THE IMPERATIVE OF LOVE

11 Because this is the message-the announcement-which you have heard from the first, that we should love one another,
12 [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious and his brother's were righteous-virtuous.
13 Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren, that the world detests and pursues you with hatred.
14 We know that we have passed over out of the death into the Life by the fact that we love the brethren, [our fellow Christians]. He who does not love abides-remains, is held and kept continually-in [spiritual] death.
15 Any one who (abominates, detests) hates his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (persevering) within him. (1 John 3:11-15).


   As the knowledge of God is tested by conduct (1:5-2:11), so being "born of God" (2:29) is tested by righteous action and love of fellow believers. The command to love fellow believers was first introduced in 2:9-11 as a test of whether one was walking in light, i.e., had true knowledge. Here it is the sum of the new life in God. In the former instance it was leveled as a charge against the heretics. Here it is addressed to the community of faith for encouragement and admonition. Most likely the disregard for love by the heretics had caused a lessening of an emphasis on love within the Christian community. The author presents the case for love first by the negative example of Cain (vv. 12-15), contrasted with the positive example of Jesus (v. 16).


11 The admonition that "we should love one another" is highlighted by the return to the critical formula. "This is the message you heard from the beginning," an almost identical reminiscence of 1:1, 5.  The command to "love one another" has its origin in the nature of God. The entire goal and aim of the Gospel is to create and strengthen love (1 Tim 1:5). 


12 The mention of Cain points back to 3:8 and reminds us that hatred is also from the beginning. The choice between the children of God and the children of the devil, between hatred and love or life and death, stems from the earliest moment of human existence. It also points to Jn 8:37-47, where some Jewish opponents of Jesus had exhibited the same kind of hatred toward Jesus that Cain expressed toward Abel (Gen 4:1-8). There Jesus labels his enemies as people who "belong to your father, the devil ... [who was] a murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8:42).


   The sequence of thought in this section is significant. It is not that Cain by murdering his brother became the child of the devil; but, being a child of the devil, his actions were evil and culminated in the murder of his brother. The reason why he "murdered" (lit., "butchered") him was that his brother's acts were righteous. Righteousness draws hatred from the devil and hatred from the children of the devil. Darkness cannot tolerate light; immorality, morality; hatred, love; or greed, sacrifice.


13 The hatred of the "world" for the community of faith must not surprise the believers. The author does not say that the world always hates believers; it did not always hate Jesus. But whenever the community of faith acts so as to expose the greed, avarice, hatred, and wickedness of the world, it must expect rejection; and if it should go so far as to interfere with its evil practices, as Jesus did in the temple, it may expect suffering and brutal death (cf. Jn 15:18-19, 25; 17:14). 


14 John looks back to v.10 and answers the question: How do we know those who have been "born of God"? or, Who are the children of God? "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers" (cf. Jn 5:24).  This conviction is not based on self-judgment or self-justification but on the certainty that love is the basis for life in the believing community. This is a self-test by which each person can examine himself or herself. Love will not, of course, cause one's passage to spiritual life but will give evidence of it. Conversely, to be unable to love means that a person is without spiritual life and remains in death.


15 Here John links hatred with murder (cf. Matt 5:21-22).  In the heart there is no difference; to hate is to despise, and murder is the fulfillment of that attitude. Cain, by murdering his brother, was cut off from the covenant community. So no murderer is within the community, nor anyone who "hates his brother." Such a person has no life of God and no fellowship with the faithful.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. 
JESUS IS LORD.

ARE YOU WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF LOVE OR ARE YOU STUMBLING IN THE DARKNESS OF HATE?

9 Whoever says he is in the Light and [yet] hates his brother [Christian, born-again child of God his own Father] is in darkness even until now.
10 Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.
11 But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (Read 1 John 2:3-11).


9 This verse brings us to the third false claim that the author denies. Whereas obedience to the new command leads to love among the Christian community, among the opponents who claim to "be in the light" there is hate. This hate for one's fellow believer shows that the light they follow is nothing but darkness.
   How does John understand hate? His answer lies primarily in what one does. Hate is the absence of the deeds of love. To walk in the light is to love one's brother, and God's love will express itself in concrete actions. If these are missing, it is not because love can be neutral or can exist unexpressed. Love unexpressed is not love at all. When it is absent, hate is present.
   In this instance, hate is the failure to deny oneself, the unwillingness to lay down one's life for a brother (Jn 15:13). On considers one's own plight first (1 Cor 13:5); disregards the robbed and afflicted (Lk 10:30-37); despises the little ones (Mt 18:10); withholds the cup pf cold water from the thirsty (Mt 25:43). Whenever a brother has need and one does not help him, then one has, in fact, hated his brother.
   Does the word "brother" refer here to one's neighbor or to one who belongs to the community of faith? In this instance it probably refers to a member of the community of faith. It is not that John lacks concern for those outside the faith: rather, in this letter he has the community of believers in view. Moreover, if believers cannot love their fellow believers, it is doubtful that they can truly love their neighbors.


10 The author now gives us a positive test of living in the light. Unlike his opponents, his concern is with deeds, not claims. "Whoever loves," he says, is "in the light." Conversely, the one who does not live "in the light" will not manifest God's love.

11 Now the author picks up the concept of "darkness" from v.9 and gives it a final elaboration and conclusion. One who "hates his brother" is not simply "in the darkness" but is condemned to spend his life in darkness. Though he has eyes, he can see nothing. And the darkness so blinds his eyes that he has no idea "where he is going." Life is a search, but for him it is without direction. He never knows whether he is closer to or farther from his destination. The only certainty is that he is without hope of reaching it. So hate destroys any window for light from God. To live without loving one's brother means to deny oneself the presence of God and the reality of fellowship with the community of faith.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord].
JESUS IS LORD.

DON'T GROW WEARY IN DOING GOOD TO OTHERS!

9 And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.


10 So then, as occasion and opportunity open to us, let us do good (morally) to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith-those who belong to God's family with you, the believers. (Read: Galatians 6: 6-10). 


9 The great hindrance to good sowing is weariness that results in discouragement and eventually in giving up. Four months elapse between planting and harvest (Jn 4:35); and, while it is true that in spiritual sowing the results may occasionally come sooner, more often they take much longer. The best reason for resisting weariness and giving up is that if the necessary preparation is done, the harvest is certain.


   One cannot help feeling that Paul may be talking to himself as he thinks of the extensive but thus far unrewarding efforts he had expended on the churches of Galatia. The change to the first person plural supports this supposition.


10 Finally. Paul speaks broadly about the obligation to do good to all people, returning again primarily to the thought of giving money. But suppose a Christian is limited in resources? In that case, says Paul, he or she should give primarily to Christian causes, knowing that if they are not supported by Christians, they will not be supported at all. One with unlimited funds should give to every valid charity that comes along.


    Two parts of this verse are of special interest. (1) Paul speaks of the "family of believers." This really means those who have become related to us by believing in Christ and points to a relationship transcending all others. Giving should not be unduly restricted by denominational or party loyalty. (2) Paul mentions "opportunity" (also translated "time" in v.9). This word denotes "proper time" for anything; consequently a time that occurs only once before it is lost forever. No one can hope to reap a harvest before the time appointed for it by God (v.9). But if one does not seize the time appointed for sowing, he or she will never reap a harvest.
[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2; New Testament].


[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord]. JESUS IS LORD.