First John: 1 John 3:12b-Cain Murdered Abel Because His Actions Were Evil and His Brother’s Were Righteous Lesson # 120

1 John 3:12 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. (ESV)

“And why did he murder him?” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) preposition charin (χάριν), “why” (3) genitive neuter singular form of the interrogative pronoun tis (τις), “why” (4) third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb sphazō (σφάζω), “did he murder” (5) accusative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “him.”

This time the conjunction kai is introducing a question which serves to intensify and advance upon the previous epexegetical clause which asserts that Cain brutally murdered his brother.

Therefore, the advancement and intensification is that John goes from asserting that Cain brutally murdered his brother to presenting Cain’s motive for committing this brutal murder.

The genitive neuter singular form of the interrogative pronoun tis is employed with the indicative form of the verb sphazō, “did he murder” in order to form a question.

Therefore, it is a marker of a question and is the object of the improper preposition charin, which always appears after its object.

Here it is a marker of reason or cause in a question expressing the reason why Cain brutally murdered his brother Abel.

Once again, we have the verb sphazō in the third person singular aorist active indicative form and means “to brutally murder someone” since the word pertains to killing someone violently, indiscriminately and mercilessly.

Therefore, the verb sphazō is expressing the idea that Cain “brutally murdered” his brother whose name was Abel according to Genesis 4:1-16.

“Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “because” (2) articular nominative neuter plural form of the noun ergon (ἒργον), “deeds” (3) genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “his own” (4) nominative neuter plural form of the adjective ponēros (πονηρός), “evil” (5) third person singular imperfect active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “were” (6) articular nominative neuter plural form of the adjective dikaios (δίκαιος), “righteous” (7) post-positive conjunction de (δέ), “and” (8) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός), “brother” (9) genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “his.”

The conjunction hoti is employed with the indicative mood of the verb eimi, “were” in order to form a causal clause which presents the reason why Cain brutally murdered his brother Abel.

The articular nominative neuter plural form of the noun ergon means “actions” and refers to the evil actions committed by Cain.

The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the nominative neuter plural form of the adjective ponēros, which means “evil” since it pertains to actions that are contrary to the will of God.

It describes the actions of Cain as evil in character or contrary to the character and nature of God and His will.

It describes these acts contrary to the character and nature of God.

The post-positive conjunction de means “but” since the word is functioning as a marker of contrast which means that it introduces an assertion which stands in contrast to the previous one that Cain’s actions existed in the state of possessing the characteristic of being evil.

The articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun adelphos means “brother” since the word pertains in this context to a male having the same father and mother as the reference person.

The articular construction of this word is employed with the genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos, which means “his” referring to Cain in order to denote possession.

This means that the actions of Cain’s brother existed in the state of possessing the characteristic of being righteous.

The noun adelphos functions as a genitive of possession modifying the articular nominative neuter plural form of the noun ergon which is omitted due to the figure of ellipsis but implied and means “actions.”

The noun ergon functions as a nominative subject which means that it is performing the action of the third person singular imperfect active indicative form of the verb eimi, which is also omitted but implied due to the figure of ellipsis.

The eimi again means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the articular nominative neuter plural form of the adjective dikaios.

The latter means “righteous” since this word describes the integrity of a person in the sense that their character is perfectly sound and adheres perfectly to God’s holy standards.

Thus, they are upright, honest, perfectly whole, undiminished and sound, and unimpaired and in perfect condition.

It describes their character and nature as being perfect “virtue” in the sense that their character is perfect moral excellence, goodness, and is conformed to God’s own perfect holy standards.

This word also indicates that they are fulfilling their obligations to their fellow human being and God, namely, to love the former as oneself and the latter with one’s entire being and strength.

This adjective dikaios functions as a predicate nominative meaning that this word is making an assertion about Abel’s actions, namely that they existed in the state of possessing the characteristic of being righteous.

1 John 3:12 By no means like Cain who possessed the characteristic originating with the devil, namely, he brutally murdered his brother. Indeed, for what reason did he brutally murder his brother? Because his actions were evil but his brother’s were righteous. (My translation)

The apostle John in 1 John 3:12 then advances upon this assertion and intensifies this assertion that Cain murdered his brother Abel by presenting the reason why he did this.

He poses a rhetorical question to the reader and then answers it.

He asks for what reason did Cain brutally murder his brother and then presents the reason.

He asserts that he did this because his actions were evil but his brother Abel’s actions were righteous.

By asking this rhetorical question and then answering would grab the reader’s attention emphasizing the reason why Cain violently murdered his brother.

As we noted, God’s children are to be characterized as practicing the righteousness of God in their lives.

The latter emphasizes that they must be characterized by the practice of love for one another.

By obeying the command to love one another, they would be practicing the righteousness of God in their lives which is the subject in 1 John 2:28-3:10.

Therefore, Abel was practicing righteousness and was thus loving God and his brother Cain while on the other hand, Cain was not practicing righteousness and was thus not loving God and his brother Abel which manifested itself in his refusal to offer to God the appropriate sacrifice and his brutally murdering his brother.

Cain’s murder of his brother Abel manifested the fact that he was not a child of God whereas Abel’s practice of righteousness manifested he was a child of God since murder is a characteristic possessed by the devil while on other hand, righteousness is a characteristic inherent in the character and nature of the Trinity.

John is not saying that Abel became a child of the devil by murdering his brother but rather it manifested that he was a child of the devil.

On the other hand, Abel did not become a child of God by his righteous acts but rather his righteous actions manifested the fact that he was a child of God.

Cain was envious and jealous of Abel.

Cain acted on his jealous of Abel by murdering him (cf. Gen. 4:6-8).

To envy is to feel resentful, spiteful, and unhappy because someone else possesses or has achieved, what one wishes oneself to possess, or to have achieved.

To be envious means to act on one’s jealousy since to “envy” someone is to desire to deprive another of what he has, whereas “jealousy” desires to have the same or the same sort of thing for itself.

Jealousy is a mental attitude sin directed toward another, which is resentful, intolerant and suspicious of another’s success, possessions or relationships and is vigilant in maintaining or guarding something.

Therefore, jealousy is the mental attitude from which envy originates.

Therefore, Cain acted upon his jealousy toward Abel by murdering him.

Envy is also included in the list of sins produced by the old sin nature in both the believer and unbeliever (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1).

Jealousy leads to murder (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:20).

The jealousy of Cain towards Abel expressed itself when he murdered him.