- Permission to copy granted provided this notice is retained.April 1, 2001
I would like to know where Cain's wife (Genesis 4:16-18) came
from?
First of all, I have to mention that my answer will be from a
Catholic point of view. We take the story of Cain and Abel as a
kind of parable or "teaching story." Like many others
in the Bible, they are meant to make a point and not to be taken
as history. There are many literary forms in the Bible and each
is subject to the limits of its type.
So it is an unanswerable question for me, because it assumes Cain
to be literally the son of Adam and Eve, and not a character in a
parable.
You may want to ask a minister of a "fundamentalist"
Christian church so you can get another view. They take this
Scripture literally.
If you would like to read more about the Catholic Church's view
of the Bible, you can visit:
It gives a very brief overview.
I should mention that the Catholic Church makes no official claim
about whether Cain was a "historical" person, but that
doesn't mean a Catholic couldn't believe he was. We are free to
choose whatever makes sense, and I am clearly biased toward
interpreting the first chapters of Genesis as parables. Most
Catholic scholars (orthodox ones anyway) agree.
My apologies if any of this is offensive to your beliefs. We
try to answer every question, but have to go with our beliefs and
leave others to explain their own.
How would you restate in your own words Matthew 5:28
from the Bible? How do you perceive this verse?
It has to be understood as one in a series of teachings, all
with the same underlying theme. Each part is in the form: "You
have heard it said... but what I tell you is..."
In verse 17, Jesus says he has come, not to abolish the Law, but
to fulfill, and each of these sections follows this theme.
So:
1) The Law (which was incomplete) said not to kill, but the new
way is to not hate or be angry.
2) The old way was to observe physical purity, but the new way is
to be pure inside and out.
3) The old way respected marriage as a social institution, but
the new way sees it as a sign of God's love for us (and so
divorce is unthinkable).
4) The old way was to swear to the truth sometimes, but the new
way is to be so truthful that swearing is unnecessary.
5) The old way allowed revenge and imperfect human justice, but
the new way is love, even for enemies.
And then the payoff verse: "Be perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect." The old way was imperfect, the new way
is to love as God does, as impossible as this sounds. It is a
good thing we have been given the command and the grace to go
with it.
Anyway, I think the idea overall is to truly become children of
God and not just in appearance. I hope this helps!
How have we served you?
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