The Meaning of 1 John 3:15 Explained

1 John 3:15

KJV: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

YLT: Every one who is hating his brother -- a man-killer he is, and ye have known that no man-killer hath life age-during in him remaining,

Darby: Every one that hates his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

ASV: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a murderer:  and  ye know  that  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abiding  in  him. 

What does 1 John 3:15 Mean?

Verse Meaning

"Every one" includes Christians. Murder is the ultimate outward expression of hatred (cf. Matthew 5:21-22). The key to the statement that concludes this verse is the words "abiding in him." John evidently meant that no Christian whose eternal life (i.e, Jesus Christ; 1 John 1:2) has control of him, who is walking in fellowship with God, will commit murder. Some believers have committed murder, but they were not abiding believers when they did so (cf. John 15:4).

Context Summary

1 John 3:13-24 - Loving In Deed And In Truth
Love to the brethren is a sign that we have been born into the family. We may not like them all, yet we can love them. If we love, we live; and if we live in the deepest sense, we shall love; that is, we shall put others first, and our care for them will be tinged with the crimson of sacrifice. Love is not measured by the expressions of the lip or the emotion of the heart, but by the extent to which we will do or suffer.
The believer dares not affirm too much about himself, he is so unworthy and fickle; but God understands us and imputes to us what we would be. Mark in 1 John 3:22 the double condition of prevailing prayer. It is also clear from 1 John 3:23 that men can believe, if they will. God is prepared to impart to those who are wishful all that He commands. Augustine prayed thus: "Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt." [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 John 3

1  He declares the singular love of God toward us, in making us his sons;
3  who therefore ought obediently to keep his commandments;
11  as also to love one another as brothers

Greek Commentary for 1 John 3:15

A murderer [αντρωποκτονος]
Old compound (Euripides) from αντρωπος — anthrōpos (man) and κτεινω — kteinō (to kill), a man-killer, in N.T. only here and John 8:44 (of Satan). [source]
No [πασου]
According to current Hebraistic idiom = μενουσαν — oudeis as in 1 John 2:19, 1 John 2:21.Abiding (μενω — menousan). Present active feminine accusative predicate participle of menō “a continuous power and a communicated gift” (Westcott). [source]
Abiding [μενω]
Present active feminine accusative predicate participle of menō “a continuous power and a communicated gift” (Westcott). [source]
Murderer [ἀθρωποκτόνος]
Manslayer. Only here and John 8:44, of the devil. [source]
Hath eternal life, etc. []
The contrast is suggestive between the sentiment embodied in this statement and that of Pagan antiquity respecting murder, in the Homeric age, for instance. “With regard to the practice of homicide, the ordinary Greek morality was extremely loose … . Among the Greeks, to have killed a man was considered in the light of misfortune, or, at most, a prudential error, when the perpetrator of the act had come among strangers as a fugitive for protection and hospitality. On the spot, therefore, where the crime occurred, it could stand only as in the nature of a private and civil wrong, and the fine payable was regarded, not (which it might have been) as a mode, however defective, of marking any guilt in the culprit, but as, on the whole, an equitable satisfaction to the wounded feelings of the relatives and friends, or as an actual compensation for the lost services of the dead man. The religion of the age takes no notice of the act whatever” (Gladstone “Homer and the Homeric Age,” ii., 436). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 John 3:15

