[Biblemat] A) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Thursday morn-
ing to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.  Here are a
couple of questions and answers from my files:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION: --  Do the commands mentioned in Acts 15:20-29 apply to us today?

ANSWER: -- When the gospel was first preached, it was only to
the Jews (Acts 2).  But later, at the Lord's express command, the
apostles went to the Gentiles.  But the Gentiles did not have the
religious background of the Jews, and this caused some prob-
lems in the early church.  Many of the Jews who became Christ-
ians felt that the Gentiles should be required to keep the law of
Moses.  There was considerable dispute over this question, and
finally, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a meeting of the
apostles and elders was held at Jerusalem (Acts 15).  As God di-
rected, by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:11-13; 1 Thes. 2:13), a decis-
ion was reached that settled the issue.  Letters were to be sent
to the churches among the Gentiles, that the Gentiles were to be
free from the Law of Moses, except for "these necessary things"
(Acts 15:28).

       The "necessary things" for the Gentiles were four in number,
things the Jews had long observed as part of the Law of Moses.
"Abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things 
strangled, and from forniction" (Acts 15:29).  These
things had long been practiced by the Jews, now these comman-
ds were sent to the Gentiles.  One reason that God gave for ab-
staining from blood was that "the life is in the blood" (Lev. 17:
11), and life belongs to God.  The abstention from things strang-
led is based on the same idea, that the blood remains in the flesh.  To eat 
meat offered to idols was idolatry, and fornication
was forbidden with other immoralities.

       The decree sent forth in Acts 15 was surely part of the gospel of 
Christ.  It was intended for all of the Gentiles, and it
certainly applies today as part of the gospel.  The need for purity
-- both in our worship and in morality in general -- is as great now as it 
was then.  As the eating of blood was sinful then, so it
is wrong today.   --- Clem Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 23, June 
6, 2008.
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QUESTION: -- From where did Cain get his wife?

ANSWER: -- There are several assumptions being made here.  It
is said that Cain went to the land of Nod where he got a wife.  And that 
showed that God had made other men and women be-sides Adam and Eve.

       First, it is assumed that Adam and Eve had no other children.
In Hebrew thinking, the girls were often not mentioned, as all in-
heritance and rights passed through the sons.  So, the first 
couple might have had some daughters already.  Second, by the
time of the murder of Abel, many years had passed, which could
also mean that  other children had been born, started their own
families by marrying nieces and nephews and so on.  Finally, it
is a big assumption to think that God made many men and wom-
en and placed them in other places.

       "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and sett-
led in the land of Nod, east of Eden.  And Cain had relations with
his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he 
built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name
of his son" (Gen. 4:16,17).  Cain is banished from God's presen-
ce and condemned to wander the earth.  He settled in the land
of Nod.  "Nod" may not have been a literal land, but may have 
been his condition as an exile from God's presence.  You can
see that Cain is still in rebellion, since the first thing he does is
build a city, a permanent home in defiance of God's punishment.
(It would seem that Nod was a literal place since it is referred to
as being east of Eden, JWS).

       Also, botice the text doesn't say when Cain married this woman.  He 
may have been married when the anger in him caus-
ed him to murder his brother.  He may have married her just be-
fore he went to the land of Nod.  But the Bible doesn't say that
he GOT his wife in the land of Nod.  The Bible simply points out
that Cain had a child by her in the land of Nod, or, while he was 
in exile.  We are not told where he got his wife.

       The New Testament often refers to Adam.   Always, he is the first to 
sin, the man who introduced sin into the world, and, there-
fore, the father of all who sin.  That simply means, that if other
people were created by God, they could have escaped the guilt
of sin Adam introduced to the world.  And remember that Adam
"His wife's name Eve, for she was the mother of all living" (Gen.
3:20).  So, as I see from my tudy, Adam and Eve were originals,
unique, and others were not made until they, by natural means,
started having children.  (We do not know how old Cain and 
Abel were when they first offered sacrifice to the Lord.  If it follow-
ed the pattern found in the Law of Moses later on, they possibly
had to be at least 30 years old at the time, JWS).  -------- David
Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 30, July 25, 2008.   </HTML>
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