Re: role of Adam and Eve
David Campbell (bivalve@mailserv0.isis.unc.edu)
Mon, 2 Mar 1998 13:46:24 -0400>But David, Genesis 3:20 says, "Adam named his wife Eve, because she would
>become the mother of all the living." An NIV note says that "Eve" probably
>means living.
>
>I really don't see any inconsistency in these two ideas: Adam and Eve are
>the parents of all people; Jesus saves us from the sins began by Adam and
>Eve. The Bible teaches physical descent in the one case, but an entirely
>different relation in the other.
>
I think that the most obvious interpretation is for all those who are fully
human to be physical descendants of Adam and Eve, but it does not seem to
do violence to the text to view them as representatives. In this case,
Eve's motherhood of all would be similarly representative rather than
physical.
David C.