Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Hating a brother is murder in the heart and in spirit, for murder first exists in the mind and a revengeful thought holds the deed as the seed holds the plant. The law therefore demands purity in the secret intents and emotions of the heart, forbidding not only killing but the spirit of hatred and revenge, any cherished wish of harm, and even part in the least injustice. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him, so harboring hatred leaves a person guilty before God and abiding in death and darkness, while love for the brethren proves passing from death to life. This marks the difference between the children of God who do righteousness and love one another and the children of the devil, showing whether one stands with Christ or with the adversary. Cherished hatred and bitterness must therefore be put away and rooted out of the heart, and love must be shown in deed and in truth by laying down life for the brethren and opening compassion to a needy brother rather than shutting it up.
Hatred Counted as Murder
Hating a brother is murder in the heart and in spirit, for murder first exists in the mind before any outward act is done. A revengeful thought contains the evil deed within itself as the seed contains the plant, so hatred toward a fellow believer is already murder and shows that eternal life is not abiding within. The sixth commandment and the law of God therefore demand purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart, so that an evil thought or look is as truly sin as the unlawful deed itself. The command forbids not only the act of killing but the spirit of hatred and revenge, any indulged passion that leads to injurious acts toward others, even wishing them harm, and even becoming a party to the least injustice, with all such inward attitudes violating the commandment to a greater or less degree and degrading the moral nature.
The spirit of hatred and revenge began with Satan and led him to kill the Son of God, so whoever cherishes malice or unkindness cherishes Satan's spirit and its fruit is death. That same spirit appears in envy, jealousy, and retaliation, and those who nurture them belong to rebellion against God and cannot claim to be free from its hopeless condition. Cain illustrates this hatred, for he slew his righteous brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, and hatred as jealousy cruel as death shows the same murderous character. The Pharisees proved the same truth after the raising of Lazarus in full daylight before a crowd of witnesses, with unquestionable proof that no artifice could explain away. Instead of being convinced they were enraged and their hate grew deadlier, and while they only watched for every opportunity to accomplish their secret purpose to destroy Him, in heart they were already murderers.
Permitting hatred and revenge and bitterness and animosity to find a place in the heart sets the feet in the path of the murderer, for malice and revenge that would delight in deeds of violence is itself murder. This is true even when no outward crime has been committed and there are professions of piety and outward conformity to religion, since Jesus exposes outward obedience that hides inward sin and shows how far-reaching the principles of the commandments are without removing one jot of them.
Eternal Life and Love
No murderer has eternal life abiding or remaining within, so hatred toward a brother is incompatible with the life God approves and leaves the one who harbors it guilty before God. Continuing in hatred and prejudice against a brother is therefore spiritually harmful in the present and for eternity, and the hatred must be given up. Love for fellow believers marks the passage from death to life, while hatred shows that one still abides in death.
Not loving a brother leaves a person abiding in death and in darkness, while love for the brethren proves passing from death to life and abiding in the light and in life. Hatred belongs to darkness and shows that a person does not love the brother, and the loveless heart abiding in death is manifest as not of God. This marks the difference between the children of God, who do righteousness and love one another as commanded from the beginning, and the children of the devil. It shows on whose side one is standing, whether the side of the adversary or the side of Christ who kept His Father's commandments.
Love to God and love to the brethren are closely linked together, so hatred of a brother violates the love God requires. The verse expresses the great principles of the law, to love the Lord with all the heart and to love the neighbor as self, showing the love of God in life and character in treatment of fellow men. Its teaching that hatred of a brother is murder and is incompatible with eternal life belongs with the call to love one another, grounded in God's love and the gift of His Son, with law and gospel presented as a perfect whole bringing light and understanding received by faith.
Love is known by God laying down His life, and therefore requires laying down life for the brethren. That love must open compassion and share this world's goods to a needy brother rather than shutting compassion up when a brother in need is seen by one who has this world's goods. It must be in deed and in truth and not in word or in tongue only, without compromising with sin but flowing from loving God supremely and neighbor as self, losing sight of self, pleasure, convenience and advantage, loving the brother as Christ loved in meekness and gentleness. A heart in which Christ abides cannot remain cold, stern, selfish, and destitute of love, but constantly springs to help and bless others.
Those who so love know they are of the truth and assure their hearts before God. With a heart that does not condemn them they have confidence toward God to receive what they ask because they keep His commandments and do what pleases Him, believing on the name of Jesus Christ and loving one another. So keeping His commandment to believe and to love, they dwell in Him and He in them by the Spirit given to them. Failure in this love comes when dissension and strife are sown to make spiritually weak through truth not in the heart and through lack of faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride.
