1 John 3:11-15 We Should Not Be Like Cain

1 John 3:11-15 We Should Not Be Like Cain

Introduction

We cannot separate faith in Christ from love for His people. The local church is a proving ground for genuine salvation.

In this section of 1 John, John is not only urging general kindness toward all people, though that matters because all people are made in the image of God. He is making a more direct connection. He is arguing that a person’s confession of Christ is meant to show up in a changed disposition toward other believers.

In the flow of this letter, righteousness is not defined as random good deeds we choose to do. It is tied to believing the truth about Jesus, that He is the Son of God who came in the flesh, and walking in the command God gave from the beginning, that we love one another (1 John 3:11, 1 John 3:14, 1 John 4:19-21).

That is why John repeats himself. He knows we drift. We complicate what is simple. We excuse what should be confessed. We justify what should be mortified. John wants his readers to have a clear way to examine their lives without falling into empty confidence or unnecessary fear.

Love for the Household of Faith

John begins where he began before. This is the message the church heard from the beginning, love one another (1 John 3:11). He keeps pressing it because believers can drift from love while still keeping religious language.

One of the easiest drifts is tribalism. Yes, every person is made in God’s image, but not every person is a child of God. That distinction is real. But it becomes dangerous when we use it to rank people, create factions, or build spiritual superiority and inferiority. John is not giving the church permission to become proud. He is calling the church to become clear.

So clarity is needed in two directions. First, our standing in Christ, received by faith in the gospel, cannot be turned into pride. There is no boasting before God. Second, if we truly love what God loves, then we will love the church, because the church is Christ’s body.

John does not treat love as a vague sentiment. Scripture gives love definition. Love is patient and kind. Love refuses envy, boasting, arrogance, and rudeness. Love does not insist on its own way. Love is not easily irritated. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. Love rejoices with truth. Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

The law already taught God’s people not to hate their brother in the heart. It also taught them to speak plainly when necessary, to avoid sin and resentment. Love refuses vengeance and refuses grudges (Leviticus 19:17-18). That means love includes honesty, but it cannot include hatred.

Jesus then places love for fellow disciples in the center of public witness. Love for one another is meant to be a visible marker that someone belongs to Him (John 13:34-35). That command was given in the presence of imperfect disciples. It was not meant for ideal church life. It was meant for real church life.

Jesus also teaches that love is not limited to those who support us. Love reaches enemies and prays for persecutors, reflecting the Father’s goodness that touches the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:43-48). This does not remove John’s emphasis on love for the brothers. It guards it. It keeps Christian love from becoming a narrow loyalty to only those who feel safe, familiar, and aligned.

James presses the same issue into daily speech. People can bless God and then speak with contempt toward those made in His likeness, and James says that contradiction should not exist (James 3:7-12). The tongue often reveals the heart before anything else does. This is one reason John will not allow hatred to be treated as small. Hatred often grows quietly through speech, tone, dismissal, and demeaning language long before it shows itself in more obvious ways.

In John’s argument, love for the household of faith is not a spiritual extra. It is basic Christianity. It is the kind of fruit that points to genuine life.

Hate Toward Those Who Believe

John immediately gives a warning example, Cain (1 John 3:12). John is not telling an old story for shock value. He is exposing a spiritual pattern that appears repeatedly in Scripture and in everyday life.

John explains the heart reason. Cain’s works were evil and his brother’s were righteous (1 John 3:12). Abel’s righteousness exposed Cain. Cain had a choice, repent and come into the light, or resist and protect his darkness. Cain chose resistance. John then tells believers not to be surprised when the world hates them (1 John 3:13).

In this context, the world is not every individual outside the church. It is the God rejecting system that resents Christ’s light. When people refuse the light, they often resent those who live in it. That resentment can show itself in exclusion, hostility, slander, pressure to compromise, and in many forms of opposition. John’s goal is not to make believers suspicious of everyone. His goal is to make believers steady, so they do not panic when rejection comes.

The pattern shows up early and often across Scripture.

Cain becomes the first example of hatred aimed at a righteous brother (Genesis 4:8). Joseph becomes a target of jealous brothers because of favor and calling (Genesis 37:15 to 18). Saul becomes hostile toward David after recognizing that the Lord is with him, and that hostility becomes deliberate and persistent (1 Samuel 18:28-29, 1 Samuel 19:1). Zechariah speaks God’s truth and is rejected for it (2 Chronicles 24:20-21). Stephen confesses Christ boldly and is opposed by those who deny Jesus (Acts 7:56-59). Jesus Himself teaches that rejection can come on account of the Son of Man, and that the prophets faced the same kind of opposition (Luke 6:22-23).

