Cain and Abel Genesis 4:1-16

Throughout Genesis and the whole of the Bible we can trace the theme of conflict, that is, the battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman announced in Genesis 3:15. We see the confl ict in Egypt against Israel, Babylon against Israel, Israel’s kings and God’s prophets (Matt 23:35), Herod against Jesus, the Pharisees against Jesus, and Rome against the church. All this forthcoming confl ict is found in microcosm in the story of Cain and Abel. What’s interesting about this confl ict is that it doesn’t take the form we would expect. We would expect confl ict between the idolaters and the God-fearers, the immoral and the moral, and the self-indulgent and the self-disciplined. Yet, both Cain and Abel bring religious off erings. When Cain’s off ering isn’t accepted by God in the way Cain wants, when his religious observance isn’t rewarded, he gets angry at God and betrays Abel to his death. His religious good works aren’t motivated by love and gratitude but by self-interest. Cain expects God to reward him, for life to go well, and when he’s not rewarded his self-righteousness boils over into violence. Cain is the first Pharisee. By contrast, Abel is a type of Christ. “Abel, the seed of the woman who was killed by the seed of the serpent, is a type of Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman who would be killed by Satan. Note the analogy and escalation. This typology can be supported by quoting Hebrews 12:24, which makes the same point: You have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” 1 Abel’s blood cries out for judgment but Christ’s blood cries out for mercy. The critical transformation in your religious life isn’t one from immorality to morality, from self-indulgence to self-discipline but one of motivation. Do we honor God for what we stand to gain? Or, do we honor God in gratitude for what he has done? Do we perform religious deeds to merit God’s acceptance? Or, do we perform good works in response to God’s love and acceptance in Christ?