1 John 3:13
in 1 John 3So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you.
KJV
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
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This verse in 1 John 3
Commentary
11 notes on this verseIf we have passed from death to life by passing from unbelief to faith, let us not be surprised if the world hates us. For no one who has failed to pass from death to life, but has remained in death, can love those who have left the darkened house of death.
This site's exposition
do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you
on 1 John 3:13-15
The world's hatred follows Cain's pattern: do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. Love for the brothers shows that we have passed from death to life. The line Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer follows Jesus on anger in the Sermon on the Mount.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
It is not to be wondered at if evil people, who are here called the "world," hate those who live godly lives according to the commands of Christ. It would be much more surprising if such people loved us instead!
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's was …
"Marvel not, brethren, if the world hate us." Must one often be telling you what "the world" means? Not the heaven, not the earth, nor these visible works which God made; but lovers of the world. By often saying these things, to some I am burdensome: but I am so far from saying it without a cause, that some may be questioned whether I said it, and they cannot answer. Let then, even by thrusting it upon them, something stick fast in the hearts of them that hear. What is "the world"? The world, when put in a bad sense, is, lovers of the world: the world, when the word is used in praise, is heaven and earth, and the works of God that are in them; whence it is said, "And the world was made by Him." Also, the world is the fullness of the earth, as John himself hath said, "Not only for our sins is He the propitiator, but for the sins of the whole world:" he means, "of the world," of all the faithful scattered throughout the whole earth. But the world in a bad sense, is, lovers of the world. They that love the world, cannot love their brother.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you. He calls those who love the world worldly. Nor should it be wondered that those who love the world cannot love a brother separated from the love of the world and intent only on heavenly desires. …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The beloved apostle can scarcely touch upon the mention of sacred love, but he must enlarge upon the enforcement of it, as here he does by divers arguments and incentives thereto; as, I. That it is a mark of our evangelical justification, of our transition into a state of life: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Marvel not - Do not think it so unusual, or so little to be expected, as to excite astonishment. If the world hate you - The emphasis here is to be placed on the word “you.” The apostle had just adverted to the fact that Cain hated Abel, his brother, without cause, and he says that they were not to deem it strange if the world hated them in like manner. The Saviour Joh 15:17-18 introduced these subjects in the same connection.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Marvel not--The marvel would be if the world loved you. the world--of whom Cain is the representative (1Jo 3:12). hate you--as Cain hated even his own brother, and that to the extent of murdering him.
Marvel not - if the world hate you - Expect no better treatment from unconverted Jews and Gentiles than Abel received from his wicked and cruel brother. This was a lesson to the Church, preparatory to martyrdom. Expect neither justice nor mercy from the men who are enemies of God. They are either full of malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, or they are specious, hollow, false, and deceitful. “A foe to God was ne’er true friend to Man.”
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery 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.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| θαυμάζετε, | thaumazete | do be surprised, | G2296 → | |
| ἀδελφοί | adelphoi | brothers | G80 → | 343 times |
| εἰ | ei | if | G1487 → | 508 times |
| μισεῖ | misei | hates | G3404 → | 40 times |
| ὑμᾶς | humas | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| κόσμος. | kosmos | world. | G2889 → | 185 times |
ΚαὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
θαυμάζετε,do be surprised,
thaumazeteG2296 →
ἀδελφοίbrothers
adelphoiG80 →343 times
εἰif
eiG1487 →508 times
μισεῖhates
miseiG3404 →40 times
ὑμᾶςyou
humasG4771 →2973 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
κόσμος.world.
kosmosG2889 →185 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
James 4:4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
it leads to
- John 15:19
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 2:15–16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Romans 8:7
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and…
- Galatians 1:10
Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- John 15:19
Through
Mark 13:13You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
it leads to
- Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 15:18–19
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
- Matthew 10:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About 1 John
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 5; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 John and Origen of Alexandria, EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 41.