My question is whether or not Adam and Eve were the literal first two people created who then went on to populate the earth, if they were two of a tribe of people or if they were symbolic of the human race in its creation.

Two women in my Sunday school class from different backgrounds both stated that they had been taught that Adam and Eve were two of a large tribe created all at once. When I asked them how then the entire human species was then judged because of Adams sin they replied because Adam had some kind of special anointing that made the curse of sin not only pass downward among his generations, but also laterally among the rest of mankind.

I have a hard time believing this. The only argument they presented that I was unable to flat out refute was after Cain murdered Abel he pleaded with God not to send him away in fear of the other people who would seek and kill him. Seeing as at the time Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel were the only people alive the only people he would have been in fear of would now have only been his parents. I took the stance that he is foreseeing a future clan of kinsman seeking retribution, but I didn’t know if you had any more insight or if you’ve ever been confronted with this line of teaching. Thanks again for all of your help.

A. Your two friends have read a great deal into the creation account. Their explanation of how all mankind became estranged from God because of Adam’s sin not only defies logic but also violates the character of God, who cannot judge the innocent with the guilty. Abraham’s plea with God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah makes this clear (Genesis 18:16-33) as does Peter’s statement that God knows how to rescue godly men from trials while holding the unrighteous for the day of judgment (2 Peter 3:9). The explanation they gave you is pure fabrication on someone’s part.

As for the people Cain would fear, remember that in those days people lived for 800 years or more. A husband and wife would have had several hundred years of child bearing life together. Genesis 5 recounts that each of the ten patriarchs had other sons and daughters beside those named. That includes Adam and Eve. Don’t be fooled into thinking of families as they are today with a mom and dad and two kids. If on average they only bore children during 200 years of their lives together and only had one child every 5 years they would have died with over 2 million descendants each. Multiply that by just the number of people the Bible names and you have a huge population. Remember, they were told to be fruitful and fill the earth.

Altogether, from the time of Adam to the Great Flood 1656 years had passed. Just where along that time line Cain was banished we’re not told, but you don’t have to make up stories to come up with a substantial population on Earth pretty quickly. It’s reasonable therefore to believe the Bible just as it was written, with Adam and Eve being our sole original parents.

A. The Gospel of Judas, written in the 2nd century, was condemned as heresy nearly 1800 years ago by early church leaders. It promotes the gnostic error, that salvation is attained through the acquisition of secret knowledge rather than faith in the Lord’s atoning death on the cross. It’s 26 pages long and mentions neither the crucifixion nor the resurrection, but has Jesus promising to convey to Judas the secret knowledge he desired, and thanking him for his act of betrayal.

I think unbelievers tried to make a big deal out of it, like they did about the Gospel of Thomas a few years earlier, but to no avail.  It’s discovery was originally promoted by National Geographic, a non-religious group.

A. Deciding which books were to be included in the Old Testament was done by senior priests based on general agreement that each book was authentic (written by the person identified as its author) and divinely inspired.

The New Testament had pretty much come together by 150 AD but there continued to be discussion about a few books until about 400 AD. It was not officially canonized until the Council of Trent in the 1500’s. There were three basic criteria for inclusion.

1. Were the authors either eyewitnesses to the events they wrote about or at least directly taught about them by the Apostles?
2. Was each book’s teachings consistent with church practice and tradition?
3. Was each book already in general use by the church, and accepted as the Divine Word of God?

In both Old and New testaments, the books included had to be generally viewed as the work of divinely inspired writers who faithfully converted God’s Word into written form. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

The extra books in the Catholic Bible are called The Apocrypha. They were written after the Canon of the Hebrew Bible was complete – about 425 B.C. The word apocrypha means “hidden, or secret”. Due to their doubtful authenticity the word has come to mean “fraudulent, or forged” by some scholars.

Although some feel there are many more, The Apocrypha is normally made up of fourteen books which are found in Greek and Latin translations but never in the Hebrew Old Testament. When Jerome translated the Old Testament into Latin he refused to include them within the body of the book and established a separate section he named “The Apocrypha”. Only 11 of these are included in the Catholic Bible Today but all 14 can still be found in the Orthodox Bible.

