There are those who have adopted a cultic interpretation of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis; Satan is the cause of the fall by intercourse with Eve which resulted in Cain being the offspring of Eve. Thus the eating of the fruit of the tree is symbolic in its meaning.
The truth can only be ascertained; it can only be explained correctly by holding to a literal interpretation about this event, which is how Jesus described Genesis. Those who come to another conclusion do so because they allegorize, symbolize or make the event of the fall into a metaphor. This type of interpretation is often found in the new age movement and cults.
The Bible makes it clear that fall of man came from the eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, it had nothing to do with intercourse? Both Adam and Eve ate of the fruit.
Lest read to understand what actually took place. Gen. 3:1: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
Here the serpent calls the woman’s attention to a tree, not himself.
Satan’s appeal was that the knowledge of good and evil is what makes God who He is. If she eats from this tree she too will have this knowledge and it will make her like God. He convinces her not to believe in the penalty which is death.
Gen. 3:2-3 In her discussion with this serpent Eve responds ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’
The conversation continues on the fruit of a tree they are forbidden to eat from that is among other trees they are already eating from. This tree was like the other trees in the garden, in that it gave fruit. The tree was not a symbol for something else.
Gen. 3:6-7: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
The Bible is consistent in its use of words, tree, fruit, eating; these do not have a hidden meaning, they represent what the words says.
What some do is make this literal event symbolic, non literal, when the Bible says it was literal. She saw the fruit was good for food. The trees did have fruit and what she ate is what Eve gave to her husband to eat. Her seeing the fruit, touching the fruit did not bring death; but eating it.
It says she fell into deception, not adultery. They both ate and they both had the same affect on them, it was shared. So if one is going to say Eve eating of the tree was sexual in nature then it needs to be applied to Adam as well.
At a certain time of the day the Lord visits them and said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate" (Gen. 3:11-12).
There are those who insist that Cain is the offspring of the Serpent, (Satan) by Eve’s eating of the tree (symbolic of her intercourse). When intercourse is described the phrase (“knew her” is used. This is completely missing in describing the sin of Eve. If one turns the eating of the fruit into promiscuity on Eve’s part – than what of Adam?
God blames Adam for the sin, not Eve, which would be a necessity if this was a sexual sin by her participation.
They were monogamous: it would not have occurred to our first parent to "know" any other than "his wife," and “her husband.” How else could Jesus refer to their marriage in Mt.19:5 as the standard if one was unfaithful, especially in conception (1 Cor.6:16). To make Eve a harlot is a demonic teaching.
God says it is fruit from a tree: to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” This quote of Gen. 3:17 is referring to Gen. 2:16-17 where “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "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."
First we should recognize that Satan is evil with no good, second the word eating is used for food. They were already eating from all the other trees. If eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was intercourse then eating from the other tree is as well. The Bible says Adam did not know his wife until after they were put out of the garden. This whole theory is in jeopardy if one reads the word of God carefully and correctly. The “serpent seed doctrine” states that Adam did not know Eve intimately during the time of their stay in the garden but Satan did.
But according to the word of God the conception of Cain took place after Adam and Eve were put out of the garden from the fall (eating of the forbidden tree). Whereas the sin was from eating of the tree which caused the fall took place in the garden. One has to do some doctrinal gymnastics to try and connect Cain’s conception to the encounter with Satan as the tree or fruit. This changes the literal descriptions in Genesis to an allegory (symbolic story) in nature. This is a literal event - literal trees, literal people and a literal serpent. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament as such (Rom. 5:21, 16:20; 1 Cor.15:21; 2 Cor.11:3-4; 1 Tim. 2:14)
I can assure you by the word of God that both Cain and Abel are called Adam's offspring.
Gen 4:1: “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."
Gen 4:1 Adam meuo his wife, he knew her. To know - experientially, intimately (as in sexual intercourse). When Eve conceived; the Hebrew word is harah (2029); a primitive root; to be (or become) pregnant, conceive (literally or figuratively): KJV-- been, be with child, conceive, progenitor.
Nowhere does the Bible say Cain was conceived by anyone else but Adam. It does not say Satan, the Serpent or any other knew Eve. When Eve bore Cain she said he was from the Lord, not Satan. She saw this child as a gift from God. Certainly this would not be the case if Satan was progenitor of Cain. You don't get a demon child from God or with His help, nor do you praise him for it.
This becomes a matter of whether one wants to get there teaching from the Bible or use their own imagination. The same word Adam knew his wife and she conceived Cain is used in Gen.4:17 that Cain knew his wife.
Gen. 4:25 “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.”
Each time The Scripture attributes the source to Adam (knew his wife); no other. Both children, Cain and Abel are called Adam's offspring, and Seth too. No one contests that it would be anyone else but Adam who fathered Seth. Why do they contest the same language used for Cain, the same words and intent are used for both. (Gen.4:17 also uses the same phrase, as Cain knew his wife and she conceived.) This word (knew), in its context means intimacy and is used consistently throughout the Scripture for sex.
Some make the argument that Eve was impregnated by both Adam and the Devil, that Cain and Abel were twins. However the Bible is clear on the meaning. The word for twins in Hebrew is ta'owm (Strong's Concordance #8380 from 8382); a twin (in plural only), literally or figuratively (used in Gen 25:24 and 38:27). We have 2 completely different words for twin and brother. The Bible says they are brothers. Certainly one can be a brother without being a twin.
Gen.4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain ” So all the arguments for twins, fraternal or any other are moot. Gen 4:2: “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel “Notice the words in 4:1 conceived and bore, meaning she gave birth to Cain, then she bore again.
