Skip to main content

How was Abel Able?


Sibling rivalries go back a long way; all the way back, in fact, to the first siblings. Cain and Abel are the first people that the Bible mentions being born (although they may well have had older siblings). In a fit of rage, Cain murdered his brother because of the different reactions the Lord had concerning their offerings. 

 

Genesis 4:4-5 tell us, “And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” The preceding verse says Cain brought an offering of the produce from his garden, while Abel brought one from his flock. The former was rejected while the latter was received. Rather than being upset with himself, Cain turned his anger towards his brother and committed the world’s first act of murder. 

 

But what is missing from this passage is God’s instruction. When did God ever tell them what kind of offering to bring? Genesis never tells us. It isn’t until Exodus that God gave Moses the law and its requirements for blood sacrifices. So how was Abel able to bring what God wanted? And how can God reject Cain if He never told him what to do?

 

This is one of the cases where we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. Let’s consider two New Testament verses. First, Hebrews 11:4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.” By faith. Abel did what he did by faith. Now add to that Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” 

 

If Abel obeyed by faith, and faith comes through hearing God’s word, then somewhere along the way God told Cain and Abel what to do. Abel obeyed by faith, and the opposite is also true. Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say, “And without faith it is impossible to please [God].” Cain heard the word of God too, but he did not have the faith to obey, so his offering could not please God because it was absent of faith. 

 

In hindsight we know that the blood offering was about substitution; it showed the wages of sin is death, but an innocent lamb could die in the place of a guilty sinner. This was all a foreshadow of Jesus, the Lamb of God, being the ultimate sacrifice for sin. 

 

Genesis 4 does not say Cain brought scraps; he didn’t bring the runts from his garden or spoiled, shriveled up fruit. He didn’t bring his worst, but neither did he bring his best. His best was whatever God required. God’s word might not always make sense to us, but the best thing we can do is obey in faith, and this is what pleases God. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...
18 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more