Adam and Eve together represent the first and purest church among humans, a people united in love to the Lord and the leadership of the Lord. What would the “children” of such a church be?
Well, what would the “children” of any church be? It makes sense that they would be the services the church provides for its members and for its community at large. And there are two things together that create those services: A desire to do good things for people, and a knowledge of what “good things” are and how to do them.
Cain and Abel represent those two elements: Abel represents the desire to do good things and serve others, which Swedenborg calls “charity”; Cain represents the understanding and knowledge that leads to what is good, which Swedenborg calls “faith.”
Of those two, charity is more internal and in a way more important: Who we are and where we belong in heaven or hell is a matter of what we love, not what we know or believe. Why, then, was Cain the firstborn? That is because a state of true charity – a state of actual love for other people – is not something we come by easily, quickly, or automatically. It’s more like the end of a journey, and that journey is often a matter of making ourselves do what’s right because we know it’s right. So knowing what’s right – faith, represented by Cain – has to come first in time, even though it is not first in importance.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 341
341. Verse 2 And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a Shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.
The second born of the Church is charity, which is meant by ‘Abel’ and by ‘brother. A shepherd of the flock’ means one who practices good flowing from charity, while ‘a tiller of the ground’ means someone who, devoid of charity, acts from faith separated from love, which is not faith at all.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 342
342. That the second born of the Church is charity becomes clear from the things which the Church conceives and gives birth to, which are nothing other than faith and charity. The first of those born to Leah by Jacob had a similar meaning. Reuben meant faith; Simeon, faith expressed in action; Levi, charity, Gen. 29:32-34. This also was why the tribe of Levi assumed the function of the priesthood and became representative of the shepherd of the flock. Being the second born of the Church, charity is referred to as ‘a brother. and is called ‘Abel’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 366
366. Verse 8 And Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. ‘Cain spoke to Abel’ means a passage of time. ‘Cain’, as has been stated, means faith separated from love, and ‘Abel’ means charity, the brother of faith, which is why he is twice called ‘brother’ in this verse. ‘Field’ means all that constitutes doctrine. ‘Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him’ means that separated faith annihilated charity.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 355
355. Verse 5 And for Cain and his gift He had no respect; and Cain’s anger was set ablaze and his face’ fell.
‘Cain’, as has been stated, means faith separated from love, or the kind of doctrine which allows faith to be separated. ‘His gift for which He had no respect’ means, as previously, that his worship was unacceptable. ‘Cain’s anger was set ablaze and his face* fell’ means a change as to interiors; ‘anger’ means the fact that charity had departed, and ‘face’ the interiors, which are said ‘to fall’ when they undergo change.
Divine Providence (Dole) n. 242
242. 2. Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not dissuade him by talking with him beforehand, but simply cursed him after the fact. Since Adam and his wife mean the earliest church, as just noted [241], Cain and Abel as their first sons mean the two essential qualities of that church, love and wisdom, or charity and faith. Abel means love and charity, and Cain means wisdom or faith, particularly wisdom separated from love or faith separated from charity. When faith has been separated, wisdom tends not only to reject love and charity but to destroy them, killing its own brother.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 409
409. The same applied to the heresy called Cain, which was vastated with the passage of time, for it did, it is true, acknowledge love, yet it made faith the chief thing and set it above love. The heresies descending fromCain however gradually strayed even from this, and Lamech, who was the sixth in the line, went so far as to reject faith altogether.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 338
338. Verse 1 ‘And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and boreCain; and she said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’.*
‘The man and Eve his wife’ means the Most Ancient Church, as is well known. Its first offspring, or firstborn, is faith, which is here called ‘Cain’. ‘She said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’ means that with those called Cainfaith was known and acknowledged as something existing by itself.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 362
362. This verse describes the doctrine of faith which is called Cain, and how because it separated faith from love, it also separated it from charity, the offspring of love. Wherever a Church exists, heresies arise in it as a consequence of people basing their thinking on one particular article of faith to which they attach supreme importance. For man’s thought process is such that when he focuses his whole attention on any one matter he makes that more important than any other, especially so when delusion claims it as a discovery of his own, and when self-love and love of the world inflate his ego. In that case everything seemingly agrees with it and supports it, even to the extent of his being ready to swear to it when in fact it is false. In the same way people called Cain made faith more essential than love; and because in so doing they were leading lives devoid of love, both self-love and delusion resulting from it banded together in them.
AE Tansley 817
Because by the dragon and by his two beasts is described faith separate from charity, and the resulting falsification of the Word, it shall be shown in this article, that a similar heresy is described in the Word by Cain, Reuben, and the Philistines; and is also meant by the he-goat in Daniel. For there have been several churches upon this earth – the Most Ancient, which was before the flood; the Ancient Church, which was after the flood; the Jewish, which succeeded the Ancient, and lastly the Christian Church. All these churches, in process of time, degenerated into two great errors, one which has adulterated all the goods of the church, and the other which has falsified all its truths. The church which has adulterated all the goods of the church is described in the Word by the Babylonians and Chaldeans; and the church which has falsified all the truths of the church is described by Cain, Reuben, and the Philistines; and also by the he-goat in Daniel, which fought with the ram and overcame it.