Daily Christian Application
Cherished hatred must be put away and all bitterness and animosity rooted out of the heart, because cherished hatred becomes part of character. The way a person treats brethren reveals the attitude toward God, and hatred toward fellow believers is incompatible with sharing in the latter rain or being a true branch of Christ. Love for the brethren is evidence of having passed from death to life and of being accepted in Christ and belonging to Him. Even when there is no outward crime but only professions of piety and outward conformity to religion, permitting hatred and revenge and bitterness and animosity a place in the heart sets the feet in the path of the murderer.
Hatred cherished in the heart makes offerings and religious services abhorrent and unacceptable to God. Unhappy differences with brethren must therefore be removed, and even when another has aught against them reconciliation must be sought and his mind relieved before service will be accepted. A cheap Christian character is condemned, and manliness and firmness in Christian character are required, because professed Christians who profess to represent Christ while misrepresenting Him mislead others and work more harm in the world than the character of a worldling. Saying hate toward father or mother is hateful and evil beyond words, above all hating the mother who gave birth, and it is especially dreadful when turned upon an old and feeble mother with the infirmities of second childhood. Instead there must be patient, tender bearing with such a mother, tender words that will not irritate, never being unkind and never neglecting father or mother.
Youth, students in schools and sanitariums, workers in printing offices, and instructors and leaders are called to study the chapter, take heed to themselves, show faith in it and practice its teachings. Before youth is held the wonderful possibility of becoming sons and daughters of God and walking uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation, with the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan set forth and present and future happiness depending on that teaching. That practice requires learning meekness and lowliness from Christ, which makes His yoke easy to bear and His burden easy to carry. It requires being witnesses for God in daily life to the power of grace through the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power, and doing service to God as a pleasure not a task, with the sacred fire of God's own kindling and no common fire. It forbids one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word, because such a word can prove the ruin of a soul and stir the worst passions of the quick-tempered to resistance, and it requires speaking as Christ spoke to lead youth to courteous respectful speech, keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control while character is daily refined, sanctified and purified.
True personal piety gained by unconditional surrender to God and seeking Him apart from men is proved by its influence in personal deeds, with a life full of goodness, love, and truth and conversation of heaven. A heart in which Christ abides cannot remain cold, stern, selfish, and destitute of love, but constantly springs to help and bless others with the sunshine of heaven. Such love lays down life for the brethren and opens compassion and this world's goods to a needy brother in deed and in truth and not in word only.
Hating a brother is murder in the heart and in spirit, for murder first exists in the mind and a revengeful thought holds the deed as the seed holds the plant. The law therefore demands purity in the secret intents and emotions of the heart, forbidding not only killing but the spirit of hatred and revenge, any cherished wish of harm, and even part in the least injustice. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him, so harboring hatred leaves a person guilty before God and abiding in death and darkness, while love for the brethren proves passing from death to life. This marks the difference between the children of God who do righteousness and love one another and the children of the devil, showing whether one stands with Christ or with the adversary. Cherished hatred and bitterness must therefore be put away and rooted out of the heart, and love must be shown in deed and in truth by laying down life for the brethren and opening compassion to a needy brother rather than shutting it up.
Hatred Counted as Murder
Hating a brother is murder in the heart and in spirit, for murder first exists in the mind before any outward act is done. A revengeful thought contains the evil deed within itself as the seed contains the plant, so hatred toward a fellow believer is already murder and shows that eternal life is not abiding within. The sixth commandment and the law of God therefore demand purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart, so that an evil thought or look is as truly sin as the unlawful deed itself. The command forbids not only the act of killing but the spirit of hatred and revenge, any indulged passion that leads to injurious acts toward others, even wishing them harm, and even becoming a party to the least injustice, with all such inward attitudes violating the commandment to a greater or less degree and degrading the moral nature.
The spirit of hatred and revenge began with Satan and led him to kill the Son of God, so whoever cherishes malice or unkindness cherishes Satan's spirit and its fruit is death. That same spirit appears in envy, jealousy, and retaliation, and those who nurture them belong to rebellion against God and cannot claim to be free from its hopeless condition. Cain illustrates this hatred, for he slew his righteous brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, and hatred as jealousy cruel as death shows the same murderous character. The Pharisees proved the same truth after the raising of Lazarus in full daylight before a crowd of witnesses, with unquestionable proof that no artifice could explain away. Instead of being convinced they were enraged and their hate grew deadlier, and while they only watched for every opportunity to accomplish their secret purpose to destroy Him, in heart they were already murderers.
Permitting hatred and revenge and bitterness and animosity to find a place in the heart sets the feet in the path of the murderer, for malice and revenge that would delight in deeds of violence is itself murder. This is true even when no outward crime has been committed and there are professions of piety and outward conformity to religion, since Jesus exposes outward obedience that hides inward sin and shows how far-reaching the principles of the commandments are without removing one jot of them.
