Hebrews 11:4, commentary and pictures

By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain because he saw himself a sinner separated from God by death-deserving sin, and through the shed blood of his lamb looked forward in trust to the atoning death of Christ on Calvary. Cain's offering was rejected because it was Christless, refusing the shedding of blood and the confession of sin and dependence on a Redeemer that God had appointed. God testified that Abel was righteous and his gift accepted, sending fire from heaven to consume it while giving Cain no such sign. Being dead yet speaking means Abel's faith, righteous obedience and faithful example still live as a witness calling others to God's appointed way of salvation. His slain lamb represented the Son of God, showing that patriarchs as well as apostles were saved by faith in Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Faith Behind the Offering

By faith the offering was more excellent because the principles of redemption were grasped: self seen as a sinner, sin and its penalty of death seen standing between the soul and communion with God, the claims of the transgressed law acknowledged, and through the shed blood the future sacrifice of Christ dying on Calvary looked to with trust in the atonement to be made there. That faith brought the witness of righteousness and the acceptance of the offering.

The blood of the animal declared knowledge of sin and need for sins to be put away, and the offering expressed repentance and belief in the efficacy of the future great offering. The fruit offering refused that confession and dependence on a Redeemer, would not submit to the ordinance or acknowledge need of cleansing, and was led into rebellion against the blood offering that prefigured the Redeemer to come.

As priest in solemn faith the blood of beasts was offered to signify sin, penitence, and belief in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering. From pride repentance and faith in a Saviour were refused and need of a Redeemer left unacknowledged, because dependence and humiliation offended the proud heart, and willingness extended only to offering the fruit of the ground without joining the blood of beasts to it.

The dying victim taught that sin brings death and that Christ would die for the guilty, and that only the sacrifice of life could answer the claims of the broken law. Acceptance came through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice, in faith and obedience trusting the promised Redeemer, not through the value of personal work or possessions.

Excellence lay in faith joined to obedience to the word, ordinance, and provision for salvation, with testing as Adam had been tested on believing and obeying. Conforming to the plan for redemption expressed total dependence on the Saviour typified by the offerings and reliance on the promised Redeemer represented by the slain lamb, who as Son of God would die for sin. Animal blood signified repentance, obedience, and faith in the coming Redeemer as a continuing pledge of pardon through the great offering to come, while choosing a self-devised offering expressed pride and refusal to acknowledge sin and dependence on another.

In obedience the firstlings of the flock and the fat were brought as commanded, presented with humble reverence and full faith of the Messiah to come, while the first-fruits of the earth were appointed to be presented as a thank-offering. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, so faith looked to the blood of Christ as the promised atonement.

That faith was faith in Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, shown in the sacrifice. It is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, calling for deeper trust, a softened and subdued heart, and cooperation with Christ.

Cain's Rejected Offering

Cain was willing to offer only the fruit of his ground and refused to join the blood of beasts with his offering, rejecting God's appointed ordinance and slighting the blood of the atonement. His choice of his own offering expressed pride and refusal to acknowledge his sin and his dependence on another, for dependence and humiliation offended his proud heart, and he would not submit to show repentance for sin and faith in a Saviour or to acknowledge his need of a Redeemer. By contrast Abel as priest in solemn faith offered the blood of beasts by faith in a future Redeemer, signifying that he was a sinner with sins to be put away, that he was penitent and obedient, and that he believed in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering. The animal's blood showed his need of cleansing, and his sacrifice expressed repentance, obedience, and faith in the Redeemer to come as a continuing pledge of God's pardon through the great offering to come. Because Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was refused, Satan filled Cain with doubt and madness against God and against his innocent brother until Cain slew him.

Cain's offering was Christless and therefore offended God, whereas Abel's offering presented Christ and was accepted through faith. Unlike an offering made in faith, Cain's sacrifice lacked confession of sin and recognition of need for a Savior and did not acknowledge Christ's sacrifice for the sins of the world. Abel's offering points to presenting Christ's blood before the Father and trusting in its merit, and that blood cleanses from sin only for those who believe in it.

