“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26, 27).^*

“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7)

Is Adam the first man God created or were other humans created prior to Adam?

Well this is a great example of how we should always read Scripture in light of Scripture, because the Scriptures actually interpret the Scriptures for us.

I think it’s clear when you read Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2 that the man, as in first man, is Adam. Jesus says that specifically,

Haven’t you read…that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?” So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matt. 19:4-6; cf. Gen. 1:27 and 2:24)

Paul says that specifically: “ So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being;’ the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” (1 Cor. 15:45). In fact, in Acts chapter 17, Paul says that:

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:26-27)

So, again, we have the Bible commentating on the Bible. So, once you demonstrate that the Bible is the Word of God, you can now take the words of Paul on Mars Hill in Athens and see that Paul is telling us that Adam was the first man as he does elsewhere in passages like Romans chapter 5.

Genesis 4:17 indicates “Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.” Is he marrying one of his relatives so to speak?

Yes. That is what is going on there. You have to recall that the Bible also tells us how long Adam lived. He lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5). So he had plenty of time to propagate children. Think about 930 years, almost 1000 years. Half the time between the time of Christ’s crucifixion and today! This is a tremendously long period of time and whole civilizations can come into being in that period of time.

Cain goes out from the Lord’s presence and he would have married either a sister or a niece.

Now, it is also important to note that there are no genetic imperfections. They accumulate gradually over time. The law against incest (Lev. 20:17), wherein today we could not marry a sister or niece, that prohibition was not in vogue until the time of Moses.

—Hank Hanegraaff

For further related study, please access the following:

Who Was Cain’s Wife? (Hank Hanegraaff)

Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? (Hank Hanegraaff)

Do Genesis 1 and 2 Contradict Each Other? (Hank Hanegraaff)

Adam and Eve Redux (Ann Gauger)

Paul, Second Adam, and Theistic Evolution (Garrett J. DeWeese)

Creation Accounts and Ancient Near East Religions (John A. Bloom and C. John Collins)

Blog adapted from “Is Adam the first man God created?”

* All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), unless noted.