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Cain and Necessary Inference – Genesis 4:7
What law did Cain break when he murdered Abel? As to what is revealed, God had not yet commanded “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). So for Cain, how was “sin crouching at the door” (Genesis 4:7) when sin is the violation of God’s revealed law (Romans 7:7)?
The answer is necessary implication and inference. What makes an inference necessary? It must be necessarily implied. It takes maturity and wisdom to understand as seen in Jesus’s parables which could only be understoodthrough inference.
What was implied by God making Cain’s murdering Abel wrong? The answer is we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). God Himself makes that connection after the flood: Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image.”
As for a modern day application, there is no law that says, “Thou shalt not abort”. So what makes abortion wrong? Although I support “hearbeat bills”, it is not that there is a heartbeat; but that these babies are God’s image on earth.
God requires us to think beyond “thou shalt not”. He wants us to be able to go deeper than “Where does it say I can’t”. After all, God never said to Cain, “Thou shalt not kill Abel.” And yet murder was sin.
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