What does 1 John 3:15 mean?
John's words in this verse have led to much controversy. Some have interpreted this to mean that anyone who has committed murder cannot become a Christian. Or, that they never were a Christian. Or that feeling hate towards a fellow Christian is an absolute sign of being lost without Christ.The context provides a different solution. In verse 12, John has just warned believers, "We should not be like Cain." Cain murdered his brother because of his own evil deeds. Verse 15 builds on this idea. The person who hates his brother is, like Cain, a murderer. Such a person is not "abiding" in eternal life (1 John 2:9, 11). Under no circumstances can a Christian excuse hatred for another believer: such attitudes are entirely from the Devil. Those who persist in such attitudes, more likely than not, have no relationship with Christ at all.
John will build on this further in 1 John 4:20, adding, "If anyone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." Love is not merely a feeling, it is a choice to act. Hatred is always an act of disobedience to God.
First John 3:11–18 describes the contrast between hate and love, and how love ought to be seen in the life of a Christian believer. Evil has a jealous hatred for good. This is why Cain killed Abel, and why hatred is considered the spiritual equivalent to murder. Christians are expected to do more than feel love, they are commanded to act on it, in selfless sacrifice.
The third chapter of 1 John focuses mostly on the concept of love. Because of His love, God not only calls us His children, He actually makes us His children. John also explains how sin, including hate, is never the result of a proper relationship with God. Christians, in contrast to the world, are supposed to do more than simply ''feel'' love; we are to act on it, as well
