Adam was the first man on earth, and for a short time he lived alone. He arrived on the planet with no childhood, no parents, no family and no friends. Perhaps Adam's loneliness moved God to quickly present him with a companion, Eve. Before God created Eve, he had given Adam the Garden of Eden. It was his to enjoy, but he also had the full responsibility of taking care of it. Adam knew that one tree was off-limits, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam would
have taught Eve the rules of the garden. Even though she knew it was forbidden
to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden, when Satan tempted
her, Eve was deceived. When she offered the fruit to Adam, the fate of the
world was on his shoulders. As they ate the fruit in that one act of rebellion,
man's independence and disobedience separated him from God.
But God
already had a plan in place to deal with man's sin. The Bible is the story of
God's plan for man. Adam is "our" beginning, and we are all his
descendants.
According to the Bible, Adam was
the first human being on Earth and the father of all humanity. In the book of
Genesis (1:26), Adam is created by God on the sixth day of creation, in God's
own image, and given dominion over all the animals of the world. God then gives
Adam a female partner, Eve. Eve feeds Adam fruit from the forbidden Tree of
Knowledge, after which an angry God expels them from the Garden of Eden. In
Christian theology, Adam's failure to obey God is known as the Original Sin.
Adam fathered three sons by Eve: Cain, Abel and Seth.
Adam's Accomplishments:
God chose Adam to name the animals,
making him the first zoologist. He was also the first landscaper and
horticulturist, responsible to work the garden and care for the plants. He was
the first man, the father of humankind. He was the only man without a mother
and a father.
Adam's Strengths:
Adam was made in the image of
God and shared a close relationship with his Creator.
Adam's Weaknesses:
We see that Adam avoided his
God-given responsibility. He blamed Eve and made excuses for himself when he
committed a sin. He hid from God in shame, rather than facing his error and
admitting the truth.
Life Lessons:
We see from Adam's life that God wants us to
freely choose to follow and obey him out of love. We also learn that nothing we
do is hidden from God. Likewise, it does not benefit us to blame others for our
own failings. We must accept personal responsibility.
