MAN NOT EVOLVED

Scripture citations are to the New International Version, UK edition (NIV-UK)

Question: From a biblical point of view, could Man have been brought about by Evolution?

Answer: Many Christians hold that some form of evolution was the process used by God to create Man. But this position undermines several doctrines in the Old and New Testaments, and renders the Genesis account meaningless.

As far as the plants and animals are concerned, it may be that they developed from their basic species and adapted to the environment, through evolution. See Genesis 1: 11, 12, 20, 21, 24, 25, and the use of terms like ‘produced’, ‘increase’, ‘according to their kinds’.

But when it comes to the making of Man, there is no room for such an interpretation. Otherwise, the narrative in Genesis becomes a fable and Adam merely an allegory. It is specifically said of the first man that he was created ‘in the image of God’ (Genesis 1: 27). This expression rules out a cumulative development of the human species.

The strongest argument against the evolution of Man is the Bible’s doctrine of the Ransom (1 Timothy 2: 6).

Simply put, Jesus was the human equivalent of Adam, illustrated in Hebrews 2: 7-9, which we highlight by italics:

7 ‘You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honour

8 and put everything under his feet.’ . . .

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

This human connection between Adam and Jesus is shown also by the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15: 45, 47:

45 So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.

As Adam was unique and perfect, the only one of his kind, and not a descendant of a pre-existing human species, so Jesus was unique and perfect, the only Son of God, and not a descendant of the fallen human race.

The basis of the Ransom-price is a legal one: Jesus exchanged His life and being for that of Adam and thus bought for him and his offspring (the human race) a future resurrection in the coming Kingdom of God on earth.

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