TRV
Translation
King James Version
¶ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Complete Jewish Bible
We, for our part, know that we have passed from death to life because we keep loving the brothers. The person who fails to keep on loving is still under the power of death.
Berean Standard Bible
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.
American Standard Version
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.
World English Bible Messianic
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.
Geneva Bible (1599)
We know that we are translated from death vnto life, because we loue the brethren: he that loueth not his brother, abideth in death.
Young's Literal Translation
we--we have known that we have passed out of the death to the life, because we love the brethren; he who is not loving the brother doth remain in the death.
In the KJVVerse 30,594 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on 1 John 3 verses 14–19
14 ¶ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points
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, Jo1 3:14. We are by nature children of wrath and heirs of death. By the gospel (the gospel-covenant or promise) our state towards another world is altered and changed. We pass from death to life, from the guilt of death to the right of life; and this transition is made upon our believing in the Lord Jesus: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not hath the wrath of God abiding on him, Joh 3:36. Now this happy change of state we may come to be assured of: We know that we have passed from death to life; we may know it by the evidences of our faith in Christ, of which this love to our brethren is one, which leads us to characterize this love that is such a mark of our justified state. It is not a zeal for a party in the common religion, or an affection for, or an affectation of, those who are of the same denomination and subordinate sentiments with ourselves. But this love,
1.Supposes a general love to mankind: the law of Christian love, in the Christian community, is founded on the catholic law, in the society of mankind, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mankind are to be loved principally on these two accounts: - (1.) As the excellent work of God, made by him, and made in wonderful resemblance of him. The reason that God assigns for the certain punishment of a murderer is a reason against our hatred of any of the brethren of mankind, and consequently a reason for our love to them: for in the image of God made he man, Gen 9:6. (2.) As being, in some measure, beloved in Christ. The whole race of mankind - the gens humana, should be considered as being, in distinction from fallen angels, a redeemed nation; as having a divine Redeemer designed, prepared, and given for them. So God loved the world, even this world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life, Joh 3:16. A world so beloved of God should accordingly be loved by us. And this love will exert itself in earnest desires, and prayers, and attempts, for the conversion and salvation of the yet uncalled blinded world. My heart's desire and prayer for Israel are that they may be saved. And then this love will include all due love to enemies themselves.
2.It includes a peculiar love to the Christian society, to the catholic church, and that for the sake of her head, as being his body, as being redeemed, justified, and sanctified in and by him; and this love particularly acts and operates towards those of the catholic church that we have opportunity of being personally acquainted with or credibly informed of. They are not so much loved for their own sakes as for the sake of God and Christ, who have loved them. And it is God and Christ, or, if you will, the love of God and grace of Christ, that are beloved and valued in them and towards them. And so this is the issue of faith in Christ, and is thereupon a note of our passage from death to life.
II. The hatred of our brethren is, on the contrary, a sign of our deadly state, of our continuance under the legal sentence of death: He that loveth not his brother (his brother in Christ) abideth in death, Jo1 3:14. He yet stands under the curse and condemnation of the law. This the apostle argues by a clear syllogism: "You know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him; but he who hates his brother is a murderer; and therefore you cannot but know that he who hates his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him," Jo1 3:15. Or, he abideth in death, as it is expressed, Jo1 3:14, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; for hatred of the person is, so far as it prevails, a hatred of life and welfare, and naturally tends to desire the extinction of it. Cain hated, and then slew, his brother. Hatred will shut up the bowels of compassion from the poor brethren, and will thereby expose them to the sorrows of death. And it has appeared that hatred of the brethren has in all ages dressed them up in ill names, odious characters, and calumnies, and exposed them to persecution and the sword. No wonder, then, that he who has a considerable acquaintance with the heart of man, or is taught by him who fully knows it, who knows the natural tendency and issue of vile and violent passions, and knows withal the fulness of the divine law, declares him who hates his brother to be a murderer. Now he who by the frame and disposition of his heart is a murderer cannot have eternal life abiding in him; for he who is such must needs be carnally-minded, and to be carnally-minded is death, Rom 8:6. The apostle, by the expression of having eternal life abiding in us, may seem to mean the possession of an internal principle of endless life, according to that of the Saviour, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, shall never be totally destitute thereof; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life, Joh 4:14. And thereupon some may be apt to surmise that the passing from death to life (Jo1 3:14) does not signify the relative change made in our justification of life, but the real change made in the regeneration to life; and accordingly that the abiding in death mentioned Jo1 3:14 is continuance in spiritual death, as it is usually called, or abiding in the corrupt deadly temper of nature. But as these passages more naturally denote the state of the person, whether adjudged to life or death, so the relative transition from death to life may well be proved or disproved by the possession or non-possession of the inward principle of eternal life, since washing from the guilt of sin is inseparably united with washing from the filth and power of sin. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, Co1 6:11.
