Great People Of the Bible- Week #1- Adam & Eve

Welcome to week #1 of our summer Bible study. Just a few short things in preparation. You can log on anytime 24 hours a day to see this study. Feel free to print it out if you want. Work on it at lunch, or in the morning or anytime you can set aside. You don't need to respond back to me with your answers to all the questions but feel free to make comments or ask questions in the comments section. This can get some discussion going each week. Check back throughout the week to see any insights that may have been posted. If you want to email me any questions or comments directly you can do so at smoorman@bethanylutheran.org or at mrmoorman@yahoo.com.

Adam & Eve
Like Adam and Eve, we know ourselves to rank somewhere between animals and angels. We are dust and also "living souls". We seek God as our source, but we shrink from him as our moral judge. What we remember only occasionally about ourselves stands out boldly in these early chapters of the Bible. Adam and Eve knew what it was like to live in paradise. They also felt the full force of sin. There are many things we can learn from the first great people of the Bible.

Read Genesis 1:26-31

• What made Adam and Eve distinctly different from the rest of creation? In what ways do you think men and women reflect the "image of God"?
• What responsibilities and privileges did God give that first man and woman?

Read Genesis 2:4-7, 15-25

• What additional responsibilities and privileges were given to man in this more detailed account of man's creation? What limits did God set?
• When God brought Adam and Eve together, what principles did he establish for marriage?
• What ideas and hopes do you think God had for that first man and woman? How would you describe their relationship to God? To each other? To their environment?

Read Genesis 3:1-24

• What insinuation about God did the serpent make to Eve?
• What immediate effect did Eve's choice have on her and her husband? On their relationship with God?
• What negative and positive predictions about the future did God make to Adam & Eve?
• What role would the woman play in the fulfillment of God's promise
• How did Adam respond to this message of hope? In light of the nature of God's judgment, what was significant about his responses?

Read Genesis 4:1-2, 25-26; 5:1-4

• When Eve named her son Cain, how was she expressing her faith in God's promise of 3:15? Cain proved to be a bitter disappointment. Abel was the godly son, but Cain murdered him. How did Eve's response to Seth's birth show that her hope was still on God?
• How can we experience a new beginning when we sin? Read 1 John 1:7-9, Psalm 103:3,12.
• In what specific ways can Adam and Eve be examples of challenge and encouragement to us?
• How do their experiences shape our experiences?

Spend some time in prayer and thank God for his love and his faithfulness. Tell him what is on your heart, he is there to listen and to answer. Ask God to bless us all as we study his word.