A key theological question used to be “Do you believe in God?” or “Do you believe in the historical Jesus?” But increasingly, evangelicals are asking, “Do you believe in the historical Adam?”

Throughout the history of the modern church, there have been four views that have been widely espoused:

#1 – Historical Adam (Special creation only) —This view holds that Adam and Eve were unique and created in a special act of creation.

#2 – Historical Adam (Evolution plus special creation) —Adam and Eve may not have been the first of their kind (species) genetically, but God supernaturally acted upon this hominid couple to set them apart as the first man and woman made in the image of God.

#3 – Archetypal/Figurative Adam —Genesis 2 is not making claims about the biological origins of humanity. While Adam and Eve may have been historical figures, the creation story is interested in them as archetypes or as figurative representatives (prototypes) of fallen humanity.

#4 – No historical Adam —History in the Bible doesn’t start until Genesis 12, so Adam was a mythical, not historical, figure.

Evangelicals have almost always rejected #4 and aligned with #1. But over the last hundred years positions #2 and #3 have become more popular. Is this a valid shift in doctrinal perspective?

In his recent article, Michael Reeves, president and professor of theology at Union School of Theology in the United Kingdom, argues why the historical Adam is still essential. “It is biblically and theologically necessary,” says Reeves, “for Christians to believe in Adam as a historical person who fathered the entire human race.”