Adam

Adam (’adam, “man, humankind,” linked to ’adamah, “ground”) is the first human being in the Genesis account. He is formed from the dust of the ground on the sixth day of creation, animated by the breath of God, placed in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it, and given authority to name the animals (Gen.1.26–28; Gen.2.7–20). From his side God forms Eve, his wife and counterpart. Together they are commissioned to be fruitful, multiply, and rule the earth as God’s image-bearers. Yielding to the serpent’s temptation, Adam eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen.3.6), bringing sin, shame, toil, and death into the human story. He is driven from the garden but receives the first promise of a redeemer through the seed of the woman (Gen.3.15). Adam fathers Cain, Abel, Seth, and other sons and daughters, and dies at 930 years (Gen.5.5). The New Testament treats him as a historical individual and as the federal head of the human race: through one man sin entered the world (Rom.5.12), and Christ is the “last Adam” who reverses the ruin (1Co.15.22; 1Co.15.45).