What If Adam Was Not?

Rom 5:12-14 GNB Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

I recently encountered an interesting argument from an individual who worked out a rather unanticipated logical consequence of accepting the veracity of evolution. It goes something like this:

In his letter to the Roman Christians, the Apostle Paul posits his theology of sin's origin. The first man, the original man created by God, named Adam, was also the first sinner. But Adam's sin, disobeying God's command not to eat from the tree in middle of the garden, did not affect only him. His sin, according to Paul, was the original sin that put the stain of sin upon the entire human race.

(Now someone is sure to argue that the Adam Paul refers to here is not a literal individual, but rather a metaphorical construction representing humanity itself. But Paul does not seem to think that he is referring to a metaphorical construction. He seems to believe that he is referring to a real person. In fact, in the Book of Acts, in one of Paul's sermons, he says the following:

Act 17:26 GNB From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live.

Most scholars would agree that Paul is here making a clear reference to Adam, who he believes to be the original human being, created by God out of dust. So Paul believed, apparently, that Adam was the original human who committed the original sin.)

Back now to Romans, where Paul tells us that sin entered the world through Adam, and that sin brought with it death, which has affected every human being after him. The devastating effect of Adam's sin is that everyone sins and consequently dies both spiritually and physically. But God had a plan, a solution to the problem of sin and death.

Rom 5:18 GNB So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life.

And further…

Rom 5:21 GNB So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A perfect antidote to the effects of sin is revealed in the person and obedience of Jesus Christ. So a straightforward logical idea is posited: Adam sinned and therefore brought condemnation to all people, which put all people in need of a Savior, who is Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the Christian religion. This is Christianity's raison d'être.

So here we are. If evolution is correct, then there was no Adam, no original human. If there was no Adam, then there could not have been an original sin. If there was no original sin, then there is no need for a Savior.

Again, there seem to be only two ways around this logic. One would be to deny the veracity of evolution and assert the veracity of a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation. The second, for those many Christians who no longer claim to believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis account, is to assert that Adam (and his original sin) is a mere metaphor for the sinful disobedience of early humanity, which somehow infected and affected the entire race. But the Bible asserts that the mechanism for the spread of sin throughout the race is the idea that we are all descended from the original sinner. If sin's entrance into the world was in fact more diffuse, how could it be certain that everyone would bear that stain?

So does this argument hold water? Does the entire doctrine of Christian sin and redemption fall down if there was no Adam? Have millions been causelessly frightened by a problem that never existed? Have so many given their devout thanksgiving for naught? What do you think?