Were they real or just an expression of where people began?
Answers (3)
We have no way to verify that A&E did or did not exist, so the story might be a figure of speech. A figure of speech is a departure from the normal patterns of language for the purpose of emphasizing something. The simplest figure of speech is the SIMILE. A simile emphasizes a similarity of two things by merely saying it: "You are like a dog", or "You are as a dog". The figure rests entirely on one word.
A METAPHOR emphasizes a similarity of two things by saying they are the same; "You are a dog".
Next comes a big word: HYPOCATASTASIS. This is a Greek word for name-calling. Hypocatastasis just calls the fellow "Dog!" See Luke 13:32 "that fox", and Genesis 3:1 "the serpent".
A PARABLE is an extended figure of speech; a story based on a simile, metaphor, or hypocatastasis. If the story is possible, it is a MYTH. If the story is impossible, it is a FABLE. If a fable includes an explanation of the meaning, it is an ALLEGORY. Don't confuse any of these with LEGEND, which is a supposedly true but unverified historical account (Adam and Eve, for example).
These terms are not used with any precise meaning in modern discourse. For instance, most people think 'allegory' means "a story full of religious symbolism beyond human comprehension". But when discussing figures of speech they are very precisely defined. Here is a book that lists about 900 figures found in the bible. It is almost the only work in the subject for the last two thousand years: openlibrary.org/search?q=e.+w.+bullinger+figures+of+speech
More figures: mentalfloss.com/article/60234/21-rhetorical-devices-explained
All who believe that the Almighty God is our Creator, believe Genesis 1:27: And God went on to create the man in his image, in God's image he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:7,8 gives the parallel account : And Jehovah God went on to form the man out of the dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living person. Further, Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, towards the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:21-23 God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, he built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. Then Adam said: " This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one will be called woman, because from man she was taken." With the creation of the woman, man was complete.
Because of Adam and Eve we are here. Acts 17:26 says: " God made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the surface of the earth."