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Cain and Abel - the origin of the devil explained
The story of Cain and Abel is well know to us, but how many of us see this story as telling us where the devil originates? Here is the story for those less familiar and to which I can quote various parts.
Any story or reference in the Bible in which the devil is mentioned is in connection with the actions of man. There is no exception to this. Closely associated to this are Satan and the Serpent and can be attributed to man. The most well-known reference to Satan is that when Jesus called his disciple Peter; "Satan". This is surprising when we consider just a few verses earlier, we read of Peter commended by Jesus for recognizing who Jesus was; But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. If we do as some will do and take an isolated verse to prove a point and be fixated on only one possible interpretation, we would have to conclude Satan has been identified and is Peter. This would mean Peter is Satan in the book of Job. Any other reference to Satan must be referring to Peter.
If we believe that, we come across another set of difficulties. Satan cannot be a fallen Angel of God, if Satan is Peter. Peter must have pre-existed and been accused by God; as in Zechariah 3:2 The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan;. Did Peter reveal he had pre-existed? Did Jesus ever refer to Peter as Satan again after that one event? No! To link Satan with only Peter sounds absurd from what I have just illustrated. If this sounds absurd and you say; "why cannot Satan refer to something or somebody else?", then why not give the same latitude to considering what the Devil and the Serpent are?
God's enemy has only been man. God has not accused his Angels of being his enemy and though it is a different subject, there is not strong evidence to support the idea that God's Angel sin. It is not a phrase that should be written or said. I only mention that now, for when the true nature of the Devil is known, the possibility of Angels sinning is non-existent. When Peter said; "the angels that sinned", the same story recalled by Jude, the "angels" are found to be human. For a full explanation see the thread; The angels of Jude 6 It was necessary to get that out of the way in order to fend off the obvious comments and questions which would follow and I have no wish to go through the same set of questions as I have already answered in that thread.
Cain is example of man's nature that is the source of evil. What Cain did, we would naturally say is wrong. Is that said by all? No. If it were, we would not have murderers today. Murderers have no regard for the life of the person they kill. We are not told God gave any written law to the descendants of Adam and Eve. The law was not written down until it was given to Moses in the wilderness. "Thou shalt not kill" became law number 6, after the law to honour mother and father at number 5. Of all the prohibitive laws against our neighbour; "do not kill" was number 1 because it is the most serious. We honour mother and father, because they have given us life. They have nurtured us and raised us to a mature age, to where we can fend for ourselves. It is a sad indictment that parents these days do not bring up their children in the way that earns them respect. After commandment number 5 we begin the commandments specific to our neighbour.
In contrast to honouring parents for giving us life, since we regard our own life as precious, so we ought to regard the life of others. This is fundamental and is part of the second great commandment summed up by Jesus in which, by two commandments, Jesus summed up all the law that was given to Moses. It should not have to be told us we must "not kill", that should be innate in us. Nevertheless, some people have to be told this before they realize that killing others is not acceptable. Hence the "do unto others as you would have them do to you" should be our overriding principle. It was not the case with Cain and we have to see the reason why.
Nowhere in this story is Cain influenced by an external agent to commit his crime. His crime stems from his offering to God not being accepted and in some extent jealousy toward his brother Abel, whose offering was accepted. Cain became so angry that his anger was uncontrollable. He did not overcome the urge to kill his brother to get some from of self-gratification. Before Cain killed Abel, and after Cain's offering had not been accepted, God asked Cain a set of questions; Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Look at the observation of God; and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Sin can be likened to cat crouched ready to pounce on its prey; once the door is open, the opportunity arises. Cain did not do well and instead of admitting his mistake and saying; Lord forgive me, I will do better next time. Instead, his emotions got the better of him and he killed Abel.
Emotions are a function of the brain/mind. Our emotions are what we can think of as our "heart"; not the heart that pumps blood. Our thoughts can manifest in to our actions and our actions are governed by our emotions. It is up to us to exercise self-control and govern our emotions. Cain was not able to do this, and his anger resulted in sin; the killing his brother. No-one else was to blame other than Cain.
The origin of sin is also explained in James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. James says; "do not err" (on this subject). The origin of the devil and man's sin is in himself. It is man's own lust that draws him and entices him and gives birth (conceives) sin. There is no-one else to blame.
God is not tempting man, and that means God is not letting another agent or using any other agent to tempt man. If God allowed an Angel to tempt man, that is as good as God himself tempting man. Given that God has no involvement in making men sin, the blame rests solely on man alone.
\cont...................
The story of Cain and Abel is well know to us, but how many of us see this story as telling us where the devil originates? Here is the story for those less familiar and to which I can quote various parts.