The argument is that they were twins, but the Bible uses the word for brothers, not twins in describing Cain and Abel. Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was born “later”, not as a twin. They would have been mentioned as twins, as in the example of Esau and Jacob if this had been the case (the Hebrew does not allow for this).
Gen.4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain ” So all the arguments for twins, fraternal or any other are moot. Gen 4:2: “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel “Notice the words in 4:1 conceived and bore, meaning she gave birth to Cain, then she bore again.
The argument is that they were twins, but the Bible uses the word for brothers, not twins in describing Cain and Abel. Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was born “later”, not as a twin. They would have been mentioned as twins, as in the example of Esau and Jacob if this had been the case (the Hebrew does not allow for this).
The Bible uses the word for brother - not twin. The Hebrew word for Brother (Strong’s Concordance #251) is 'ach which is a primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance [like 1]): KJV-- another, brother (-ly); kindred, like, other.
Compare also the proper names beginning with "Ah-" or “Ahi-”.'ach- brother a) brother of same parents b) half-brother (same father) c) relative, kinship, same tribe d) each to the other (reciprocal relationship) e) (figuratively) of resemblance.
As far as we can tell this doctrine came about in the early church “The concept of the Serpent seed comes to us from the early Church where a certain group took the spiritual concept of Jesus’ statement of certain Jews nature as “ children of the Father” to be literal. The Archontites are mentioned by Epiphanius, read it thus (John 8:44) “Ye are the children of your father the Devil, because he is a liar, and his father was a liar. He was a man-slayer, and he did not remain in the truth.
When he speaketh, he speaketh a lie of his own (progenitors understood), because his father also was a liar.”. ,,They said that the father of the Jews was a demon; that he also had a demon for his father; and that he had a demon for his father, etc. The Archontites maintained that Cain had a demon for his father, the spirit which our Lord speaks of here; and that the Jews proceeded from the race of Cain” (from Adam Clarke's Commentary.)
Eve was deceived, she did not commit adultery.
2 Cor. 11:3: “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived (KJV seduced) Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Paul explains that the deception of Satan is on our mind, just as he attacked Eve. Crafty has the idea of smoothness, to be cunning (in a bad sense): the simplicity Paul refers to goes back to the original state of man on the earth. It has nothing to do with intercourse and Bible teachers that those who teach this should be avoided as their minds have been corrupted.
The bible does not teach the fall came by intercourse with the Devil, it never points to this as the reason. Only in those whose minds have been corrupted from the simplicity of the gospel would entertain this.
Neither a tree or a fruit represent him, the serpent does. God did not judge a tree but the serpent and both Adam and Eve.
This is not making a doctrine from silence, but going against the clear teaching in Scripture. The serpent was a real creature, he was called one of God’s creatures in the garden, it would be ridiculous to call the fruit or tree a symbol (Gen.2:14) of that serpent. It is later we see the serpent is used symbolic for Satan, referring back to this first event when he deceived Eve to sin through the serpent by eating the fruit.
They base this interpretation on I Jn. 3:12: “Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous (this is pertaining to his offering he bought which was of his own hands Gen.4:5). He was of the wicked one because he acted through pride, lust of power, for his own self. In other words, he acted in sin (the Devils nature), he was Jealous became angry and then killed his own brother (Gen.4:8). But they interpret this event as validating that Cain was literally the Devils offspring.
The New testament makes this clear as the Devil worked in Cain he still works today. Eph. 2:2: “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Every time the human will exercises itself against God, sin is in operation. It is in our heart constantly but it brings it fruit when acted upon. In fact the bible says “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 Jn. 5:19). This would make everyone who is sinful the offspring of Satan like Cain was. Which is completely wrong.
The Genealogy
Another argument used, Cain is not found in the genealogy, reinforcing the reason he is from the Devil. This is truly ridiculous, Adam and Eve had other children but these are not mentioned eithe in the lineage? Why? Because they have nothing to do with the lineage of the Messiah. Using this way of interpreting Scripture one would have to believe they are from the Devil also! This is teaching from the silence of the Scripture, not from what it actually teaches.
Genesis 5:4: “After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.” Gen.5 excludes Cain and starts with Seth. Why are these other sons and daughters not named in Adam's genealogy? Are they also sons and daughters of Satan as Cain is? Of course not, and neither is Cain. This is why Cain is not included (Gen.4:25 Seth is the appointed seed in place of Abel who was killed), because it is concerned with genealogy of the Messiah. God is giving us the lineage, revealing whom Jesus Christ will come through.
After Cain was banished he takes a wife, an anonymous daughter of Adam and Eve.
Gen.4:17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son-- Enoch. The genealogy of Cain's family is given to the sixth generation. Cain’s genealogy: Gen. 4:18-19 “To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.”
Why is Cain protected? Gen. 4:15 And the LORD said to him, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." God protected Cain because the image of God is in man, Cain was also made in this image, NOT the image of the Devil. If Cain had the Devil as his father then Cain would not be made in God’s image. When Adam and Eve fell God’s image was not removed, it was damaged. The moral likeness from their creator was affected for all generations.
This command not to kill is repeated in Gen. 9:6: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God he made man.”
Gen. 5:3-32 Enoch, the seventh from Adam through Seth, godliness is preserved while ungodliness increases and culminates in Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain.
We don’t know the names of either Noah’s wife or his three sons wives. Because the Scripture is using the men for the genealogy.
Let us Reason
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