, one of the points, the point actually

14:26

I was trying to make in the television interview was that in Genesis 1, the

14:35

Hebrew word Adam is a common noun referring to collective humanity.

14:41

Pete Yep. Pete In Genesis 2 and 3, which was not covered in the interview, there

14:47

Adam is used both ways, both as a common noun, although with the definite article, ha 'adam, and it's also used as a personal name, okay, especially at the very end of chapter 2 after the creation of Eve, we start seeing

15:04

Adam and in the chapter 3 being used as a personal name, Adam and Eve, okay? So it is important,

15:10

I think, for people to distinguish between two uses of the same word as a common noun, meaning humankind, and as a personal name, a proper name, which never has the definite article in front.

15:23

Pete Right. Pete You know, I don't call someone the Jim or the Bob. Pete I go to the gym, but that's something completely different.

15:32

Pete Yeah, that's exactly that. It's exactly correct. But I would add to that, that when Genesis 2 does use the term in as a collective noun, where often it's rendered as the man, it should really be rendered the human, would be a more correct interpretation, a more correct reading of ha 'adam.

15:55

And then, as I mentioned, after the creation of Eve, we really see a shift to Adam being used as a proper name for a male individual.

16:05

Pete Right. So to sum it all up, is that in the first three chapters of Genesis, then in chapter 1, which

16:11

I oftentimes describe to my students as the 30 ,000 foot flyover of creation.

16:18

Pete Absolutely, yeah. Pete And then once we get into Genesis 2, we start to drill down into some of those details. So in Genesis chapter 1, when we have the 30 ,000 foot flyover of creation, it there, the use of adam is really referring to the creation of humanity, of mankind.

16:35

Pete That's right. That's right. And the term I used in the History Channel production was the human race.

16:44

It's talking about the human race. And to me, it's remarkable that the first comment that the

16:51

Bible makes about humanity is its diversity and its unity.

16:57

All humans, every nation, every race, every tribe, every creed, everyone is created in God's image, which flies in the face of people who have argued that people of color are not really created in God's image and are somehow subhuman.

17:18

This is complete nonsense and shows complete ignorance of Hebrew and really what

17:23

Genesis 1 is talking about. In Genesis 1, God canonizes diversity in the very first statement made about humankind.

17:32

I find that not only remarkable, but I think insightful as to how the

17:38

Bible views the human race and views people. Jared Right. And then on the other side of that, then, you can kind of bookend that, because oftentimes

17:49

I see the way Scripture works is kind of like in the old ancient chiasm. I even think the

17:55

Bible itself is chiastic in the sense that we have this outline where at the end in the book of Revelation, people of all nations, tribes, race, color, and tongue are there represented in the new kingdom.

18:10

And so I think that's a good way to bookend that. And so you make a great point, and I think linguistically it's solid.

18:18

But then when we get into chapter 2, which you weren't able to, which wasn't discussed in the History Channel series, and as a result of it not being discussed, made it look like the way they kind of edited you make it look like, oh, well, we believe that there's this individual named

18:34

Adam, and his wife's name was Eve, but it was a mistranslation because Adam means human race.

18:41

I mean, that's kind of how they edited you, but that's not what you believe at all. So when we get into chapter 2, we're actually getting into the creation of the individual human being,

18:49

Adam. Yeah, definitely Genesis 2 is looking at two individuals and is a different understanding than what we have in Genesis 1.

18:59

And so again, I don't think it was a deliberate intention on the History Channel's part to misrepresent me.

19:06

It's just that they were taking very, very quick snapshots at various topics, and the focus happened to be on Genesis 1 and kind of this more like, as you say, the 30 ,000 foot flyover, rather than focusing on the individual.

19:22

But because so many Christians do conflate Genesis 1 through Genesis 3 and regard them as a kind of a unity, which they are in a sense, but thinking that if you say

19:33

Genesis 1 is talking about humankind, then they automatically think, well, then that must mean that that's the same for Genesis 2 and 3.

19:42

But clearly there, the text is talking about two individuals. Yeah, yeah. So I think it's just great that people can hear you explain what was missing from the thing, so that if they're sitting around the water cooler with somebody who's watched the

19:59

History Channel series, Bible Secrets Revealed, and somebody feels like they're armed with all the, oh,

20:05

I learned that this idea that Adam and Eve were individuals is based upon a mistranslation, that you yourself have cleared that up and made it clear that Genesis 2 and 3 are actually talking about individual humans.

