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Questions - I John 3:8 was mentioned as the proof that Satan has always sinned. When was the beginning? Genesis 1:1 says that the beginning was the creation of this world? That was just a few thousand years ago. Did not YAHWEH and angels exist before then?

Answer - There are many 'beginnings' in the Scriptures, there are also many 'in those days,' as well as many firsts and lasts and many forever(s). In Scriptural language, something is forever 'until' there is an ending or change. The point being, Scripture must always be studied in proper context. Just because an English word is used in Genesis for the translation of the Hebrew and then the same word is used again in 1 John 3:8 as an English translation of the Greek, does not mean that the word is used in the same context or, in this case, reflects the same period of time.

The literal Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 reads - At [the] first of Elohim creating the skies and the land ...... 2. And the land was desolation and emptiness; and darkness [was] over [the] face of [the] deep and the wind of Elohim was fluttering over the face of the waters ...... 3. And Elohim said, "Let there be light"; and it was light.

The literal Greek of 1 John 3:8, reads - He that practices sin, out of the accuser (slanderer) is, because from [the] beginning the accuser is (present tense) sinning; because of this was made known (or revealed) the son of Elohim, in order that he might destroy the works of the accuser.

The word 'from' in the above verse is the Greek preposition 'apo' and its pre-positional meaning in the Greek is 'origin.' The beginning here is related to the 'origin of the accuser,' not to the beginning of the created globe. Scripture does not provide us with a creation date of the accuser or any of the other messengers (angels), but it may well have been ages in time and well before this globe was created. Again, there is no time limit to the creation activity of Yahweh in His endless time, His vastness, and the mega power of His eternal Existence. The 'accuser, the slanderer' is sinning from his origin, his creation, his beginning! In this context, this being (the accuser) is following the requirements of the exact will of the Creator, even if we don't like it.


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