Genesis 4:8
‘Instead, Cain told his brother Abel… When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.’
Cain was reminded to do what was appropriate [Gen 4:7], and he killed his brother. Adam, too, was told to not eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; he ate it afterwards, though [Genesis 3]. When “… Cain told his brother Abel…”, the latter couldn’t know the former’s inner motive, could he? Cain knew that God warned, and he rebelled against that knowledge, due to an inappropriate spirit, the mere self-willed spirit, by which he conceded that his action was right while he was in fact killing his own brother.
“Sin has not to do with morality or immorality, it has to do with my claim to my right to myself, a deliberate and emphatic independence of God…”
Chambers, Oswald: Our Portrait in Genesis. Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1958; 2002
An appropriate motive should end up (albeit possibly through a moment of trials) in good actions, and good actions do not always guarantee that they stem from proper motives [Phil 1:15-18]. This guides me back to the foundation of continually getting myself appropriately related to God, who has given us his Son by whose name we must be saved [Acts 4:12]. “For by such grace you have been saved through faith… it is a gift…,” and if you really are grateful for the Giver of this gift, then make your relationship right with him, “… For we are God’s masterpiece, created… to perform good actions…” [Eph 2:8-10].
So firstly we know that the call toward repentance is parellel to the call toward faith in Jesus’ name [Mark 1:15]; then, such faith must always be followed by actions, or else it’s as good as dead [James 2:26].
