Christian Churches of God

No. 248z

Summary:

Doctrine of Original Sin

Part 2

The Generations of Adam

 

(Edition 1.0 19980627-19980627)

The lines of Adam through Seth and Cain have a significance for the plan of salvation that is not generally understood and expounded. The two structures have an explicit meaning and a story that explains the plan of God and declares it from the beginning.

 

 

 

 

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

 

(Copyright ã 1998 Wade Cox and Storm Cox)

(Summary by Patti Gambier, ed. Wade Cox)

This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright.

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org

 

 

Doctrine of Original Sin Part 2

The book of Genesis explains the fall in the Garden of Eden, which is examined in part 1. After the expulsion from Eden, and the ground was cursed because of the original sin, Adam set about the tasks he was entrusted with by God. His first task was to replenish the earth (Gen. 3:17-19).

Adam lay with his wife Eve; and she conceived, and gave birth to Cain and later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground (Gen. 4:1-2).

Genesis 4:3-5 states Abel brought a sacrifice and the fat of it and the Lord accepted it. Cain brought produce from a cursed earth when in fact it was being made obvious that a blood sacrifice was required. Moreover, Abel’s was the firstfruits as was required under the law. Cain’s offering was not firstfruits (Heb: minchah). The view of Cain’s sacrifice can be seen by reference to Jude 11.

The entire understanding of the firstfruits system, and every facet of the plan and the Ten Commandments were evident from the beginning in Genesis. Even the name of Yahovah and hence the concept of the Third Commandment was known from the time of Adam and Seth (see Gen. 4:26) and not as is wrongly asserted when it was given to Moses at Sinai.

Cain spoke with Abel and then slew him (Gen. 4:8). Abel (or Hebel) stood as witness against Cain. In the same way the elect by their existence stand as witness against the world. Cain slew Hebel as the Mainstream religions persecute and kill the elect.

The term blood is plural in the Hebrew. The alternatives are seen firstly as being that the blood of Abel and the blood of his descendants cried out (cf. Mat. 23:35). 1John 3:12 shows the reason for the killing.

Anyone finding Cain and slaying him (Gen. 4:14) is a strange comment as Cain and his father Adam were ostensibly the only two males on the planet at the time. Obviously there was something else going on.

So Cain dwelt in the land of Nod or nowd (SHD 5113), which is a land east of Eden (Gen. 4:16-17). It is the same as SHD 5112 and means vagrancy or wandering. The sense of the words is to be cut off from God. The implications here regarding the land of wandering is important given the concepts of other beings on the planet.

Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. After his son Enoch was born Cain built a city and named it after Enoch. Enoch means teaching or initiation; hence make a disciple of or to train up.

Genesis 4:18 gives the lineage of Cain. The names in this sequence are highly significant. Irad means fugitive (SHD 5897 cf. 6166). The structure of cities of refuge as found in the law may actually be as early as this activity of Cain.

Lamech is the seventh in line from Adam. SHD 3929 Lemek is an unused Hebrew root of uncertain meaning. It refers to two patriarchs, one from each line from Adam. In the line of Cain Lamech is the seventh in line from Adam. In the other line the seventh is Enoch, which is also the name of the third generation and son of Cain. One Enoch was righteous and the other was not.

Genesis 4:20,21 continues the line of Cain. Jabal (SHD 2989) was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. This can hardly be the simple meaning as Abel was the first pastoralist as we have seen above and he offered sacrifice to the Lord, which was more acceptable than Cain’s offering of grain. The term relating to tents here is applied to temples of idols and the Midrash declares that he was the first to build temples to idols and offer sacrifice to them.

The name Jubal (SHD 3106) the father of those who handle the harp and the pipe comes from SHD 2986 and means a stream. Rashi says that he was the first to introduce (bring or carry) music in the service of idolatry.

The Triune system was the most ancient form of idolatrous worship. It was employed by the antediluvian world as far as we can determine by their remains, such as Stonehenge.

Tubal-cain (Gen. 4:22) improved on (tabal) Cain’s work, preparing weapons for bloodshed (every cutting instrument) according to Rashi, which meant swords and knives (cf. Soncino). It can be safely taken to mean that Tubalcain was instrumental in making weapons of war and teaching others to make weapons of war in the antediluvian world.

This sequence then runs from Adam to Lamech through Cain as seven generations cut off from God and then Cain was killed by the seventh generation from Adam at the instigation of the seventh generation from Cain namely Tubal-Cain. Thus the sequence was repeated again. Lamech was in effect claiming innocence and was to be avenged seventy-seven times. Whatever the case Cain had a mark of protection on him put there by God and so the one who killed him would be punished seven fold.

Lamech merely carried out the sentence of God. Lamech was wounded in his line being cut off from God and bruised because his own son was the instrument of him killing Cain. The seventh generation of Adam was the instrument of the death of Cain and the instigator was also killed.

Certainly the lines of Cain and the Nephilim were to be wiped out in the flood. No more is really said here of the line of Cain until we get to the texts of the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4.

The Line of Seth

We revert now back to Adam and the birth of Seth, resuming in Genesis 4:25. Seth (SHD 8352 Shêth) means substituted and is derived from SHD 7896 shîyth meaning to place. (This is also the probable origin of the English word sheath for a weapon).

From this time men began to call on the name of Yahovah (Gen. 4:26). Thus the assertion that the name was not known until Sinai is a fiction. The law was given to the world from the beginning and Yahovah was part of the structure that issued it.

In Genesis 5:1-32, we see the absolute longevity of the Partriarchs being displayed. Adam is alive at the birth of Seth and Seth’s son and His son and so on for generations. Moreover, the breeding capacity of women was also extended in the longevity.

