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mannafest.faith

1 John 3:14

in 1 John 3

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.

KJV

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

This verse in 1 John 3

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

We know that we have passed from death unto life - Death and life are represented here as two distinct territories, states, or kingdoms, to either of which the inhabitants of either may be removed. This is implied in the term μεταβεβηκαμεν, from μετα, denoting change of place, and βαινω, I go. It is the same figure which St. Paul uses, Col 1:13: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.

This site's exposition

Marvel not, my brethren

on 1 John 3:13-15

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you prepares the readers for Cain's pattern to repeat against them, the world's hostility toward the righteous no surprise given its first instance. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren offers love for fellow believers as evidence of the crossing already made, he that loveth not his brother abideth in death the same fact stated negatively. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer traces hatred to Cain's own root, the Lord's teaching on anger and murder in the Sermon on the Mount standing behind the equation, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him names the settled incompatibility.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He yet stands under the curse and condemnation of the law. This the apostle argues by a clear syllogism: "You know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him; but he who hates his brother is a murderer; and therefore you cannot but know that he who hates his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him,"
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I HAVE heard it said, by those who would be thought philosophers, that in religion we must believe, but cannot know. I am not very clear about the distinction they draw between knowledge and faith, nor do I care to enquire because I assert that, in matters relating to religion, we do know! In the things of God, we both believe and know.

The words behind it

21 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    John 5:24

    Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

    it leads to

    • John 3:36

      Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

    • 1 John 5:11–13

      And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

    • John 6:40

      For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

    • John 3:18

      Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

    • Romans 8:1

      Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

  • Through

    John 13:35

    By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

    it leads to

    • 1 John 4:20–21

      If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

    • 1 John 2:5

      But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 John 2:10

      Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 John

The Last Supper — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
The Last Supper — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2556: “Life Proved by Love” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.