Limitless Word
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
1 John 3:15 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
  • BSB Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
  • ESV Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
  • NKJV Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
  • NASB Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
  • NLT Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Hating a fellow believer makes one a murderer at heart, and no murderer has eternal life. Hatred reveals a heart without true life.

Overview

Building on Jesus' teaching, John equates hatred with murder in the heart, recalling Cain. Such hatred is incompatible with possessing eternal life. The verse exposes the deadly seriousness of harboring hatred and underscores that genuine eternal life manifests in love, not enmity, toward others.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Matt 5:21–22“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
  • Rev 21:8But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
  • Prov 26:24–26A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.
  • John 8:44You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.
  • Lev 19:16–18“‘You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people. “‘You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh.
  • Acts 23:14They came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse, to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.
  • Jas 4:1–2Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
  • Matt 5:28but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
  • John 4:14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
  • Mark 6:19Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t,
  • Jas 1:15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
  • Gal 5:20–21idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
  • Acts 23:12When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
  • 2 Sam 13:22–28Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
  • Gen 27:41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • 1 Pet 1:23having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 John 3:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'

How 1 John 3:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.