Sin came into the world because of what one man did.

With sin came death.

So this is why all people must die.

Because all people have sinned.

Sin was in the world before the Law of Moses.

But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, everyone had to die.

Adam died because he sinned by not obeying God's command. But even those who did not sin that same way had to die.

That one man, Adam, can be compared to Christ.

God's free gift is not like Adam's sin.

So are we Jews better than others? No! We have already said that Jews and non-Jews are the same. They are all guilty of sin.  As the Scriptures say: “There is no one without sin. None!     There is no one who understands. There is no one who looks to God for help. All have turned away. Together, everyone has become evil. None of them does anything good.”

But God has a way to make people right with him without the law. And God has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all are the same. All people have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory. People are made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.

This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the sky, there were no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields. The Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no man to care for the ground. But a mist often rose from the earth and watered all the ground. Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed man from it. The Lord breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose. And the man became a living person.

Then the Lord God planted a garden in the East, in a place called Eden. He put the man he had formed in that garden. The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life. And he put there the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.

The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. The Lord God commanded him, “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden. But you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!”  Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”

Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake spoke to the woman. He said, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?” The woman answered the snake, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.’” But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil. Then you will be like God!”

The woman saw that the tree was beautiful. She saw that its fruit was good to eat and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then, it was as if the man’s and the woman’s eyes were opened. They realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves. Then they heard the Lord God walking in the garden. This was during the cool part of the day. And the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. But the Lord God called to the man. The Lord said, “Where are you?”

The man answered, “I heard you walking in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid.” God said to the man, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from that tree? I commanded you not to eat from that tree.” The man said, “You gave this woman to me. She gave me fruit from the tree. So I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?” She answered, “The snake tricked me. So I ate the fruit.”

So the Lord God forced the man out of the garden of Eden. He had to work the ground he was taken from. God forced the man out of the garden. Then God put angels on the east side of the garden. He also put a sword of fire there. It flashed around in every direction. This kept people from getting to the tree of life.