Who was Adam in the BIble?

TL;DR:

Adam is the first person God created. Adam is also the one responsible for sin entering the world.

Adam was the first person God created (Genesis 1:27). Adam was created in God’s image and given the job to tend and keep the garden (Genesis 2:8, 15). God created Eve from Adam because He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Adam disobeyed God and ate from the fruit that Eve gave him from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–19). As a result, sin and death entered the world (Romans 5). Despite this, God promised salvation (Genesis 3:14–15, 20–24) and fulfilled His promise through Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:45–58). Adam's lineage connects to Jesus, who is depicted as the "last Adam," offering redemption from sin (Luke 3:23–38; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 45; Ephesians 1:3–10). Through Jesus, the ultimate consequences of Adam's sin are overturned, offering grace and righteousness to all who believe. Although sin entered the world through Adam, and the consequences of sin still exist, grace abounds for many through Jesus. This narrative highlights humanity's fall, the promise of redemption, and the pivotal role of Jesus as the last Adam.

from the old testament

The Hebrew word adam means man or human being. It is used generically throughout the Old Testament to refer to human beings as well as to refer to Adam specifically.
Adam is the first human created and thus the father of all humanity. He was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). Genesis 2:7 tells us how God created Adam: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
God placed Adam in the garden of Eden to tend and keep the garden. God told Adam that he could "eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16–17).
Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit that he was not supposed to eat. Eve was deceived by the serpent, and "she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6). Adam blamed Eve (Genesis 3:12), and even God for putting Eve there with him, but God held Adam responsible for sin entering the world. Adam bore the consequences—immediate and long-term—of disobeying God (Genesis 3:17–19).
Sin and death entered the world through Adam’s sin. The relationship between humans and God was broken. The relationships between humans, particularly between men and women, would never be the same. Even the ground would be cursed, and the man's work would become toil. But God did not abandon Adam and Eve. He clothed them with garments of skin, barred them from the garden of Eden so they would not take from the tree of life and live forever in a state of sin, and promised that salvation would come (Genesis 3:15, 21–24).
Adam "called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). Adam believed God's promise that Eve would have children.
Adam and Eve followed God’s instruction to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28) and had numerous children (Genesis 5:4).
Adam lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

from the new testament

Luke 3 traces Jesus' genealogy back to Adam.
Sin came into the world and was passed on to every human through Adam. Romans 5:12–14 explains it this way, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come."
Adam was a type of the “one who was to come” (Romans 5:14)—the last, or second, Adam who would undo and restore all that was destroyed by the sin of the first Adam. The "one who was to come" is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45–58).
Because of Adam’s sin everyone is a sinner and faces the penalty of sin—death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But God has made the way for us to be made right with Him by trusting in Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:1–10)! Romans 5:15 and 17 read: "But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. … For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

implications for today

We all, like Adam, are created in God’s image. We all, because of Adam, are sinners who are separated from God. Though we are each born in the likeness of Adam—sinful, separated from God, and destined to die—that is not the end of the story. Whereas the first Adam brought death, the last Adam (Jesus) brought us life. Jesus has defeated sin and death on the cross and through His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20–28, 56–57). All who put their faith in Him are new creations, reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:17–21). Though we were once dead in our sins, "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:4–10).

understand

Adam was the first person created.
Adam is responsible for sin entering the world.
Jesus is the “last Adam” through whom we can be saved from our sins.

reflect

What do we learn about God in the creation of Adam?
What do we learn about humanity from Adam?
Adam sinned by disobeying God. Sin brings death and separates us from God. Yet, God took care of the problem that Adam created by Jesus dying in our place so we can be forgiven and have life.

engage

God created Adam in His image and declared His creation "very good" (Genesis 1:27, 31). He gave Adam the ability to make decisions, which involved allowing him to sin. Adam and Eve’s sin does not mean that God is the author of sin or that He tempted them to sin (James 1:13). Why would God create Adam to have the ability to make decisions?
We are all sinners because Adam sinned. Even though we didn’t eat the fruit, our sin also has consequences. We are not excused simply because we were not the first to sin.
Adam’s disobedience was not about eating a piece of fruit. Rather, it was about disobeying and distrusting God. God knows what is best, and His commands are for our good (James 1:16–18; 1 John 5:1–5). Sin always costs us. Disobeying Him is rejecting what is good and true.