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1 John 3:11–15
“We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death” (vv. 12–14).
Love for fellow believers is no optional supplement to faith. It is the message that has been heard from the beginning, the very pulse of the new life into which God has called His people. In today’s passage, the Apostle John returns to the test of love, which he has paired with righteousness as the twofold mark of authentic Christian life.
John does not introduce a new commandment but calls his readers back to a truth that they have known since the first preaching of the gospel among them: “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11). The love of the brethren has always stood at the heart of the Christian message. Yet the warning that follows shows how easily this love can be lost. “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (v. 12).
The example of Cain is sobering. The first murder in Scripture occurred not in the streets of pagan Babylon but within the family of God’s people, between brothers brought up under the worship of the Lord. Cain’s hatred arose from the contrast between Abel’s righteousness and his own evil deeds. Rather than repent at the exposure, he eliminated the brother whose life condemned him. This pattern has recurred ever since: The world hates the righteous because their lives expose its wickedness.
For this reason John tells his readers, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (v. 13). The hatred of the world is a predictable consequence of belonging to Christ. Those who belong to Him have been transferred from the realm of darkness to the realm of light. The world’s hostility is, paradoxically, evidence that the change is real.
John then offers a striking word of assurance: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death” (v. 14). Love for fellow Christians is one of the surest marks that one has been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. Verse 15 presses the negative case to its limit: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Hatred toward fellow believers is the inward equivalent of the act that destroyed Abel, and it is incompatible with the eternal life that abides in those who belong to Christ.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Cain’s pattern still operates among us, and we must guard our own hearts against it. When envy or resentment toward a fellow believer takes root, it is no small matter. Let us put such impulses to death and pursue the genuine love that marks those who have passed from death to life.
For further study
- Genesis 4:1–16
- Matthew 5:21–24
- John 13:34–35
- John 15:18–19
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 10–11
- 1 Timothy 5:1–6:2a