John 8:44 Murderer [ἀνθρωποκτόνος]
Only here and 1 John 3:15. Literally, a manslayer; from ἄνθρωπος , man, and κτείνω , to kill. The epithet is applied to Satan, not with reference to the murder of Abel, but to the fact of his being the author of death to the race. Compare Romans 7:8, Romans 7:11; Hebrews 2:14. [source]
John 3:15 Have eternal life []
A characteristic phrase of John for live forever. See John 3:16, John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:40, John 6:47, John 6:54; 1 John 3:15; 1 John 5:12. The interview with Nicodemus closes with John 3:15; and the succeeding words are John's. This appears from the following facts: 1. The past tenses loved and gave, in John 3:16, better suit the later point of view from which John writes, after the atoning death of Christ was an accomplished historic fact, than the drift of the present discourse of Jesus before the full revelation of that work. 2. It is in John's manner to throw in explanatory comments of his own (John 1:16-18; John 12:37-41), and to do so abruptly. See John 1:15, John 1:16, and on and, John 1:16. 3. John 3:19is in the same line of thought with John 1:9-11in the Prologue; and the tone of that verse is historic, carrying the sense of past rejection, as loved darkness; were evil. 4. The phrase believe on the name is not used elsewhere by our Lord, but by John (John 1:12; John 2:23; 1 John 5:13). 5. The phrase only-begotten son is not elsewhere used by Jesus of himself, but in every case by the Evangelist (John 1:14, John 1:18; 1 John 4:9). 6. The phrase to do truth (John 3:21) occurs elsewhere only in 1 John 1:6. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil [υμεις εκ του πατρος του διαβολου]
Certainly they can “understand” It was like a bombshell in spite of the preliminary preparation. Your will to do Present active indicative of τελω — thelō and present active infinitive, “Ye wish to go on doing.” This same idea Jesus presents in Matthew 13:38 (the sons of the evil one, the devil) and Matthew 23:15 (twofold more a son of Gehenna than you). See also 1 John 3:8 for “of the devil” He even called them “broods of vipers” as Jesus did later (Matthew 12:34). A murderer Old and rare word (Euripides) from αντρωπος — anthrōpos man, and κτεινω — kteinō to kill. In N.T. only here and 1 John 3:15. The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus and so like their father the devil. Stood not in the truth Since ουκ — ouk not ουχ — ouch is genuine, the form of the verb is εστεκεν — esteken the imperfect of the late present stem στηκω — stēkō (Mark 11:25) from the perfect active εστηκα — hestēka (intransitive) of ιστημι — histēmi to place. No truth in him Inside him or outside (environment). The devil and truth have no contact. When he speaketh a lie Indefinite temporal clause with οταν — hotan and the present active subjunctive of λαλεω — laleō But note the article το — to “Whenever he speaks the lie,” as he is sure to do because it is his nature. Hence “he speaks out of his own” For he is a liar Old word for the agent in a conscious falsehood See 1 John 1:10; Romans 3:4. Common word in John because of the emphasis on αλητεια — alētheia (truth). And the father thereof (και ο πατηρ αυτου — kai ho patēr autou). Either the father of the lie or of the liar, both of which are true as already shown by Jesus. Autou in the genitive can be either neuter or masculine. Westcott takes it thus, “because he is a liar and his father (the devil) is a liar,” making “one,” not the devil, the subject of “whenever he speaks,” a very doubtful expression. [source]
John 8:44 Your will to do [τελετε ποιειν]
Present active indicative of τελω — thelō and present active infinitive, “Ye wish to go on doing.” This same idea Jesus presents in Matthew 13:38 (the sons of the evil one, the devil) and Matthew 23:15 (twofold more a son of Gehenna than you). See also 1 John 3:8 for “of the devil” He even called them “broods of vipers” as Jesus did later (Matthew 12:34). A murderer Old and rare word (Euripides) from αντρωπος — anthrōpos man, and κτεινω — kteinō to kill. In N.T. only here and 1 John 3:15. The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus and so like their father the devil. Stood not in the truth Since ουκ — ouk not ουχ — ouch is genuine, the form of the verb is εστεκεν — esteken the imperfect of the late present stem στηκω — stēkō (Mark 11:25) from the perfect active εστηκα — hestēka (intransitive) of ιστημι — histēmi to place. No truth in him Inside him or outside (environment). The devil and truth have no contact. When he speaketh a lie Indefinite temporal clause with οταν — hotan and the present active subjunctive of λαλεω — laleō But note the article το — to “Whenever he speaks the lie,” as he is sure to do because it is his nature. Hence “he speaks out of his own” For he is a liar Old word for the agent in a conscious falsehood See 1 John 1:10; Romans 3:4. Common word in John because of the emphasis on αλητεια — alētheia (truth). And the father thereof (και ο πατηρ αυτου — kai ho patēr autou). Either the father of the lie or of the liar, both of which are true as already shown by Jesus. Autou in the genitive can be either neuter or masculine. Westcott takes it thus, “because he is a liar and his father (the devil) is a liar,” making “one,” not the devil, the subject of “whenever he speaks,” a very doubtful expression. [source]
