I am doing some research on the controversial topic of whether Adam and Eve had blood prior to the Fall. I have done some preliminary proximity searches such as: Adam WITHIN 5 WORDS blood, etc. but I am not finding as much information as I would like. Does anyone have any tips on better search parameters?
Used the search "blood before the fall" and found this...
Adam: Mormonism identifies Adam as Michael the Archangel prior to coming to earth and as the Ancient of days. He is expected to come again to the earth in power and glory as the patriarch of the human family before the second coming of Christ. He had flesh and bones but no blood before the fall.
Reed, D. A., & Farkas, J. R. (1992). Mormons: Answered verse by verse (electronic ed., p. 22). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
Used the search "Adam had no blood" and found this...
This discourse is perfectly consistent with the Mormon doctrine that only resurrected beings can procreate “spirit offspring”9 and that Adam had no blood when he came to earth, not until after he ate of the fruit.10
Reed, D. A., & Farkas, J. R. (1992). Mormons: Answered verse by verse (electronic ed., p. 61). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
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Controversial seems a good description.
I tried several searches. The problem is that Logos is light on Mormonism (which discusses the scriptural logic, in addition to the Book of Mormon), and jewish logic (some writers assign sin solely to Eve, and thense menstruation, blood, etc).
"God will save his fallen angels and their broken wings He'll mend."
Hi Dennis,
I think your search is a good one (as is the one James suggests) and ought to turn up anything in your library which deals with that question. The reason why you are not getting many results is because that question is not discussed in Christian commentaries. The idea is an exclusively Mormon one and as you rightly say is a controversial one even within Mormonism.
Colin.
As already mentioned, any reference is rare and Christian writings through the centuries imply tangentially that they believe Adam had blood. The Targum indicates that Jews believed Adam had blood,
V:23: The letters for the word Adam stand for dust, blood, and gall. The letters for the word for flesh stand for shame, stench, and worm. Jacob Neusner, The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary, vol. 11a (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011), 268.
Jacob Neusner, The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary, vol. 11a (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011), 268.
Acts 17:26 comes up, if you like the KJV manuscript tradition - that is not decisive, since Abel was obviously born after the Fall. There are some suggestions of word play between the word for blood and Adam. Otherwise, the Bible itself does not have any mention of it (<sense Blood> NEAR <Person Adam (first man)> is fruitless).
Thanks Colin. It is definitely controversial but one of those interesting topics to debate not from a salvation standpoint but more from a theological interpretation.
Thanks James. Those are great search criteria that I hadn't thought to try.
Hi Dennis:
Many important concepts / doctrines, are not explicitly articulated in the Bible.
God made us rational beings, so we can infer things, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Leviticus 17:11 implies that the life of the flesh is in the blood.
So we need to consider if Adam was flesh since the very moment he was created...
From other parts of Scripture, we can assert that man has Spirit, body and soul.
As we say in our region, Adam was trine (trino), meaning he had 3 interrelated components, but is only one person.
The different components are not different persons.
So given the evidence I have available, my conjecture is that yes, Adam had blood at the very moment of his creation, as he had a body.
You could look up related verses like Lev 17:11, etc, in commentaries to see if there are insights regarding your research.
Hope this helps.
Dennis Davis: Thanks James. Those are great search criteria that I hadn't thought to try.
Searches can be combined (with some non-interesting results included):
Adam WITHIN 11 WORDS ("no blood",gall)
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