10 Human Qualities Adam and Eve Had

What did Adam and Eve look like? Were they intelligent? How did they behave?

In this article, let’s discover 10 human qualities they had.

Let’s go!

1) Adam and Eve Were Good-looking

Who is the most handsome man you’ve seen? How about the most beautiful woman?

What makes you consider them as such? Beautiful eyes? Rosy cheeks? Perfectly shaped nose? Fair complexion?

Now, what about Adam and Eve, our first parents?

Well, the Bible says that God created them according to His likeness (Genesis 1:27). Knowing that God Himself is “perfect in beauty” (Psalm 50:1-2, NIV), Adam and Eve looked good for sure.

True enough, their faces were “glowing with the tint of health and the light of joy and hope,” bearing “in outward resemblance the likeness of their Maker” (Ellen White, Education 20.2).

What about their body features?

2) They Had Perfect Bodies

How do you describe a perfect body? Proportionate? Symmetrical? Moderate in height?

Do you think Adam and Eve had these qualities?

As individuals created to be “the image and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 11:7, NIV), Adam and Eve had perfect physical features.

They were of “noble height,” with Eve reaching “a little above [Adam’s] shoulders.” And their bodies were beautiful, graceful, regular, and symmetrical in form (Ellen White, Story of Hope 10.4 and Education 20.2).

Such a wonderful masterpiece! Isn’t God a magnificent Creator?

3) They Had a Healthy Red Complexion

Adam and Eve were formed from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7).

And since the soil is usually brown in color, does it mean they had brown complexion too?

Well, their complexion “was neither white nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing with the rich tint of health” (Ellen White, Last Day Events 291.4). 

Not only that. They were also glowing “with the light of life and joy” (Ellen White, Statements Relating to Geology and Earth Sciences 39.2).

Based on this, can you imagine what Adam and Eve looked like?

4) They Probably Had No Navels

Do you know what a navel is?

Also called the belly button, the navel is the spot where your umbilical cord was attached to your mother’s placenta when you were in her womb. This cord is a soft, bendable tube that carries vitamins and minerals from her body to yours (Nemours Children’s Health).

Based on this, all human beings conceived through normal pregnancy were born with navels.

What about Adam and Eve? They didn’t seem to have been born of a woman, right?

That’s right. Adam and Eve had no mother since God Himself created them (Genesis 1:27), which makes sense that they were really the first humans who have ever lived on earth.

And knowing that God “created” them, He didn’t bear them inside His body. Instead, He formed them by His hands (Ellen White, Spiritual Gifts 33.2).

Adam was formed out of the elements of the earth and was given the breath of life. Eve, on the other hand, was made from his side, covered with flesh (Genesis 2:7, 21-23).

As it shows, they didn’t seem to have gone through pregnancy like we all do. As such, they each probably had no belly button.

Do you think so?

5) They Were Wise and Intelligent

Knowing that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), Who Himself is full of wisdom and intelligence (Daniel 2:20), does it mean that they were intellectually gifted?

Yes, they were.

“The Lord blessed Adam and Eve with intelligence such as He had not given to any other creature.”

Ellen White, Confrontation 10.4 and From the Heart 140.3

With this, God gave them dominion over the earth to “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26-28, NIV; Ellen White, Confrontation 10.4).

6) They Could Be Entrusted With Responsibilities

Speaking of God giving Adam and Eve dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28), we can see that they were trustworthy.

True enough, God brought the animals to Adam to be named. “So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals” (verse 20 of chapter 2).

Only Adam? What about Eve?

Well, she wasn’t yet created during this time. But then, God realized Adam needed a “suitable helper” (verses 18 and 20, NIV).

For that purpose, He created Eve (verses 21-23), which implies her helping Adam with all his tasks in the Garden of Eden.

With this responsibility of taking care of the earth, Adam and Eve were to represent God before the rest of the creatures of the world (Raoul Dederen, Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, “Impact of the Biblical Doctrine of Man on the Christian’s Life”).

