Death Before Adam?

1 Corinthians 15:22
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

If God created, but He did so by evolution, it means that there were many generations and billions of deaths before the first man appeared on the scene. Does Scripture say anything about this?

Indeed it does! In fact, the whole plan of salvation rests on the fact that there was no death before the first man. This truth is found throughout Scripture, but nowhere is it more clear than in 1 Corinthians 15:22. Here we read, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” This means that if death did not begin with, and because of, Adam’s sin, then by the same token no one is made alive in Christ. The way it is phrased in this passage, one depends on the other. If there were generations of death in the world before Adam, then death is not tied to Adam’s sin. And if death is not tied to Adam’s sin, then life is not tied to Christ.

In other words, if there were death before Adam and therefore generations before Adam, Christ’s work turns out to be of no effect. So, you see, even evolution with God added to it questions the Bible’s message about the saving work of Christ.

The good news is that there is no fact that demands our rejection of God’s account of creation. No scientific fact has been established that forces us to reject what the Bible says about the first human beings or the origin of sin. There is no fact that has been established that rules out the Bible’s account of creation, the origin of sin or death. These truths are fact and the foundation upon which the Gospel rests!

Prayer:
I thank you, Lord, for Your holy life of perfect obedience to God in my place and Your suffering the full penalty of my sin so that I might have forgiveness. As You have been raised for my justification, raise me to new life in Your grace. Amen.

Notes:
Bartz, Paul A. 1991. “Theistic evolution offers an alien ‘gospel’!” Bible-Science Newsletter, May. p. 7.