---
title: Genesis 4:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/genesis-4-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/genesis-4-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Genesis 4:1
testament: OT
section: Law
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Genesis 4:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.  “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said.

## JW Usage

Genesis 4:1 in the NWT reads "Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve" — a paraphrase of the older English "Adam knew his wife." The verse enters JW soteriology indirectly, usually in conversations about John 17:3 where the Watchtower teaches that eternal life comes by "taking in knowledge" of God. Critics of the "taking in knowledge" rendering point to Genesis 4:1 as evidence that biblical "knowing" is relational, not merely informational — and JWs then counter that the NWT removes the ambiguity at Genesis 4:1 so the verse cannot be used this way.

## Protestant Usage

The traditional English "Adam knew his wife" preserves the Hebrew yada — the same verb used in John 17:3 (translated ginosko in Greek) for "knowing" God. Biblical knowing is covenantal and relational from Genesis onward; it has never been a stockpiling of facts. The Watchtower's own rendering of John 17:3 ("taking in knowledge of you") turns the verb into a data-acquisition task that must continue indefinitely to qualify for eternal life. Genesis 4:1 is the controlling parallel: Adam did not "take in knowledge" of Eve — he entered covenant union with her. The doorstep form: "Eternal life is knowing the only true God — the same kind of knowing Genesis 4:1 describes between a husband and wife, not a research project."

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Parachute Analogy — Trust, Not Effort](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/parachute-analogy.md) — Ephesians 2:8–9 / Way of the Master [Salvation]