Eternal Life and Love
No murderer has eternal life abiding or remaining within, so hatred toward a brother is incompatible with the life God approves and leaves the one who harbors it guilty before God. Continuing in hatred and prejudice against a brother is therefore spiritually harmful in the present and for eternity, and the hatred must be given up. Love for fellow believers marks the passage from death to life, while hatred shows that one still abides in death.
Not loving a brother leaves a person abiding in death and in darkness, while love for the brethren proves passing from death to life and abiding in the light and in life. Hatred belongs to darkness and shows that a person does not love the brother, and the loveless heart abiding in death is manifest as not of God. This marks the difference between the children of God, who do righteousness and love one another as commanded from the beginning, and the children of the devil. It shows on whose side one is standing, whether the side of the adversary or the side of Christ who kept His Father's commandments.
Love to God and love to the brethren are closely linked together, so hatred of a brother violates the love God requires. The verse expresses the great principles of the law, to love the Lord with all the heart and to love the neighbor as self, showing the love of God in life and character in treatment of fellow men. Its teaching that hatred of a brother is murder and is incompatible with eternal life belongs with the call to love one another, grounded in God's love and the gift of His Son, with law and gospel presented as a perfect whole bringing light and understanding received by faith.
Love is known by God laying down His life, and therefore requires laying down life for the brethren. That love must open compassion and share this world's goods to a needy brother rather than shutting compassion up when a brother in need is seen by one who has this world's goods. It must be in deed and in truth and not in word or in tongue only, without compromising with sin but flowing from loving God supremely and neighbor as self, losing sight of self, pleasure, convenience and advantage, loving the brother as Christ loved in meekness and gentleness. A heart in which Christ abides cannot remain cold, stern, selfish, and destitute of love, but constantly springs to help and bless others.
Those who so love know they are of the truth and assure their hearts before God. With a heart that does not condemn them they have confidence toward God to receive what they ask because they keep His commandments and do what pleases Him, believing on the name of Jesus Christ and loving one another. So keeping His commandment to believe and to love, they dwell in Him and He in them by the Spirit given to them. Failure in this love comes when dissension and strife are sown to make spiritually weak through truth not in the heart and through lack of faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride.
Daily Christian Application
Cherished hatred must be put away and all bitterness and animosity rooted out of the heart, because cherished hatred becomes part of character. The way a person treats brethren reveals the attitude toward God, and hatred toward fellow believers is incompatible with sharing in the latter rain or being a true branch of Christ. Love for the brethren is evidence of having passed from death to life and of being accepted in Christ and belonging to Him. Even when there is no outward crime but only professions of piety and outward conformity to religion, permitting hatred and revenge and bitterness and animosity a place in the heart sets the feet in the path of the murderer.
Hatred cherished in the heart makes offerings and religious services abhorrent and unacceptable to God. Unhappy differences with brethren must therefore be removed, and even when another has aught against them reconciliation must be sought and his mind relieved before service will be accepted. A cheap Christian character is condemned, and manliness and firmness in Christian character are required, because professed Christians who profess to represent Christ while misrepresenting Him mislead others and work more harm in the world than the character of a worldling. Saying hate toward father or mother is hateful and evil beyond words, above all hating the mother who gave birth, and it is especially dreadful when turned upon an old and feeble mother with the infirmities of second childhood. Instead there must be patient, tender bearing with such a mother, tender words that will not irritate, never being unkind and never neglecting father or mother.
Youth, students in schools and sanitariums, workers in printing offices, and instructors and leaders are called to study the chapter, take heed to themselves, show faith in it and practice its teachings. Before youth is held the wonderful possibility of becoming sons and daughters of God and walking uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation, with the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan set forth and present and future happiness depending on that teaching. That practice requires learning meekness and lowliness from Christ, which makes His yoke easy to bear and His burden easy to carry. It requires being witnesses for God in daily life to the power of grace through the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power, and doing service to God as a pleasure not a task, with the sacred fire of God's own kindling and no common fire. It forbids one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word, because such a word can prove the ruin of a soul and stir the worst passions of the quick-tempered to resistance, and it requires speaking as Christ spoke to lead youth to courteous respectful speech, keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control while character is daily refined, sanctified and purified.
True personal piety gained by unconditional surrender to God and seeking Him apart from men is proved by its influence in personal deeds, with a life full of goodness, love, and truth and conversation of heaven. A heart in which Christ abides cannot remain cold, stern, selfish, and destitute of love, but constantly springs to help and bless others with the sunshine of heaven. Such love lays down life for the brethren and opens compassion and this world's goods to a needy brother in deed and in truth and not in word only.