1 John 3:11-18

Love One Another

11 For ¹this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, ²that we should love one another.

12 We should not be like ³Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ⁴Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers,^[a]5that the world hates you.

14 We know that ⁶we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

15 ⁷Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ⁸no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, that ⁹he laid down his life for us, and ¹⁰we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

17 But ¹¹if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet ¹²closes his heart against him, ¹³how does God's love abide in him?

18 Little children, let us not ¹⁴love in word or talk but in deed and ¹⁵in truth.

Cross References

• 1. 1 John 1:5; 1 John 2:24
• 2. See John 13:34
• 3. Genesis 4:4, 8; Hebrews 11:4; Jude 11
• 4. Psalms 38:20; Proverbs 29:10
• 5. John 15:18; John 17:14
• 6. John 5:24
• 7. Matthew 5:21, 22
• 8. Galatians 5:21; Revelation 21:8
• 9. See John 15:13
• 10. [Philippians 2:17]
• 11. James 2:15, 16
• 12. Deuteronomy 15:7
• 13. [1 John 4:20]
• 14. Ezekiel 33:31; Ephesians 4:15
• 15. 2 John 1; 3 John 1

Footnotes

• [a]. Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated "brothers") refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church; also verses 14, 16