I John 3:15
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Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
hateth--equivalent to "loveth not" (Jo1 3:14); there is no medium between the two. "Love and hatred, like light and darkness, life and death, necessarily replace, as well as necessarily exclude, one another" [ALFORD]. is a murderer--because indulging in that passion, which, if followed out to its natural consequences, would make him one. "Whereas, Jo1 3:16 desires us to lay down our lives for the brethren; duels require one (awful to say!) to risk his own life, rather than not deprive another of life" [BENGEL]. God regards the inward disposition as tantamount to the outward act which would flow from it. Whomsoever one hates, one wishes to be dead. hath--Such a one still "abideth in death." It is not his future state, but his present, which is referred to. He who hates (that is, loveth not) his brother (Jo1 3:14), cannot in this his present state have eternal life abiding in him.
Open source ↗The apostle here magnifies the love of God in our adoption (Jo1 3:1, Jo1 3:2). He thereupon argues for holiness (Jo1 3:3), and against sin (v. 4-19). He presses brotherly love (Jo1 3:11-18). How to assure our hearts before God (Jo1 3:19-22). The precept of faith (Jo1 3:23). And the good of obedience (Jo1 3:24).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.
So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable,
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.