CAIN’S WIFE and Issues of INCEST
Cain was the first child of Adam & Eve, the primordial parents of the human race (Genesis 4:1). After Cain reached adulthood, Scripture says:
Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.
The Bible doesn’t say if Cain’s wife was his sister but — really — who else could it be? (The Scriptures do say that Adam & Eve had daughters in Genesis 5:4). This was in the pre-law stages of humanity when the gene pool was near perfect. If Cain had no other recourse but to marry his sister in order to fulfill God’s mandate of filling the Earth and subduing it (Genesis 1:28), then it was permissible in this context.
In these early stages of of humanity there was little or no risk of genetic abnormalities, but as the population grew the genetic code became corrupt due to sin and so God forbid sexual relations with close relatives (Leviticus 18:4-24, 20:11–21 & Deuteronomy 27:20-23). Abram (Abraham) married his half-sister, Sarai (Sarah), before this prohibition (Genesis 20:12).
I should add that cousins are not included in the lists of prohibited sexual/marital relationships.
While believers are not under the Mosaic law, and the ceremonial & dietary laws have been done away with (Romans 7:6 & Colossians 2:16-17), the moral laws are still relevant, which includes this ban on incestuous relations. We just don’t fulfill these moral laws by being under the law, but rather by walking in the spirit (Romans 8:4).
Related Topics:
“LAW is Made NOT for the Righteous”
Law (Torah) — New Testament Believers are NOT Under the Law
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