Jude 1:11a The Way of Cain
This is the 14th lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I do an exposition of Jude 1:11a, focusing on "the way of Cain".
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the 14th lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Jude. In this lesson I’m looking at verse 11 and talking about the way of Cain. Let's look at a few earlier verses for some context.
Jude 4
For certain people crept in secretly,
those who were long ago
designated into this judgment,
ungodly people
turning the grace of our God into sensuality
and denying our only Master and Lord
Jesus Christ.
Jude was writing about certain people who had crept in secretly. In verse 8 he wrote more about those men.
Jude 8
Nevertheless, likewise also
these men,
dreaming,
indeed
are defiling flesh,
rejecting authority,
and blaspheming majesties.
He made reference to these men in verse 10.
Jude 10
But
these men indeed are blaspheming
the things they do not understand,
and
the things they naturally know, by them,
like speechless animals,
they are being destroyed.
Then we get to verse 11, which is the subject of this particular lesson.
Jude 11
Woe to them,
because
they went in the way of Cain,
they were poured out to the error
of the wage of Balaam, and
they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah.
In verse 11 we see the pronoun “them”. That tells us that Jude was still talking about these men who had crept into the church secretly. We also see the word “they” three times.
The first word in verse 11 is the word “woe”. The word “woe” is a warning. We'll talk about that more in a little bit.
Then we see the word “because”. The items after the word because tell us why Jude was issuing a warning to these men. There were essentially three reasons. These men were going in the way of Cain. They were being poured out to the error of the wage of Balaam. And they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah. All three of those items are references back to things in the Old Testament.
In this lesson, I'm going to focus on the way of Cain. I’m going to go to the book of Genesis and read about Cain to see what we learn about him. We'll also look at a couple of verses in the New Testament to see what that tells us about Cain. Then we'll see what Jude is trying to tell us by referring to Cain.
As I said a little bit ago, the first word in verse 11 is the word “woe”, and that is a warning. Let's take a look closer look at this word.
The Greek word that was used here was used in Matthew 18.
Matt. 18:7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!
We see that the word “woe” is a warning.
1Cor. 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.
Here again, we see that the word “woe” is a warning. We see this also in Revelation.
Rev. 12:12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
Let’s go back to Jude 1:11.
Jude 11
Woe to them,
because
they went in the way of Cain,
they were poured out to the error
of the wage of Balaam, and
they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah.
This was a warning to them. Woe to the men who had crept into the church secretly. Woe to the men who were distorting grace and denying Jesus.
We also see the word “because”. The rest of the verse tells us why Jude was issuing a warning to these men. In this lesson we're looking at the fact that they went in the way of Cain.
Let's go to the book of Genesis and read about Cain.
Gen. 4:1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Notice Abel was a keeper of flocks and Cain was a tiller of the ground. I'll talk about that more in a little bit.
Gen. 4:3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought an offering, but he brought one of the firstlings of his flock. Yahweh did not have regard for Cain’s offering.
There's a misconception that the reason Yahweh did not have regard for Cain’s offering is because it was fruit of the ground instead of an animal. That is not correct. That's not what the text tells us.
The actual problem was something different. When we look closely at this verse, we see what the real problem was. It says that Cain brought an offering; whereas, Abel brought the first things of his flock and their fat portions.
Abel brought his best. He brought his first. Cain simply brought an offering. Perhaps Cain brought his leftovers. Because of that, Yahweh had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain.
We see at the end of the verse that Cain was angry and his countenance fell.
Gen. 4:6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
We see the question why. Yahweh asked, “Why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen?”
Then we have this interesting statement in verse seven. Yahweh said to Cain, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?” Yahweh was trying to get Cain to focus on himself and his own actions. Yahweh was trying to get Cain to do well, and that would result in his countenance being lifted up.
Yahweh also issued a warning. He said, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” So if Cain did not do well, then he would be taken over by sin. Indeed, we see that is what happened to Cain. We see in verse 8 that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Able did not do anything wrong. Cain is the one who did not offer a proper sacrifice. However, instead of dealing with his own shortcomings, Cain took action against Abel and eliminated the person that was making him look bad.
Now let's look at a couple verses in the New Testament to see what the New Testament tells us about Cain and Abel.
Heb. 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
It was by faith that Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. It was not the fact that Abel brought an animal and Cain brought grain. It was the fact that Abel had faith and Cain did not.
Remember, I pointed out that Abel brought the first of his flock. He brought the best. Whereas, Cain simply brought an offering. Perhaps Cain brought his leftovers. By bringing his first animals, Abel demonstrated faith that God would provide for him. Cain, if indeed he was bringing his leftovers, was not demonstrating faith that God would provide for him.
1John 3:12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
We see here the question, “Why did Cain kill Abel?” That happened because Cain’s deeds were evil while Abel’s deeds were righteous. Cain, instead of dealing with his faults and his shortcomings, decided to eliminate the person that was making him look bad.
Let’s go back to Jude 1:11.
Jude 11
Woe to them,
because
they went in the way of Cain,
they were poured out to the error
of the wage of Balaam, and
they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah.
Jude wrote “woe to them, because they went in the way of Cain.” Jude was writing about the men who had crept into the church secretly and were turning the grace of God into sensuality and denying Jesus. Jude said they were doing something very similar to Cain.
Just as Cain, instead of fixing his own problems and dealing with his own sin, decided to kill Abel and eliminate someone righteous. So too, apparently, these men that Jude was writing about, were ignoring their own faults and their own shortcomings. Instead, they were attacking people who were doing good.
Jude 4
For certain people crept in secretly,
those who were long ago
designated into this judgment,
ungodly people
turning the grace of our God into sensuality
and denying our only Master and Lord
Jesus Christ.
Jude wrote that certain people had crept in secretly. They were turning the grace of God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ.
Jude 8
Nevertheless, likewise also
these men,
dreaming,
indeed
are defiling flesh,
rejecting authority,
and blaspheming majesties.
He said these men were defiling flesh, rejecting authority, and blaspheming majesties.
Jude 10
But
these men indeed are blaspheming
the things they do not understand,
and
the things they naturally know, by them,
like speechless animals,
they are being destroyed.
He said these men were blaspheming the things they did not understand and they were being destroyed by the things they should have known.
Jude 11
Woe to them,
because
they went in the way of Cain,
they were poured out to the error
of the wage of Balaam, and
they were destroyed in the rebellion of Korah.
Then in verse 11 he said, “Woe to them, because they went in the way of Cain.”
Just as Cain did not fix his own problems, did not repent of his sin, and instead attacked Abel, killed him, and eliminated someone righteous. So too, apparently, these men that Jude was writing about were ignoring their own faults. Instead of fixing their faults and repenting of their sins, they were attacking people who were more righteous than they.
Let this serve as a warning to us that we should not do the same thing. It's very tempting as humans to do what Cain did. When we see someone who's more righteous than us, instead of fixing our problems and faults, it’s much easier to attack those who are doing things well. It's easier to tear other people down than it is to fix our own problems.
However, that’s not what we should do. We should focus on ourselves, fix our own faults, fix our own sins, and rejoice in those who are more righteous.
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Scripture quotations from Jude taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.
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