1 John 3:15

Everyone who hates his fellow Christian ¹  is a murderer, ²  and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing ³  in him.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.

SABDAweb 1Jo 3:15

Anyone who has hate for his brother is a taker of life, and you may be certain that no taker of life has eternal life in him.

bibleoremus 1Jo 3:15

All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

biblegateway 1Jo 3:15

Everyone who hates his fellow Christian ¹  is a murderer, ²  and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing ³  in him.

¹ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

² sn Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer. On one level it is easy to see how the author could say this; the person who hates his brother is one and the same with the person who murders his brother. Behind the usage here, however, is John 8:44, the only other occurrence of the Greek word translated murderer (ἀνθρωποκτόνος, anqrwpoktonos) in the NT, where the devil is described as a “murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44 refers to the devil’s role in bringing death to Adam and Eve, but even more to his involvement (not directly mentioned in the Genesis account, but elaborated in the intertestamental literature, especially the writings of Philo) in Cain’s murder of his brother Abel. This was the first incident of murder in human history and also the first outward demonstration of the full implications of sin’s entry into the world. Ultimately, then, the devil is behind murder, just as he was behind Cain’s murder of Abel. When the hater kills, he shows himself to be a child of the devil (cf. 1 John 3:10). Once again, conduct is the clue to paternity.

³ tn The verb μένω (menw) in 3:15 refers to a spiritual reality (eternal life) which in this case does not reside in the person in question. To speak in terms of eternal life not “residing” in such an individual is not to imply that at some time in the past this person did possess eternal life and subsequently lost it, however. The previous verse (3:14) makes it clear that the individual under discussion here has “remained” in death (the realm of spiritual death) and so has never possessed eternal life to begin with, no matter what he may have claimed. Taken together with the use of μένω in 3:14, the use here implies that the opponents have “remained” in death all along, and have not ever been genuine believers. Thus “residing” rather than “remaining” is used as the translation for μένουσαν (menousan) here.