Bible Chapter Summaries

In the beginning of Genesis everything is explicitly explain. On the sixth day, God decided to make humankind in his “own image”. He made Adam fashioned out of dust, and gave him the breath of life to animate him. God then opted to make an aide for man. He appropriated a rib from man and created a woman. Adam then named her Eve. God placed Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, encouraging them to take pleasure in the world he had created, but forbidding them from taking anything from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve lived in blissful ignorance until the Satan disguised as a serpent got ahold of them promising infinite knowledge. Eve reminded the serpent that God told them to stay away from the tree

As the story of Adam and Eve progresses, Eve is tempted by the serpent to eat from the Tree of Knowledge—the powerful character of God’s forbidden fruit. After departing from the serpent, Eve and Adam disobey God’s initial orders. Due to their practice of freewill, God punishes Adam and Eve; God banishes them from Eden, inflicts painful childbirth on Eve, and imposes less than fertile soil for Adam to survive on. This opposition to freewill is repeated with the descendants of Adam and Eve, additionally. Adam and Eve’s child, Cain, is not blessed with freewill. Cain murders his brother Abel in response to God’s disapproval of his offering. God’s punishment, to exile Cain, imposes Cain to a nomadic way of life.

The serpent eventually persuades Eve to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge”. After she eats from it, she has Adam eat from it. Shortly after, they finally notice they are naked and become self conscious and cover up. God then asks about what they have done and Eve blames Adam, while Adam blames the Serpent. God curses them, and makes Eve suffer through labor and banishes both of them from the Garden of Eden.

Along with providing information on the origins of the natural world, Genesis also provides insight into how the world was originally intended to function. After God was finished with his creative work, He declared that everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). At this point in time, all of creation was living in perfect harmony—until Adam and Eve sinned. After Adam and Eve gave into Satan’s temptation, sin entered the world and changed how the natural world functioned. Genesis chapters 3-11 show continuous examples of how sin infected the natural world. Animals had to be killed (Genesis 3:21 and 4:4), death entered the human race (as can be implied from Genesis

In the Garden of Eden, Eve encounters a crafty serpent who convinces her to eat of the tree’s forbidden fruit when it says, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Hebrew Bible, p. 15). In one way or another, the serpent’s temptation of Eve plays right into a deep desire of being “like God”. She disregards God’s command and is enticed with the idea of breaking out of her human nature. As both Adam and Eve fall into temptation, they confront their true selves. This confrontation happens when they eat of the fruit and immediately notice a significant change. “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.” (Hebrew Bible, p. 15). The fruit grants them knowledge and wisdom, and with it the realization that are not like God. As Adam and Eve become aware of their rooted humanity, they “sew fig leaves together to make loincloths for themselves”. This instinct to cover their genitalia, a symbol of their mortality, reveals the shame of their own transience. God uses this shame as punishment when he curses

The book of Genesis tells the story of the beginning of the world. Genesis answers some of life’s biggest questions- why are we here, how did everything come to be, how do I relate to others around me. Through this story, God’s unchanging nature is revealed. We are exposed to man’s shortcomings and failures, but we are also offered the hope of one to come who will be the savior of all. The first eleven chapters of Genesis provide a foundation for a Biblical worldview- an explanation of how a Christian should view the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization.

Early Christians went through a series of suffering and misery. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ made the Christians imitate for what he has done for them by accepting martyrdom. For the Christians, accepting death in the name of Jesus Christ is no more than a high privilege. Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, most early Christians are about to become victims of persecution.

Adam was very delighted. God made them pure and sinless, white and pure. (Butler) God give them two trees, one to eat from and one not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. While Adam was asleep and God was tending his garden, the seroent slithered up to Eve and convinced her to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. She immediately changed and sin crept in. Eve convined Adam to eat of the fruit. Adam did and he too changed and sin came upon him. God came back looking for Adam and Eve. When found them, they were ashamed of their nakeness and sinfulness. God knew they ate from that Tree of Knowledge.

Just like how a child becomes fascinated after hearing stories of their babyhood, or how a family is eager to discover their genealogy, the book of Genesis is a very intriguing story to many Christians because it depicts how mankind and the world around them were formed. Genesis 1-3 allow a base knowledge for understanding the rest of the bible because it portrays the way that God created the world – how it was supposed to be and why the world is the way it is today. After God spends six days working on creating his idea of a perfect world, it says “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good,” (Genesis 1:31). However, as Eve disobeyed God’s word and listened to the deceitful serpent, God knew he needed to punish Adam and Eve in order

God cursed the serpent amongst all animals and amongst all wild creatures and to greatly increase pangs in child bearing for woman, as their punishment. Though humans were made dominion over many creatures and had enough to survive in what God had given them, Adam and Eve still did and experienced evil. Adam and Eve disappointed God, because of the sin they had committed they had damaged their relationship with God and created conflicts that still have effects today. God was displeased and humans failed to live up to His expectations.

Adam and Eve sin, insufficiently cover themselves from their nakedness…and in nakedness feel free to insert weakness, defenselessness, or humiliation. Adam then proceeds to blame God for giving him the awful temptress of a woman, Eve and Eve decides to blame the serpent.

According to the Genesis in the Hebrew bible, the story of Adam and Eve in books 1-4 eating from the tree of knowledge was considered a sin, but after a close analysis of the story perhaps eating from the tree of knowledge only opened up Adam and Eves eyes to see the world for what it truly is. The serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit, and later Eve convinced Adam to follow in her footsteps. From this act the Lord God Punished Adam, Eve, and the serpent. Their disobedience was the first sin committed by the first humans, but why was the Lord God being so overprotective of both Adam and Eve? Was finding out the truth of the world . Was eating from the tree of knowledge a good or an evil act? And Why was the punishment that the Lord God implemented on Adam, Eve, and the serpent harsh? Adam and Eve committed the first sin but through their sin or mistake the human race has accomplished great success.

Genesis could be broken down into two sections: Chapters 1-11 (God & the World) and 12-50 (God & Abraham’s Family). What hinges the two parts together is contained in chapter 12, assisting us in understanding the message as a whole and introducing to the rest of the bible.

Those who choose to participate in organized religion also must decide how vigorously they want to adhere to the rules of that religion. For those who belief in the verbatim word of the holy book of their chosen religion, they may opt for the Orthodox branch of their religion. Others may choose a more lax or reform type of the religion. Each type of religion has its own rules and each has different perspectives on what place the individual has in their religion. For some religions, the authorities expect for their practitioners to adhere to the rigorous standards of their doctrine. In the Christian religion, the holy book is The Bible and many of those who are authorities in the Christian religion demand that worshippers follow the mandates of the book and of the leaders in the community who speak for that religion. Under certain circumstances, there are situations in which an individual must make the decision to defy or disobey the word of their holy leader. In the Bible there are even stories which advocate times when it is necessary to defy the authority and obey the instincts of the individual self.

We follow the lectionary each week and here for this week is this very difficult text. This text is not always our favorite text, but given all that is happening in the world around us, perhaps it is the best text for today. But let’s be honest, when we read this….we think WOW….sounds like Jesus needs some chocolate. He sounds pretty grumpy. This does not sound like the sweet Jesus we know.