Bible Question: "Why does Genesis 1:26 imply that God created people, using the plural 'them', when Genesis 3 implies Adam was the only man created? Does this mean other people were created before Adam? And who were the 'people' Cain was fearful of when he killed his brother Abel? And who did Cain marry, his sister?"

Bible Answer: It would rule out the problem of incest if we could assume there was someone for Cain to marry other than a relative, but there is no mention in the Bible of people before Adam and Eve.

In Genesis 1:26, God does refer to the people He is about to create in the plural term, and in verse 27, He uses both the singular and the plural terms, referring to man as singular and race as plural.

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth," Genesis 1:26 says.

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them," Genesis 1:27 says.

This seems to be clearly God's referring to people in the general term, plural, before He creates the first person, Adam, singular.

I do not believe this implies anyone was created before Adam and Eve, quite the contrary, I don't believe you can read the creation account of Genesis 1-2 and the fall of man in Genesis 3 and conclude anything other than Adam and Eve were the first people.

Genesis 1:18 says "And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

When God says Adam was alone, I think it means he was alone.

And after God had created all the other creatures, and none was found to be a suitable companion for Adam, then God created Eve.

The story of the fall of Adam and Eve also includes one especially tender note, God's regular daily appearance to walk with Adam and Eve "in the cool of the evening," indicating their special relationship.

"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees of the garden," Genesis 3:8.

Obviously, God had a very special relationship with the first two people He created, and when sin occurred, it forever marred their communion with Him. Sin caused the fear to face God in the garden.

When the first murder occurred, Cain killing his brother Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve, the people Cain was fearful would kill him in revenge would have to be his own family members.

As to who Cain married when he traveled east of Eden to the land of Nod, it had to be a relative, from a sister to a niece or cousin.

But since we're told in Genesis 5:5 that Adam lived to be 930 years old, many generations of offspring were born to him and Eve, and we're not told how old Cain was when he killed his brother Abel.

So there could have been several generations removed between Cain and his wife, who was a relative, but not necessarily a sister.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)