“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh” (11:4).
How did Abel present his sacrifice unto the Lord? It was by faith. Moses did not write that Cain offered his sacrifice by faith, and no New Testament writer comments on the faith of Cain demonstrated by this offering.
If Cain did not offer his gifts unto God by faith, then how did he worship? The opposite of faith is sight (2 Cor. 5:7), that is, through human intuition. He worshipped according to “sight” —according to what his own senses and wisdom dictated would be an honorable gift unto the Lord.
No doubt, his produce was lovely to look upon. No doubt, he labored over those crops until the harvest. No doubt he anticipated that all the hard work, time, and care he had spent on those offerings would be acceptable. This is clearly demonstrated by his reaction to the Lord’s rejection of his sacrifice.
Cain’s offering was not rejected because it was not made in earnest. Instead, his offering was rejected because it was offered according to his own presumption and not by faith.
Faith is not simply a feeling of confident expectation. Cain had that. Rather, faith is the result of hearing God’s word, submitting the mind and body to its dominion, and acting in accordance to what the Lord has instructed.
There is a truism attributed to a Chinese philosopher that says, “To know and not do is to not know.” The same principle can be applied to faith, “To believe God, and not obey him, is to not believe him.” Or as James wrote, “…faith apart from works is dead” (2:26).
To whatever extent it could be said that Cain worshiped before the Lord, his activity was negated by the fact that it was not according to faith.
By way of contrast, Abel’s offering was by faith. Why is faith attributed to Abel? Paul defines the source of faith that is well-pleasing to God in Romans 10:17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
gatita
Apostolic Believer In One God, Jesus