Adam and Eve Bible Story Summary

On the sixth day of creation God created all the land animals and humans. The story of Adam and Eve happens in Genesis chapter 2 and 3. Their creation is the focus of chapter 2 with their fall and punishment in chapter 3. Take some time to grab a Bible and read these two chapters to get a full understanding of the story.

God Created Adam

The Bible says that God made man in His image. He did this by forming man from the dust of the ground. The Bible does not say that God used his hands to mold the dirt into the shape of a man, but it does indicate that this was a much more active manner of creation than the rest of what God had made. Previously God had only spoken the objects into existence. But God formed man and then breathed life into him in an apparently personal way.

This first man was named Adam. God brought all the animals to him to be named. The Bible says that it was not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). It was not a surprise to God that Adam was alone. This statement is an indication to us that man needs companionship and God has made provisions for it.

God Created Eve

God caused Adam to sleep and then He performed the first surgery by cutting Adam open and forming a woman from his rib. God certainly did not need to do this but it is another of many interesting pictures in the creation story. Adam knew that the woman was made from his own side. They were more than simply two creatures which God spoke into existence. They were made for God’s pleasure and were intimately connected to one another. This woman was named Eve.

The details of the creation of man and woman happen after the Bible says God rested on the seventh day. But their creation clearly takes place on day number six.

God’s Command to Adam and Eve

God gave Adam and Eve a beautiful garden named Eden in which to live. They had all the fruit and vegetables they could possibly want to enjoy. They were to tend the garden and have dominion over it and the animals. Some people say that work is part of the curse, but the actual curse is that work would be difficult and laborious.

God gave Adam and Eve many beautiful plants and trees to enjoy for food. But He also gave them one tree from which they were not to eat. This was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God’s command to them was that if they ate from that tree they would die.

The Fall of Adam and Eve

The Bible says that the Devil entered into a serpent and tempted Eve (Genesis 3:1). He got Eve to doubt God’s Word. Satan told her that God knew that Eve would become enlightened and possess the same knowledge as God had if she ate from the fruit of the tree. This is much like Satan’s temptation to man today—that he does not need God.

The fruit was beautiful and Satan was cunning. Eve fell to the temptation and took the fruit from the forbidden tree. Finding it delicious she took it to Adam. Adam also ate from it. At the time he ate their lives, and that of all future humanity, changed. They immediately knew they had done wrong. They disobeyed God and would be punished.

Adam and Eve Hid From God

As was God’s custom, He came to visit Adam and Eve in Eden. They tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. Their nakedness was something they had never even noticed before. When they heard God coming they hid from Him. God searched for them. Of course we know that God is all knowing. He was not looking for them because He didn’t know where they were, but to give Adam and Eve a chance to return to Him and acknowledge their sin.

God Punished Adam, Eve and the Serpent

God spoke with Adam, Eve and the serpent. Each one had a specific punishment from God. Adam was told that his work would be hard. It would become toilsome (Genesis 3:17-19).

The woman would bear children with great pain (Genesis 3:16). God intended that Adam and Eve would have children because He talked about man and woman leaving father and mother to get married (Genesis 2:24). Adam and Eve had no father or mother. It was a pronouncement for future generations which God fully intended to come with time. Eve’s punishment was that the bearing of children would be painful.

To the serpent he was given the punishment of crawling on the ground and that he would be cursed more than any other creature (Genesis 3:14). This punishment was given to the animal and not just to Satan. We don’t know if snakes had feet before this punishment, but God changed the animal in some way. To Satan God said that he would be punished in the future by the promise God would give.

God’s Great Promise

When speaking the extent of Satan’s punishment God said that the seed of the woman would come to destroy him. This seed was the promised Redeemer we read so much about in the Old Testament. He was revealed in the New Testament to be Jesus Christ. Although Satan would bruise the Savior’s heel (a fatal wound) the redeemer would crush Satan’s head (a mortal wound) (Genesis 3:15). To show God’s love and to give a sign of things to come, God sacrificed an animal for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). This slain animal was to represent future sacrifices and forgiveness by God. God made clothes for Adam and Eve from the animal which shows God covering their sins with a substitutionary sacrifice.

The Rest of the Curse

God told Adam and Eve in the beginning that they would die on the day they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One death was immediate. They were spiritually separated from God. However, their physical bodies continued to live. But they would not live forever as God apparently intended. They would become old, sick and die.

All three (Adam, Eve and the serpent) were put out of the guard and the curse came not only on them but on the whole world. There were briers in the fields now. They had to provide for themselves with their own hands. They no longer had a personal communion with God.

The Future for Adam and Eve

They had many children (Genesis 4). Sadly their firstborn son killed their second son. Their lives were so different than what God intended. Adam died at 930 years of age (Genesis 5:5).