QUESTION:

I have a question pertaining to evolution and an interpretation of scripture.  Acts 17:26 states that all men were created through one man.  However, according to Darwinian evolution not just one man evolved and procreated with the rest of the women.  But there were multiple beings that evolved into human beings simultaneously. How would you interpret Acts 17:26? Thanks!

Answer:

I believe that the statement in Acts 17:26 is a theological rather than a scientific statement.   I believe that it is literally true in the sense that all homo sapiens sapiens who are made in the image of God are descenced from Adam (and Eve).   Theologians have described people who have been made in God’s image as homo divinus.  This description does not tell us what is going on genetically or the size of the brain.  Brain size does not equate with having a divine nature.  Exactly how this fits with current fossil and other data about human descendants is something which can be debated.   Whether a particular fossil found in a ravine in Ethiopia is from a person who had a soul, a spirit and was an accountable descendant of Adam–made in the image of God–I cannot tell from looking at fossil remains.

In this light, I interpret Acts 17:26 to be a statement that all people who are accountable before God are descended from a single person (or pair of people) who were created in God’s image as some time in the past.   I believe, by faith, that this statement is true.

John Oakes