Verse 15: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
At the outset, as John develops further the issue of the believer’s love for fellow believers, it is best to explain what John is not implying: that it is impossible for a Christian to hate his brother. Some have claimed that a “true” Christian1 cannot hate his brother and conclude that John is referring to someone unsaved. However, the word brother indicates that the one who hates is a fellow believer.
Hate is a mental attitude sin, so the moment a believer expresses hatred openly or mentally towards a fellow believer, he has committed sin, just like any other sin, and “is in the darkness” (2:9)—out of fellowship with God.
Really, A Murderer?
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer may seem rather harsh. But John’s statement draws upon the context of this passage, that of Cain’s hatred towards his brother which drove him to murder Abel (v.12). And remember, Our Lord Himself equated the anger of hatred towards one’s brother with the sin of murder during His Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7):
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:21–22)
The implication is that the person one hates, they wish for them to be dead.2 Therefore, based on Our Lord’s pronouncement, John rightly asserts that everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. The Greek word for murderer is literally man-slayer, and it occurs only 3 times in the New Testament, all by John. If we follow John’s logic, he declared in verse 13 that the spirit of the world hates us and in this verse “the spirit of hate is the spirit of murder.”3 We should not wonder how this can be true, since Our Lord stated that Satan, the ruler of this world (John 12:31), is the spirit of hate and murder, having described Satan as “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
Eternal Life
This last phrase has troubled many believers leading some to erroneously believe that a murderer can never be saved. This would contradict what John has previously stated that Our Lord satisfied the Father by His death on the cross, not just for our sins, “but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2; cf. Hebrews 2:17). For there is no sin that Christ did not die for, and therefore, any sinner can be saved and gain eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ.
Two points should also clear up another misconception derived from this passage. First, we noted that the one who hates a brother is guilty of murder, even though they did not physically murder the one they hate. Murder is a horrendous sin, it is an attack upon the very image of the Creator, which all mankind possess (Genesis 1:27). Accordingly, hate is a mental attitude sin, equally as sinful as physical murder. This is the same as the mental attitude sin of adultery that Our Lord proclaimed:
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
Therefore, even if a person does not perform the physical act of murder or adultery but they mentally contemplate hate and sexual lust, they are guilty of these sins.
Secondly, “no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” is a general statement of fact. The Greek word for abiding means to continue, endure or remain.4 John is addressing a disobedient believer who hates his brother and has disrupted their continuous fellowship with God. We must always remember that the eternal life we received by faith in Christ begins immediately, and is designed to be lived in a special, intimate relationship with our Savior. Here, John is equating the continuous and abiding aspect of the believers’ eternal life with their sinless fellowship of walking in the Light. This he stated earlier in reverse:
The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. (1 John 2:10)
The committing of any sin is tantamount to walking in darkness (1:6). Causing them to stumble is not as some have supposed the loss of their salvation, which is an impossibility (cf. Romans 8:38-39). But instead the vital fellowship with the Lord, their power source for stability in this life of faith, has been interrupted. In order to get back in fellowship, they need to confess their sin (1 John 1:9) and be restored to the joy of their salvation (Psalm 51:12).
Something to Ponder
Therefore, we have been commanded by Our Lord to demonstrate love for our fellow brothers in Christ:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35; cf. Romans 12:10; Hebrews 13:1; 1 Peter 1:22)
In reality there may be Christians who are obnoxious and unpleasant, yet we are still to love them. But note that we are not commanded to have close and intimate relations with them. So in order to fulfill this command we must display impersonal love towards them. This has been previously defined in the discussions of 1 John 2:75; 1 John 2:9-116.
Ask yourself this question: If I hate my brother in Christ, am I truly desirous of obeying the Lord? Or, am I an intentionally disobedient believer hindering the witness to the world that I am His disciple? And by my hating, am I willing to disrupt the unity of believers and impede the gospel? For this unity of believers based upon mutual love is so intended "that the world might believe" that Christ was sent to procure eternal life (John 17:21).
[1] The concept of a “true” or “false” Christian is misleading. In reality, there are only obedient or disobedient Christians.
[2] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc, 2.532.
[3] Van Ryn, August (1948). The Epistles of John, New York, NY: Loizeaux Brothers, p. 110.
[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1.299.
[5] https://dashrossi.blogspot.com/2024/08/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
[6] https://dashrossi.blogspot.com/2024/09/love-abides-in-light-1-john-29-11.html
© 2025 David M. Rossi
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