Will Adam and Eve be in Heaven?

WILL ADAM AND EVE BE IN HEAVEN? 

By Ezekiel Kimosop 

Put differently, this question asks: will Adam and Eve be among the redeemed of God who will participate in the resurrections described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Revelation 20:11-15? If so, what justifies their inclusion in view of their disobedience recorded in Genesis 3? When and how was their transgression atoned, if ever? 

I must admit at the outset that this is a fairly difficult theological question. I will primarily attempt it on the basis of my discernment of Scripture. I will also consider and interact with what others have said on the question. 

The Bible records that Adam and Eve fell into disobedience in the Garden of Eden after Satan deceived the woman into eating the forbidden fruit and sharing it with her husband (Genesis 3:1-6). God judged them for their disobedience (Genesis 3:14-19) and expelled them from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). 

Bible scholars say that Genesis 3:15 is a futuristic statement that concerns the coming of Christ and His redemption work. Some have also argued that the statement of Genesis 3:21 presupposes that God sacrificed an animal to cover Adam's sin and the use of the animal skin is evidence of God's atonement or cleansing. 

This statement does not conclusively affirm this claim. My view is that there would have been no reason to expell Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden if their sin had been atoned by God at this point. Their state of purity and innocence would perhaps have been restored. Besides, Scripture would have explicitly reported on the remission of their sin. 

The implications of God's warning in Genesis 2:16-17 are plain. Adam's disobedience resulted in his spiritual death on the very day that he ate of the forbidden fruit. Eve's response to the serpent in Genesis 3:1-6 confirms that she too was aware of God's prohibition and the consequences of her disobedience are similar to Adam's.

Adam went on to live for 930 years but the penalty for his disobedience was served on him and on his offspring under God's condemnation and nothing in Scripture indicates or suggests that this transgression was atoned before the coming of Christ. The Bible proclaims that in Adam all were separated from God until the redemption work of Christ. 

The mention of Adam and Eve in New Testament Scripture majorly relates to their transgression and what Christ accomplished in providing atonement for this sin (cf. Romans 5:19-21; 1 Timothy 2:8-14; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10). 

After the fall of Adam and Eve, Scripture reveals that God continued to relate with the couple and their sons in some ways. There is evidence of God's blessing of their children (Genesis 4:1) and individual worship and sacrifice by their sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-5). The stain of Adam's sin however continued to mutate in Adam's sons resulting in the first murder incident (Genesis 4). 

The subsequent generations of Adam's offspring continued to demonstrate evidence of wickedness resulting in the first communal condemnation and judgment by flood during the time of Noah (Genesis 6-8). 

Now back to our question...

Is it possible that Adam and Eve received God's pardon for their transgression and that they would be admitted into heaven on that score? Were the two justified by faith in the manner that Abraham and other heroes of faith were? Why were Adam and Eve not mentioned in the list of heroes in Hebrews 11? Was this omission by inadvertence or design? 

Scottish theologian Thomas Boston (1676-1732) argued that Adam and Eve will be in heaven. He posits in his famous sermon that "... Adam and Eve will be coming home... Only they will have lived on three Earths - one unfallen, one fallen and one redeemed" [Heaven, by Randy Alcorn, p. 154]. 

This assertion by Thomas Boston is however difficult to reconcile with Scripture. No passage of Scripture affirms or contradicts it.

Some have also argued that Adam and Eve may have been among the heroes of faith who were omitted by the writer of Hebrews since the writer's statement in Hebrews 11:32 suggests that the list of Old Testament heroes of faith was not exhaustive. It is however instructive that righteous saints such as Abel, Enoch, and Abraham are among those listed in the "hall of fame" but the omission of Adam and Eve is telling. Why were the founding family of the human race missing from this list if not for the implications of their transgression? Do you also notice that Cain is missing from the list? 

My view is that Adam and Eve were possibly not justified by God in the manner in which the Old Testament heroes were because of the import of their primary transgression in the Garden of Eden. This does not however imply that God did not preserve their souls by grace or that their souls will be consigned to damnation in hell! 

The fact that no specific authority in Scripture on Adam's redemption is available only serves to outline the theological obscurity surrounding the issue. Besides, the statement in Genesis 3:15 appears to be futuristic in scope and only concerned the offspring rather than Adam and Eve per se. 

Again, the notion that God's act of covering the couple with "tunics of skin" in Genesis 3:21 was evidence of God's atonement of their sin is difficult to affirm from Scripture. Their expulsion from the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:22-24 appears to refute the notion of prior atonement. 

It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to draw a firm conclusion on the above question because Scripture is obscure on the eternal destiny of Adam and Eve. There is no passage of Scripture that conclusively addresses the question. 

Some have suggested that 1 Peter 3:18-19 contemplated a final opportunity for the redemption of Adam and Eve from the place of the dead or Sheol and that the couple could not have forfeited that chance. Again this assumption is difficult to reconcile with Scripture. Hebrews 9:27 appears to refute it. There is no opportunity for redemption or justification after death.  

My view is that it is impossible to tell with certainty from any passage of Scripture if Adam and Eve will or will not be in heaven. We however hope that they will, by God's immeasurable grace and mercy, make it to heaven. The question remains the subject of a theological mystery that should perhaps be left to divine resolution. I believe that God has concealed from us the answer to this question until we appear before Him. 

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-10: "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away" (NKJV).

Again 1 John 3:2-3 says" Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (NKJV).

Shalom 

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2023