III. The example of God and Christ should inflame our hearts with this holy love: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, Jo1 3:16. The great God has given his Son to the death for us. But since this apostle has declared that the Word was God, and that he became flesh for us, I see not why we may not interpret this of God the Word. Here is the love of God himself, of him who in his own person is God, though not the Father, that he assumed a life, that he might lay it down for us! Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood! Surely we should love those whom God hath loved, and so loved; and we shall certainly do so if we have any love for God.
IV. The apostle, having proposed this flaming constraining example of love, and motive to it, proceeds to show us what should be the temper and effect of this our Christian love. And, 1. It must be, in the highest degree, so fervent as to make us willing to suffer even to death for the good of the church, for the safety and salvation of the dear brethren: And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (Jo1 3:16), either in our ministrations and services to them (yea, and if I be offered upon the service and sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all - I shall congratulate your felicity, Phi 2:17), or in exposing ourselves to hazards, when called thereto, for the safety and preservation of those that are more serviceable to the glory of God and the edification of the church than we can be. Who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles, Rom 16:4. How mortified should the Christian be to this life! How prepared to part with it! And how well assured of a better! 2. It must be, in the next degree, compassionate, liberal, and communicative to the necessities of the brethren: For whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Jo1 3:17. It pleases God that some of the Christian brethren should be poor, for the exercise of the charity and love of those that are rich. And it pleases the same God to give to some of the Christian brethren this world's good, that they may exercise their grace in communicating to the poor saints. And those who have this world's good must love a good God more, and their good brethren more, and be ready to distribute it for their sakes. It appears here that this love to the brethren is founded upon love to God, in that it is here called so by the apostle: How dwelleth the love of God in him? This love to the brethren is love to God in them; and where there is none of this love to them there is no true love to God at all. 3. I was going to intimate the third and lowest degree in the next verse; but the apostle has prevented me, by intimating that this last charitable communicative love, in persons of ability, is the lowest that can consist with the love of God. But there may be other fruits of this love; and therefore the apostle desires that in all it should be unfeigned and operative, as circumstances will allow: My little children (my dear children in Christ), let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, Jo1 3:18. Compliments and flatteries become not Christians; but the sincere expressions of sacred affection, and the services or labours of love, do. Then,
V. This love will evince our sincerity in religion, and give us hope towards God: And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him, Jo1 3:19. It is a great happiness to be assured of our integrity in religion. Those that are so assured may have holy boldness or confidence towards God; they may appeal to him from the censures and condemnation of the world. The way to arrive at the knowledge of our own truth and uprightness in Christianity, and to secure our inward peace, is to abound in love and in the works of love towards the Christian brethren.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 14–19. Public domain.
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Shepherd of HermasAD 160
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 6
These have been perverted from the truth: among them there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. Corruption, then, has a hope of a kind of renewal, but death has everlasting ruin.
Didymus the BlindAD 398
COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN
Whoever loves his brothers in God’s way has passed from death to life, but whoever does not have this love remains in death. In the same way the widow who enjoyed herself was dead, even if technically she was alive. For anyone who lives like that has obviously forgotten God.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Ten Homilies on 1 John 5
"If the world hate us: we know" What do we know? "that we have passed from death unto life" How do we know? "Because we love the brethren." Let none ask man: let each return to his own heart: if he find there brotherly love, let him set his mind at rest, because he is "passed from death unto life." Already he is on the right hand: let him not regard that at present his glory is hidden: when the Lord shall come, then shall he appear in glory. For he has life in him, but as yet in winter; the root is alive, but the branches, so to say, are dry: within is the substance that has the life in it, within are the leaves of trees, within are the fruits: but they wait for the summer. Well then, "we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death."
