I was considering the story of Cain and Abel recently, and the question I asked myself was: Why did God accept Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s offering?
So the story goes that Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd, and in the process of time, it came to pass that both of them brought an offering to the Lord – Cain brought a fruit offering, and Abel brought an animal offering. And the Bible says that “And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering”.
Why???
Some people said it was due to the type of offering brought before God – Abel’s animal offering was pleasing to God because it was an offering of blood for the atonement of sin.
I am not very sure about that. To me, it is a little hard to accept conceptually, because I would hope that in whatever occupation I am in, the achievement of my work that I bring before God would be acceptable to Him. Besides, at the time of Cain and Abel, God had not yet spelt out His requirements for the sacrificial system that was instituted in the Law.
So I obtain the answer to my question in the New Testament, and I found that it has to do with faith and the related idea of righteousness – these two interconnected ideas – as can be found in Hebrews 11:4, “4 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.”
WHY FAITH?
Faith because Hebrews 11:6 says
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
The thinking is: if you
- do not believe God or
- do not believe God will take notice / or react / or assess / or judge / or reward / or punish / or do anything to you whatever or however you do
- i.e. do not believe it matters whatever and however you do or live before God
- Then this belief (or unbelief) will most likely lead you to just bring a whatever-however offering to God, which was probably what Cain did.
Conversely, if you have a real, living faith in God, then your faith will find itself expressed in your life through the way you live your life – including the works you bring – before God, knowing that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
And so, Abel went before God in that faith and “offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous”.
WHY RIGHTEOUS?
Righteous because in God’s sight, faith = righteousness.
This is a foundational principle in the Bible, that God accounts faith for righteousness.
And so, because Abel offered by faith, he was deemed righteous, i.e. right before God, and God thus respected him and his offering.
Note that the Scripture was: “And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering”.
First the person, then the offering.
It is the person who upvalues or devalues his offering.
The poor fruit and the animal were innocent.
