TG wrote: Scripture seems pretty clear that Adam is head, not only
covenantally but also biologically, of the whole human race.
I don't believe the Bible clearly teaches any such thing. I think the
scriptures are simply saying that Adam's disobedience formally established
the fact that men are sinful and are, thus, unworthy of eternal life. Because
Adam in paradise, a perfect human specimen without a problem in the world,
could not manage to obey one simple command from God, he clearly demonstrated
the fact that the entire human race, including those who had lived before him
and those who would live after him, were unworthy of eternal life.
So, with these things in mind, Paul accurately referred to Adam when he
wrote, "By one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners." ( to
"constitute" means to "formally establish." Romans 5:19, Amplified Bible) So,
after Adam failed a simple God given test of his righteousness, God had good
reason to retroactively condemn the entire human race as being deserving of
the deaths they had been suffering, and undeserving of eternal life, a gift
God had not yet given to any human being.
TG wrote: I don't find the attempts to see two different human creation
accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 to be convincing.
Notice that in Genesis 1:29 God told the people He had created, "I give you
... every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
Compare those words of God spoken to those people to the restricted diet God
gave to Adam. "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must
not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Gen. 2:16,17) That
sounds like two different creation accounts to me. If not we have a big
contradiction.
Mike
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