Nowhere in the Bible does it say what fate befell Adam and Eve in the afterlife. As the progenitors of original sin, their actions have enduring consequences for all humanity in Christian doctrine. As the first humans, they would never have known Jesus. Whether they — or anyone who lived and died before the birth of Christ — knew him is a profound issue in Christianity.
In Catholicism, whether the concept of limbo exists, Adam and Eve presumably went there after death — along with Moses, Noah, David, and other souls — until Jesus descended into the realm of the dead. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” declares that Jesus “opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.” Whether Adam and Eve would be counted among the just, however, is a separate issue. Catholicism considers Adam so — the “Catechism” describes him as a “lost sheep” sought by Jesus.
Other Christians point to various passages in the Bible as indicators that Adam and Eve obtained salvation. Psalms, Romans, and Hebrews discuss the righteousness of patriarchs like Noah and Abraham, the pleasing sacrifice of Abel, and the promise of faith and grace, which many take as evidence for Adam and Eve’s place in Heaven. Even Genesis has been cited in support of the idea, with God’s gift of clothing taken as mercy and his decrees to man, woman, and serpent taken as a gift of the first gospel to Adam and Eve.