Andreas of CaesareaAD 614
CATENA
God says: “He who hears my words and does them will not see death but will be changed from death into life.”
BedeAD 735
Homilies on the Gospels 2.4
Let no one who is preparing death traps for the members of Christ, no one who is still abiding in death, presume to approach the holy mysteries of life, as if prepared to receive them.
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. Let no one falsely exalt himself over virtues, let no one measure the poverty of his own strength beyond measure: it gives open judgment, whoever is full of fraternal love, that he belongs to the lot of the elect, because he has earned a portion in the land of the living.
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
He who does not love remains in death. He speaks of the death of the soul. For the soul that sins, it shall die. For the life of the flesh is the soul, and the life of the soul is God. The death of the body is to lose the spirit, the death of the soul is to lose God. Hence it is certain that all who are born into this light are spiritually dead, carrying original sin from Adam, but by the grace of Christ, the faithful are regenerated so that they may live in the soul. Indeed the mystery of baptism and faith benefits only those who sincerely love their brothers, drawing them from death to life. And it must be noted that he does not say, "He who does not love will come into death," as if he were speaking of eternal punishment which awaits sinners in the future, but he says, "He who does not love remains in death." Surely in that very death from which he could rise even in this life, if he perfectly loved his brothers. Hence it is said in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection (Apoc. XX); over these the second death has no power."
OecumeniusAD 990
Commentary on 1 John
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 righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Therefore, having explained these things, he repeats after many points made in between, love for one's neighbor, as if he had treated all that was in between for its sake, since love is also the fullness of everything (Rom. 13:10), and he says:
"He who does not love his brother is not of God." But against this, this member is also placed: He is not of God, saying this: For if he who does righteousness is born of God, it follows that he who is therefore born loves his brothers; but he who does not do righteousness, because he does not do it by hating his brothers, is not of God, not in any other way except that he is not born of him. And how he is not of him is shown by saying: "for this is the message that you heard from the beginning." (see Lev. 19:24) What this announcement is, we have already said, both naturally received and through teaching; but also by the legal command to love one's neighbor, as the Lord's command says: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another." (Jn. 13:34) The natural command regarding those of the same kind and condition also urges one to do this. Therefore, since there are so many such commands in accordance with the Lord's declaration, whoever keeps and does His word has eternal life and has passed from death to life. (Jn. 5:24)
Therefore, let us love our brothers, taking nothing harmful to imitate: for example, if we are hated by the world, let us not also hate our brothers: but let the word of the Lord be more effective in us. For whoever hates his brother is not only cast out from eternal life, but is also a murderer. For it necessarily follows that if he is a murderer, he has no eternal life. Behold Cain, John says, for he too, having hated his brother, murdered him, although he was his brother. But because Cain had evil works, he was the son of the Devil: whereas Abel, by doing righteous works, was called the son of God: the Devil is opposed to God, and evil works to good ones: therefore, Cain, being contrary to his brother, murdered him. Thus, indeed, the course of the discourse was consequent, but blessed John changed the order, always serving what was more pressing. For it was pressing, because he had mentioned the Devil and those who had been adopted by him due to their wicked actions, so as to propose him as an example who, from the beginning of the world, escaped as the wicked son through evil works.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
First John 3:14 presents a profound declaration of assurance for believers, asserting that genuine love for fellow Christians serves as undeniable evidence of having undergone a fundamental spiritual transformation from the realm of spiritual death to the vibrant reality of spiritual life. Conversely, the absence of such love indicates that one remains in a state of separation from God, still ensnared by spiritual death. This verse underscores that while salvation is by grace through faith, the fruit of that salvation is visibly manifested in the Christ-like love extended to the community of faith.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The primary literary device employed in 1 John 3:14 is Contrast. John starkly juxtaposes "death" and "life," and the presence of "love" versus its absence. This creates a clear dichotomy, emphasizing the absolute nature of the spiritual states he describes. There is no middle ground; one is either "in death" or has "passed from death unto life." This contrast is further highlighted by the Parallelism between the two main statements: the positive affirmation (love leads to life) and the negative warning (no love means abiding in death). The phrase "passed from death unto life" functions as a powerful Metaphor for spiritual regeneration, likening a spiritual transformation to a physical journey from one domain to another. The verse also utilizes Assurance as a rhetorical strategy, offering a tangible means for believers to confirm their spiritual standing.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
