Pre-Adamite Man

A thesis that is several centuries old, holds the view that before the beginning of human history as recounted in the Genesis story of Adam and the Garden of Eden there was a prior creation of human beings. They fell into sin so grievous that God not only destroyed them but made the earth itself a complete ruin and desolation. The six days of Genesis and the creation of Adam constitute, it is claimed, a second creative work of God. This is generally called the 'disruption'; it is based upon a variation in the understanding of Gen.1.2 "and the earth was without form, and void". It is sometime said that no important Christian doctrine is involved, but this is open to question. The central belief of the Faith, the Ransom for All, is based upon the fact, plainly stated by Paul, that "By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, for that all have sinned". That man, in Paul's theology, was Adam, and before Adam there could have been no men and no sin on earth each of these examples.

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The whole theology of human creation, the Fall, the redemption in Christ, the Ransom and its application to man, must rest upon the understanding that Adam was the first man and none preceded him. If man capable of sin lived prior to Adam then the entire plan of salvation is itself disrupted. Harmony with that plan would seem to demand that the first chapter of Genesis is an orderly account of creation, the earth emerging from an original chaotic and formless condition, developing by steady steps until, replete with plants and animals, it received its crowning glory, man. From that point history really commenced.

AOH

The above two paragraphs form the beginning and endings of a much longer article on this subject. But is it still relative to our thinking today. The editor would be interested to know of any who would like to read the whole rebuttal of the 'Pre-Adamite Man hypothesis..