Chronological Thematic Bible Reading - Adam and Beginnings

 “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” Romans 5:20

Last year, 2025, I read the entire Bible with the Bible Recap reading plan. I read the New Testament with that plan in 2024 and resolved I would do the whole plan January 1, and I did! Some of my favorite readings were in the Kings and Chronicles. More on that in another post. 

I wanted to capture this journey through the Bible. It’s a totally different plan it is not cover to cover but as the title suggests, Chronological Order AND thematic. So we jump around from Old Testament to New. I don’t think a lot of believers have ever read their Bible cover to cover. Many reject the Old Testament because it “doesn’t apply.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Leviticus will absolutely bless you when you read it through the lens of our Savior. I fell in love with the Old Testament last year and how beautiful it truly is. 

Without rambling on, you can find this reading on YouVersion Bible App. Let’s connect and read together! Scan my QR code found on my Home Screen. 

This week the theme has been Adam and his family. Reading Genesis 1-3 and Romans 5. This is where we see the telling of the gospel for the first time. The crushing reminder that I am a sinner, that death isn’t normal. We are corrupt as corrupt can be. Looking around at our world we have to keep this in mind. We witness sin’s grip on us daily. One of the church Catechism's states this about sin: 

“The deepest source of misery in the world is not ignorance, injustice, or the failure to be true to ourselves. It is sin: cosmic treason against our Creator and his rule. Sin corrupts creation, wrecks relationships and enslaves us to Satan.” 

The simple Gospel is this: in Adam our first birth, there is death. But in our second birth in Christ, there is life! As Paul wrote to the Romans “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more!” (5:20) Our decent into sin is great, but Gods grace is greater than all my sin! Paul also wrote in Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (6:23)

The convent was this, “You may eat of every tree in the garden, but the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die!” The covenant was broken. Some believe this was instantaneous, I hold to the belief that there was a period of time from their (Adam and Eve) making and their sin. Were they driven straight to sin in seconds? I don’t think so, even though the Bible reads that way, there are indications of time passing. They had a relationship with God, they had a regular walking with him in the garden. James writes in his book “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully given brings forth death.” (1:15) Eve’s eyes desired. I wonder how many times she was tempted and looked at the tree that was forbidden and wondered? Temptation isn’t a sin, they had free will. 

I also wonder if Adam and Eve knew what “dying” meant since death wasn’t really a thing. God told them they would die. 

We see how grace abounded all the more after they sinned. God came looking for them, he didn’t let them stay hiding in shame. He still desired to be with them. God asked them to repent. He asked them, “Did you break the commandment?” “What did you do?” God provided a covering through an animal shedding its blood (atonement). God kept them from living in sin forever by sending them out of the garden lest they eat from the tree of life. God did it all. All we have is the sinning part under control, only God can get us out of this mess. 

And so the rescue mission from Heaven ensued, a reversal of events of redemption and resurrection. Paul writes to the Corinthians “by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead.” This is why Jesus is called the “Second Adam.” All of chapter 15 in 1 Corinthians lays out the reversal of Adam to Jesus. 

Further reading: Hosea 6, 1 Timothy 2, 2 Corinthians 11.