Are we people lovers or man slayers?

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:11-18

The message of God and the mission of God extend from Genesis through the Revelation of John. The message is not understood if we decouple the Old Testament from the New Testament. In today’s passage, John refers to the message his audience has heard from the beginning. Some commentators understand this beginning to refer to when they first heard the gospel. However, I believe the beginning is in Genesis due to the context referring immediately to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, the first story following the ouster of Adam and Eve from the garden in Genesis three. The message is to love one another and not be like Cain. The message to love was not explicit but implicit because immediately after the murder, God communicated with Cain and cursed the ground in relation to Cain, who was a farmer.

 “When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 

Genesis 4:12

A side note I find interesting is the translation of the word for murder in verse 15. It is literally “manslayer.” In verse 12, murder is a different Greek word, sphazo, usually translated to slay, slaughter, butcher. The death of Abel was very violent and showed strong emotion on the part of Cain when he murdered Abel.

So why did Cain slaughter his brother Abel? The Scripture says it was because Cain’s deeds were evil and Abel’s deeds were righteous. (1 John 3:12) We also find in Hebrews 11:4 that Abel made his offering by faith, implying that Cain’s offering was not made by faith. Remember, righteousness comes by faith.

Now comes the hard part. One assurance of our salvation is that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. That doesn’t sound so hard. We love to worship together and fellowship together. Isn’t that loving my brethren? Yes, in so far as it goes. But John takes it further. How do we respond when we find a brother or sister is in material need? Do we take action to see to it that their need is met? Do we love in deed and truth?

The model of love we have been given is that of Jesus, who literally laid down his life for us. When we say Jesus “laid down his life,” it is not meant metaphorically. Jesus voluntarily died for us. That is our model of love. That model won’t let a brother or sister go without necessities when it is in our power to do something about it. For us to lay down our lives means to give up control of our material possessions and make them available to our brothers and sisters who are in material need.

John is so gentle with an appeal that could be so rough. Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. What a gentle way to encourage us not to be people who talk big and do nothing. It is easy for some of us to do just that: love with word and talk only.