This function of man—being “God’s representative over the lower creation”—is one of the manifestations of the idea that human creatures are an image of God, Raoul Dederen added in the same handbook, in its section entitled “God’s Image in Man”.

7) They Were Made a Little Lower Than the Angels

As creatures “endowed with high mental and spiritual gifts,” Adam and Eve were made “a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7, NIV).

What does this mean?

Derived from the Hebrew term me’elohim, the phrase “than the angels” translates as “than God.” As such, “a little lower than the angels” also means “a little lower than God” (Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 3, page 649).

This means to say that Adam and Eve were made a little lower than God, which implies that they were “on a much higher level than the animal kingdom because of [their] kinship with God,” Francis Nichol added.

But this doesn’t mean that they were almost equal with Him because a “finite man is far inferior to the infinite God,” Nichol clarified.

8) They Originally Knew No Evil

Did you know that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden naked?  Yes, that’s right. And they “felt no shame” doing so (Genesis 2:25, NIV).

How come?

Well, Adam and Eve “had no need of material clothing, for about them the Creator had placed a robe of light” (Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 1, page 227).

This “robe of innocence” was “symbolic of [God’s] own righteous character, which was reflected perfectly in them,” Francis Nichol added.

Here, we can see that Adam and Eve knew nothing about evil (Ellen White, Beginning of the End 14.6). Their thoughts were pure and innocent, and their character was perfect and blameless.

9) They Were Naturally Obedient

Being created in the likeness of God, Who Himself was perfect (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 50:2), Adam and Eve were sinless.

As sinless beings, they had been “perfectly happy in obedience to the law of God” (Ellen White, Darkness Before Dawn 13.1). 

For instance, when God told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, (Genesis 2:16-17), they held onto it.

As such, when tempted by the serpent to eat it, Eve insisted, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die'” (verses 2-3 of chapter 3, NIV).

But this obedience was only until a certain point.

Why? Continue reading.

10) They Had Freedom of Choice

As we’ve learned from the previous sections, Adam and Eve were perfect and sinless (Genesis 1:27; 2:25).

But this doesn’t mean they could not sin. 

Well,

“God could have created them without the power to sin. He could have prevented them from touching the forbidden fruit, but then Adam and Eve would have been mere robots.”

Ellen White, Beginning of the End 14.5

“Without freedom of choice, their obedience would have been forced.” If that happened, it “would have been contrary to God’s plan, unworthy of the intelligent beings He created, and would have sustained Satan’s charge of God’s arbitrary rule.” Ellen White added.

Based on this, Adam and Eve, in their perfect state, were created with the freedom to choose between good and evil. So, anytime they wanted to, they could choose sin.

True enough, continuing the earlier discussion about Eve being tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, she actually gave in (Genesis 3:6).

The serpent convinced her that she wouldn’t certainly die, “for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like [Him], knowing good and evil” (verses 4-5, NIV).

So, Eve ate the fruit and even gave some to Adam, who also ate it. Suddenly, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked” (verses 6-7, NIV). 

And this marked the fall of humanity.

As you can see, Adam and Eve were created perfect. But because they abused their freedom of choice, their perfect nature was tainted with sin, which infected all humanity (Genesis 3:14-19; Romans 5:12).

Let’s Review!

As we’ve learned, Adam and Eve each had these 10 human qualities:

• Good looks
• Perfect body features
• Reddish complexion
• Stomach probably without a navel
• Wisdom and intelligence
• Capability to rule the earth
• Nature lower than God
• Sinlessness
• Obedience
• Freedom of choice

We Want to Hear From You

Did you enjoy this article? What have you learned?

Aside from what we mentioned, what other human qualities can you observe from Adam and Eve?

Share them in the comments below.

Learn more about this topic by reading this story of Adam and Eve. You can also find related Bible questions and answers from our Bible study course.

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See you in the next article!