The figures of Genesis 5 as real persons

Says The New Testament treats these figures as persons. Luke traces the line “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38, BSB). “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death” (Heb 11:5, BSB). Jude names “Enoch, the seventh from Adam” (Jude 14, BSB). “Death reigned from Adam until Moses” (Rom 5:14, BSB).

Implies The named figures are real persons, consistent with those texts. That is the same shared core set out in the notes on Genesis 2 for Adam: a real man and a real first sin. No lean is taken here between historical narrative and history told with literary features, such as the repeated formula, the name-play at 5:29, or the place of Enoch as seventh and Noah as tenth.

Uncertain A purely non-historical or eponymous reading, in which the names are not those of real persons, is presented by its grounds and stands outside that core. Driver takes the names that way, on the ground that other ancient traditions also give figures of the earliest times very long lives. Objection: the chapter gives each name a father, a son and a span of years, and the New Testament texts above treat them as persons. Skinner holds that the statements of age “are meant to be understood literally,” and that “the author had in his view actual individuals.” No lean is taken here between historical narrative and history told with literary features.