No Races Before Genesis 1
Some raise the above question to look for an answer to the origin of the different races and nations. There is one explanation that says that God gave Adam and Eve the genetic ability to produce children with different skin color and other physical characteristics. And the eight survivors of the flood (Noah, his wife, their 3 sons and their wives –Genesis 7:13), possessed these genetics to produce children of different races and nations.
Another explanation says that after the flood, God made genetic changes to humanity to help people survive in different ecologies, such as the darker skin of Africans to survive the heat in Africa.
The most important truth in relation to the above question is that God “has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Paul is acknowledging the historical truth that all men, and consequently all nations, originated from, Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve – At the Beginning
The Bible doesn’t mention that God created other races and nations before Genesis 1:1. The scripture says, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven…Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed…”
“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’ …So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:4-8, 18, 21-22).
The Genesis account says clearly that God made one man and later from his rib another human being – a women. Since Adam and Eve were the first human beings, their children would have no other choice than to intermarry. God did not forbid inter-family marriage until the time of Moses when there were enough people in the world ( Leviticus 18:6-18).
Today, family members don’t intermarry because there is a high risk of their recessive characteristics becoming dominant. When people from different families have children, it is highly unlikely that both parents will carry the same recessive traits. But the human genetic code has become increasingly “polluted” over the centuries. That’s why the Lord forbade it. But Adam and Eve did not have any genetic defects, and that enabled them and their descendants to have better health than us today.
Jesus Confirmed the Genesis Story
Jesus clearly stated that Adam and Eve were created at the beginning of time. He said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-6). And Jesus’ testimony is true because He substantiated His words with His mighty actions.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
