How many children did Adam and Eve have?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Only Cain, Abel, and Seth are mentioned in the Bible as Adam and Eve’s children. However, Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam “had other sons and daughters.” Although we cannot know for certain how many they had, we know Adam and Eve had other children. All people descended from Adam and Eve. That truth creates an automatic bond between all people. We are also bound by the fact that we are all sinners needing to be reconciled to God, as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin (Romans 5:18–19). God created the first people, Adam and Eve, and instructed them to have children (Genesis 1:28). God created the family unit and intended for people to flourish in these relationships.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The Bible only mentions three sons of Adam and Eve: Cain, Abel, and Seth. However, we know they had more than just three children. Scripture clearly says, "The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:4). The text doesn't say how many children Adam and Eve had; it only says that he had other sons and daughters.
• When Cain kills Abel and is driven away we read, "Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch" (Genesis 4:16–17). So there is no confusion, Cain's wife was a relative. The only people we read about are Adam, Eve, and their offspring. The Bible gives no indication that God created other people outside of the garden. That means that Cain's wife was a close relative. Consider that it was the only way to populate the earth at that time.
• Adam called his wife Eve "because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). Every human being that has ever lived since the creation of Adam and Eve is a result of their marriage.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Acts 17:26 confirms that all of humanity descended from Adam and Eve: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
• Romans 5:18–19 tells us that all sons and daughters of Adam share more than just this direct biological bond. We are also all condemned and separated from God because of sin. At the same time, we are also all offered salvation through Christ: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

According to the ancient Hebrew worldview, everyone who is a descendant of a particular person is a child of that person. Adam's immediate offspring is a child of Adam. Seth's children, Noah's children, Abraham's children, all the way down to our children today, are, in the ancient Hebrew sense of family lines, children of Adam and Eve. There are currently around seven billion people on earth, and billions more who have died, all "children" of Adam and Eve.

UNDERSTAND

• The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had multiple children, but it does not tell us how many.
• From Adam and Eve came all the nations of the earth.
• We are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

REFLECT

• Marriage and children have been important since the creation of Adam and Eve.
• Adam and Eve populated the earth, yet only three of their children are mentioned by name in the Bible.
• God created people to flourish in families.

ENGAGE

• Yes, incest occurred early in the history of humanity since the number of human beings on earth was limited. Yet, even in those days, marriage between parent and child seems to have been disallowed, and marriage was limited to one man and one woman: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Genetics were different then too, and as nations were formed, God created rules against incest.
• How does the truth that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve challenge or encourage you?
• How does the truth that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve call you to treat other people?