20:18

And I think it's important for viewers of all of these programs to understand that, you know, when producers of such programs interview people, they do very, very lengthy interviews asking numerous questions, but they essentially have one hour, 45 minutes, if you take advertisements into account, in order to put together some sort of a picture.

20:41

And so things are being kind of cut and pasted. And so I think viewers need to realize that the editing process does sometimes create an impression that may not be reflective of what all the individuals think.

20:59

And I do know from other people on the program that they felt that, and here again, not at the fault of the producers, but that some of the feedback they were getting from viewers that the viewers were misunderstood, really, the points that they were making.

21:16

And so, you know, it's always a problem. Obviously, I think it's much better to be in a context where you have more time to really go through these issues, like what we're doing now,

21:27

I think would be a good example, and talking about this much more broadly. Right.

21:32

And then the other thing is, is that, you know, the program itself, you know, portrayed itself as bringing a diversity of different voices to the table.

21:42

And yet it was very unclear as to who was representing which view, unless you knew some of the characters.

21:48

You know, for instance, Bart Ehrman, everybody knows he's like the arch enemy of conservative biblical scholarship.

21:56

Or Elaine Pagels, who, you know, is out there chasing the latest Gnostic text. If you're not familiar with them, then you wouldn't know who's representing what, which position.

22:08

And so, you know, I think that was a little bit convoluted as well. Yeah. And that's always, again, that's kind of the nature of the genre, so to speak, that you always don't have an insight into the background of the people that are being interviewed, unless you happen to know who they are.

22:25

Or perhaps, you know, you might not know the name of the person, but you recognize the name of the institution they're affiliated with, and you can draw certain conclusions.

22:35

But not everyone is in that position to have that kind of information available to them.

22:40

Yeah. So, it is a problem. It's a problem of the genre. Yep. And I understand. And plus, these television show producers, they're not theologians by trade.

22:48

Correct. They haven't studied these things. And although at times we'll hire theological advisors, you know, even then, you know, with the scope of the project that they were putting together,

22:59

I think that that makes it very, very difficult. Absolutely. You know, and so, you know, just to be fair to, you know, to the producers, and they also have to, in some ways, sensationalize things in order to draw viewer attention.

23:14

And while this is sad, I mean, especially for those of us that are scholars, in a sense, the reality is, is that if you don't have something controversial, or something that would draw people's attention, either liking what you're saying, or being extremely angry about what's being said, you're not going to get viewership.

23:34

So, you know, this is just a reality we all have to live with in today's technological age.

23:40

Well, you know, thank you for granting me the interview, and coming up with a very non -sensationalistic explanation for what happened.

23:49

And I understand you're going to be, you're heading back to Israel to work on a dig this summer.

23:57

That's correct. As you mentioned, I teach at Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area, and we've partnered with the

24:06

Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a colleague of mine, actually a fellow student of mine from when

24:11

I was a student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and we're excavating the last remaining major biblical site in Israel.

24:19

It's never been excavated before. So, you know, we're quite excited. We had a very good season last year, which was our first season, and we're going to be going back again this summer.

24:30

So people can actually, if they're interested in our site, if you don't mind me mentioning.

24:36

No, please. The site is Avel Beit Ma 'akha, and that's spelled A -B -E -L, and then

24:43

B -E -T -H, and then M -A -C -A -H,

24:49

M -A -A -C -A -H, Ma 'akha. So anyways, a site that's mentioned in 2

24:59

Samuel 20 in the Old Testament. So a lot of interesting stuff we hope to find there, and people would be most welcome to Google our name and access our site and see what we're doing.

25:15

Excellent. So they can actually take a look at a website that's updated regularly on the internet. Absolutely, and we also have a

25:21

Facebook page, and people can like us on Facebook, and during the excavation, we post videos, we post pictures of the finds.

25:29

Even now on our website, on the homepage, you'll see a silver hoard that we found that dates to the end of the

25:38

Late Bronze Age, basically the time of the Exodus and Conquest, and that hoard has been cleaned, and we have a nice picture of it on our website if people like to go and look at it.

25:48

It's jewelry, like earrings and also silver bits that were used in monetary exchange and so forth.