Cain's offering was faultless except that he brought no slain lamb as God had directed to acknowledge and confess sin and to represent Christ the great Sacrifice who saved fallen humanity by becoming that Sacrifice. When Abel reminded him of that direction, Cain became angry and killed him.

Cain's refusal of the shedding of blood was refusal of God's plan of salvation through the blood of Jesus, which the sacrificial offerings symbolized and pointed to as the blood of Christ to be shed for the world. Abel by faith offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain because he accepted God's plan in the school of obedience to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. The whole ceremony was prepared by God with Christ as the foundation of the whole system and of the whole Jewish economy, and Abel's sacrifice belongs to the beginning of its work as schoolmaster to bring sinful human agents to consideration of Christ. The death of Abel was in consequence of Cain's refusal.

Declared Righteous by God

By faithful offering Abel obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts that he was righteous and that his offering was accepted. His faith made his sacrifice more excellent than Cain's, and that pure faith received God's testimony to its righteousness. Though Cain killed him because Cain's works were evil and Abel's were righteous, Abel's witness continued after his death, calling others to obedience and standing against resisting or harming those who reprove wrongdoing.

God bore witness by sending fire and flashing light from heaven that consumed Abel's offering, while Cain received no manifestation that his was accepted. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat as commanded, presenting it with humble reverence and in full faith of the Messiah to come, and that obedient faith made his sacrifice more excellent. His faith was faith in Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, shown in offering his sacrifice, which the Lord accepted by fire from heaven to consume it. That faith by which he obtained witness that he was righteous is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, calling for deeper trust, a softened and subdued heart, and cooperation with Christ.

Abel was righteous and accepted and blessed because he loved and reverenced God, while Cain had no respect for God or His commandments but followed his own corrupt course and was rejected. Those who love and reverence God are accepted and blessed, and those who disregard God and His commandments and follow their own corrupt course are rejected. God's prosperity, acceptance, and blessing still come from God alone according to a person's righteous or wicked course, not according to birthright or a father's blessing.

Abel's right doing honored God by doing His will and labored to turn sinful men to revere and obey Him. After Abel's death Seth took his place in that same right doing, separating himself from the corrupt descendants of Cain to carry on the work Abel would have done had he lived. Seth was a son of Adam like Cain with no more natural goodness than Cain, born in sin, but by the grace of God in receiving faithful instruction he honored God in doing His will, showing that the witnessed righteousness comes by grace through faith and obedience, not by nature. All who have a knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ the Son of God may have just as pure a faith as Abel had, a true experience and safe knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ unto salvation. God testifying to His gifts and His servants is of more value than seeking own advantage and glorifying self.

Being Dead Yet Speaking

Though dead, Abel still speaks by faith, and his righteous conduct and faithful example continue as a witness calling others to obedience in contrast to Cain's evil works. His offering was more excellent because it was made in faith, God testified through his gifts that he was righteous, and though Cain killed him because Cain's works were evil and Abel's were righteous, Abel's witness was not silenced. His example speaks against resisting or harming those who reprove wrongdoing.

What a person does becomes a living influence in the thoughts and actions of others, like seed producing a harvest of its kind, so that being dead yet speaking means words, influence, and example live on after death. Works follow the person, and even when one can no longer labor openly and actively, God still uses him in sickness as in health, in death as in life. The memory of steadfast adherence to truth under all circumstances, with words of admonition and encouragement, speaks even more powerfully than the living example, and faith shines brightest in the darkness of affliction, bereavement, trial, and persecution. Those who have fought a good fight, finished their course, and kept the faith unto the end still speak after death. When faithful aged standard-bearers lay off the armor one by one, their voices become silent, their place is vacant, and they are seen no more, yet being dead they still speak because their works follow them. Their words, though spoken with worn and enfeebled powers, remain as precious testimony to be treasured, and younger workers who have entered into their labors should treat the aged pilgrims tenderly, esteem them highly for their works' sake, and rise up and call them blessed rather than discard them or show indifference.

