从该隐和亚伯开始，圣经中发展出两条线，一条是生命的线，另一条是死亡的线。该隐和亚伯都听见父母教导他们如何敬拜神，然而他们向着父母的教导，有不同的反应，使他们走了不同的路。该隐因着忽略父母的话，就忽视神救赎的路；亚伯是听从父母，走了神救赎的路，就从神接受祝福。亚当的后代以挪士，看见人是软弱、脆弱、必死的，他就开始呼求主名。我们也需要作以挪士所作的─呼求主的名，使我们可以走在生命的线上。
亚当和夏娃犯了罪，神并没有来审判他们，却来寻找他们，并为他们预备了救恩。亚当和夏娃因此相信了福音。夏娃生了一个儿子，就给他取名叫该隐，意思是“得着”。神曾应许夏娃，她的后裔要伤蛇的头。夏娃相信了那应许，并且期待得着那后裔。因此当她的第一个男孩出生时，她以为这男孩就是神所应许她的后裔。就宣称她“已经得着了！”
可是，这样的说法是过早了。实际上，真正的女人后裔乃是四千年之后，从童女马利亚而生的耶稣，耶稣的意思就是“耶和华救主”（太一21）。因着该隐并非神所应许的后裔，反而，他可能是个调皮不听话的孩子，夏娃不久就失望了。当她生第二个儿子的时候，就称他亚伯，意思是“虚空”。亚伯的名字是很有意义的，说出我们生来是虚空的人。
亚当和夏娃的家庭，乃是人类第一个家庭，也是第一个接受福音的家庭。亚当和夏娃必定告诉孩子，他们如何没有听从神而吃了那树的果子，又如何恐惧战兢等候死的判决，然后神如何来向他们传福音，应许女人的后裔要伤蛇的头。此外，他们也必然告诉孩子，他们在神面前如何是赤身露体的，神如何杀了羊羔作牺牲，将皮子制成袍子遮盖他们的赤身，使他们能站立在神面前。
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Cain and Abel – Gen. 4:1-2
From Cain and Abel, the Bible develops two lines: one is the line of life, the other is the line of death. Both Cain and Abel heard from their parents how to worship God, yet they responded differently to their parents’ teaching, which led them onto different paths. Because Cain neglected the words of his parents, he ignored the way of God’s redemption; Abel, however, obeyed his parents, walked in the way of God’s redemption, and received blessing from God.
Adam’s descendant Enosh saw that man is weak, fragile and destined to die, so he began to call upon the name of the Lord. We also need to do what Enosh did — call upon the name of the Lord — so that we may walk on the line of life. Adam and Eve sinned, yet God did not come to judge them; instead, He came to seek them and prepared salvation for them. Therefore Adam and Eve believed the gospel. When Eve bore a son, she named him Cain, meaning “acquired.” God had promised Eve that her offspring would bruise the serpent’s head. Eve believed that promise and expected to receive that seed. So when her first son was born, she thought this boy was the offspring promised by God, and declared, “I have acquired him!”
However, this declaration was premature. In reality, the true seed of the woman came four thousand years later — Jesus, born of the virgin Mary. The name Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior” (Matt. 1:21). Since Cain was not the promised seed of God, but rather may have been a mischievous, disobedient child, Eve was soon disappointed. When she bore her second son, she named him Abel, meaning “vanity” or “emptiness.” Abel’s name is very meaningful, for it tells us that we are born as vain people.
The family of Adam and Eve was the first family of mankind, and also the first family to receive the gospel. Surely Adam and Eve told their children how they disobeyed God and ate of the tree’s fruit, how they trembled in fear awaiting the sentence of death, and how God came to preach the gospel to them, promising that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. Moreover, they must also have told their children how they were naked before God, how God slew a lamb as a sacrifice, made garments of skins to cover their nakedness, so that they could stand before God.