1 John 3:15 15Everyone who hates his brother [or sister] is a murderer, and you know that every murderer has no eternal life remaining in him.
The problem of Cain persists in us all until the new life of Jesus shines in. Even with Jesus in our hearts, Cain is always ready to creep back in unless we live with confession, repentance, and faith. This verse emphasizes the seriousness of not having love for others. The key determining action is given with the word hates (misōn). The word is not difficult to define because it creeps up in every person’s heart at some point. We know hatred because it is part of our fallen nature. Human hatred shows its ugly head in countless ways. Murder is carrying out hatred in a physical way. However, the problem begins with the self. We fight for our survival, our perceived rights, and our agendas, and if anyone or anything gets in the way, it becomes an object of displeasure, which can grow into hatred. Selfishness often initially appears as frustration, which is an emotional response to some form of pain the self experiences. The emotional response of frustration can grow into anger very quickly, sometimes almost instantly. If anger is allowed to remain, it will grow when other bad experiences happen. Uncontrolled anger can lead to murder.
Hatred is the thought process that can result from selfishness. Self lies at the core human problem of sin. Adam and Eve wanted their own way, and so they ate from the forbidden fruit. They passed on this selfishness to their sons, Cain and Abel. Abel allowed faith to guide him away from self and back to God (Hebrews 11:4). Cain, however, followed the path of self-centeredness and allowed anger to take root, leading to jealousy, resulting in murder.
The Bible treats hatred of others very seriously. Hatred is the attitude that says, “I would . . . if I could,” with the blank filled with all kinds of evil thoughts. The only love present is self-focused love distorted into hatred. Without the love of God, murder is the ultimate deterioration of selfishness. It is the ultimate rejection of God’s image in another person. It is the lowest state for a human to reach. Hatred sets us on this path of self-destruction. It is the opposite direction of life in Christ. There is always the opportunity to repent from such a disposition. Love brings eternal life and is the evidence of eternal life. Hatred brings destruction in this life and shows that eternal life is not present.