The continuing voice includes lasting written works that keep communicating after the writer has died, with testimonies and publications taken up and heard, and letters and example remaining as testimony. Hannah More's letters and example remain such a testimony after her death, and her death exposed the selfishness of professed commandment-keepers who refused her a home. Old messengers who stood firmly for the truth and fought the battles under the Prince of heaven and took precious care of the truth still speak by the sacred truth the Holy Spirit signified and endorsed through them, rallying true men around that standard against new theories and misinterpretations of Scripture that unsettle faith.

The verse applies to believers who now rest, whose work and influence in bearing the banner of truth continue to bear fruit, and whose life and blessed influence on others testify to character and work. A righteous person's faithful exhortations continue to affect even those who heard and opposed him, leaving after death a testimony of hope in Jesus and confidence in the resurrection, as seen in Ralph's faithful exhortations and death. A faithful person continues to speak after death through the testimony left behind, including a dying testimony left for friends and the young.

A faithful martyr being dead yet speaks and death does not end testimony. Though Huss was burned and his ashes with the soil were cast into the Rhine and borne onward to the ocean, his voice spoken in the council hall of Constance wakened echoes heard through all coming ages. His example of faith and constancy encourages multitudes to stand firm for truth in the face of torture and death, and his scattered ashes became as seed in all countries of the earth and even in lands yet unknown yielding abundant fruit in witnesses for truth. The truths for which he died never perish, and the cruel perfidy exhibited in his execution furthers the cause his persecutors vainly sought to destroy.

What Abel though dead ever speaks is the blood of Christ which alone can make human offerings and gifts perfect. His offering points to that blood, and his voice belongs to the accumulated treasure of Old Testament history bound up for the last generation to profit by, to increase faith and awaken earnestness for sending the light to the ends of the earth. Though dead, Abel still speaks as a witness to faithfulness to God's commands and to Christ as the way of salvation, because he followed God's appointed way by bringing a lamb representing Christ's blood and would not yield to another way. His faithful obedience offended Cain, who wanted Abel to follow another way, and Abel was murdered for refusing to yield.

Martyr Among the Faithful

Abel stands among the heroes of faith and the ancient people commended for faith in the chapter on faith and the record of the faithful, whose lives are examples for the Christian church. His fidelity to God made his life a light to people in darkness. When such lives are brought before the world their example shines so that their light reaches people in darkness and leads them to glorify God. Abel is one of the cloud of witnesses compassing believers, who breasted the evils and difficulties in his way and in the name of the Lord braced himself successfully against the opposing forces of evil, sustained and strengthened with the Lord holding him by His hand.

Abel was the first Christian among Adam's children and a martyr whose death exemplifies the affliction and persecution endured by God's messengers. Though he died, his faithful example remains a witness. His faithfulness to God brought him a place among those who suffered for being true to God and obedient to His commandments, and his example began the long history of suffering among God's people.

Abel belongs to the righteous, believing class that continues from the fall of man to the second coming of Christ, while Cain belongs to the wicked, unbelieving class. Cain killing Abel shows the relation between the two classes: the wicked envy the righteous and hate them because they are better than themselves, are jealous of them, and persecute and put them to death because righteous doing condemns their sinful course. Right conduct exposes and condemns sinful behavior, and Cain's killing of Abel represents the persecution and killing of the righteous by the wicked from humanity's fall until Christ's second coming. Cain, whose works were evil, killed Abel because Abel's works were righteous. Abel is seen as innocent and righteous and Cain as hating him for it, the same spirit seen in Joseph's brothers who resented his purity and goodness while refusing to turn from their own wickedness.

