The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 3:10 - 15

 

A. V. 10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

     1.  “In this the children of God are manifest,” This word “manifest” is just a little different than the word used in V. 5.

          a. V. 5 it means to render apparent, that is the Lord Jesus was born a human so that He could die for our sins in a fleshly manner.

          b. V. 10 it means to make know openly, we as the children of God are made know by our actions, and that is by not sinning V. 9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

          c. The children of the Devil are also made know by their works. “the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” 10b

     2. The first evidence that one is saved is by their works, and those works starts with pushing sin out of our lives, then loving one another.

     3. The child of Satan cannot push sin away nor can they love one another.

 

B. V. 11 “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

     1. This is one of John’s strong points and that is Christian love. This love is in Christ and given to us and therefore our love as Christians should be deep.

     2. The beginning here is the incarnation of Christ, just as Christians began with Christ. John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

     3. Christians should be deeply bonded together in Christ, because just as we depend on Christ for our salvation, Christians depend on each other for help.

     4. This is nothing new in our time but has been since Christ, however I am sadden by the fact I believe it is not often exercised.  

 

C.  V. 12 “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”

     1. We are not as Cain and Abel, we are not blood brothers but rather we are Christian brothers.

     2. Cain killed his brother because Cain was evil and jealous. We as Christians are not to be evil.

     3. Envy and jealousy among believers in the church hurt the cause of Christ today probably more than anything else.

 

D. V. 13 “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”

     1. Marvel not means do not be amazed or surprised if the world hates you simply because you are a Christian.

     2. Cain represents the lost and Abel represents the Christians and this is the normal relationship between believers and non-believers. Expect no better treatment from unconverted Jews and Gentiles than Abel received from his wicked and cruel brother.

     3. The lost are both full of malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

     4. This is why John is teaching these young Christians these things. John 15:18-19 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. (19.) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

 

E. V. 14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

     1. I believe this is the number one way to know if one is saved, why? Because the Lord just said it is.

     2. J. Vernon McGee said “You can know whether you are a child of God or not. The idea that we cannot know is a big mistake because the Word of God says that we can know that we have passed from death unto life. How do we know it? “Because we love the brethren.” Do you have a love in your heart for the brethren?”

     3. John goes on to say “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” In other words they are not saved. One cannot hate another believer and call themselves a Christian.

 

F. V. 15 “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

     1. By murderer John means manslayer. Here John is basically quoting Matthew 5:21-22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: (22.) But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Raca means to call one worthless.

     2. This does not mean that a murder cannot be saved, the context of the scripture is speaking about brotherly love, and the empathies are on that subject. No one who says they are saved and hates his brother is saved and thereby is no better than a murder. They get the same judgment.   

     3. “and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” The word “abiding” means present so by that it means, one that hates his brother and one who is a murdered are not saved.