Limitless Word
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
1 John 3:15 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
  • KJV Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath 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 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 5:21–22You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
  • Rev 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
  • Prov 26:24–26A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
  • John 8:44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
  • Lev 19:16–18You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.
  • Acts 23:14They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.
  • Jas 4:1–2What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
  • Matt 5:28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
  • John 4:14But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
  • Mark 6:19So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable,
  • Jas 1:15Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
  • Gal 5:20–21idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
  • Acts 23:12When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
  • 2 Sam 13:22–28And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for disgracing his sister Tamar.
  • Gen 27:41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • 1 Pet 1:23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

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.