Concerning the adulteration of the good of the church, which is described by the Babylonians and Chaldeans, we shall speak in the following parts of this work, where Babylon is treated of in the Apocalypse. At present we shall confine ourselves to the subject of the falsification of truth, described here by the dragon and his two beasts. That the same is described also byCain, and by the rest above-mentioned, shall now be explained.
[3] That those who separate the knowledges of truth and good from a life in agreement with them, and believe that they may be saved by these alone, were represented by Cain, has been briefly shown in the Arcana Coelestia, where Cain and Abel are treated of, to which we shall add the following observations. It is written of Cain,
That he was the first-born of Adam, and that he tilled the ground, and brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Jehovah; and that Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fatness thereof; also that Jehovah had respect unto the offering of Abel, and not unto the offering of Cain, wherefore anger was kindled in Cain, and he slew his brother; that Cain, was therefore accursed, and banished from the ground, and became a vagabond and fugitive on the earth; and that Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest he should be slain, and appointed that whoever should slay him, should have vengeance taken on him seven-fold (Gen. iv.).
It is to be observed, that all the names of persons and places in the Word signify things and states of the church; and especially the names in the first chapters of Genesis, because the historicals in those chapters are constructed historicals, containing in them the deepest mysteries of heaven, but which are, nevertheless, most holy in the sense of the letter; because in every word there is a spiritual sense which unites the heavens with the men of the church. What those historicals involve in the spiritual sense, and what the names of the persons there signify, is explained in the Arcana Coelestia. By Cain are signified the knowledges of truth and good separate from a life in agreement with them, thus from heavenly love; and by Abel is signified heavenly love; or, what amounts to the same, by Cain is signified truth separate from good, and by Abel good conjoined to truth. And because truth is the primary thing of the church, every church being formed by truths, for from truths, or from the knowledges of truth and good, every church first commences – therefore Cain was the first-born, and was named a man (vir) of Jehovah; for by a man of Jehovah, in the Word, is signified the truth of heaven and the church; and by the ground whichCain tilled, is signified the church. The separation of truth from good is signified by the murder of Abel by Cain. For when every thing of the church is placed in truths or in knowledges, and not in goods, or in the affection of living according to truths; then good with its affections is slain. And because every thing of the church perishes when truth is separated from good; therefore Cain was banished from the ground, by which, as was said, is signified the church.
But because truths are the primary things of the church, for truths will teach men how to live, therefore a mark was set on Cain, lest any one should kill him; and it was appointed that if any one should kill him, he should be avenged seven-fold. And because truth without good is carried hither and thither, having nothing to lead it, consequently it successively wanders into falsities, and falls away from the way that leads to heaven; therefore Cain was banished from before the face of Jehovah, and became a vagabond and fugitive. The case is similar with respect to faith and charity, because faith belongs to truth, and charity to good. Thus the case is similar with respect to faith separate from charity as with what is said concerningCain, that is, that it kills Abel its brother, which is charity, whence the church perishes. And this is signified by being banished from the ground, and becoming a vagabond and fugitive; for when faith is separated by charity then truth is successively turned into falsity, and so falls to decay.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 363
363. The nature of the doctrine of faith called Cain is clear from the description of it given in this verse. The following explanation of the contents of the verse shows that charity was capable of being allied to faith, but only if this resulted in charity and not faith being the superior.
(1) ‘If you do there is an uplifting’, which means that if your desires are good, charity might be present. ‘Doing well’ means in the internal sense desiring well, for the doing of a good deed flows from the desiring of it. In ancient times deed and will made one, and from the deed people caught sight of the will, for pretence did not exist at all. That ‘uplifting means the presence of charity is clear from what has been stated already about the face,* that is to say, about ‘lifting up the face’* meaning possession of charity, and about ‘the face* falling’ meaning the reverse.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 340
340. That ‘she said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’ means that with those called Cain faith was known and acknowledged as something existing by itself is clear from what has been stated in the preliminary sections of this chapter.* Previously they had not so to speak known what faith was, for what they possessed was a perception of everything that constituted faith. But once they started to make distinct and separate doctrine out of faith they drew on things which had been with them matters of perception and reduced them to doctrine. This doctrine they called ‘I have gained a man, Jehovah’, as though they had come upon something new. So that which had previously been written on the heart was now made into factual knowledge.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 325
325. The Most Ancient Church possessed faith in the Lord by way of love, but there arose out of them people who separated faith from love. Doctrine concerning faith separated from love was called Cain, while charity, which is love towards the neighbour, was referred to as Abel, verses 1, 2.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 351
351. That ‘Abel’ means charity has been shown already. Charity means love towards the neighbour and compassion, for anyone who loves his neighbour as himself also has as much compassion for him in his suffering as he does for himself in his own.