Answer
The Bible does not give us a precise date for the creation of Adam and Eve. The answer one gives to this question will therefore depend heavily on how literally one reads the account of creation in Genesis. Since Christians differ widely as to how to interpret the opening chapters of the Bible, including the creation account, Christians may therefore differ on when Adam and Eve were created.
With a literal reading of the first chapters of Genesis (the approach favored by Got Questions Ministries), we can use the genealogies and ages recorded in Genesis 5 to estimate the date of Adam and Eve’s creation. Genesis 5 traces the line of Adam through Seth. For example, Genesis 5:3 says, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.” Verse 6 continues the timeline: “When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.” Then verse 9 says, “When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.” Based on those three verses, the time from Adam’s creation to the birth of Kenan was 325 years:
130 years from Adam’s creation to Seth’s birth
105 years from Seth’s birth to Enosh’s birth
90 years from Enosh’s birth to Kenan’s (or Cainan’s) birth
325 years total
105 years from Seth’s birth to Enosh’s birth
90 years from Enosh’s birth to Kenan’s (or Cainan’s) birth
325 years total
Using this method, we can place the date of Adam’s creation about 1,656 years before the flood. Then, using known dates of the reigns of Babylonian rulers, compared with further biblical genealogies and lists of kings, we can figure backward to arrive at the world’s creation in approximately 4000 BC. This would make the earth a little over 6,000 years old.
Estimates based on a more figurative reading of Genesis place the appearance of Adam anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of years ago. The latter estimates are driven more by conformity with evolutionary estimates. Evolutionary theory proposes a range of dates when the human species, Homo sapiens, evolved from its ancestors, and theistic evolution seeks to uphold evolutionary theory while teaching the accuracy of Genesis.
While Got Questions Ministries does not support figurative interpretations of Genesis such as the day-age theory, we recognize that this question is one on which Christians may reasonably disagree. A literal Adam and Eve, specially created by God, the original progenitors of all of humanity, is a crucial aspect of the Christian faith (see Romans 5). The question of when Adam and Eve were created is an important one that may (at least, approximately) be answered from Scripture, but one’s position on the issue should not be promoted to the level of defining the Christian faith.