The Apocrypha was removed from the Protestant Bible altogether at the time of the Reformation. Here are several reasons why many Christian authorities reject the writings of the Apocrypha:

1. The Apocrypha was never in the Hebrew Canon.

2. Neither Jesus Christ, nor any of the New Testament writers, ever quoted from the Apocrypha. (Jude mentioned Enoch, but Enoch was not the author of the books that bear his name.)

3. Josephus(a well-known historian from the Biblical era) excluded them from his list of sacred scripture. He felt they were lacking authenticity or validity in essence or origin.

4. During the first four centuries there was no mention made of the Apocrypha in any catalogue or canonical book. They were believed to be slipped in during the fifth century. There are reputed to be 263 quotations and 370 allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament and not one of them refers to the Apocryphal writings.

5. The books of the Apocrypha were never asserted to be divinely inspired or to possess divine authority in their contents.

6. No prophets were connected with these writings. Each book of the Old Testament was written by a man who was a prophet.

7. These books are replete with historical, geographical and chronological errors. In order to accept the Apocrypha one would have to reject the Old Testament narratives.

8. The Apocryphal doctrines and practices are contrary to the Canon of Scripture.

There is some historical insight to be gained from the Apocrypha, since they were written in the time between the Old and New Testaments. But extreme caution must be exercised. These books weren’t written by the people whose names are mentioned in their titles, and they are neither theologically nor historically accurate. You should test the things they say against other reliable sources before accepting them as valid.

Q. By faith, I am a full believer as you know. However, there is one guy who continues to post (on a forum I belong to) that history says the Gospels were not written by the authors listed (Mathew, Mark, etc) and continues to bash me and others who discuss Biblical research and facts claiming that “real” history proves otherwise.

In the past you’ve sent me some good information that supports my belief, but I was hoping you could point me in a direction outside the apologetics world for facts to dispute his claims, knowing you have far more knowledge on this than I. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

A. The “real world” as this person defines it consists totally of unbelievers. Why would an unbeliever want to publish proof that he’s wrong? People like Josh MacDowell, Simon Greenleaf, and CS Lewis all started out as unbelievers trying to prove the Bible wrong, but their studies led them to change their minds and become part of the “apologetics world”. It’s happened countless times.

The evidence is there for any one who wants to look at it and can be easily confirmed. I’d advise you to let this go and move on. All the facts in the world won’t force someone who has his mind set like this to change it, because his decision is based in emotion, not logic.

Psalm 14 begins, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Even a fool can’t say that logically, with his intellect, because the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. So he has to say that emotionally, with his heart, as if denying God’s existence will make it so. You can’t use logic against a position like that. You can only pray that God will soften his heart.

Q. In your commentary on Psalm 137, re: “under the leadership of Ezekiel the Jews put together the books of the O.T.” Could you tell me where I could get more information on this? It sparked my interest in knowing about how, when, where the O.T. books were placed in their order.

A. The earliest indications of the Old Testament canon come from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and suggest that the process had begun during the Babylonian captivity (605-535 BC) with the Torah (the 1st 5 Books of the Bible). But the process was probably not complete until sometime in the 2nd Century BC. Deciding which books were to be included was done by senior priests based on general agreement that each book was authentic (written by the person identified as its author) and divinely inspired.

In my commentary I credited Ezekiel with developing the synagogue form of worship, not the canonization of their scriptures. For more information, I would suggest searching on the Internet for articles on “Old Testament Canon”.

I love your website. Thank you and God bless you!

Q. This may be a hypocritical statement and question. I believe there is a God and I believe Jesus Christ is my saviour, but I often wonder “who made God”…Do you ever wonder this and would you have a theory to clarify my wondering?

I love your website. Thank you and God bless you!

A. God gives us no information on His origin except to state that He always was. That means He had no beginning and will have no end. We get a hint of this in Micah 5:2 where the Hebrew says that the Messiah’s existence was before time and is perpetual.

