Man was created by God on the sixth day of creation. Man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 9:6) with a free will, an ability to acquire intelligence, and an ability to reason for himself. The purpose of God creating man was so that man could glorify God (Isaiah 43:7, Revelation 4:11), subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), fellowship with God, and live his life according to God’s will. The first man was Adam (Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:7, 20), and the first woman was Eve (Genesis 2:21-23, Genesis 3:3). Because Adam and Eve had a free will, they had the capacity to rebel against God. They chose to disobey God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17, Genesis 3:1-7). Because of this, mankind became separated from God (Genesis 3:8-10), all human beings will die (Genesis 2:17, Genesis 3:19), sin entered into the world (Romans 5:12,14), mankind has enmity among themselves (Genesis 3:16), and mankind has enmity with God (Genesis 3:16-19).

After Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they had to be punished (Romans 6:23). Their immediate punishment was separation from God (Genesis 3:8-10) and eviction from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). Because of their sin, the rest of mankind would have a sin nature (Romans 5:12). When Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced a curse on them, but also explained the redemptive plan that would one day happen through God the Son (Genesis 3:15). God promised that one day the seed of the woman, Jesus, would defeat the power of sin and be victorious over death, but in doing so, the serpent, Satan, would win a temporary victory, i.e. the crucifixion of Jesus (Genesis 3:15, Galatians 4:4, Hebrews 2:14-15).

4,000 years later {c. 0 A.D.}, Jesus of Nazareth would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:26-38). Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:22, Matthew 1:20, Luke 1:35). Jesus grew (Luke 2:40) and began His ministry (Luke 4:14-15, Matthew 4:23). Jesus was then arrested (Matthew 26:47-50, Mark 14:43-46, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:1-11) and was delivered to the governor, Pilate (Matthew 27:11-14, Mark 15:1-5, Luke 23:1-5, John 18:28-32). Pilate attempted to release Jesus, but the crowd chose to release a murderer, Barabbas (Matthew 27:15-23, Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:18-25, John 18:38-40). Jesus was then crucified (Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:33, John 19:18) and He gave up his spirit and died (Matthew 27:50, Luke 23:46, John 19:30). Jesus was buried on the day before Sabbath (Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53, John 19:40) and rose from the dead the day after Sabbath. Jesus was buried for three days in total (Hosea 6:1-3; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 28:1-9; Mark 16:1-8, 14; Luke 24:1-11, 36-43; John 20:1-10, 15-17, 19-20). When Jesus died, He bore the wrath of God for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-8) and took the punishment that we deserve (Romans 3:24-25).

Because of the law, sin was imputed to everyone (Romans 3:20, Romans 5:13). Even though Jesus did not inherit sin (Psalm 51:5), Jesus had the sins of all who would believe on him imputed to Him on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22-24), and God could then impute Jesus’ righteousness to those whom God would draw to Himself (John 6:44, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:21-22). Jesus became the perfect sacrificial lamb (Hebrews 9:11-14) that was sacrificed to permanently atone for the sins of the elect (Hebrews 10:1-14). Because Jesus rose from the dead after He was buried, the elect can have assurance that they will also be raised to live with God forever (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 12-34). Jesus became mankind’s high priest and intercedes for us (1 Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 12:24), eliminating the need of a human high priest to intercede for us.