Wednesday AM Bible Study; September 3, 2025 – Genesis 4:1-26
Theme: Through one man’s sin, sin and death spread to all … and thus all need redemption.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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1 In Genesis 3, we were introduced to the greatest and most impactful tragedy of human history—the sin of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. That chapter showed us how temptation first entered the world, how our first parents succumbed to that temptation and suffered God’s curse for their disobedience, and how their fallenness began to manifest itself in a brokenness of relationships—first between mankind and God, then between the first man and the first woman, and finally between mankind and the rest of creation.
And now, in Chapter 4, we’re shown that their disobedience and suffering didn’t stop with them alone. Because all human beings who have ever lived came from Adam and Eve, all human beings have also inherited their curse of their fallenness. Romans 5:12 puts it to us plainly:
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned …” (Romans 5:12).
Praise God, though, that He has also provided redemption for fallen humanity. He promised, in Genesis 3:15, that the Seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That promised Seed—the Savior of humanity who would be born from out of humanity itself—is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ.
But, as Genesis 4 makes very clear to us, that redemption is truly an absolute necessity.
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Now; how long it was that the events of the end of Chapter 3 led to the events of Chapter 4 is something that we’re not told. It may have been a relatively short time that passed before Adam and Eve gave birth to children; but it may have been that many years’ time had passed before those children began to demonstrate the consequences of their parents’ sin. Several tragic consequences, however, soon began to show themselves.
First, as the story unfolds, we see …
1. THE BEGINNINGS OF FALSE RELIGION (vv. 1-7).
Genesis 4:1 says,
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord” (Genesis 4:1).
In the language of Scripture, we’re told that Adam had sexual relations with Eve; and as a result, a boy named Cain was the first child born in all of human history. His name meant “Acquire”; which is why Eve said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord” (v. 1). Looking back to the hopeful expectation of that great promise in Genesis 3:15, it may be that she thought Cain was the one through whom God’s promise of a Redeemer would be fulfilled—that is, that it would be from this son that her “Seed” would bruise the head of the serpent. And then, in verse 2, we’re told,
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel (v. 2a).
But this second son’s name, Abel’s, meant “Breath” or “Vanity”. It seems like a sad name to give to one’s son; and it may be that his name indicated a sense of sorrow over the growing evidence of the impact of the fall and the curse—and of the longing for that promised Redeemer. Or it may have even been an indication of Eve’s and Adam’s frustration that a girl had not yet been born who would make it possible for the Seed to come. In any case, as it happened, neither of these two sons would end up leading to that promised Redeemer.
The details of the history of this growing family are left a mystery to us; because the next thing we’re told was that the two boys were full-grown men, known by their vocations. We’re told in verses 2-4,
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 firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering (vv. 2b-4b).
This takes us back to Genesis 3. When Adam and Eve had sinned, God provided tunics of skin for them as a covering (3:21). This would have meant, of course, that something had died as a consequence of their sin; and that God would have thus established to them the principle of substitutionary atonement for sin. As the Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death”; which means that something has to die in order for sin to be atoned for and covered. Adam and Eve would have known this, and would have understood it—to some degree—to be ultimately fulfilled in the promise God had made in Genesis 3:15. Their worship of God would have necessarily reflected this principle; and they would have undoubtedly taught the same principle to their sons. Clearly, Abel worshiped God in a way that was consistent with that principle. He made an offering to God from the firstborn of his flocks—recognizing that sin is only atoned by death, and that the promised Redeemer would provide that full atonement. But his older brother Cain—a tiller of the ground—sought instead to bring an offering of the produce of the field. He sought to offer the work of his own hands as an offering to God. And we’re told in verse 5,
And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering (4b-5a).
We see then that only Abel worshiped God in a way that was consistent with the principle of an atoning substitute. He brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat (v. 4); while Cain—a tiller of the ground—brought an offering of the harvest of the ground (that is, the work of his own hands) as an offering to God (v. 3). Abel’s offering reflected an acceptance of God’s provision of atonement; while Cain’s offering reflected a rejection of that provision. It may even have hinted at the vain attempts of Adam and Eve to hide their sin from God’s sight (see 3:7). Cain looked to what he could do through the work of his hands to cover sin, while Abel looked to what God would do through the gift of His grace to atone for it fully. And as a result, God accepted Abel’s offering—but rejected Cain’s.
What’s more, it seems very evident that Cain knew what God had expected of him. In verses 5-7, we’re told,
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” (vv. 5b-7).
Cain knew the right thing to do—but was refusing to do it. And his disobedience was putting his soul in jeopardy. But the Bible also makes it clear that Abel’s offering looked ahead in faith to the promise of God. As we’re told in Hebrews 12:24, a faith that pleases God is one that looks
to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24).
So then; in this story, we see one of the ways that the fallenness of Adam and Eve began to show itself to have been passed on to their offspring. Fallen human beings not only do not worship God in a way that He established; but they set about instead to establish their own way of worship in the hopes that God will accept it as the purchase price for righteousness. This story, then, tells us about the beginning of every man-made, false religious system that has ever been practiced by fallen humanity in disobedience to God. It may be from ignorance—as Paul wrote in Romans 10:3-4,
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:3-4);
or it may be because of intentional rebellion—as Paul wrote in Romans 1:21-23;
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23).
But in either case, the dynamic is the same. All man-made religions come from a deep-felt sense of separateness from the Creator—but also from an attitude of rebellion against His revealed provision for reconciliation. The story of man-made world religions—with all of the oppressive religious rituals and ceremonies that are involved in them—is the story of mankind’s fall told on a grand scale. Only a faith that is based on the full acceptance of God’s promised redemption will save the fallen soul. As it says in Hebrews 11:4;
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 (Hebrews 11:4).