In like manner (Gen. 5:6-8) Seth lived alongside "Adam" his father and mother for hundreds of years. Seth was substituted or in place of Abel the transitory being who was killed. Enos was the firstborn son of Seth and his name means a mortal (cf. Strong’s HD 582 ‘enôwsh and 583) and is less dignified that the SHD 120 Adam meaning also man. So there is a change in the status of the line of Adam because of the original sin.

Cainan (SHD 7018 Qêynân), (Gen. 5:9-11) was the son of Enos. His name is derived from the same as SHD 7064 a contraction of 7077 meaning to erect in the sense of building or occupying as a nest.

His son was named Mahalaleel (Gen. 5:12), which is a combination of two words, SHD 4110 fame or praise and 410 el or God. Hence the name means praise of God. We see the sense here that from the proper erection of a home and the raising of young the praise of God is correctly established.

Jared was the first son of Mahalaleel.(Gen. 5:16). His name Yered (SHD 3382) means a descent. Through the correct raising of the home and family the descent and restoration of God is made possible.

Yered begat Enoch (Gen. 5:18), which as we have seen means to be initiated or trained (SHD 2585 Chanowk which is derived from SHD 2596 to narrow meaning to initiate or discipline). Thus through the descent of God the training of the human structure is made possible and is man perfected. This is in contrast to the placement of the name in the sons of Cain where Enoch was the progeny of Cain through seizure and grasping at God. This is the distinction made between Christ and Satan in Philippians 2:5-8.

Adam and the line through Seth also were in the form of God but did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That was the original sin of Adam and Eve, which was also committed by Satan. Thus the entire line was affected and became less than it might have been. Only then in the line through a new process would man be able to succeed and that through the descent and intervention of Yahovah-elohim who became a man at the direction of God Most High, the Eloah, the One True God who sent Messiah to redeem the creation (cf. Jn. 17:3).

Enoch was shown the end process and taken to perform another function (vs. 21-24). So also was Elijah and these are the only two human beings to be removed and not see death. Yet they will die as it is appointed unto all men once to die (Heb. 9:27 cf. the paper The Witnesses (No. 135)). Enoch pointed in this way also to Messiah as did Elijah.

Enoch was the father of Methuselah. He reached full length of years. The word 7973 shelach means a missile of attack i.e. a spear. Thus it is a man of a dart. This also means a shoot of growth from the same concept of a spear of a plant and hence it means a Branch. It also has the meaning of man of a Branch. The meaning then takes on new significance when we realise that Christ was God’s servant the Branch (SHD 6780 tsemach meaning to sprout or a shoot or bud).

Like Enoch Christ was acceptable to God and God took him. His progeny, the Church thus were men of the dart or the sprout or branch. The significance is that of being pleasing to God and accepted and prolonging one’s days and the days of one’s progeny. The church is the family and progeny of the elect. The earth that then was as it was called was not destroyed until Methuselah had fulfilled his days and the year he died the flood came.

Methuselah outlived his son Lamech. Genesis 5:25-27 give the life span and progeny of Methuselah. The meaning of Lamech has been lost in antiquity. They are both seen however as the terminus of the antediluvian world. The Lamech of Methusaleh being the father of Noah and the Lamech of the line of Cain is also the father of Naamah, which Rashi holds to be the wife of Noah and hence he combines both lines.

The days of Lamech are stylised into seven hundred and seventy-seven years (Gen. 5:28-32), which is a complete sequence and stands in direct contrast to the number of the beast or satanic system of six hundred and sixty-six. The numerical sequence of the Triune or beast system is not simply a device of the first century church. The contrast thus stands as Satan and his system against the church and God’s system under Messiah.

As He did with the flood, God will act to destroy the world at the end of this age. The time sequence however completes the plan of the creation in the sequence of the seven Millennia.

The Angelic Fall

The understanding of the Fall of the Host is wound up with the human creation and the fornication with the daughters of men. This is examined at length in the paper The Nephilim (No. 154).

The text in Genesis 5:32 shows Noah was five hundred years old when he fathered Shem, Ham and Japeth. Rashi holds that while Japeth was the firstborn Shem is mentioned first because he was righteous and it was understood that he was born circumcised (cf. Soncino). This is a reflection of the covenant with Abraham and shows that relationship was understood rabbinically to precede the flood.

Man was given 120 years as a span of repentance. Hence from adulthood he had two full jubilees before destruction. This time frame will again be introduced at the second resurrection to allow all to repent (cf. Isa. 65:20).

Genesis 6:4 deals with the Nephilim and the rabbinical authorities understand that this text refers to be the fallen Host. Rashi holds they are called Nephilim because they "fell" (naphal) and also caused the world to fall.

The term "daughters of men" means that they begot giants like themselves. "Mighty men" means that they were mighty in their rebellion against God (Rashi; cf. Soncino).

The term "men of renown" (shem) means they were men who brought desolation (shemamon) upon the world.

The Koran holds that Iblis (Satan) rebelled because of the creation of man. Man was not created a celestial being so that the Host could be tested by faith.

From the text of Genesis we see that the entire lineage of the sons of Adam was corrupted by the fallen Host, and they had to be destroyed and Noah was pure in his generations.

There is no doubt from here and the verses in Jude 6 and also 1Corinthians 11:10 (cf. Gen. 24:65) the angels were understood to have corrupted the creation. Women were veiled because of this original sin as early as the texts in Genesis and the interaction of all angels with the human creation.

The purpose of the creation was so that God could extend Himself and become all in all in the creation as it was to be extended in the structure of the family without angelic interference. The structure of original sin was initially in corruption of the creation. The sequence of the generations of Adam shows that salvation is of an adult form moving over generations and taught father to son. Thus, the concept of original sin is not salvageable within an infant structure.

 

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