GLEANINGS — May 12, A.D. 2013                                                                                                               "Mitochondrial Eve"

...is a term from the science of genetics about which you might want to do a little research if you are so inclined. Search the Answers in Genesis website (http://www.answersingenesis.org/) for some good resources on this subject.

Honest scientific observation will never make manifest anything that contradicts the revelation of God in Scripture. The so-called big bang is an example - it is not within the realm of the scientifically observable, but is merely a Bible dishonoring theory. Nor can honest scientific observation "prove" the word of God unto the salvation of one who hears it; only the Holy Spirit can effect that persuasion.

However, unbiased scientific observation will always corroborate, that is support, what God has given us by direct revelation in the holy Bible. So it is concerning mitochondrial eve, whom genetic science asserts to be an ancestor of all women alive on Earth today. This is fully compatible with what Genesis 3:20 asserts – that the woman whom God fashioned from Adam's rib is the mother of all living.

In other words, all human beings have the same primary matriarchal ancestor just as the Bible says. We all have one first mother, Adam's wife whom he named Eve...Chav-vah in transliteration from the original Hebrew text.

This truth should go far for all, especially Christians, in terms of directing us how we should look upon our fellow man. Both Cain who killed his brother Abel, and Seth (Cain's other brother from whom Noah and then Abraham descended) were sons of Eve.

Today, there are both ungodly people like Cain "who was of the evil one" (1 John 3:12) and those who by grace are upright like Seth and his godly descendants (cf. Genesis 4:26). Ultimately, these are the only two kinds of human beings – the just and the unjust...the righteous and the wicked.

The eternal distinction between the two groups will not fully appear until that great Day when the Lord Jesus separates them as a shepherd separates the sheep and goats. Until that Day, there is indeed a sense in which we are to regard all men as our brothers, all having one mother. The broad range of human skin color, and the other external differences between people groups, are exceedingly trivial matters compared to that great and eternal difference between the sons of light and the sons of darkness, i.e. those lost in Adam and those saved in Christ.

Until that Day, and all during this age of the Gospel of the Kingdom, our Biblical understanding of humanity's origin compels us to rightly relate to (1 Corinthians 5:9-11), persuade (2 Corinthians 5:11), pursue peace with (Hebrews 12:14), and above all bear witness to (Acts 1:8) all our brothers and sisters – all who with us have descended from one mother.