Genesis 4
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And 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 slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. The devil is no more than part of man's nature. The origin of the devil is within man and without exception we have some devil in us all. When we look in the mirror, we are looking at the devil.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And 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 slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. The devil is no more than part of man's nature. The origin of the devil is within man and without exception we have some devil in us all. When we look in the mirror, we are looking at the devil.
Any story or reference in the Bible in which the devil is mentioned is in connection with the actions of man. There is no exception to this. Closely associated to this are Satan and the Serpent and can be attributed to man. The most well-known reference to Satan is that when Jesus called his disciple Peter; "Satan". This is surprising when we consider just a few verses earlier, we read of Peter commended by Jesus for recognizing who Jesus was; But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. If we do as some will do and take an isolated verse to prove a point and be fixated on only one possible interpretation, we would have to conclude Satan has been identified and is Peter. This would mean Peter is Satan in the book of Job. Any other reference to Satan must be referring to Peter.
If we believe that, we come across another set of difficulties. Satan cannot be a fallen Angel of God, if Satan is Peter. Peter must have pre-existed and been accused by God; as in Zechariah 3:2 The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan;. Did Peter reveal he had pre-existed? Did Jesus ever refer to Peter as Satan again after that one event? No! To link Satan with only Peter sounds absurd from what I have just illustrated. If this sounds absurd and you say; "why cannot Satan refer to something or somebody else?", then why not give the same latitude to considering what the Devil and the Serpent are?
God's enemy has only been man. God has not accused his Angels of being his enemy and though it is a different subject, there is not strong evidence to support the idea that God's Angel sin. It is not a phrase that should be written or said. I only mention that now, for when the true nature of the Devil is known, the possibility of Angels sinning is non-existent. When Peter said; "the angels that sinned", the same story recalled by Jude, the "angels" are found to be human. For a full explanation see the thread; The angels of Jude 6 It was necessary to get that out of the way in order to fend off the obvious comments and questions which would follow and I have no wish to go through the same set of questions as I have already answered in that thread.
Cain is example of man's nature that is the source of evil. What Cain did, we would naturally say is wrong. Is that said by all? No. If it were, we would not have murderers today. Murderers have no regard for the life of the person they kill. We are not told God gave any written law to the descendants of Adam and Eve. The law was not written down until it was given to Moses in the wilderness. "Thou shalt not kill" became law number 6, after the law to honour mother and father at number 5. Of all the prohibitive laws against our neighbour; "do not kill" was number 1 because it is the most serious. We honour mother and father, because they have given us life. They have nurtured us and raised us to a mature age, to where we can fend for ourselves. It is a sad indictment that parents these days do not bring up their children in the way that earns them respect. After commandment number 5 we begin the commandments specific to our neighbour.
In contrast to honouring parents for giving us life, since we regard our own life as precious, so we ought to regard the life of others. This is fundamental and is part of the second great commandment summed up by Jesus in which, by two commandments, Jesus summed up all the law that was given to Moses. It should not have to be told us we must "not kill", that should be innate in us. Nevertheless, some people have to be told this before they realize that killing others is not acceptable. Hence the "do unto others as you would have them do to you" should be our overriding principle. It was not the case with Cain and we have to see the reason why.
Nowhere in this story is Cain influenced by an external agent to commit his crime. His crime stems from his offering to God not being accepted and in some extent jealousy toward his brother Abel, whose offering was accepted. Cain became so angry that his anger was uncontrollable. He did not overcome the urge to kill his brother to get some from of self-gratification. Before Cain killed Abel, and after Cain's offering had not been accepted, God asked Cain a set of questions; Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Look at the observation of God; and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Sin can be likened to cat crouched ready to pounce on its prey; once the door is open, the opportunity arises. Cain did not do well and instead of admitting his mistake and saying; Lord forgive me, I will do better next time. Instead, his emotions got the better of him and he killed Abel.
Emotions are a function of the brain/mind. Our emotions are what we can think of as our "heart"; not the heart that pumps blood. Our thoughts can manifest in to our actions and our actions are governed by our emotions. It is up to us to exercise self-control and govern our emotions. Cain was not able to do this, and his anger resulted in sin; the killing his brother. No-one else was to blame other than Cain.
The origin of sin is also explained in James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. James says; "do not err" (on this subject). The origin of the devil and man's sin is in himself. It is man's own lust that draws him and entices him and gives birth (conceives) sin. There is no-one else to blame.
God is not tempting man, and that means God is not letting another agent or using any other agent to tempt man. If God allowed an Angel to tempt man, that is as good as God himself tempting man. Given that God has no involvement in making men sin, the blame rests solely on man alone.
\cont...................
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