Now; this gives way to the sad story of …
2. THE FIRST MURDER (vv. 8-15).
It’s very obvious that God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering aroused jealousy in Cain’s heart. We’re told in verse 8,
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 (v. 8).
To say that Cain ‘rose up’ against Abel suggests that there was some measure of deceit involved. Cain’s act was premeditated, and Abel was his unsuspecting victim. But we have to ask where Cain would have gotten the idea of ‘killing’ in the first place. It’s true that this act of murder was a product of Cain’s own fallenness. But since the only other “killing” that Cain could have known about at that time would have been through the kind of atoning sacrifice that God accepted from Abel, it may be that this murderous act was a perversion of God’s own revealed atoning principle. It may even be—since we’re told that Abel’s blood had been poured out on the ground—that Cain slew his brother in the same kind of way that the atoning sacrifice would have been slain. And as bloodshed—not of an atoning substitute, but as an attack on the very image of God Himself—it was not hidden from God’s knowledge. Verses 9-12 tell us;
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” (vv. 10-12).
We might wonder why it was that Cain was not himself put to death for having committed this murder. The answer may be in the fact that it was not until after the flood that God had established the principle that “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed …” (Genesis 9:6). But though not put to death, Cain nevertheless suffered an additional curse to the one that had already been placed on fallen humanity. The ground from which Cain sought to make an offering to God, and into which was poured the blood of his brother, would now no longer yield fruit to him (v. 12a). Thus, since the curse upon Adam was that he would labor hard and ‘eat’ his bread ‘in the sweat of’ his face (see 3:17-19), Cain could not have experienced even what his father experienced after his disobedience. He would also be “a fugitive and a vagabond” on the earth (v. 12b). He would truly be a helpless outcast in the fullest sense—separated from a relationship with God, and from the rest of human society, and even kept from the blessings of the produce of creation.
Cain felt the terrible weight of this. And yet, God was merciful to him. In verses 13-16, we’re told,
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 (vv. 13-16).
What this mark or sign was—which seemed to be only specific to Cain—is something that we can’t know for certain. Nevertheless, it identified Cain as protected as a judged man—and yet separated from Adam and Eve in that judgment. Cain thus became the father of all those who hate the righteous and who live in the misery of rebellion against God. As the apostle John wrote;
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you (1 John 3:10-13).
Cain’s terrible separation led to one more consequence of the fall; and that was …
3. TWO DIVISIONS OF HUMANITY (16-26).
We’re told in verses 16-19;
Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech (vv. 16-18).
Cain’s son Enoch shouldn’t be confused with the man Enoch who is mentioned in Genesis 5. That ‘Enoch’—who was the man who didn’t die—was of a completely different lineage than Cain, and who lived some 600 years later. Obviously, the wife from whom Cain bore his son Enoch would have had to have been an unnamed sister or near relative; and together they dwelt in a place east of the Garden of Eden called Nod. Since ‘Nod’ means ‘wandering’, it may not have been the name of a literal place as much as a state of existence. He was a “a fugitive and a vagabond” in a land of continual wandering and restlessness.
A series of generations then flowed from the union of Cain and his wife. The seventh generation born from Adam was that headed by a man named Lamech. Tragically, he was a man through whom, once again, the presence of inherited sin was demonstrated. We’re told in verses 19-24,
Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
Then Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (vv. 19-24).
This strange and violent man of the lineage of Cain not only introduced polygamy into the human race, but also murdered a young man who somehow wounded him. Death for a mere wound was an act of extreme inequity and injustice! He arrogantly boasted that if Cain would be avenged sevenfold, then he would be avenged seventy-sevenfold. His boast was the opposite of the kind of mercy and forgiveness that Jesus commanded His followers to show—forgiving whoever sinned against them ‘seventy-times-seven’ times (Matthew 18:24).
Thus, a murderous and self-exalting sin nature continued to reveal itself in humanity—shown most clearly in the lineage that followed from Cain. Because of the sin of our first parents, the world—originally declared “very good”—became a dark and dangerous place.
But notice what we’re told next. With their first son driven away in exile, and their second son taken from them by murder—and along with the loss of both these sons, the hopes that it would be through them that a Redeemer would come—Adam and Eve again conceived and bore a third son named Seth (whose name means “Appointed”). Verses 25-26 tell us;
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord (vv. 25-26).
The name of Seth’s son, Enosh, means “Mortal”—which suggests the idea of frailty. And note that it was at the time that Enosh was born to Seth that “men began to call on the name of the LORD” (v. 26). Mankind was divided between the offspring of Cain (whose name meant ‘Acquire’—perhaps intentionally identifying him with those who seek to earn righteousness by works) and the offspring of Seth (whose name meant ‘Appointed’—perhaps identifying him with those from whom God’s promise of a Savior would come). And in Enosh’s day, we’re told that men, even in their fallenness, began to cry out to God by the name by which He would most clearly reveal Himself to Israel—YHWH. By calling upon Him by this name, the people of God from the lineage of Seth were embracing His full being as He truly is. It highlighted God as the promise-keeping God who would indeed provide redemption through the Seed of the woman.
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So then; in this fourth chapter of the Bible, we see how sin spread from Adam and Eve to all their offspring. But we’re also shown how, in one specific lineage, God would bring about the promise of redemption through Jesus Christ—the promised Seed of the woman. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:18-19,
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19).
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1Much of the material for this study was adapted from the Bethany Bible Church study, Genesis & A Biblical Worldview (2012), Lesson 12.
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