Cain Was Able

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131aad Re-Written 30MAY09

Save Me Today—Part Fifty Six: Cain Was Able

by rev dave c

First John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous (NIV).

There is a suggestion in the NIV interpretation of First John 3:12 that Cain, because he belonged to the evil one, had no choice but to behave in an evil manner—that he was merely living out the person that he was created to be. As an anglicized literal translation of this verse, however, the NASV reads, “ not as Cain who was of the evil one….” Even better, the Amplified Bible says, “12 [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother.” The difference being that Cain chose to do evil. He had a choice. His actions belonged to the evil one...not, initially, his person. These varied understandings are derived from the Greek word, “ek” (Strongs #1537). According to page 901 in AMG Publisher’s The Complete Word Study New Testament (1992), edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., “ek” means:

“(1) Of time, the beginning of a period of time, a point after which something takes place. (2) Of the origin or source of anything, that is, the primary, direct, immediate source, in distinction from apo’ (575). (3) When used of persons, it refers to the place, stock, family, or condition, out of which one is derived or to which one belongs. (4) Referring to the source, namely the person or thing, out of or from which anything proceeds, is derived, to which it pertains. (5) Of the motive, ground, occasion, from which anything proceeds, the incidental, translated from, out of; this is, by reason of, because of, in consequence of. (6) It also may speak of the efficient cause, or agent from which any action or thing proceeds, is produced, or effected, from, or by. (7) To the manner or mode in which anything is done, translated out of, from, in, with. (8) To the means, instrument, instrumental cause, translated from; that is, by means of, by, through, with (e.g., Luke 16:9, “...by means of the mammon of unrighteousness”). (9) When referring to the material, translated of, out of, from, as in Matthew 27:29, a crown of thorns, refers to one made out of thorns. (10) Referring to a whole in relation to a part, a whole from which a part is spoken, such as 1 Corinthians 12:15, 16.”

The NIV apparently subscribes to the third and fourth meanings of “ek/of” above by indicating that it was Cain’s relationship to Satan that caused him to murder his brother, while the NASV and the Amplified stress the fifth and sixth meanings by indicating that Satan became the source, or motivation, for deciding/choosing to perpetrate his heinous act. I do not believe that God caused Cain to kill his brother by creating him to be a murderer. I do believe that God created Cain with a weakness of character not that he might be evil, or to commit evil, but so that the eldest would have a need to depend upon God for right and righteous behavior. He, like his parents before him and each of us since, had been given the gift of volition/free will; i.e., the privilege to think and act as we determine. And this in the face of being conceived and/or nurtured into particular areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Listen for the heart of God toward Cain as Genesis Four tells us: 1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (NIV).

God’s choice of Abel’s sacrifice as an acceptable offering was not a rejection of the person of Cain. God tried to teach the older brother the way of obedience: If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (see Jn 6:45 & Ja 1:13-15 for NT ref.). As an explanation of why God did not look with favor upon Cain and his offering, I have heard a lot of teaching that assumes God had previously instructed Adam and Eve, or Cain and Abel, to make blood sacrifices—but I don’t believe that this presupposition is necessary. In the recounting of these events we may be witnessing the Lord’s initial teaching about what is, and what is not, an acceptable sacrifice. By taking Scripture at face value, all we can surmise is that the fat portions from the firstborn animals of a shepherd was a sacrifice pleasing to God, and that the grain offering from a farmer was not (we do not know if the grain presented was part of Cain’s first fruits). Quite frankly, it just doesn’t matter if God had previously instructed the first family, nor does it matter if the sacrifice of a shepherd was greater than the sacrifice of a farmer, nor if it was an issue of “first fruits”. The bottom line is that God made His judgment regarding the people involved and their “works.” The Lord then personally showed Cain the path of righteousness and urged him to take it. Cain was given the choice to obey what he knew to be true, right, and good—or to indulge the evil that enticed and ensnared him. Cain was able to resist that temptation, but, by choice, he did not. As a result of his disobedience, he became a murderer and the father of murderers.