First John: 1 John 3:13-The Children of God Must Not Be Surprised If the World Hates Them Lesson # 121

1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. (ESV)

This verse is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), which is not translated (2) negative particle me (μή), “not” (3) second person plural present active imperative form of the verb thaumazō (θαυμάζω), “do be surprised” (4) vocative masculine plural form of the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός), “brothers” (5) conditional particle ei (εἰ), “that” (6) third person masculine singular present active indicative form of the verb miseō (μισέω), “hates” (7) accusative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “you” (8) articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kosmos (κόσμος), “the world.”

The conjunction kai is a marker of result meaning the word is introducing an assertion which presents the result of the previous assertions in 1 John 3:11-12.

The noun adelphos means “spiritual brothers and sisters” and is ascribed by the apostle John to the recipients of First John.

The verb thaumazō means “to be surprised, to be taken by surprise, to be amazed, to be astonished” since the word pertains to being disturbed by some event taking place and its meaning is negated by the negative particle me, which denies the idea expressed by the verb.

Therefore, together, these two words form a prohibition which forbids the recipients of First John from being taken by surprise if the people enslaved to sin and Satan’s cosmic system hate them.

These two words have the force of a general precept which really makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.

However, John affirms in 1 John 2:12-14 that the recipients of this epistle were in fact remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching.

Thus, they were rejecting the false doctrine taught by the proto-Gnostic teachers whose teaching was inspired by Satan and his fallen angels.

Consequently, they were in fact already obeying this prohibition.

The conditional particle ei introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.

The force of the indicative mood which this word is employed with to form the first class condition, when properly understood, lends itself to the notion of presentation of reality.

In the first class condition the conditional particle turns such a presentation into a supposition but this does not mean that the condition is true or means since!

However, it does mean that as far as the portrayal is concerned, the point of the argument is based on the assumption of reality.

The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”

Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that the world does at any time hates any one of you.”

This is a responsive first class condition, which would mean that the recipients would agree with this premise that the world does hate them since John just taught in verse 12 that unregenerate Cain hated his own brother by murdering him.

Furthermore, in 1 John 2:28-3:10, John reassured that the recipients of this epistle were children of God and thus by nature enemies of Satan and his world system and organization.

The apodosis is “then continue to make it your habit of not being taken by surprise.”

The noun kosmos means “world” referring to Satan’s vast world system and organization which is opposed to God.

It contains the figure of metonymy which means that this world system and organization belonging to Satan is put for the people enslaved to Satan and this world system and organization.

Here in 1 John 3:13, the verb miseō means “to hate” in the active literal sense, which means that it speaks of expressing unjustifiable hostility and antagonism towards one’s fellow human being, which expresses itself in malicious words and actions.

This verb also means “to hate” in the passive sense which is manifested by coldness, by isolation, by exclusion, unconcern for another.

The personal pronoun su means “any of you” since the word pertains to the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions expressing the idea of any person in the Christian community being susceptible to the world hating them.

The present imperative form of the verb thaumazō is functioning as a customary present imperative whose force is for the recipients of this epistle to simply continue making it their habit of not being taken by surprise if the world does at any time hate them.

This interpretation is supported by the fact that John affirms in 1 John 2:12-14 that the recipients of this epistle were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching and thus were already obeying this prohibition which he more than likely had taught them many times in the past.

1 John 3:13 Therefore, brothers and sisters if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that the world does at any time hate any one of you and we agree that they do hate all of you, then each one of you must continue to make it your habit of not being taken by surprise. (My translation)

First John 3:13 presents the result or consequence of the previous assertions in 1 John 3:11-12.

Now, here in verse 13, the apostle John employs a first class condition which presents the assumption of truth for the sake of argument in order to persuade the recipients of First John to continue to obey the prohibition he issues them in the apodosis of this first class condition.

Therefore, verse 13 presents the consequence of Cain murdering his brother because his actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

Namely, that the unregenerate people of the world, i.e. the cosmic system of Satan will hate the believer who practices righteousness by obeying the command to love one another.

They will hate them because they were practicing righteousness by obeying the Lord’s command to love one another since this is what unregenerate Cain did in relation to his regenerate brother, Abel.

If the believer practices righteousness like Abel, then they can expect the people enslaved to sin and Satan who are like Cain, to hate them.

John could have just issued this prohibition and given the reason why the world hates them.

However, he chooses instead to employ a first class condition in order to persuade the recipients of First John to continue making it their habit of obeying the prohibition in light of his assertions in verse 12 that Cain hated his brother because his actions were evil and Abel’s were righteous.

In other words, he is attempting to persuade the recipients of First John that they are no different than Abel and the unregenerate people enslaved to sin and Satan are no different than Cain.

The first class condition expresses the logic of this.

John is not teaching in 1 John 3:13 that the world will “always” hate the believer, but rather that at times they will hate the believer for the practice of divine righteousness in their lives since the world did not always hate Jesus.

However, when believers practice divine righteousness in their lives so as to expose the sinfulness of the people enslaved to sin and Satan, then they must expect to be rejected by these unregenerate people.

Furthermore, if the believer interferes with the evil practices of unregenerate people enslaved to sin and Satan, which Jesus did in the temple, they must expect suffering and even death (cf. John 15:18-19, 25; 17:14).

Notice, that John identifies the recipients of First John as his “brothers and sisters” which serves to associate and identify with them.

The reason he does this is that he knows that if they continue to obey his apostolic teaching as contained in this epistle, they will undoubtedly be persecuted.

By continuing to obey his teaching, they would continue to identify themselves with him rather than the antichrists, who we noted in 1 John 2:18-19 were unregenerate proto-Gnostic teachers who rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and their Savior.

1 John 3:13 echoes the Lord Jesus Christ teaching recorded in John 15:18-25 and 17:12 since in these verses, the Lord warned His disciples that they would be hated by the people enslaved to sin and Satan and his world system and organization.

It would hate them because it hated him first and because they were associated with Him.

The apostle John is teaching in 1 John 3:13 that the world hates the Trinity and the children of God.

Not only does 1 John 3:13 echo John 15:18-25 and 17:14 but also the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 5:11-12 and Peter’s in 1 Peter 4:13.

1 John 3:13 is very similar to 1 John 3:1 in that both teach the disassociation that exists between the children of God and the children of the devil who are enslaved to Satan’s world system and organization.

1 John 3:13 contributes to John’s teaching in 1 John 2:28-3:12, which teach that the children of God manifest themselves by the practice of divine righteousness and divine love whereas the children of the devil manifest themselves by the practice of sin and hate.

Therefore, verse 13 is teaching that the children of God manifest themselves when they are hated by the people enslaved to Satan’s world system and organization.