Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 07:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: How Science Confirms A Literal, Historical Adam And Eve
Author: Terry Mortenson

Eikon 7.2 (Fall 2025) p. 26

How Science Confirms A Literal, Historical Adam And Eve

Terry Mortenson

Terry Mortenson (MDiv, PhD) is a speaker, writer, and researcher at Answers in Genesis.

An increasing number of professing evangelical scholars and leaders doubt or deny some or all of the details about Adam in Genesis. They do so because they believe that science has proven overwhelmingly that we are related to the apes through millions of years of evolution. But is this so? And does it matter?

The Historicity Of Adam

Genesis 1–11 is inerrant history, not poetry, historical fiction, or mythology.1 The thirteen-fold use of Hebrew word toledoth (translated as “history,” “account,” or “generations”) in Genesis,2 alongside the waw-consecutive, imperfect verb

Eikon 7.2 (Fall 2025) p. 27

form, shows that these eleven chapters are historical narrative. The genealogies in Genesis 5, 11, Luke 3, and the many comments of Jesus, Paul, and Peter show that Genesis 1–11 should be interpreted as literally as we do the accounts of the virgin birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.3 So, what does Scripture teach about the origin of man?

The Literal Truth About Adam

According to Genesis 1:26–28, Adam and Eve were created on the sixth literal day of history and were uniquely made in the image of God. They were created to rule over the rest of creation. Adam was created to understand and use spoken language (Gen. 2:7–25). Adam had the reasoning ability to name animals and discern that he was alone — the only human being, until God made Eve.

Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God made Adam’s body from the dust of the ground, added the divine breath, and Adam became a “living creature” (Hebrew: nephesh chayyah). The same Hebrew words, nephesh chayyah, describe sea creatures, flying creatures, and land animals (Gen. 1:20–21, 24; 2:19; 9:9–15). They are all living creatures (though they are not made in the image of God). God did n...