What Did Adam And Eve Look Like?

by Dan Richardson

This question was recently considered on an email Bible list I subscribe to. It was dealt with from the perspective of race, upon which scripture is silent. However, the Bible does answer this question with regard to other matters that need serious consideration in our time.

THEY LOOKED LIKE A MAN AND WOMAN. “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). God said, “it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). No such companion could be found among the animals (verse 20), so God took a rib from Adam and created woman, “because she was taken out of Man” (verse 23). Not questioning God’s ability to make from Adam’s rib anything He wanted, the simple truth remains that God made a woman for the man (cf I Corinthians 11:8-9; I Timothy 2:13). God didn’t make for Adam another man. Homosexual relationships are declared to be “against nature” (Romans 1:26), and “unrighteous” (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

THEY LOOKED LIKE A HUSBAND AND WIFE. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). With this first man and woman, God instituted marriage. Because it is of divine origin, it must be viewed as good for mankind: “Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). Only within the bonds of marriage can a sexual relationship be pleasing to God; outside of marriage it is called fornication and adultery. Paul said, “Because of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband” (I Corinthians 7:2). The ungodly in society mock and ridicule marriage as old-fashioned and obsolete. Many are choosing to disregard it altogether and choose to simply “live together.” But God’s warning is clear concerning fornicators: “their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

THEY LOOKED GUILTY. “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:11). God had given Adam and Eve his law, forbidding them to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17). They both transgressed God’s law and sinned - first Eve, and then Adam (Genesis 3:6). Adam’s response, when confronted of his sin, was to blame his wife and, by implication, God who gave her to him. When man yields to temptation resulting in sin, it is a personal choice of which he must bear the burden of guilt before God: “each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15). Furthermore, scripture teaches that all accountable people are guilty of sin (Romans 3:23). Therefore, repentance is required of all to please God (Luke 13:3-5; Acts 17:30).

THEY LOOKED MODEST. “And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). With the entrance of sin into the world came the knowledge of their nakedness, and sense of shame, and the conscious need for clothing: “and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). God saw fit to replace their aprons with coats. The necessity for modesty was here established. Jesus later warns, “that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). He also taught, “The lamp of the body is the eye … if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23). The “lust of the eyes” is part of the sinful world we must not love, and learn to put away (I John 2:15-17). Scripture describes those so depraved as having “eyes full of adultery” (II Peter 2:14). Paul teaches, “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety” (I Timothy 2:9). One’s appearance must not be guided by comfort nor fashion, but God’s will. There is clearly a connection between clothing and one’s morality.

THEY LOOKED LIKE A FATHER AND MOTHER. Because God created the woman for the man, and because of the institution of marriage, Adam and Eve were blessed with children (Genesis 4:1-2). Being parents is one of the most important responsibilities entrusted to us: “Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be put to shame, when they speak with their enemies in the gate” (Psalms 127:3-5). God’s wisdom includes both a father and mother for bringing up children, and they both are responsible as parents. A tragedy of divorce, often not considered, is the devastation felt by children who are involved. Parents should seek God’s guidance in the Bible for this awesome task: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Again, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). It doesn’t take a village to raise children; it takes their father and mother.