By: Zachary Teasley
The title of this article is the question that Cain asked God directly after God directly asked Cain, “Where is Abel your brother? Cain responded with an interrogative statement after telling God that “I do not know” (where Abel is) and shows indignation and unaccountability when he further says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Gen 4:9. This question is a question we should ask ourselves every day in reference to the way we treat our fellow man and woman who are not yet in the Kingdom of God as well as our fellow brothers and sisters who are Christians and are members of the Body of Christ, Eph 1:22-23. During this brief article, we hope to answer this question asked by Cain in verse 9 of Gen 4; we will use the Bible as our guide always to remind us of our responsibilities when it comes to one another especially our brethren in Christ. For clarity and “emphasis sake,” lets read together Gen 4:1-12, Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So, the Lord said to Cain, “why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and vagabond you shall be on the earth.” In this passage of scripture and by other inspired writers in the Old and New Testaments we can conclude the following: The period of Cain and Abel was during the Patriarchal Age in which God spoke directly to man and we can conclude that God did indeed reveal to Cain and Abel what an acceptable sacrifice was and what was an unacceptable sacrifice. Back to Gen 4:3-5, we see they both offered a sacrifice (each something different) to God, but God rejected Cain’s sacrifice. Also, in Gen 4:7, we can imply that God had told them what sacrifice offering was acceptable for God tells Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.” Doing well is connected with working righteousness which is obedience to God. Keep in mind that our God has told us everything we need to know to obey and serve Him, II Pet 1:3, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” Speaking of Cain’s character or intent, we can gain some good insight from the Hebrew writer and the Apostle John, Heb 11:4, tells us, “By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. Additionally, the Apostle John divinely wrote, “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous, 1 John 3:11-12. This scripture is an excellent segway to the points that we want to grasp from this Article is that we should, first and foremost, learn to love one another and not just our physical brother or physical sister by birth but yes we are love one another with a pure heart fervently, for 1 Pet 1:22-23, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” Yes, we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper and Jesus Christ tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, see Mark 12:29-31, “Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” This scripture raises these following questions: How is your relationship currently with your neighbors? Do they know who you are and what you stand for? In other words, do they know that you are a Christian and that you love the Lord and them as well? What about your physical brothers and sisters? Do you love them in word and deed and have you shared the gospel with them? According to Matt 28:18-20, us as Christians have the responsibility to go spread the gospel to the world. Another important point from the Old Testament that also validates that we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper and that we should be a watchman, is found in Ezekiel 33:7-9, “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore, you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die! And you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” Consequently, we see that as a watchman we must share God’s word to nonbelievers in the present world of their souls’ sinful condition and what will happen if they do not repent and obey God through baptism, II Thess 1:7-9. Regarding our fellow brothers and sisters who are already in the Lord’s church, we must not ignore or look the other way if we see them overtaken in a sin. Gal 6:1-2 says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In conclusion, we must care and look out for one another and need to constantly consider this last scripture, 1 John 4:20, (please find it and read it!)