What is the significance of the story of Cain and Abel?

from the old testament

• Cain and Abel were the first humans after Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:1–2) and were the first to be born with a sinful nature, coming after Adam and Eve had rebelled against God (Genesis 3:1–7) and had received His judgment (Genesis 3:16–19). They show that humanity was immediately and entirely affected by Adam’s sin (cf. Romans 5:12).
• In the account, the story centers on the time when they brought offerings to God according to their occupations (Genesis 4:2b–4a). Cain, who worked in the fields, brought “the fruit of the ground,” whereas Abel, who tended sheep, brought “the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.”
• God responded: “And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Genesis 4:4b–5a). The passage does not explain the difference. While scholars and pastors have postulated various reasons, all that is clear from the passage is that God instituted worship and that, whatever or however Cain offered his sacrifice, it displeased Him.
• Cain was very angry about this (Genesis 4:5b), and God warned Him, saying, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6–7). By saying sin is “crouching at the door,” he was using language of sin stalking its prey and about to tear it apart.
• Cain refused to listen to God. Instead, harboring jealousy and anger, he got his brother alone in the field (Genesis 4:8a), and there, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:8b). This was the first recorded murder, and theologically, it shows how quickly sin entered and affected humanity.
• Though Cain meant his crime to be in secret, God knew (Genesis 4:8c–10). He cursed Cain and banished him (Genesis 4:11ff). God then gave Eve a new son, Seth, through whom the world began seeking the LORD (Genesis 4:25–26).

from the new testament

• While Genesis 4 doesn’t explain what was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice, the author of Hebrews said, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). The core issue was not what was sacrificed but the heart posture. Honoring God has always been about pleasing Him with correct faith (Hebrews 11:6).
• John used Cain as a warning for believers to love one another. He said, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous (1 John 3:12). He went on to say, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).
• Jesus, rebuking the Pharisees, included Abel in the line of righteous martyrs, saying, “I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar” (Matthew 23:34–35). Jesus was saying that they were like Cain, murdering the righteous.
• The story of Cain and Abel, the first account after the fall, demonstrates the truth Paul taught: “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Romans 5:12–14). Sin has reigned in humanity since Adam’s sin. It and its judgment of death spread immediately to Adam’s children and on into the rest of humanity.

implications for today

It’s fashionable today to say that we are inherently good and that our problems are because of external pressures. Thus, we argue that we don’t actually sin. We make mistakes, we respond unfairly, and we merely respond to how others treated us. But that’s all because of outside factors.

However, when God cursed humanity, He judged it with physical corruption leading to death (Genesis 3:17–19). When recounting the first genealogy, Moses made that point, saying that while God made us in His likeness, originally good, Adam’s children were born in his likeness, inherently sinful (Genesis 5:1–3). Thus, when Cain sinned, it wasn’t because he was good but made a mistake; it was because he, like the rest of us, was corrupt and incapable of doing what is truly good (Psalm 14:3).

James thus said it isn’t anything external to us that forces us to sin, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:13–15). Our sinful desires, like Cain, are the source of sin and what separates us from God and others.

However, when God cursed humanity, He also promised a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is that Savior. Though fully God, He took on human nature to be like us, but without sin. As a true and sinless human, He was able to die as a sacrifice for sinners. All who believe in Him are saved from God’s final judgment. After we are saved, though, we still sin. Thankfully, God is faithful and does not allow us to be tempted more than we are able—He always makes a way of escape. Take it! When temptation comes, don’t blame your circumstances or the people around you. Don't delay obedience. Recognize the sinful desire within, turn to Christ, and choose the escape God has provided.