1 JOHN 3:10B–18 THE TEST OF LOVING THE BRETHREN

3:10b he who does not love his brother. This phrase introduces the readers to the second aspect of the moral test, i.e., the test of love (as in 2:7–11). John develops this thought through vv. 11–24. The false teachers not only had an erroneous view of Christ’s nature and displayed disobedience to God’s commands, but they also displayed a distinct lack of love for true believers, who rejected their heretical teaching.^[i]

 

The primary aim of this section is to combat false teachers who are corrupting the fundamentals of the faith. These verses further amplify, reiterate and emphasize the moral test already presented by John (see 2:3–6,7–11). Verses 4–10 convey that genuine believers practice righteousness, while vv. 11–24 relate that genuine believers practice love toward fellow believers. John was very concerned that Christians know how to tell the true from the false; the genuine from the artificial; true believers from false ones. He presents tests here and throughout this letter to help determine the validity of anybody’s claims to be a Christian.^[ii]

1Jo 3:11 ¶ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

that will be grace and glory. But to live below the saints we know, Well, that’s another story.”

 

Someone has said, “I love mankind, it is just people I can’t stand.” No, loving fellow Christians in the face of irritation is a true test of love from the divine nature. Christians should love one another because they have a common origin – the family of God.

As Nelson drew his ship to battle against the Dutch fleet, two of his English officers were quarrelling. He flung himself between them and pointing to the ships of Holland said, “Gentlemen, there are your enemies!”

Our enemies are not fellow Christians.

 

12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.

 

John in this verse sets forth two representatives of two different spiritual families: the family of God and the family of Satan. Cain represents the family of Satan and Abel represents the family of God. These families stand in stark contrast to one another.

 

not as Cain

John says what love is not before he says what love is. It is not the attitude and action that Cain had toward Abel (Ge 4:8), it is Cain’s jealous resentment toward his brother’s more acceptable sacrifice that drove him to kill Abel (Ge 4:1-7). Cain was religious but lost. He was lost because his sacrifice was not acceptable to God.

 

who was of the wicked one

The origin of Cain’s sin came from Satan; it came out of his spiritual relationship with Satan. The word “of” means origin, source. The source of Cain’s behavior is in the Devil. Cain did not become a child of the Devil by murdering his brother. He murdered his brother because he was a child of the Devil. His spiritual birth was of the Devil (John 3:8).

Cain’s murderous attitude came out of his sense of failure before God. He viewed Abel as a rival in spiritual things. All this finds its source in Satan. As Cain came out of the family of Satan so he demonstrates that relationship by his act of rejecting God’s system of payment for sin – a blood sacrifice.

and murdered his brother.

 

Cain was a physical brother to Abel but not a spiritual brother. They came from two different spiritual families. Cain murdered his brother for spiritual reasons.

Principle: Actions always arise out of either the sin nature or the divine nature, either from Satan or from God.

 

 

Application: What is the origin of spiritual rebellion? It does not begin in man. Love springs from God and hate originates in the Devil. If you are in the grip of hate, it has a satanic source

 

The unregenerate person remains under the influence of Satan. This was our course of life before we became Christians. We rejected salvation by grace. Most non-Christians do not have a clue that this is the case with them.

Eph. 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

 

And why did he murder him?

Cain did not kill his brother because he was a bad person. He killed him because of the nature of his sacrifice to God. Abel’s sacrifice was a sacrifice of grace while Cain’s sacrifice was a sacrifice of works. Cain hated the grace concept.

Cain did more than murder his brother – he slaughtered him. The Greek often uses the word “murder” for ritual slaying. Literally, it means to cut the throat. Sometimes the Greek uses this term for slaughtering a goat. This is a grisly picture of holding Abel’s head back to cut his throat and jugular vein. Cain butchered his brother. It is a violent term for putting to death by violence.

 

Cain said to God in effect, “You want a blood sacrifice, do you? I will give you one – I’ll shed the blood of my brother as a ritual sacrifice. There, how do like your bloody sacrifice now?” Cain hated God’s system of blood sacrifice because it rests on salvation by grace. He wanted to bring the work of his own hands, the fruit of the field. 1 John 97

He believed in salvation by personal merit and good works.

Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous

 

Cain hated what Abel represented. Abel’s sacrifice represented grace. Cain’s sacrifice represented works. Cain believed that a person could work his way into acceptance with God by merit. These two brothers came from the same physical family and the same environment but ended in two different outcomes.

Cain is a picture of John’s enemies who seceded from the assembly of believers. They belonged to the evil one. They attacked genuine believers because as members of Satan’s family they were committed to salvation by works. This was the same with the crowd that attacked Jesus Himself. Jesus called those religious leaders children of the Devil (John 8:39-44; 13:2,27).

Principle: Christians will pay a price for taking a stand on grace.

Application: As Cain hated Abel because of his stand on grace, so non-Christians hate Christians because of their belief in salvation by grace. Grace flies in the face of human achievement and self-help. Man wants to come to God his way, not God’s way, “I’ll find God my way, I don’t need any help”. The world loves religion but hates grace. God received Abel’s sacrifice of grace but not Cain’s sacrifice of works.

Heb. 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”

 

13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

The Greek indicates that John’s readers were already in the process of marveling over the reaction against their message, “Stop marveling over the world’s hatred of grace.

 

my brethren,

John takes up a new mode of address with the words “my brethren.” This is the only place where John calls his readers “brethren”. John identifies himself as a brother with them in being attacked for his stand on grace found only in Jesus Christ.

if the world hates you

The world always hates the grace means of salvation and sanctification (He 11:36-40). Salvation by grace is inherently inimical to the non-Christian. Those spiritually dead always hate those spiritually alive.

Principle: The world hates the message of grace because it shows them that they are sinners and need salvation.

 

Rom. 11:6 “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.”

 

 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.

 

We know that we have passed from death to life,

The Christian transitions from death to life at the point of his salvation. The words “have passed” denote to change place, to pass over from one place to another. The Christian changed his place of residence from eternal death to eternal life. The only other occurrence of this term is in John 5:24.

The Greek tense for “we have passed” means that we permanently passed from death to life at one point with the results continuing on [perfect tense]. The transfer from eternal death to eternal life took place at a point in the past; eternal life began at salvation and continues forever.

 

A Christian does not receive eternal life in the future. He received it at a point in the past. Eternal life began for him at the point of salvation (John 5:24). That was a permanent event. It will never change. He received eternal life and eternal life is eternal life, not temporal life.

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

 

because we love the brethren.

Love for fellow Christians is verification that we passed into the sphere of eternal life at the point of salvation.

John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

He who does not love his brother abides in death

We do not earn eternal life by love but we evidence eternal life by love. Lack of love for Christians is an indication of spiritual death. Part and parcel of spiritual death is lack of love.

Eph. 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…”

Love, on the other hand, indicates that the reality of spiritual life abides in the believer. Loving Christians is an evidence of faith in Christ.

Principle: Loving Christians gives assurance that we possess eternal life.

Application: It is evident that we have come to know Christ if we love Christians. It is also apparent that God gave us the capacity to love. This is convincing, conclusive evidence of having passed into eternal life. When we fall in love with the Son of God we automatically fall in love with the child of God.

True love begins at conversion because we love with the love of God. This kind of love is a sign of new birth and the divine nature. God’s very nature is love (1 John 4:8). This love enables us to love the unlovely, to love those who irritate us. We can love those who mistreat us. This is the mark of the new nature in Christ.

Some Christians hate other Christians. They resent and are bitter toward people in their church. They may even hate people in their own family. It is clear that these Christians are carnal believers.

 

 

 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Loving some member of the family of God is not easy but God wants us to love unloving Christians. You may have heard the following jingle that reveals the true state of love among some believers today,

“To dwell above with the saints we love, Oh, that will be glory, but to dwell below with the saints we know now that's another story.

^[i]MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997, S. 1 Jn 3:7

^[ii]MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997, S. 1 Jn 3:4

Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32

Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 

hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F

The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions