God, Adam, and You: Biblical Creation Defended and Applied

What difference does Adam make? The answer, to many Christians today, is "not much."

Adam, we are told, is a mythological figure who can safely be abandoned without compromising the authority and infallibility of Scripture. After all, is holding on to a historical Adam more important than downplaying Genesis 1-3 enough to mediate the gospel to our secular culture?

The Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology joins with historic Christianity in saying that yes, it is. Adam is not only necessary to our Christian faith and witness, but he makes a world of difference to our understanding of God, mankind, the Bible-and even the gospel itself.

The following contributors examine what the truth of Adam means about the truth of Scripture as a whole, how he shows us what it means to bear God's image, and what an understanding of Adam teaches us about Christ.

The Bible's First Word - Derek W. H. Thomas

The Case for Adam - Joel R. Beeke

Two Views of the Human Person - Kevin DeYoung

Adam, Lord of the Garden - Liam Goligher

The Bible and Evolution - Richard D. Phillips

God's Design for Gender, Marriage, and Sex - Richard D. Phillips

Differing Views on the Days of Creation - Derek W. H. Thomas

Christ, the Second Adam - Joel R. Beeke

From God's Garden to God's City - Richard D. Phillips

Original Sin and Modern Theology - Carl R. Trueman

Learn what difference the historical Adam makes to us today, as followers of the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Richard D. Phillips (MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the senior minister of Second Presbyterian Church of Greenville, South Carolina. He is a council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, chairman of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, and coeditor of the Reformed Expository Commentary series.