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Beginners Guide to Bible Stories In Genesis

There are so many interesting stories in Genesis!

From the creation story in Genesis 1 to Joseph’s Death in Genesis 50 – this book is full of meaningful stories and rich history.

If you’ve passed Genesis off as the book of Bible stories for kids you’ve made a huge mistake! Though great for Sunday school and story telling the Bible stories in Genesis play a foundation role in the faith of believers of all ages.

Genesis is full of Bible stories for teens, kids, and yes; adults too!

What’s great about Genesis is you’ll read most of these stories in order (keeping confusion to a minimum).

In this article, I’ll provide a Bible summary of Genesis, talk through common themes, and share a quick (and printable) list of Genesis Bible stories you’ll come across as you read. If you’re open to digging deeper, you can join us in our free online study of Genesis here! You’ll gain access to our book of Genesis pdf and be the first to receive new Genesis worksheets as they come out.

Fun Facts About Genesis

Before we did into the meat of Genesis lets answer some basics questions – detective style (that’s code for using the inductive Bible study method – learn more about that here).

Who wrote the book of Genesis? It’s believed that Moses wrote the book of Genesis by divine inspiration. In other words, God was the author and Moses was the scribe.

Who was Genesis written for? In context the book of Genesis was written to inform the Hebrew people of their God, His creation, their history, and their heritage.

What genre does Genesis fall into? Genesis is the first of the five books that make up the Torah, often translated to mean “law.” In Hebrew the word Torah actually means teaching. It is literally God teaching His people who He is, who they are, what is good, what is evil, and how they are to live in response to that.

How many stories are in Genesis? The short answer? Plenty. Keep in mind Genesis is primarily following the story of two family lines – Adam’s and Abraham’s. Every family has a story. Every story affects every family member and adds a layer to the family story. Contrary to popular belief, the people of the Bible didn’t live perfect lives. Genesis is messy. There are miracles, there’s heart break, there’s injustice, there’s judgment – there are power struggles, deception, cruelty, and some how, weaved into all of that, is the super incredible love of God.

Get the Inductive Bible Study Bible Insert!

Genesis Bible Story Explained

In this quick Bible summary of Genesis I’m going to focus on answering one question – What is the main story of Genesis?

If I could sum up the story of Genesis in one word I would choose the word – promise.

It wasn’t long after the creation story (Genesis 1) that sin entered the world (Genesis 3) and humanity began waiting on the promise of a Savior; the One who would bruise the head of the devil. The Lord God said to him (the serpent),

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15

God fulfills this promise through the family of Abraham. The Messiah (Jesus) would come from the nation built by the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Genesis takes us from the promise of a nation (known as the Hebrew nation – eventually called the Israel) to the establishment of the nation.

What are the Main Topics In Genesis?

Genesis (and really the Bible as a whole) has three consistent themes.

• Creation
• Covenant
• Sin
• Restoration

Creation in Genesis

In Genesis you’ll learn about the creation of the heavens and earth (Genesis 1) , the creation of Eden – a specific place on Earth (Genesis 2), the creation of people, the creation of a nation (Israel). So many incredible beginnings and we get to explore them all!

Dive into the story of creation in the Bible, click here!

Covenant in Genesis

Usually we think of covenant and our minds go straight to the New Covenant in the New Testament. The first covenants mentioned in the Bible though, are in Genesis.

Noah’s Covenant – Genesis 9 (also known as the rainbow covenant) – the promise to never again destroy the Earth by flood.

Abrahamic (that’s the super official name for it) Covenant in Genesis 12 and 15 – this is the promise that Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the starts, that God would give them a land of their own, and through them all the nations of the world will be blessed.

Almost every other covenant in the Bible rests on this one. Learn all about the covenants in the Bible (starting in Genesis) here. 

Sin in Genesis

Over and over again in Genesis we see how sin corrupts the good God created. Here are some examples:

• Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
• The worldwide flood (Genesis 5)
• The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11)
• Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)

And that’s just the first half of Genesis.

Restoration in Genesis

With all the evil that found its way into the world, it amazes me that God in His goodness created so many more stories of restoration.

• He brought children into barren wombs (Sarah and Isaac – Genesis 21)
• He saw and took care of Ishmael and Hagar when they felt unseen (Genesis 21)
• He reconciled brothers (Esau and Jacob – Genesis 32-33)
• He loved the unloved (Leah – Genesis 29)
• He brought justice to those from whom it was withheld in the story of Tamar (Genesis 38)
• He brought good from harshness of Joseph’s slavery (Genesis 39 – 50)

Only God could bring good from such hard things. I love that He shows us this part of His character at the very beginning of the Bible.

Study the Genesis stories in order with the Genesis Journal!

Genesis Bible Stories for Adults

While most the stories in Genesis are taught in Sunday school there are details to some of them take them from rated G to rated R (which is of course why we don’t share those details in Sunday school).

For example:

• Ham seeing the nakedness of His father (Genesis 9) – isn’t nearly as innocent as it sounds. For context read Leviticus 20:11-21. And this wickedness lasted generations and spread through an entire nation. Yikes!
• We get a look at how evil the people in the land had become when we read the story of Dinah in Genesis 34.
• On a similar note, we also have the creation of the Moabites – descendants of Lot and his daughters. It’s gross, but it’s history. Read about it in Genesis 19.

Download our List of Bible Stories In Genesis!

Download the book of Genesis pdf here and print it off for your own personal study! It’ll include this list of the stories in Genesis. All free. Seriously, no strings attached!

So many wild stories. If you’re looking for Bible study resources that will help you study them well, be sure to join our online Bible study community! We’ll send you a couple of our most well loved study resources when you do!

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