2026 #2
R. in Louisiana, asks: “God created the first two humans. If God created them, then where did all the races and ethnic groups come from? Also, were Adam and Eve the only two humans God created in the beginning?”
Mark Riser – Apologist responds: These are very important questions, R, especially for how we see ourselves.
Let’s look at your statements one at a time.
“God created the first two humans.” With this statement, you and I agree. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that God created the first human pair. This last recorded creative act of God was the pinnacle of His creation. The human couple were the only part of creation said to be created in the “image of God.”
What did Adam and Eve look like in the physical sense? We don’t know. There is no indication in the Genesis creation accounts that they were any different than us in the physical sense.
The modern science of genetics suggests that humanity originated about 100,000 years ago from a very small population. Studies of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal DNA reveals our lineage goes back to a single woman and man.
“Races and ethnic groups.” The Bible does not describe how our racial and ethnic diversity came about, but there are several clues from the text. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were commanded by God to fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). Even though they fell to sin, the first humans still carried out this command, eventually. Genesis 5:4 says that the first pair had many children. However, after the Flood, these descendants increased in number, sin, and arrogance, they stayed in the same general location and began to build. The Tower of Babel was the result. God’s resulting judgement in confusing their languages and scattering (Gen. 11:7-8). As the human groups moved into new locations, environmental pressures such as climate and exposure to UVs caused physical changes to their body structures into the groups we know today.
“Only two.” The Genesis creation account says that God created the first man and woman. But skeptics often look at Genesis 4:17 and ask “Where did Cain get his wife?” We might put it another way, “Did Adam and Eve’s family tree fork?” The answer is that Cain got his wife from one of his close relative, possibly even a sister. In order to grow the human population, God seems to have allowed such marriages at the time, although later He prohibited such close marriages in the Levitical law (Lev. 18:6-18). As we know from animal husbandry, brothers and sisters or really close relatives can only breed together for a few generations before genetic defects come in. This explains genetic defects such as hemophilia and other disorders in the royal families throughout history.
If God created the first two, and only two, humans, could they have produced a vast population which could carry out His command to fill the earth? God created the first woman from the man’s genetic material with sufficient changes in structure and composition to fulfill His commands in every way. The expanded lifespans of the first humans and extended childbearing ages could allow small population to expand to a large population over a short time.
The implications from the earliest human history point to the fact that human beings were the special and unique creation of God. Since our human population is descended from one pair, we are all part of one human family, with each of us created in the image of God. We also inherited the same sin nature from our first human ancestors. Thankfully, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity entered our history and became a man to die to redeem us from our sins and give us eternal life if we repent and trust in Him!
