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Sin is essentially that Satanic system headed up in the mystery of iniquity, and so
I John 3: 8 says:--
"The one doing lawlessness is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning"
(cp. John 8: 44).
Here we have ek tou diabolou, "of the devil". In I John 3: 9, 10 we read:--
"Whosoever hath been begotten of God (ek tou Theou) does not do sin; for His seed
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he hath been begotten of God (ek tou
Theou). In this are the CHILDREN OF GOD manifest and the CHILDREN OF THE
DEVIL."
In verse 12 we are taken back to the beginning of things:--
"Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one (ek tou ponerou) and slew his brother."
Am I not therefore Scriptural when I limit the scope of the term "all things are of
God", and when I refuse to confuse this term with that which is "of the devil"?
A.--This is all very strange and awful, but how does this bear upon the character of the
Amorites?
B.--The last reference (I John 3: 12) takes us back to Gen. 4: 1. At the birth of Cain
Eve exclaimed, "I have gotten a man, even Jehovah" (Hebrew, Ish eth Jehovah). Eve
believed that this first son born was the promised seed who should bruise the serpent's
head. Scripture reveals the awful fact that instead of being the promised seed Cain was
the first of the seed of the serpent; he was "of that wicked one".
A.--How can this be? and how can a man be Jehovah?
B.--As to the second question. Jehovah is a title of Christ, and Eve's hope was fulfilled
in the birth of Christ:--
"For unto you is born this day . . . . . a Saviour which is Christ the Lord (Jehovah)"
(Luke 2: 11).
Reading on in Gen. 4: we find Cain's descendants given as far as Tubal-Cain. Cain
built a city and its name Enoch means "dedicated". To whom it was dedicated seems
evident, for the action is repeated after the flood by Nimrod who carried on the secret of
lawlessness.
The Two Seeds.
Cain's line ends in proud boasting (verse 24). Seth, the seed appointed in the place of
Abel, has a son, and he is called Enos, meaning "frail". The truth named man frail. This
was an opportunity to be used by the wicked one to further his own plan, and so we read:-
"Then one commenced to be called IN THE NAME JEHOVAH" (Gen. 4: 26).