1 John 3:11-18
Scripture 1 John 3:11-18
11 For this is the
message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one
another. 12 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. 13 Do not
be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into
life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15Everyone who hates his
brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding
in him.
16 By this we know love,
that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brothers. 17 But if
anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart
against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children let us not love in word or talk
but in deed and in truth. [1]
Devotion
In verse 11 John turns from the
theme of Light vs Darkness to Love vs Hate. A theme that has echo’s in John’s
Gospel. Thus, he says “this is the message you have heard from the beginning”
no doubt from the beginning of their Christian lives. Love is indeed a theme
that John consistently reinforces in all of his writing. This letter being no
exception to the rule. Love is an essential part of the Christian walk. “While
love makes us willing to give up our lives for others, hate makes others
willing to take life.”[2]
In verse 12 we find a rehearsal of
the Cain and Abel story from Genesis 4:1-16. “John’s interpretation of Genesis
4:1–16 is more explicit than the text itself regarding Cain’s motivation for
murder.”3 Indeed John links Cain’s struggle with jealousy directly
with his eventual assassination of his own brother. Cain was doing the will of
his father the devil. While Abel was doing the will of God. Thus, the hatred
between them.
We, then, who follow God should not
be surprised if we find that the world hates us for our Christian witness. This
is not a license to be rude to our neighbor about the Gospel. They should
rather hate us because they see our love and good works and be jealous as Cain
was of his brother Abel or simply hates us because we claim (and do) belong to
God and not to this world’s evil system. Indeed, our love for our brothers and
sisters is loathsome in their eyes.
In verse 14 John draws another
contrast between the Christian and the world. This time on the basis of our
love for each other. “The presence or absence of love indicates spiritual
status. Love indicates spiritual life, while the absence of love indicates
spiritual death.”4 We have, in fact, passed from spiritual death to spiritual
life by our new birth in Christ.
John continues with the theme of hatred
vs love in the next verse. The person who hates is a murderer whether or not he
actually kills someone or not. This is an echo of the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5:21-22). John then contrasts this hatred with the love a believer is
to have for the brothers and sisters in Christ. A brother of sister being
willing to lay down their very lives for each other is the high standard John
and Jesus have set.
Just as Jesus is the example of love
in action. In his suffering and death for the sins of the world he shows us the
standard of love. He puts love ahead of his own life and expects his followers
to do the same. In the world today we see many people following the example of
Cain killing one another whether it be in words or actually killing another. We
are to be examples of the sacrificial love of Jesus. Our lives should bear a
sharp contrast with the world by the way we love each other.
[2]
Campbell,
Constantine R. 1, 2, and 3 John (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 112).
Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
3Campbell, Constantine R. 1, 2, and 3 John
(The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 112). Zondervan Academic. Kindle
Edition.[2]
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