Hebrew scholars believe that the particular way in which the very first letter of the Hebrew version of Genesis 1 is formed indicates that man has not been given the ability to know the details of anything that preceeded the Biblical creation account.

Q. I was reading Genesis 7 where God told Noah to take seven of every clean animal and only two of the unclean ones. The Levitical Laws weren’t given until the Israelites were in the Wilderness. How did Noah know which animals were clean and which were not?

A. It’s true that the Law was organized and written down by Moses during the 40 years the Israelites spent in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.  But what Moses did was to formalize a system that had been in effect since man’s expulsion from the garden. That’s how Abel knew to bring a lamb to the Altar and why Cain’s offering of produce he had grown was rejected.

Cain was upset, but God said, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)

The fact that Cain knew what was right tells us that after the fall God had instructed Adam and his family on the procedure for handling sin including all the things humans would now have to do to maintain their relationship with God while awaiting the Redeemer who would come to restore them. This would have included the proper offerings, as well as which animals were acceptable and which were not.

Knowing that Noah would need to make several offerings before the first generation of post-flood animals was born, He had Noah take a larger number of those He had declared acceptable to insure that there would be a sufficient number both for sacrifices and for breeding.

Q. I was reading your answer to the question: How Can Angels And Humans Have Children? I looked up the Book of Enoch. Very Interesting. Can you tell why it wasn’t included in the Bible?

Also, I was discussing this with my husband, and he said Enoch came from Cain, so I thought maybe that is why it wasn’t included, but then I was looking in Genesis, and it seems as though there are two men named Enoch in the Bible, one indeed from Cain, but the other from Jared (Seth’s side). Genesis 4 and 5 can cause some confusion if a person isn’t really paying attention. So many parallels in names: Methusael (from Mehujael)-Methuselah (from Enoch) ; Lamech (from Methusael) -Lamech (from Methuselah) ; Enoch(from Cain)-Enoch(from Jared).

I guess I am asking about this point to make sure I understand correctly, these are six different people? Do you know which Enoch the Book of Enoch came from? Thank you.

A. The Book of Enoch wasn’t included in Scripture because it wasn’t written by either Enoch of Genesis times and didn’t appear until long after the events it describes. Also, theological errors led scholars to conclude that it wasn’t an inspired writing. So, while there are many interesting explanations of traditional Jewish beliefs, the book should not be given the weight of Scripture.

There was an Enoch as well as a Lamech in both the lines of Seth and Cain, and Methushael and Methuselah were two different people, So yes, the references you cited are of six different people.

A. The earliest indications of the Old Testament canon come from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and suggest that the process had begun during the Babylonian captivity (605-535 BC) with the Torah (the 1st 5 Books of the Bible). But the process was probably not complete until sometime in the 2nd Century BC. Deciding which books were to be included was done by senior priests based on general agreement that each book was authentic (written by the person identified as its author) and divinely inspired.

The New Testament had pretty much come together by 150AD but there continued to be discussion about a few books until about 400 AD. It was not officially canonized until the Council of Trent in the 1500’s. There were three basic criteria for inclusion.

1. Were the authors either eyewitnesses to the events they wrote about or at least directly taught about them by the Apostles?
2. Was each book’s teachings consistent with church practice and tradition?
3. Was each book already in general use by the church, and accepted as the Divine Word of God?

In both Old and New testaments, the books included had to be generally viewed as the work of divinely inspired writers who faithfully converted God’s Word into written form. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Q. Jack could you please teach me about the Book of Remembrance found in Malachi 3:16? Thanks!!

A. There are several heavenly books kept by the Lord.

Numbers 21:14 mentions the book of the Wars of the Lord. God kept a Book of Life for the Jews that was updated once a year on Yom Kippur. And Jesus has the Lamb’s Book of Life. Before He created Adam , God wrote the name of everyone who would accept His Son’s death as payment for their sins in that book, and promised never to blot anyone out of it.

The Book of Remembrance was created at the time when Israel restored the Law of Tithing. God wrote the names of the faithful there and promised to spare them, making their descendants His in the Millennium when He forms His Kingdom in Israel.