John 8:44 A murderer [αντρωποκτονος]
Old and rare word (Euripides) from αντρωπος — anthrōpos man, and κτεινω — kteinō to kill. In N.T. only here and 1 John 3:15. The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus and so like their father the devil. Stood not in the truth Since ουκ — ouk not ουχ — ouch is genuine, the form of the verb is εστεκεν — esteken the imperfect of the late present stem στηκω — stēkō (Mark 11:25) from the perfect active εστηκα — hestēka (intransitive) of ιστημι — histēmi to place. No truth in him Inside him or outside (environment). The devil and truth have no contact. When he speaketh a lie Indefinite temporal clause with οταν — hotan and the present active subjunctive of λαλεω — laleō But note the article το — to “Whenever he speaks the lie,” as he is sure to do because it is his nature. Hence “he speaks out of his own” For he is a liar Old word for the agent in a conscious falsehood See 1 John 1:10; Romans 3:4. Common word in John because of the emphasis on αλητεια — alētheia (truth). And the father thereof (και ο πατηρ αυτου — kai ho patēr autou). Either the father of the lie or of the liar, both of which are true as already shown by Jesus. Autou in the genitive can be either neuter or masculine. Westcott takes it thus, “because he is a liar and his father (the devil) is a liar,” making “one,” not the devil, the subject of “whenever he speaks,” a very doubtful expression. [source]
Romans 1:29 Envy, murder [φθόνου , φόνου]
Phthonou phonou A paronomasia or combination of like-sounding words. Compare Galatians 5:21. Murder is conceived as a thought which has filled the man. See 1 John 3:15. [source]
1 John 5:18 We know [οἴδαμεν]
John uses this appeal to knowledge in two forms: we know (1 John 3:2, 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:18, 1 John 5:19, 1 John 5:20); ye know (1 John 2:20; 1 John 3:5, 1 John 3:15). [source]
1 John 5:16 Unto death []
The difficulty of the passage lies in the explanation of these words. It is impossible to determine their exact meaning with certainty. Some of the many explanations are as follows: Such sin as God punishes with deadly sickness or sudden death. All those sins punished with excommunication (so the older Catholic theologians). An unrepented sin. Envy. A sinful state or condition. The sin by which the Christian falls back from Christian life into death. The anti-Christian denial that Jesus is the Christ. The phrase λαβεῖν ἁμαρτίαν θανητοφόρον toincur a death-bearing sin (A. V., bear sin and die ), occurs Numbers 18:22, Sept., and the distinction between sins unto death and sins not unto death is common in Rabbinic writings. However John's expression may have been suggested by these, it cannot be assumed that they determine the sense in which he uses it. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Life and death in the passage must correspond. Bodily death and spiritual life cannot be meant. The passage must be interpreted in the light of John's utterances elsewhere concerning life and death. In 1 John 5:12, he says: He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. In 1 John 3:14, 1 John 3:15, he says that he that loveth not abideth in death: that he that hateth his brother is a manslayer, and that no manslayer hath eternal life abiding in him. These canons of interpretation point to the explanation, in which some of the best authorities agree, that the sin unto death does not refer to a specific act, but to a class or species of sins, the tendency of which is to cut the bond of fellowship with Christ. Hence the passage is in the key-note of fellowship which pervades the Epistle. Whatever breaks the fellowship between the soul and Christ, and, by consequence, between the individual and the body of believers, is unto death, for there is no life apart from Christ. It is indeed true that this tendency inheres in all sin. Sin is essentially death. But a distinction is to be made, as Canon Westcott observes, between sins which flow from human imperfection and infirmity, and sins which are open manifestations of a character alien from God. “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.” It must be carefully born in mind in the study of the passage, that John is speaking of sinful acts as revelations of character, and not simply in themselves. So Huther: “Such sinning as is characterized, not by the object with which it is connected, but by the disposition from which it proceeds.” [source]

