Genesis 2:15 “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

In the Garden of Eden man is made to do two things; till the garden and keep it.  (note the word for “dress” here in Genesis 2 is the same as “till” as compared to other scriptures). 

Genesis 4:2 “And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”

And man with his two sides, the twin brothers within, are to both “keep” and to “till”; where keep represents “keeping the faith” and till represents “works”. 

But there are two types of “works”.  When man is without faith and has lost or “slain” his faith (Abel) he reverts to works that are tiresome; which is when he works to follow the deeds of the law.

Romans 3:27-28 “Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

James 2:17-18 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

There is a subtle difference between working to follow the “law” and working to “keep the faith”. Man can “work” to keep his faith alive rather than turn and kill it. When man does not “work” to keep his faith, the law or “works” take over and kills faith.   This subtle difference is all the difference in the world. Keep the law of faith.

Hebrews 6:1-2 “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

Leave all that old nonsense behind which is works of some law man has come up with, and return to having works that renew faith and keep it alive.