Were Adam & Eve Lost or Saved?

"Eternal Security" is defined as the belief that once you are a child of God (a believer in the Messiah, a.k.a. Jesus Christ) you are forever and always a child of God...no matter what.
 

While most of us acknowledge and hold strongly to this precious truth of Scripture, I believe at times we can unintentionally contradict ourselves. I am referring to how eternal security applies to Adam and Eve and their fall from Eden.
 

We often tell people this positional truth applies to all believers in both the Old and New Testaments. "Once saved, always saved" is both our rallying battle cry and soft comforting whisper. Why is it then that Adam and Eve are a special case? Some believe that Adam and Eve lost their relationship with God and became spiritually dead upon eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why is this? Why would Adam and Eve be considered an exception to our dearly held positional truth?
 

Let me ask you a few questions:

Are you a child of God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Has He made you a new creation? Has He given you a new and pure nature? Do you walk with Him? When you sin, what is God's response? Does He tell you that you are not His child anymore or does He pursue you, forgive you, and cleanse you?

Let me ask you some other questions:

Were Adam and Eve children of God? Did they believe in Jesus Christ? Did He make them with a pure nature? Did they walk with Him? When Adam and Eve sinned, what was God's response? Did He tell them that they were not His children any longer? No. He did the exact same thing He would do for you. He pursued them in love, forgave them of their iniquity, and cleansed them from sin.

You see, for all of those questions, we answered the exact same way as Adam and Eve. We are children of God. We all walk with Him and believe in His Son. We were given a pure nature. We have a right relationship with Him.
 

Even though we sin, we believe that God is strong enough to hold us in His hand. We understand that, because we are His children, He will never let us go. Why then do we think that God was not as strong for Adam and Eve in their time of need and failure?
 

We believe that even though the apostles and the first century church had a sin nature, God still held them eternally secure. We believe that, when David committed adultery and ordered the murder of his friend Uriah, He still loved him and called him son. We believe that even though Moses rebelled against God by striking the rock, he was still welcomed into the heavenly places to dwell in the presence of God his Father. If we believe these, then why is it that we believe Adam and Eve were eternally separated from God at the very moment they ate of the tree?
 

Were they not God's children before they sinned? Did they not have a pure and holy and pleasing relationship with the God of the universe? Did they not walk with God? When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, were they spiritually God's children or not? At that moment, were they saved or lost?

I propose that, if they would have died at the moment of first tasting the forbidden fruit, they would have been eternally in the presence of the Almighty Creator God. Yes, Adam and Eve disrupted their relationship with God in terms of fellowship, but not in terms of their position as sons. They were still the children of God by His grace, mercy, love, and strength just as we are.
 

They were God's children before they sinned, during their sin, and even right after they sinned. Again, their fellowship with God was hindered, but their position in Christ was never lost. As believers, when we sin we see the exact same consequence; we break fellowship with our God, but do we cease being His son or daughter? Absolutely not!
 

So then, are Adam and Eve the exceptions to eternal security? Not at all. The Bible is clear when it says, "Once saved, always saved!" Adam and Eve were created with a perfect relationship with God. They may have lost fellowship with Him, but they were and they remained His children.

Articles can be found all over the internet asking whether or not the Bible has anything to say if Adam and Eve ever got saved and are now in heaven. I believe the answer is obvious. Adam and Eve never lost their salvation in Christ. They never lost their position as God's children. Therefore, yes, they are saved and are in heaven.
 

To sum it up, Adam and Eve were saved before they sinned. Thus, after they sinned, they were still saved. They were never lost. They were never headed for Hell. They are not the exception but rather an example of the rule. They are a beautiful picture of how strong and loving our God truly is and how He upholds our position in Himself forever.