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straw said:
It is not only C/P who are double chained; all who are outside of Christ are chained this way. I found this quote by Philo to be worthy of consideration in the Commentary by John Gill relating to 1 John 3:12 - 'Philo the Jew says , 'that in the contention or dispute between Cain and Abel, Abel attributed all things to God, and Cain ascribed everything to himself; so that the controversy was about grace and works, as now; and as then Cain hated his brother upon this account, so now carnal men hate and persecute the saints, because they will not allow their works to be the cause of justification and salvation: and from hence also it may be observed, that a work may be, as to the matter of it, good, and yet as to its circumstances, and the end and view of it, evil.' [Quod Det. Potior. p. 161.]
Eric,

Just a side note on Philo's understanding of what took place in Gen. 4:3ff. It was clearly not that Cain attributed all things to himself and Abel to God, but rather it was a repetition of what the Father of lies used to deceive Eve and she then perpetrated on Adam. The issue was the law of God and man's obedience of it. Although it is implied in the text, it is nevertheless carved in stone (pun intended) that Abel offered unto the Lord a sacrifice of worship in accord with a command of God and Cain chose to offer what he thought was acceptable. The consequences of their respective choices is well known; Abel's sacrifice, a slain animal (shedding of blood) was received and Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground was rejected. There is obviously much more to be learned from these two offerings which impact not only simply obedience but also worship, justification, et al.

The main reason for my bringing this up is because such errors in biblical interpretation often snowball and lead to many other errors.

In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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