by: Zachary Teasley
This is a question that we should constantly ask ourselves throughout the reading of this article which
hopefully generates a self-examination to gauge or determine where we are at spiritually. Whether or
not we are living for God and putting Him first or if we are living for self and satisfying the physical
desires of our flesh pursuing the attractions of this world. We endeavor to explain what we mean by the
way of Abel or the way of Cain by examining God’s word and making the proper application to heighten
our understanding and faith. The account of the Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-15, “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 first born 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 a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” And Cain said to the Lord, “my punishment is greater than I
can bear! Surely you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from
Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me
will kill me.” And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him
sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. This event, is a
familiar passage to most of us although it happened hundreds of years ago, the impact of the lessons it
teaches still has a resounding effect even today. Hebrews 11:4 says, “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.” From the account in Genesis, it does
not reveal that God told Cain and Abel what was an acceptable sacrifice and what was not an acceptable
sacrifice, however, through other related scriptures and through implication and deductive reasoning
we can conclude that God did tell Cain and Abel what He would accept as an acceptable sacrifice. Case
and point, in Heb 11:4, the inspired writer in Hebrews gives us some valuable insight for it says, “By faith
Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” How do we develop and gain faith? It comes
from us hearing, listening, learning, and taking productive action on the word of God and that is exactly
what Abel did he heard what God said to them and he conformed to the specification or commands that
God gave for acceptable sacrifice. For scriptural emphasis, Rom 10:16-17, But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God.” James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without
works is dead also. Moreover, during the time or age of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, God spoke directly to
man as evidenced by the conversations between God, Cain,g and Abel in Genesis 4. This time or age is
called the Patriarchal Age where God spoke directly to man. Please keep in mind that today under the
Christian or New Testament Age God speaks to us through His word, see Hebrews 1:1-3, II Pet 1:3-4 and
II Tim 3:16. Referring back to the title of this article which is a question, are you following the way of
Abel or the way of Cain? They both had received the same guidance from God regarding what kind of
sacrifice would be acceptable. Abel heard, believed, understood and then he humbly acted righteously
and properly offered a sacrifice to God that complied with Gods commands and with the right attitude.
Jesus referred to Abel as “righteous Abel” in His condemnation of the Pharisees in Matt 23:34-35, it
says, “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and
crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on
you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the altar.” When we follow the way of
Abel, we are following and obeying God in a sober (alert), righteous and humble manner. It is very
important for Christians to realize that we must obey and worship God in the manner that He expects
and has commanded in the New Testament. John 4:24 establishes this point for it says, God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” This means according to way He has
authoried and with the right attitude. Conversely, when we are talking about following the way of Cain,
we are talking about someone who despite being told how to offer sacrifices and worship chooses to
alter or modify God’s commandments on how God wants to be glorified and attempts to offer worship
according to their own personal preferences. Consequently, when we examine what Cain did, we see
that he violated God’s will for sacrifices and God did not respect it. Cain became angry and rebellious
against God to the extent of killing his own brother. God tried to reason with Cain in Gen 4:7, telling
Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well sin lies at the door.” Cain’s
intentions were evil because he disrespected God in worship as many Christians/congregations in the
Lord’s Body today have gone the way of Cain (see Jude 8-11)) and have altered God’s commands for
acceptable worship using the excuse of personal convenience due to modern day technological
advances. Many members are forsaking the command of physically assembling on the first day of the
week (see Heb 10:22-26) because they have substituted the physical assembling with a “church” online
streamed webcast. Please take some time and read and study this article and contact one of the elders
if you have any questions.