1 John 3:14 is a foundational verse for understanding the practical outworking of Christian faith. It firmly establishes that genuine spiritual transformation is not merely an intellectual assent or an emotional experience, but a profound change that impacts one's relationships, particularly within the family of God. This love is not a human sentiment but a divine impartation, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, enabling believers to live out the new nature they have received in Christ. It serves as a vital diagnostic tool for spiritual health, reminding us that authentic faith is always active and expressed through selfless concern for others, especially those united with us in Christ. The theological implication is clear: if God's love truly indwells us, it will inevitably flow out towards our brothers and sisters.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
1 John 3:14 serves as a powerful mirror for self-examination, inviting believers to honestly assess the presence and quality of love in their lives, particularly towards fellow Christians. It challenges us to move beyond mere sentimentality to a practical, sacrificial, and active love that reflects the very heart of God. If we truly have passed from death to life, then the divine life within us will manifest as a genuine concern for the well-being, spiritual growth, and unity of the body of Christ. This love is not a burden but a joyful outflow of our new nature, a tangible sign to ourselves and to the world that we belong to God. When we struggle to love, it should prompt us to draw closer to the source of love, Jesus Christ, and allow His Spirit to cultivate this essential fruit in our lives.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does loving the brethren cause us to pass from death to life?
Answer: No, loving the brethren does not cause the spiritual transition from death to life. Salvation, the passing from death to life, is a sovereign act of God, received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone (as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9). 1 John 3:14 presents love for the brethren as the evidence or proof that this spiritual transformation has already occurred. It's a fruit of salvation, not the root. Just as a healthy tree produces good fruit, a genuinely saved person will demonstrate the love of God, which naturally extends to fellow believers.
What kind of "love" is John referring to in this verse?
Answer: John is referring to agape love (ἀγαπάω, agapáō), which is distinct from mere affection or human sentiment. Agape is a selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love that wills the good of the other, regardless of their worthiness or whether they reciprocate. It is the very nature of God Himself (as stated in 1 John 4:8), and it is empowered by the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. This love is not primarily an emotion but a commitment and an action, demonstrated through tangible acts of kindness, forgiveness, patience, and service towards fellow Christians.
What if I struggle to love other Christians? Does that mean I am not saved?
Answer: While 1 John 3:14 presents a stark contrast, struggling with love does not automatically mean one is unsaved. All believers are in a process of sanctification, growing in Christ-likeness. However, a complete and persistent absence of love, or an active hatred, is a serious indicator that one may not have truly "passed from death unto life." If you struggle, it's an invitation to examine your heart, confess any lack of love, and earnestly pray for God's Spirit to cultivate agape within you. The Christian life is a journey of growth, and God is faithful to complete the good work He has begun (as promised in Philippians 1:6).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
1 John 3:14 finds its ultimate fulfillment and meaning in Jesus Christ. He is the one through whom we "pass from death unto life," for His atoning sacrifice on the cross and His glorious resurrection conquered sin and death, offering true spiritual life to all who believe (as beautifully articulated in John 11:25-26). Furthermore, Jesus perfectly embodied the agape love that John commands; He loved His "brethren" (His disciples and all humanity) to the uttermost, laying down His life for them (as He Himself declared in John 15:13). His "new commandment" to love one another (John 13:34-35) is not a mere ethical instruction but an invitation to participate in the very love that flows from the Father through the Son by the Spirit. Thus, our love for the brethren is not simply a human effort, but a supernatural outflow of the divine life of Christ within us, a tangible manifestation that we are truly His disciples and have been brought into His eternal life.