Adam is portrayed as the height of God's creation, made in the image and likeness of God, and entrusted with the stewardship of creation.
The creation of Adam
As a unique event
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
In the image of God
Genesis 1:26–27 See also Genesis 5:1; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
His commission from God
Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15 See also Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:4–8, Psalm 115:14–16
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
His incompleteness without Eve
Genesis 2:18–24 See also Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:1–2; Matthew 19:4–6 parallel Mark 10:6–9
The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.” And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh. And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
His position and privileges
Genesis 1:28–29, Genesis 2:19–20
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
The limitations of his freedom
Genesis 2:16–17 See also Genesis 3:1–3
And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
The fall of Adam
The nature of his sin
Genesis 3:6 See also Genesis 2:16–17, Genesis 3:12, Genesis 3:17; Hosea 6:7
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Immediate results of his sin
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?” “I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
God's curse upon Adam and the earth
Genesis 3:17–19 See also Genesis 5:29; Job 7:1, Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3; Ecclesiastes 2:17–23, Ecclesiastes 3:20; Romans 8:20
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground — because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
The life of Adam after the fall
His expulsion from the garden
His children
Genesis 4:1–2 See also Genesis 4:25, Genesis 5:3–4; 1 Chronicles 1:1
And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said. Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil.
His lifespan and death
So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.