Bible Chapter Summaries

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.

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

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

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

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.

All this leads to the expelling of Adam and Eve from the Garden and the world of corruption that God detroyed in the Flood. God decided to save his universe through Noah. As time went on God chose Abram to bring “the seed into the world” (Butler) in which the serpent (Satan) would be destroyed. God changed Abram name to Abraham and made three pomises with him. These promises is the crux of Reverend Butler’s premise. God said, “I will make you a great nation; I will give you the land upon which you are standing, and I will bless the whole earth through one of your descendants.” (Butler) As Reverend Butler puts it “the rest of the Bible is how God kept his promises to Abraham”. Reverend Butler could have used the Jewish lineage through which the Saviour, Jesus Christ was born from.

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

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.

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.

Genesis is the first book of the Bible.  It begins with the story of God’s creation of the universe.    The Lord is the Almighty Creator of the world, skies, heavens, seas, animals, man, and woman.  He governs the universe and develops relationships with man.  Throughout Genesis, God acknowledges the fact that human beings make mistakes, and accepts their imperfection.  Throughout Genesis, God changes from one who does not tolerate disobedience, to one who shows clemency.  Early on in Genesis, God punishes Adam and Eve for disobedience.  After making the mistake of flooding the world, the Lord realizes that even He is not perfect, and does not allow Jacob’s deceit of his father to taint his future.

Genesis is a vital part of the Christian faith; it details the origins of the human race and of the Christian faith as a whole. Genesis entails the creation of the earth and everything on it. “And God called the dry land Earth: and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10, King James version). We as Christians know the story of creation by heart because of the book of Genesis. The Torah explains everything that Christianity itself is based on. God created everything. For Example, God created heaven and Earth, night, and day, the sea and land to name just a few things; all the things that were created were good. We also know from reading through Genesis that God created man to have domain over the land and animals. God soon after creates woman from man because it was not good for man to be alone. Genesis also introduces the creation of sin. “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath

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.

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.

The first eleven books of Genesis are to be studied and understood as recounting real events. These events took place in a real world and one that the reader of the narratives would find recognizable. Hamilton ascribes many theological themes such as the Sovereignty of God through the events of creation, the fall of man, Noah and the flood account, and the dispersion and confusion of language at Babel. Also, the sin of man is met with intervention and deliverance from sin by God (Hamilton 44). This theme continues with His relationship with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. In fact, each section of Genesis seems to strengthen and support previous chapters.

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.