1 John 3:3 Every man that hath [πᾶς ὁ ἔχων]
A characteristic form of expression with John, containing “a reference to some who had questioned the application of a general principle in particular cases.” Here to some persons who had denied the practical obligation to moral purity involved in their hope. See 1 John 3:4, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1, 1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:18; 2 John 1:9. [source]
1 John 4:20 And hateth [και μισει]
Continuation of the same condition with εαν — ean and the present active subjunctive, “and keep on hating.” See 1 John 2:9; 1 John 3:15 for use of μισεω — miseō (hate) with αδελπος — adelphos (brother). A liar Blunt and to the point as in 1 John 1:10; 1 John 2:4. [source]
1 John 5:18 We know [οιδαμεν]
As in 1 John 3:2, 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:15, 1 John 5:19, 1 John 5:20. He has “ye know” in 1 John 2:20; 1 John 3:5, 1 John 3:15. [source]
1 John 2:9 His brother [τὸν ἀδελφόν]
His fellow-Christian. The singular, brother, is characteristic of this Epistle. See 1 John 2:10, 1 John 2:11; 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:20, 1 John 4:21; 1 John 5:16. Christians are called in the New Testament, Christians (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16), mainly by those outside of the Christian circle. Disciples, applied to all followers of Christ (John 2:11; John 6:61) and strictly to the twelve (John 13:5sqq.). In Acts 19:1, to those who had received only John's baptism. Not found in John's Epistles nor in Revelation. Brethren. The first title given to the body of believers after the Ascension (Acts 1:15, where the true reading is ἀδελφῶν brethrenfor μαθητῶν disciples). See Acts 9:30; Acts 10:23; Acts 11:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 John 3:14; 3 John 1:5, 3 John 1:10; John 21:23. Peter has ἡ ἀδελφότης thebrotherhood (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 5:9). The believers. Under three forms: The believers ( οἱ πιστοί ; Acts 10:45; 1 Timothy 4:12); they that believe ( οἱ πιστεύοντες ; 1 Peter 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; Ephesians 1:19); they that believed ( οἱ πιστεύσαντες ; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Hebrews 4:3). The saints ( οἱ ἅγιοι ); characteristic of Paul and Revelation. Four times in the Acts (Acts 9:13, Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41; Acts 26:10), and once in Jude (Judges 1:3). Also Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 13:24. In Paul, 1 Corinthians 6:1; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Ephesians 1:1, Ephesians 1:15, etc. In Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4; Revelation 11:18, etc.|Until now ( ἕως ἄρτι )|Though the light has been increasing, and though he may claim that he has been in the light from the first. The phrase occurs in John 2:10; John 5:17; John 16:24; and is used by Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 15:6.| [source]
1 John 2:9 Hateth [μισῶν]
The sharp issue is maintained here as in Christ's words, “He that is not with me is against me” (Luke 11:23). Men fall into two classes, those who are in fellowship with God, and therefore walk in light and love, and those who are not in fellowship with God, and therefore walk in darkness and hatred. “A direct opposition,” says Bengel; where love is not, there is hatred. “The heart is not empty.” See John 3:20; John 7:7; John 15:18sqq.; John 17:14. The word hate is opposed both to the love of natural affection ( φιλεῖν ), and to the more discriminating sentiment - love founded on a just estimate ( ἀγαπᾶν ). For the former see John 12:25; John 15:18, John 15:19; compare Luke 14:26. For the latter, 1 John 3:14, 1 John 3:15; 1 John 4:20, Matthew 5:43; Matthew 6:24; Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:29. “In the former case, hatred, which may become a moral duty, involves the subjection of an instinct. In the latter case it expresses a general determination of character” (Westcott). [source]
1 John 4:20 I love God [Αγαπω τον τεον]
Quoting an imaginary disputant as in 1 John 2:4.And hateth (και μισει — kai misei). Continuation of the same condition with εαν — ean and the present active subjunctive, “and keep on hating.” See 1 John 2:9; 1 John 3:15 for use of μισεω — miseō (hate) with αδελπος — adelphos (brother). A liar (πσευστης — pseustēs). Blunt and to the point as in 1 John 1:10; 1 John 2:4.That loveth not “The one who does not keep on loving” (present active negative articular participle).Hath seen (εωρακεν — heōraken). Perfect active indicative of οραω — horaō the form in John 1:18 used of seeing God.Cannot love “Is not able to go on loving,” with which compare 1 John 2:9, ου δυναται αμαρτανειν — ou dunatai hamartanein (is not able to go on sinning). The best MSS. do not have πως — pōs (how) here. [source]

What do the individual words in 1 John 3:15 mean?

Everyone - hating the brother of him a murderer is and you know that any murderer not has life eternal in him abiding
πᾶς μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἐστίν καὶ οἴδατε ὅτι πᾶς ἀνθρωποκτόνος οὐκ ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἐν αὐτῷ μένουσαν

πᾶς  Everyone 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
μισῶν  hating 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: μισέω  
Sense: to hate, pursue with hatred, detest.
ἀδελφὸν  brother 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀδελφός  
Sense: a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἀνθρωποκτόνος  a  murderer 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀνθρωποκτόνος  
Sense: a manslayer, murderer.
οἴδατε  you  know 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: οἶδα  
Sense: to see.
ὅτι  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
πᾶς  any 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
ἀνθρωποκτόνος  murderer 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀνθρωποκτόνος  
Sense: a manslayer, murderer.
ζωὴν  life 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ζωή  
Sense: life.
αἰώνιον  eternal 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: αἰώνιος  
Sense: without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be.
μένουσαν  abiding 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: μένω  
Sense: to remain, abide.