First John: 1 John 3:15b-The Believer Who Hates Their Fellow-Believer Never Experiences Eternal Life Lesson # 125

1 John 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (ESV)

“And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) second person plural perfect active indicative form of the verb oida (οἶδα), “you know” (3) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “that” (4) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “no one” (5) nominative masculine singular form of the adjective anthrōpoktonos (ἀνθρωποκτόνος), “a murderer” (6) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (7) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb echō (ἒχω), “has” (8) accusative feminine singular form of the noun zōē (ζωή), “life” (9) accusative feminine singular form of the adjective aiōnios (αἰώνιος), “eternal” (10) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (11) dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “him” (12) accusative feminine singular present active participle form of the verb menō (μένω), “abiding.”

The conjunction kai is a marker of result meaning the word is introducing an assertion which presents the result of the previous assertion that the person who does at any time hate their fellow-believer is identical to a murderer.

The verb oida means “to know for certain, to certainly know, to be of the conviction” since the word pertains to having knowledge of someone to the extent of having no doubt about a matter and speaks of having a conviction that is based upon the truth of the Word of God.

The second person plural form of this verb means “each one of you” since the word refers to the recipients of First John as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Once again, we have the adjective anthrōpoktonos which means “murderer.”

However, this time the word is modified by the masculine singular form of the adjective pas, which means “every” since the word denotes totality and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

The noun zōē means “life” and refers to eternal life which is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and is received as a gift by the sinner the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God and in particular obeying the command to love one’s fellow believer as Jesus Christ does.

The noun zōē is modified by the adjective aiōnios means “eternal” since the word is ascribing the attribute of eternality to the noun zōē which is referring of course to experiencing fellowship with the Trinity as a result of obeying the command to love one’s fellow-believer as Jesus Christ does.

Thus, this adjective is used by John to ascribe the eternal nature of this life John’s apostolic teaching.

This fellowship is eternal in nature because each member of the Trinity is eternal.

The verb echō is used transitively with the accusative feminine singular form of the noun zōē, “life” as its direct object, which is modified by the accusative feminine singular form of the adjective aiōnios, “eternal.”

In context, the verb echō means, “to experience a particular state or condition.”

The verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “never” since the word expresses an absolute, direct and full negation.

It refers to a negation, which is absolute, and not subject to conditions or exceptions.

Therefore, these two words are expressing the idea that every murderer never experiences the state of eternal life living within them.

In other words, they never experience eternal life.

The present tense of the verb echō is a gnomic present used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact.

Therefore, it expresses the idea that every murderer never as an eternal spiritual truth experiences eternal life living within them.

The verb menō means “to live” expressing the idea of eternal life never living in the believer who hates their fellow-believer.

The dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) means “him” referring to a hypothetical believer who at any time hates their fellow-believer, which is murder.

It is the object of the preposition en, which means “in” since the word functions a marker of a state or condition.

This would indicate that eternal life never exists in the state of living within the believer who hates their fellow brother or sister in Christ.

1 John 3:15 Anyone who does at any time hate his fellow-believer is a murderer. Consequently, each one of you possess the conviction that every murderer absolutely never experiences eternal life living in him. (My translation)

John asserts that each one of the recipients of First John possessed the conviction that every murderer absolutely never experiences eternal living in him.

This assertion presents the direct consequence or the direct result of hating one’s fellow-believer.

In other words, it presents the result of the previous assertion that the person who does at any time hate their fellow-believer is identical to a murderer.

Therefore, this result clause expresses the idea that the believer never experiences eternal life living in them as a result or as a consequence of hating their fellow-believer.

John is not teaching that the believer who hates their fellow-believer no longer possesses eternal life and is not really a believer or has lost their salvation.

Rather, he is simply stating that if they hate their fellow-believer they are by no means experiencing eternal life.

They received it as a gift at the moment of justification through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

However, when they are out of fellowship with God because of disobeying the Lord’s command to love one another, they are not experiencing eternal life.

In 1 John 3:15, the apostle John is equating obeying the command to love one another as experiencing eternal life, which corresponds to his teaching in 1 John 3:14.

1 John 3:14 Each and every one of us has confirmed that we have been transferred from death to life because each one of us are divinely loving our fellow-believer. The one who at any time does not practice divine love continues to exist in death. (Author’s translation)

The apostle John is teaching that the believer must obey the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to follow His example and love their fellow-believer as He loves in order to experience eternal life, which constitutes experiencing fellowship with the Trinity.

When the believer is experiencing eternal life as a result of obeying the Lord’s command to love one another, they are personally encountering each member of the Trinity and are being affected by this encounter resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.