In a previous essay I suggested that the story of Adam and Eve is a grace story, but not until our first parents sinned and were in need of grace. We may suppose that they were placed in Eden for eternity. Death came only with sin, and sin called for God’s free gift of grace. Paul emphasizes this truth in Romans 5:20: "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."

  But the apostle also said, referring to the Adam story, "The law entered that the offense might abound." That is, the law – what God had commanded them – exposed the offense and defined the penalty, which was, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17).

  God owed the first pair nothing. He had given them a paradisical existence. Their only responsibility was to tend the Garden – and to keep the law God had given. Tempted to self-adulation – the fruit of the forbidden tree would make them like God – they sinned out of their own self-will. Did they – from the outset – have what Augustine called "a diseased will"? They certainly had the capacity to sin, if not the inclination.

 The bad news is that their sin brought death – even the death of the whole human race, as the apostle assures us in Romans 5:12. The good news is that sin also brought grace, for while death came to Adam and Eve it did not come immediately, as the law implied it would. They lived on for hundreds of years, and while they were expelled from Eden, they had a significant ministry on a now tainted planet earth.

  Having partaken of the tree of knowledge, and having lived for centuries, Adam must have had much to offer the generations he served. The wisdom of the patriarchs, which was a rich blessing to the ancient world, began with Adam. What insights he must have had into human nature and ethics, as well as the natural sciences. What stories he could tell about "the beginning"! One of his star pupils was Enoch, only "the seventh from Adam" – no problem for one who lived 950 years. And Enoch walked with God. Except for the grace shown Adam there would have been no patriarchs who preserved and perpetuated the monotheistic faith.

  If the sin of Adam and Eve was lust for power, the sin of their son Cain was born of envy and hatred. By the time of the story of Cain and Abel there was something of an advanced society, such as the existence of cities. Occupations had also developed; Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd. Both brought offerings to the Lord, Cain from the field and Abel from the flock.

  When the story reveals that "The Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering," it does not necessarily follow that there was something wrong with Cain’s sacrifice, or with his attitude, as is often presumed. It may be unfair to Cain to conclude that he was insincere or that for some reason his offering was inadequate. The story does not necessarily infer this. It might rather once more be defining the nature of grace – "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." It may be that the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, the younger of the two, for the same reason he chose Jacob over Esau, again the younger of the two.

  Yes, Cain was offended -- "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell" (Genesis 4:5). He may have felt that he had done all that Abel had done, and had done so sincerely. He was understandably offended by the grace shown his brother and not to him. His pride and self-will kept him from yielding to God’s will. It had to be his way. But still the Lord was patient with him, as if he understood his problem: "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."

  The Lord is saying something like, "OK, I see that you don’t like this, but if you take it like a man, you too will be all right. But if you can’t take it and become a sorehead, then something far worse will befall you. Sin crouches at your door. It is your choice." Cain couldn’t take it. Pride! His anger breeds hatred. He lures his brother – his brother! – into the field and murders him.

  "Where is Abel your brother?" the Lord asked. Not just where is Abel, but where is Abel your brother? The Bible early on tips us off as to the nature of man. In the very first family there is selfish-pride, rebellion, anger, hatred, and even fratricide. Need we be shocked over the human situation around us?

  Cain also became a liar. He told the Lord he didn’t know where Abel was. "Am I my brother’s keeper?" he complained. God did not expect Cain to be his brother’s keeper, but he did expect him to be his brother’s brother. "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground." It was a cry for vengeance.

  Again, like Adam before him, Cain deserved nothing but death. But no, God’s extravagant, offensive grace is extended even to the murderous Cain. What punishment the Lord meets out to Cain is itself a blessing in disguise to the human race. The earth would not yield to him as it had, and he would be a fugitive and a vagabond. Even this was too much for Cain – "My punishment is greater than I can bear."

  But it wasn’t all that bad. While he went out from the presence of the Lord as a wanderer, he at last settled in Nod, not all that far from Eden. He married, had a family, and even built a city. And all this time he had a protective mark on him, put there by the Lord, lest an avenger of blood might do him in.

  This is not a story of justice but of grace. Had I been Cain’s judge I would have at least given him a prison sentence. But God not only spares him but protects him from harm, and eventually uses him for useful purposes in the world. He became "mayor" of Enoch, a city named for his son, but not the Enoch who walked with God.

  The story shows that grace is not only irrational and offensive, but unpredictable as well. It was not exacted in Cain’s case, but the law "Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed" was often executed speedily. It is a truth we are slow to comprehend – God has mercy on whom he will, unpredictably.

  We have come far enough in our grace stories to see that God was as gracious in the Old Testament as in the New. Grace did not have to await the Cross, even though the Cross was the ultimate expression of that grace.

  Are we to conclude that that grace is limited to time and is not for eternity. When the curtain at last falls on human history and we are all ushered into eternity, will God’s grace be no more? Or will the sinner’s cry for mercy be heard even in eternity?

  Yes, God’s grace is infinite, abundant, overflowing, and extravagant. Is it also eternal?

Notes

Ouida and I were with the Pecan Grove Church of Christ in Greenville, Texas last Lord’s day where I spoke on "Circumcision of the Heart." We are with this congregation several times a year. They have become dear to us through the years. An unusual thing happened to them a few weeks ago, perhaps a "first" for a Church of Christ or any other church. A distraught young man, bent on ending his life, drove onto their property and up near the building, which sets back somewhat off the highway. There he shot himself to death. Some of the brethren were doing yard work and heard the shot. There was soon present a covey of paramedics and police. The young man’s father was out looking for him, and spotted his car on the church grounds, apparently about the time he took his life. Last Sunday one of the brothers read a note of appreciation from the family – strangers to the church – for their loving concern at such a tragic moment. They enclosed a love offering. This pathetic story aroused my curiosity. Did the young man choose to end his life at church, or was it a random location? And I had a vision. I saw myself in the yard when he drove up. I urged him to postpone his intention. "Come back Sunday and give these people a chance to love you and help you. They will listen to you. You will find a family that will accept you just as you are, no questions asked. You will see that God loves you even when life is so hopeless that you want to end it all. You will find hope and a new beginning." He returned his revolver to the glove compartment and told me he might give it a try.

All the previous 137 essays are available at www.leroygarrett.org Click on Soldier On.