Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Adam and His Sons

When did sin and death enter the world? BR-ASI9 259.1

“Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12. BR-ASI9 259.2

What shows that God imputed sin to Cain? BR-ASI9 259.3

“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. . . . And He said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth.” Genesis 4:7, 10, 11. BR-ASI9 259.4

What was the difference between Cain and Abel? BR-ASI9 259.5

“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12. BR-ASI9 259.6

Note.—There must, therefore, have been a standard which defined right and wrong. Hence the law of God must have existed at that time. BR-ASI9 259.7

“I. God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it. BR-ASI9 259.8

“II. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon mount Sinai in ten commandments, and written in two tables; the first four commandments containing our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man.”—Westminster Confession of Faith, chap. 19, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Scribner’s), vol. 3, p. 640. BR-ASI9 259.9