Dr. Paul’s Worldviews Dr. Paul's Worldviews

Let’s talk about Adam’s family. No, not The Addam’s Family with Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, and Lurch. But, Adam, as in Adam and Eve. A very truncated discussion of Adam’s progeny is found in Genesis Chapter 5, starting, obviously, with Adam and ending with Noah. Mainly, it is the godly side of Adam’s lineage that is in view, as opposed to the ungodly side found in Genesis Chapter 4. The account extends for about 8,000 years and discusses the main characters that will ultimate show up in the Messianic genealogy found in Luke Chapter 3. One recurring theme is pointed out in Genesis 5 and it is this: ”and he died.” Although all the characters mentioned are fairly prolific in producing children and living extraordinarily long lives, each character dies. That is, except one, who is Enoch. Enoch ”walks with God,” as a fire and brimstone preacher, and manages to escape God, for God ”took him.” Other than that, every ”father” dies, which hearkens back to God’s warning that if Adam chose to disobey God in eating of the fruit of the tree of good and evil, ”dying you shall surely die.” That said, and even though Genesis 5 records the godly lineage of Adam, sin is still having a dire effect upon humanity and Noah is looked forward to as a reprieve. That ”rest” will come, although probably not in the way hoped, for later things will get so bad on earth, morally, spiritually, and civilly, that God will have to destroy the human population, minus eight individuals.

Sin is not done in a vacuum, and the extent of sin’s effective is often long-lasting and diverse. Such was the case of the first murderer, Cain. After being convicted and judged by God, he leaves the realm of the Eden, starts a family, builds a city, and then manages to influences his offspring to commit further acts of perversion against God, starting with an attack up the sanctity of marriage. Lamech, one of Cain’s great, great, great, grandson’s takes after him by becoming the Bible’s first recorded polygamist. He would set the tone for later and even more perverse attacks upon human relationships, but upon human religiosity, as well. How so? By obligating God to do for him in a seventy-fold way what God did to preserve Cain, even though God was not obligated to Lamech at all! In this short passage, Genesis 4:17-26, are a plethora of examples and lessons we can all learn from, as we all often attempt to obligate God to do things our way, many times under the misconception of ”love.”

Soon after the fall of man, and God’s judgment placed upon creation, a manifestation of the ugliness of sin takes place in Adam’s posterity. Adam and Eve begin their family, bearing Cain and his brother Abel. Cain was a farmer. Abel was a sheepherder. Both knew the religious obligations taught to them by their parents, which is why we read of the account of their religious offerings in Genesis 4. Cain’s mind, though, was not upon worshiping God, but upon worshiping himself. From God’s rejection of his offering, Cain’s sin consumed him, and instead of doing what was right, he became enraged toward his brother, Abel, and killed him. God passed judgment upon Cain, even though he apparently never learned his lesson. It is a lesson we can all learn from, whether willfully or amid our own religious departure from the presence of God.

In the previous podcast, Dr. Paul began an exposition of the trial of Adam, Eve, and the devil, and that after Adam and Eve fell from their originally innocent state into sin. In this podcast, Dr. Paul finishes that up that trial by looking at the judgment that God passed on both the woman (Eve) and the man (Adam), which will eventually be passed on to every human being since. It is not a pretty picture, but one that is necessary to understand, if one is to truly understand what the sin nature is, that all humans possess, and the ultimately remedy found on the Gospel, culminating the death of Jesus on the cross at Calvary.

Shortly after Adam and Eve rebel against God, a trial takes place where God acts as the judge, jury, and executioner. Adam and Eve try to avoid attending the trial by hiding themselves. The snake (i.e. the devil) makes no such move. Four key questions are asked, which are relevant even today, as the rest of humanity has followed Adam and Eve’s leading in trying to run and hide from God, rather than run unto Him in a contrite and repentant spirit. Such is the nature of sin and what it does to everyone and everything affected by it. Ultimately, though, amid all the questioning and shifting of blame, there is a silver lining in the sense that the Gospel is proclaimed by none other than God himself. One day, the devil himself will be crushed by one of the Eve’s offspring, which will finalize what it means by ”good news” to those privy to acknowledge what God does in the person of Jesus Christ at Calvary.

In a pivotal and key portion of the Bible (Genesis 3:1-7), Dr. Paul discusses the Fall of Man and how it came about. Satan, as the serpent, has used the same strategy since his successful exchange with Eve to cause humanity to act autonomously from God and carry on it rebellious ways. It all starts by questioning God’s Word, which ultimately leads to questioning God’s authority and then integrity. When all is said and done, those who subscribe to the devil’s wiles ultimately see him as a great liberator and God as the ”bad guy.”