The Salvation of Adam and Eve

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

4/6 Reading Portions: Leviticus 9; Psalm 10; Proverbs 24; 1 Thessalonians 3

Genesis 3:20-21

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

GRACE

In Appendix 2 of his work The Sovereignty of God, Arthur W. Pink attempts to make the case for Adam’s eternal damnation. Although he doesn’t say it directly, it is as if believes that Eden’s paradise is the exact model of the new heaven and earth, instead of a mere foreshadow (I mentioned its foreshadow in the devotional on 3/1/26 from Gen 2:8; read it here). Moreover, he does not consider what I had mentioned in another devotional thought, when the question was posed, “Why didn’t God just intervene?” If you recall my answer, I wrote (and have preached many times in years past):

“Apart from the Lord Jesus Messiah, man created in sinless perfection (with the breaths of lives in his nostrils), placed in the perfect environment (Garden of Eden), given the perfect companion (the woman from his own side), and enjoying perfect communion with Creator God, will only doubt God’s Word, disobey God’s command, dishonor God’s holy character, and bring death to himself and others.” [devotional thought on 3/19/26 from Gen 3:6]

So, were Adam and Eve saved? While the text in Genesis never states that Adam repented with godly sorrow unto salvation (2 Cor 7:10), God’s grace is on full display in these two verses. First, Adam named his wife חַוָּה (cha-VAH), or Eve in English, for she became the mother of all living. As in Genesis 1:2, the Hebrew verb הׇיְתָה (haiy-TAH) is used (see devotional 2/5/26). Here, Adam makes a prophetic statement. In other words, he believed what YHVH God had said in Genesis 3:15 concerning the Messiah to come. And though the Messiah had not yet come, there was only one way for that to happen—it was through a woman. In that sense, Eve becoming the first mother, there would be no eternal life without her progeny.

Second, the first sacrifice to foreshadow the coming of the Messiah came by a Christophany, an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ before His incarnation. He sacrificed the animals to give to Adam and his wife garments of skins to replace the figgy works of their own sinful hands. That’s grace, brothers and sisters. It also foreshadows the priesthood, whereas the priests were able to keep the skins of burnt offerings for themselves (Lev 7:8). Later, when Cain and Abel brought offerings to God (Gen 4:3-4), did they do so by direct revelation or were they commanded by prophetic decree? I suggest to you that the model of gospel proclamation had already begun (Rom 10:13-17). Hallelujah! What a Savior!