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only, and he was fought against by his wicked and lost brother Cain.” 238 In his arguments against
the Pelagians, Augustine went to pains to establish Abel’s fallen nature.
In like manner it was unnecessary to state whether Abel, notwithstanding that he is
rightly styled righteous, ever indulged in immoderate laughter, or was ever jocose in
moments of relaxation, or ever looked at an object with a covetous eye, or ever plucked
fruit to extravagance, or ever suffered indigestion from too much eating, or ever in the
midst of his prayers permitted his thoughts to wander and call him away from the purpose
of his devotion; as well as how frequently these and many other similar failings stealthily
crept over his mind. And are not these failings sins, about which the apostle's precept
gives us a general admonition that we should avoid and restrain them... To conclude, if
there was in righteous Abel that love of God whereby alone he is truly righteous who is
righteous, to enable him, and to lay him under a moral obligation, to advance in holiness,
still in whatever degree he fell short therein was of sin. 239
In his writings, then, Augustine establishes the similarities between Abel and the Christian
faithful – both are sinful, and both require grace and cooperation with grace to achieve
righteousness. As such, this testifies to a tradition of identifying Abel as a typological figure for
Christians seeking to live a life of righteousness, a tradition which is rooted in the LXX’s
rendering of Gen 4:1-16.
The Voice of Abel’s Blood
The Letter to the Hebrews makes two reference to the voice of Abel’s blood on two
different occasions, implicitly in 11:4 and explicitly in 12:24. 240 Heb 12:24 contrasts the blood of
Christ with the blood of Abel, referring to the blood of Christ as speaking better (κρεῖττον
λαλοῦντι) that that of Abel. The word κρεῖττον has the sense of being superior or higher in
rank, 241 and so speaking better in this sense conveys a sense of being of a superior status.
238
Augustine, “Exposition On Psalm 129,” 2, New Advent, last modified 2009, accessed August 16, 2016,
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801129.htm.
239
Augustine, “On Nature and Grace,” 45, New Advent, last modified 2009, accessed August 16, 2016,
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm.
240
Hebrews 12:24 - καὶ διαθήκης νέας μεσίτῃ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ αἵματι ῥαντισμοῦ κρεῖττον λαλοῦντι παρὰ τὸν
Ἅβελ. And [to] Jesus, [the] mediator [of] a new covenant, and [to the] blood sprinkling [that] speaks better than
Abel’s (translation by the author).
241
William F. Arndt & F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 449.