Other ancient texts · Read in Jesus' day
Life of Adam and Eve
The Life of Adam and Eve retells what happened to the first couple after they were driven out of Eden: their repentance, Satan's account of why he fell, Seth's search for the "oil of mercy," Eve's own telling of the fall, and the deaths and burials of Adam and Eve. People read it to see how Jews and early Christians filled in the gaps in Genesis, and because it shares several ideas with Paul's letters and with later Christian legends.
- 1st century AD
- Hebrew or Greek
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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It may preserve Jewish readings of Genesis from the time of Jesus and the apostles.
The evidence
Many specialists date the original to around the 1st century AD, and some argue it was first written in Hebrew. Its ideas, such as desire being the root of every sin and paradise lying in the third heaven, also appear in Paul's letters (Romans 7:7; 2 Corinthians 12:2–4).
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Its theology is mostly in step with the Bible's teaching on sin, repentance and resurrection.
The evidence
Adam and Eve confess their sin and do penance, God shows mercy, and Adam is promised he will rise again on the last day (Greek 28:4; 41:3). The fall is blamed on deception and desire, as in Genesis 3 and 1 Timothy 2:14, and God stays just and merciful.
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Churches in East and West read and copied it widely for more than a thousand years.
The evidence
It survives in Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic and Coptic. Its story of Seth and the oil of mercy was taken into the Gospel of Nicodemus and the medieval legends of the Holy Cross, so it shaped Christian devotion in many places.
The case against
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No church or canon list has ever treated it as scripture.
The evidence
It appears in no Jewish or Christian canon: not the Muratorian fragment, not Athanasius in 367, not Hippo or Carthage, not Trent, and not the Ethiopian Bible. The Gelasian Decree (6th century) names the "Penitence of Adam" as an apocryphal book to be rejected.
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No one knows for sure who wrote it, when, or what the original text said.
The evidence
Scholars disagree on whether it is Jewish or Christian and date it anywhere from the 1st to the 4th century. The Greek, Latin, Armenian and Georgian versions differ a great deal in content and order, and the oldest surviving copies come from roughly 800 years after the earliest suggested date.
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Much of it is legend that goes beyond Genesis or does not fit it.
The evidence
It adds stories found nowhere in Genesis: Adam standing in the Jordan and Eve in the Tigris for days of penance, and Satan falling because he refused to worship Adam (Latin 12–16). Some copies also contain clear later Christian additions, such as the prophecy of Christ being baptized in the Jordan (Latin 42), which shows the text was edited freely.
Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.
When, where and by whom
The Greek version's preface says the story was revealed to Moses when he received the Law, and the Latin version ends with Seth writing it on tablets of stone and clay. Many scholars (e.g. M. D. Johnson) see it as a Jewish work from about 100 BC to AD 200, possibly first written in Hebrew. Others (de Jonge and Tromp) argue the Greek is the oldest form and may be a Christian work from the 2nd to 4th century AD.
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- Satan disguises himself as a bright angel to deceive Eve (Latin 9:1; Greek 17:1), as in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." This is most likely a shared tradition; which came first depends on how the book is dated. (likely link)
- Adam's soul is taken up to "paradise in the third heaven" (Greek 37:5), the same picture Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4. (likely link)
- "Desire is the origin of every sin" (Greek 19:3) echoes Paul linking coveting to sin in Romans 7:7 and James 1:15 on desire giving birth to sin. (possible link)
- Death entering the world through the first sin (Greek 14:2) is close to Romans 5:12, and the emphasis on Eve being deceived matches 1 Timothy 2:14. These were common Jewish ideas, though, not proof that one text borrowed from the other. (possible link)
- God commanding the angels to worship Adam as God's image (Latin 13–14) is sometimes compared with Hebrews 1:6, where the angels are told to worship the Son. (possible link)
- Seth's request for the oil of mercy, which is promised for the end of time, was taken into the Christian Gospel of Nicodemus (Descent into Hell), where Christ fulfils the promise. (strong link)
How it came down to us
It comes down to us in several related versions: the Greek (called the "Apocalypse of Moses" by Tischendorf in 1866, about 43 chapters), the Latin Vita Adae et Evae (51 chapters), and versions in Armenian (the "Penitence of Adam"), Georgian, Slavonic and Coptic fragments. The oldest Latin manuscripts date to around the 9th century and the oldest Greek ones to around the 11th. All of them were copied by Christians, mostly in monasteries; no early Jewish copies or Dead Sea Scrolls fragments have been found.
- Greek critical edition: J. Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek (2005)
- G. A. Anderson and M. E. Stone, A Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve (Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic in parallel)
- M. D. Johnson, translation and introduction in J. H. Charlesworth (ed.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2
- M. de Jonge and J. Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve and Related Literature (1997)
- Latin text tradition: W. Meyer (1878) and J.-P. Pettorelli's studies of the Latin manuscripts
- Decretum Gelasianum (list of rejected apocryphal books)
- Gospel of Nicodemus / Descent into Hell (reuse of the Seth and oil-of-mercy story)
- New Testament parallels: Romans 5 and 7, 2 Corinthians 11–12, 1 Timothy 2