Lexicon

H0120 - adam

Strong's: H0120 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: aw-dawm' Part of speech: masculine noun (often collective); also used as proper name (Adam) OT occurrences: ~562

Semantic range

1. Mankind, humanity, the human race collectively
2. A human being / a person / a man, individual human (gender-inclusive in this sense)
3. Adam, the proper name of the first human (Genesis 2-5)
4. Earthling / one taken from the earth, etymologically tied to adamah (earth / ground)

The word's etymology connects humans to the earth (adamah), Adam was formed from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) and returns to the dust at death (Genesis 3:19). The adam-adamah wordplay is theologically loaded throughout Genesis.

Theological force

Adam as humanity

When used collectively, adam refers to the entire human race:

• Genesis 1:26-27, "let Us make adam in Our image… male and female He created them"
• Genesis 6:1, 5-7, adam multiplied and corrupted
• Genesis 9:5-6, life of adam under God's protection
• Job 14:1, 12, adam born of woman, short of days
• Psalm 8:4-6, what is adam that You take thought of him?
• Psalm 90:3, God turns adam to dust
• Ecclesiastes 3:11, God set olam in the heart of adam
• Isaiah 2:9, 17, 22, humbled adam

Adam as the first human (proper name)

Genesis 1-5 narrates the creation, fall, and post-fall life of the first adam:

• Genesis 1:26-31, created last; in God's image; given dominion
• Genesis 2:7-25, formed from dust; given life-breath; given the woman; placed in Eden
• Genesis 3, the Fall; rebellion; curse
• Genesis 4, Cain and Abel; first murder
• Genesis 5, Adamic genealogy through Seth

Imago Dei, Genesis 1:26-27

Genesis 1.27 is the most theologically loaded adam-text:

"God created the adam in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

This grounds:

• Universal human dignity, every human bears divine image
• Sexual complementarity, male and female together image God
• Stewardship calling, image-bearers entrusted with creation's care
• Christological grounding, Christ as the perfect imago (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4; Heb 1:3); the redeemed are conformed to His image (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18)

Adam as covenant head

Adam represents humanity in the covenant of works / the federal-headship relation:

• Romans 5:12-21, Adam as one through whom sin and death entered humanity; Christ as the second Adam (Romans 5.12)
• 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49, "as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive… the first adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit"

The Adam-Christ typology is the structural backbone of Pauline soteriology. Adam fails; Christ succeeds. Adam's sin imputes condemnation; Christ's righteousness imputes justification.

Ben-Adam, son of man

The Hebrew ben-adam ("son of man" / "human being") appears extensively:

• Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man… nor a son of man (ben-adam)"
• Psalm 8:4, "what is man (enosh) that You take thought of him? And the son of man (ben-adam) that You care for him?"
• Daniel 7:13, kebar enash (Aramaic equivalent), "one like a son of man" coming with the clouds
• Ezekiel, repeated address to the prophet as "son of man" (~93 times)

The Daniel 7:13 bar-enash / "Son of Man" becomes Jesus's most-used self-designation in the Gospels (~80x). Christ's "Son of Man" claim is simultaneously:

• Identification with humanity (we are sons of adam)
• Identification with the Daniel 7 divine-human Messianic figure who comes on the clouds and receives universal dominion

This is one of the strongest Christological-deity proofs, Daniel 7's "Son of Man" is worshiped, has eternal dominion, is divine; Jesus claims this title.

Apologetic significance

Adam anchors:

1. The historicity of Adam, required for Pauline Adam-Christ typology (Rom 5; 1 Cor 15)
2. The unity of humanity, all from one common ancestor (Acts 17:26, "from one made every nation")
3. The doctrine of original sin, federal headship; Adam's sin imputed
4. The imago Dei, universal human dignity; cross-racial / cross-ethnic equality
5. Christological typology, Adam as the type; Christ as the antitype
6. Anti-evolutionary-naturalist anthropology, humans are not just one more species but a special creation in God's image

The Adam-historicity question intersects with population-genetics debates (see Origins and Cosmology; Genesis 11, Genetic Diversity).

Notable verses

• Genesis 1:26-27, imago Dei
• Genesis 2:7, 19-25, formation; naming; Eve
• Genesis 3:1-24, the Fall
• Genesis 5:1-5, Adamic genealogy beginning
• Job 7:17; 14:1, 12, adam in Job's lament
• Psalm 8:4, ben-adam
• Psalm 39:5, 11; 49:12; 73:5; 90:3; 144:3, adam in Psalter wisdom
• Ecclesiastes 1:13; 2:18; 3:11; 7:14, 29, Qoheleth's adam-meditation
• Isaiah 2:11, 17, 22, humbled adam
• Daniel 7:13, bar-enash (Aramaic)
• Romans 5:12-21, Pauline Adamic typology
• 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49, Christ as last Adam
• 1 Timothy 2:13-14, Adam first formed; Eve deceived

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic engagement: extensive across all Christian theological history. The Pauline Adam-Christ typology is the controlling structure.

Modern conservative engagement on Adamic historicity:

• C. John Collins (Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?, 2011)
• Henri Blocher (Original Sin, 1997)
• Hans Madueme & Michael Reeves, eds. (Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin, 2014)
• William VanDoodewaard (The Quest for the Historical Adam, 2015)
• Vern Poythress (Did Adam Exist?, 2014)
• John Walton (The Lost World of Adam and Eve, 2015)

See also

• H127 - adamah (pending), earth / ground
• H1254 - bara, to create
• H0430 - elohim, God (creator subject)
• H7307 - ruach, Spirit / breath
• H5315 - nephesh, soul / living being
• Genesis 1.27, imago Dei anchor
• Romans 5.12, Adam-Christ typology
• Origins and Cosmology, broader synthesis

Notes

Lexical workspace for adam.