Abel's faith made his offering more excellent than Cain's and God testified through his gifts that Abel was righteous. Though Cain killed him, Abel's witness continued after his death, calling others to obedience, with his faith and righteous conduct standing in contrast to Cain's evil works. His example speaks against resisting or harming those who reprove wrongdoing. Abel was righteous and dared to condemn sin, and reproof of sin aroused hatred and resistance against him, with indignation excited against the reprover as if he were the cause of difficulty, while the sinner justified himself and sought the sympathy of others instead of correcting his error. What happened to Abel began a continuing pattern from his days to the present time toward all who condemn sin.

Abel was murdered because of his obedience to God's law. He was among the just who kept the fear of the Lord before their generation. Though killed by Cain, his faithfulness belonged to a line of people who received God's instruction from Adam and passed it on to their children. His example shows that God had faithful people even in an age of widespread corruption and rejection of His words.

Christ and Living Faith

The slain lamb represented the Son of God who would die for sin, and Abel in offering it obeyed God's requirements and showed faith in the promised Redeemer whose death for sin it pointed to. Abel with other believers before Christ looked forward to the coming Saviour and expressed that faith through sacrifices and offerings, and the slain animals as symbols of Christ's sinless sacrifice pointed to His death on the cross, where symbol met fulfillment and the sacrificial system ceased. Christ was the way to God from the time of Adam, and patriarchs and prophets were saved through Him as the only way of access to God. Abel acknowledged Christ through the blood of the slain lamb and was a Christian in that faith, believing in Christ and saved by His power just as Peter and Paul were, showing that salvation through Christ belongs to the Old Testament as well as the New. The Old Testament is the gospel in types and shadows, and the New Testament is only its advancement and unfolding, not a new religion superseding an old religion.

Abel's offering points to presenting Christ's blood before the Father and trusting in its merit, and that blood cleanses from sin only for those who believe in it. His offering was accepted through faith because it presented Christ, while an offering without Christ offends God. The same faith shown by God's servants of old can work in people now, for God works through faithful hearts as channels of His power. Abel's faithful offering teaches that God's work is to be done by faith, and those who labor for God are to go forward in faith. The chapter on faith to which the verse belongs directs the mind from visible, discouraging things to unseen realities and to the hope of a better country, the heavenly city built by God.

No one needs to be careless, slack, and half serious, neither wholly for God nor wholly of the devil, for such service is useless and misleading, perverting God-given talent entrusted for His glory to selfish purposes to aggrandize self and be recognized as superior. All who have a knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ may have just as pure a faith as Abel had, a true experience and safe knowledge unto salvation, and God's testifying to His gifts and servants is of more value than seeking own advantage and glorifying self. Abel with Enoch and Noah will condemn in the judgment those who with great light and evidence remain far from perfection in Christ with defective character, when with great trusts and lent talents they should be as righteous as Enoch, who perfected Christlikeness though the world was as wicked and unfavorable then as now, so that the world took knowledge of him as a correct sample of what a man could be. The faith by which Abel obtained witness that he was righteous is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, faith in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world shown in his sacrifice, and this same faith calls for deeper trust, a softened and subdued heart, and cooperation with Christ.

God accepts no service, however splendid or talented, unless laid upon and joined to Christ the living foundation, which alone gives it worth and makes it living service. The words and deeds of the righteous of all ages testify through the centuries like lights gleaming through moral darkness with ever-increasing brightness for time and eternity, and those martyred for Christ are remembered in heaven and will receive a bright reward when called from their graves. When faithful aged standard-bearers lay off the armor one by one, their voices fall silent and their place is vacant, yet being dead they still speak because their works follow them. Their words, though spoken with worn and enfeebled powers, remain as precious testimony to be treasured, and younger workers who entered into their labors should treat them tenderly, esteem them highly, and rise up and call them blessed rather than discard them or show indifference. Those who stood firmly for the truth continue to speak after death through testimonies and publications taken up and heard, and the sacred truth endorsed by the Spirit through old messengers still rallies true men against new theories and misinterpretations that unsettle faith.