25:55

So it's quite nice. Excellent. What I'll do is I'll put a link in the information for this video when we post it online.

26:02

I'll put a link directly just right below if you're watching us online, below, you can click on the link and go right to the website.

26:10

Dr. Mullins, thank you for your time. Thank you for being so generous and giving us a great, solid explanation.

26:17

I'm glad to hear that you believe that Adam was a historical person and that Genesis 2 and 3 says that in the

26:23

Hebrew. I mean, it makes sense to me. Okay, very good. All right. Shalom.

26:29

Shalom. I appreciate Dr. Mullins' willingness to come on the Fighting for the Faith video blog and clear this matter up, and I think this demonstrates that one should exercise extreme caution when getting their theological information from the

26:43

History Channel. Now, let's take a look at a few more passages from other portions of Scripture, and you'll see that the

26:49

Bible consistently teaches and affirms that all of humanity descended from Adam and Eve, who were the first two human beings created by God.

26:58

We'll start with 1 Timothy 2, verses 13 and 14, and here's what it says. Adam was formed first, then

27:05

Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 1

27:10

Corinthians 15, verses 21 through 22 reads, For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

27:19

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

27:26

Romans 5, verses 12 through 14 says this, Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned?

27:38

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law.

27:43

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one to come.

27:52

And Jesus Himself, who is God in human flesh, He affirms the Genesis account of creation, and that Adam and Eve were literal historical individuals.

28:01

In Matthew 19, verses 4 through 5, Jesus said, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said,

28:11

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?

28:18

Now, if Jesus believes and affirms the historicity of the Genesis account, and believed in a literal

28:23

Adam and Eve, then no Christian should believe differently than Jesus. Why? Because He is

28:29

God in human flesh, and this is demonstrated by His dying and rising again. In other words,

28:35

Jesus being God was an actual eyewitness to the creation event, and there is no one more qualified than Jesus to tell us how the universe was created, and how humanity came into existence.

28:46

And Jesus was no evolutionist. In fact, He was a creationist of the first order, because He is the

28:53

Creator, who, in Genesis 1, spoke the universe into existence in six days.

28:59

And if you call yourself a Christian, it is foolish of you to believe differently than Jesus.

29:04

Now, why is all of this important? Well, the reason all of this is important is that Scripture is the only place that we can turn to give us an understanding of how we and the universe came into existence.

29:15

The modern mythology of evolution falsely tells us that we are all products of random chance, undesigned genetic mutations, and the survival of the fittest.

29:25

Now if that were true, then that means that our lives are utterly meaningless. But the

29:30

Scriptures tell us that we are not the products of chance, but that we are the creation of an almighty and loving

29:36

God, and that all the suffering, disease, and death on our planet are the consequences of Adam's disobedience to God.

29:43

But God, in His mercy and loving kindness, has taken on our human flesh and suffered for our sins on the cross.

29:51

The Gospel itself, which is the proclamation that Christ died for our sins, ultimately doesn't make sense without a proper understanding of the historical

29:59

Adam. In fact, the two doctrines are inextricably linked. Which is why so many

30:04

Christians fall into apostasy and unbelief when they buy into the myth of evolution. But Jesus reveals to us in His word that we are not the products of random chance, our lives are not meaningless, and all of the chaos, suffering, disease, poverty, injustice, and death that we see on our planet has an explanation.

30:24

But more importantly, Scripture also comforts us and tells us that we have one who is called the second

30:29

Adam, who has come to rescue, redeem, and save us from our sins. And He promises to create a new heavens and a new earth, which those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ's promise of forgiveness won by Him on the cross, will someday inherit.

30:44

In fact, they'll inherit on the day when He returns to judge both the living and the dead. Now we're at the end of this installment of the

30:52

Fighting for the Faith video blog. If you found this resource to be thought -provoking, helpful, or eye -opening, will you please share it on your

30:58

Facebook wall or Twitter? And be sure to click on the links below this video's description if you'd like more information about Dr.

31:05

Mullins' archaeological dig sites, or resources that will help you grow in your understanding of how to defend the historical reliability of Scripture against the same types of skeptical liberal arguments featured in the

31:16

History Channel series, Bible Secrets Revealed. And if you don't already listen to my radio program, you can subscribe to my podcast at FightingForTheFaith .com.

31:25

Until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and His vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.