The answer
This opinion is specious and devoid of accuracy, because:
- ❖ Adam has nothing whatsoever to do with generation. He was created from the clay or the crust of the earth, and that is why he was called “Adam.”21 Adam was created from dust.
- ❖ Eve was not born from Adam (or else she would have been his daughter, and not his wife). God fashioned her from one of Adam’s ribs in order to illustrate the extent of what their relationship should be.
As for the Master Christ, He was born in a unique and wondrous fashion that was not undergone by anyone prior to or after Him.
We cannot compare between the creature Adam and the uncreated Master Christ, by Whom all things were made, and without Whom was not anything made that was made (John 1:3).
It was also not said of Adam that he is the word of God or His Spirit. Adam had to be fashioned without a father, for it was he who was the first father of humanity. When Christ was born, on the other hand, the earth was inhabited by begetting fathers and begotten children.
We declare of Christ-to Him be glory-in the Creed saying:
“Begotten, not created.”
He is “not created,” because He is the Creator. He is begotten of the Heavenly Father before all ages (eternal generation).
In the fullness of time, He was born of the Lady, the Virgin Mary (temporal generation) in a unique and wondrous fashion. This birth is incomparable and unlike any other, and itself demonstrates that its offspring is outside the realm of man.
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II
Notes
21 Translator’s note: The noun ‘adamah, from which the name Adam is derived, means “earth; ground; land; the earth” (cf. Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon). So, Adam can be thought of as “the man from the earth” or “the earth-man.”
Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 51–53.
The pages in the book (51–53)
