Who
The second son of Adam and Eve, a keeper of sheep, who offered “some of the firstborn of his flock” and was accepted (Genesis 4:4), and was killed by his brother Cain. “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain … and through it he, being dead, still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4); Christ counts him the first of the righteous whose blood was shed (Matthew 23:35). The blood of Christ “speaks better than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). The Roman Canon asks God to accept the Church’s offering as he accepted “the gifts of your servant Abel the just”.
Key verses
- Genesis 4:2
Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
- Genesis 4:4
Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. The LORD respected Abel and his offering,
- Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.
- Hebrews 12:24
to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
Where the Bible names him
Family
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name him (8 of 18).
- Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 1
Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its Developments. III. Chapter I.—Truth Rather to Be Appealed to Than Custom, and Truth Progressive in Its Developments. Having already undergone…
- Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Chapter 2
The Law Anterior to Moses. Stand we, therefore, foot to foot, and determine we the sum and substance of the actual question within definite lists. For why should God, the founder of the universe, the Governor of the…
- Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies II.4
Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge. But we, who have heard by the Scriptures that self-determining choice and refusal have been given by the Lord to men, rest in the infallible criterion of faith, manifesting a…
- Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Chapter 5
Of Sacrifices. So, again, we show that sacrifices of earthly oblations and of spiritual sacrifices were predicted; and, moreover, that from the beginning the earthly were foreshown, in the person of Cain, to be those…
- Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius VIII.5
§5. Then, after showing that the Person of the Only-begotten and Maker of things has no beginning, as have the things that were made by Him, as Eunomius says, but that the Only-begotten is without beginning and…
- Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule III.11
How the kindly-disposed and the envious are to be admonished. (Admonition 11.) Differently to be admonished are the kindly-disposed and the envious. For the kindly-disposed are to be admonished so to rejoice in what…
- Tertullian, On Prayer Chapter 22
Answer to the Foregoing Arguments. They who make this concession ought to reflect on the nature of the word itself—what is the meaning of “woman” from the very first records of the sacred writings. Here they find it…
- John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews Homily 22
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,…