Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol 90.1) The Light of Truth: Apologetics in the 21st Century

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“If Christians are to maintain faithfulness to the Lord in this hostile age, we must be able to articulate a clear and consistent doctrine of humanity rooted in the fact that God has made mankind in his image, mankind is fallen into sin through Adam, and the only hope of redemption from our condemnation and corruption is the redemption found in the second Adam, Jesus Christ.” kyle d. claunch 16 the southern baptist theological seminary
kyle d. claunch reading, the interpreter is able to maintain the historical character of Genesis 1 without being committed to a particular age of the earth. If this view is correct, no account is given in Scripture for how much time elapses between the dawn of creation and the historical Adam and Eve. While this view is more consistent in its commitment to the historicity of Genesis, it is not without problems of its own. Many find the interpretation of the word “day” as a long period of time to be strained, at best. It is true that the Hebrew word for day can mean many things, including an undefined and long period of time. But the “days” in Genesis 1 are clearly presented as corresponding to a week (consider the sabbath command of Exodus 20:8-11, for example), whereas other examples of “day” having a meaning other than a 24-four-hour day bears that meaning obviously in context so that a 24-hour meaning would be nonsensical. This is clearly not the case in Genesis 1. More importantly, however, is the fact that this view presupposes a long history of death in the created order prior to the creation and sin of Adam. Proponents of this view will point out that Romans 5:12 only demands that human death is a result of Adam’s sin and says nothing of animal death. However, Romans 5:12 is not the only relevant New Testament text in this regard. In Romans 8:18-23, Paul anticipates the restoration of all creation at the time of the glorification of redeemed humanity in the eschaton. He rehearses the devastating effect of mankind’s fall into sin on the rest of creation. He states that creation itself has been “subjected to futility” (v. 20) on account of human sin. Furthermore, all creation is held in “bondage to corruption” (v. 21) while awaiting the day of its freedom when the children of God are glorified. The Greek word for “corruption” is phthora, a word usually associated with the decay of death. Peter uses a form of this word in Acts 2:27 when talking about the body of the Lord Jesus, which God will not allow to undergo “corruption” (diaphthora). Paul’s point in Romans 8 seems to be that the futility and corruption of all creation is a result of mankind’s fall. Thus, the completion of mankind’s redemption will result in the freedom of creation from its bondage. As goes mankind, so goes creation. Thus, Paul seems to teach that death in the non-human creation is the result of Adam’s sin. The long-day interpretation of the days of creation cannot consistently maintain the view that death is entirely the result of human sin, a problem that plagues the other views surveyed here as well. 4 Genesis 1 Is Historical Narrative with 24-hour Days. To my understanding, the only view that maintains a commitment to the historical Adam and Eve while avoiding the interpretive inconsistencies and potential theological pitfalls identified above is the view that takes Genesis 1 to be a straightforward historical narrative that gives an account of God’s creation and initial formation of the material universe in six 24- hour days consisting of a literal “evening and morning.” This view is consistent in that it does not force a distinction between the genre of Genesis 1 and 2 nor between Genesis 1–11 and 12–50. Rather, the historical character of Genesis is maintained throughout the narrative and is in historical continuity with the whole Pentateuch and the rest of the Old Testament, leading to the birth of God’s Son from the virgin Mary “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4–5). This view accounts for all creaturely death and bondage as a result of human sin, a conclusion Paul seems to commend in Romans 8:18-23 and other places. Conclusion The doctrine of humanity (theological anthropology) is one of the most contentious aspects of the Christian faith in an increasingly secular age. Massively important ethical issues—questions pertaining to the life of the unborn and the elderly or infirmed, questions of societal justice and racial reconciliation, questions of gender and sexuality—all depend on one’s commitment to the doctrine of creation, namely the conviction that it is God who made us and not we ourselves (Ps. 100:3). As Creator, he alone has the right and wisdom to set and direct our ethical commitments. If Christians are to maintain faithfulness to the Lord in this hostile age, we must be able to articulate a clear and consistent doctrine of humanity rooted in the fact that God has made mankind in his image, mankind is fallen into sin through Adam, and the only hope of redemption from our condemnation and corruption is the redemption found in the second Adam, Jesus Christ. This kind of doctrinal clarity and fidelity requires belief in a historical Adam and Eve as non-negotiable, and the most consistent way to maintain belief in the historicity of Adam and Eve is by adopting an interpretive strategy that treats all the early chapters of Genesis as straightforward historical narrative with Genesis 1 understood as describing God’s creative activity over the course of six 24-hour days. Kyle Claunch, Assistant Professor of Christian Theology 1 The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say About Human Origins (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2021). 2 “No Historical Adam: Evolutionary Creation View” in Four Views on the Historical Adam, ed. Matthew Barrett and Ardel Caneday (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013). 3 William Lane Craig, In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2021). summer 2022 17
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Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol 90.1) The Light of Truth: Apologetics in the 21st Century

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