These examples show something consistent. When righteousness is present, those committed to unrighteousness can feel exposed. Sometimes they respond with repentance. Sometimes they respond with resentment. John is warning that the Cain response is real, and believers should not be shocked when they encounter it.

This is where the Uriah texts add an uncomfortable but necessary layer. Sometimes opposition toward righteousness is not coming from outside the people of God. Sometimes it rises inside the visible community when someone is trying to cover sin.

Uriah shows integrity, restraint, and loyalty, refusing comfort while the representation of the glory and presence of God is under enemy contempt (2 Samuel 11:11). His integrity is not loud, but it is clear. Then David arranges for Uriah to be removed through a calculated plan (2 Samuel 11:14-15). That example shows how easily the human heart can treat righteousness as a threat when unrighteousness is being protected.

This matters for church life. The church cannot become a place where people who desire holiness are pushed aside because they remind others of what is right. The church cannot function well if Cain like instincts are excused as personality, discernment, or toughness. John’s warning presses inward. Do not become the kind of person who opposes righteousness because righteousness makes sin harder to hide.

The Local Church as the Expression of Our Faith and Love for God

John then brings the argument to a personal test. He says believers know they have passed out of death into life because they love the brothers (1 John 3:14). He also says the one who does not love remains in death (1 John 3:14). Then he raises the stakes further, hatred toward a brother reveals something deeply incompatible with eternal life abiding in a person (1 John 3:15).

John is not saying love earns salvation. He is saying love is evidence of life. It is one of the clearest signs that Christ has truly made a person new. When God gives life, He changes disposition. That change becomes visible in how a believer views and treats the people of God.

John also makes it plain that hatred cannot be treated as minor. Hatred is not only a moment of frustration. It is a settled posture of contempt. It is a refusal of fellowship. It is an inner willingness to diminish another believer rather than pursue their good. John’s language is meant to stop the reader from excusing hatred as normal. Hatred belongs to darkness, not to life.

This is why the local church becomes central. Love for the brothers cannot remain theoretical for long. It has to be practiced somewhere. The local church is where love becomes visible through patience, service, forgiveness, humility, prayer, endurance, and mutual burden bearing.

Paul supports this same emphasis when he says Christians should do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:9-10). That emphasis fits John’s focus. It highlights an obligation to care for fellow believers in a concrete way.

Paul also describes the church as one body joined by one Spirit, with believers brought into shared life rather than isolated spirituality (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). He adds that Christians are members of one another, meaning there is real mutual belonging and responsibility (Romans 12:4-5). The gospel is not a stamp that sends a person into private religion. The gospel brings a person into a family.

John later states the logic directly. We love because God first loved us. If someone claims to love God while hating his brother, that claim is false. If a person cannot love the brother he can see, he cannot claim to love the God he cannot see (1 John 4:19-21). In other words, love for God must express itself in love for God’s people.

So John’s argument is simple but weighty. Love marks life. Hatred marks death. And the local church becomes one of the clearest proving grounds where this evidence shows itself.

Conclusion

We cannot craft a way of life that does not involve the local church.

Because of our belief and faithfulness to Christ, we should not be surprised when opposition comes from the world.

Your love of Christ is displayed in how you treat His people (1 John 3:11-15, 1 John 4:19-21).

Scripture References

1 John 3:11-15 John’s command to love, Cain as a warning, and the test of love versus hatred.

Leviticus 19:17-18 Love refuses hatred, grudges, and vengeance, and speaks honestly.

John 13:34-35 Love identifies Christ’s disciples.

Matthew 5:43-48 Love reaches beyond friends and reflects the Father.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love defined with concrete qualities.

James 3:7-12 The tongue exposes contradictions in worship.

Genesis 4:8 Cain as an early picture of hatred toward the righteous.

Genesis 37:15-18 Jealousy rising against Joseph.

1 Samuel 18:28-29 Saul’s hostility as he sees the Lord’s favor on David.

1 Samuel 19:1 Hostility becoming deliberate.

2 Chronicles 24:20-21 Rejecting truth and opposing the righteous.

Acts 7:56-59 Stephen’s confession of Christ met with opposition.

Luke 6:22-23 Jesus preparing believers for rejection for His sake.

2 Samuel 11:11 Uriah’s integrity revealing compromise.

2 Samuel 11:14-15 Covering sin producing Cain like opposition.

Galatians 6:9-10 Doing good, especially to the household of faith.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 The church as one body by the Spirit.

Romans 12:4-5 Members of one another in Christ.

1 John 4:19-21 Love for God shown in love for the brother.