"Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." (vv 12-13).

John, strangely, does not use the word 'hate" in describing the attitude of Cain towards his brother. He leaves it to be inferred. in the light of all that he has just been saying, that Cain failed to love his brother. He could have quoted no more terrible example of the consequences that can follow such a failure. The sin of Cain has stirred the consciences of all generations of men throughout all history. He has become the standard archetype of the fratricide, and the expression "the mark of Cain" has passed into the realm of proverbs and popular allusions. There is probably no other character of history, except Judas Iscariot, who has commanded so much popular detestation as has Cain.

We know nothing of Cain's earlier life with Abel, but it is evident that he had not loved him as a brother should. Some have deduced from John's expression here, "who was of that wicked one", that Cain was in fact the offspring not Adam and Eve, but of Satan and Eve, and doomed from the outset. The plain statement of Gen.4.1, ought to be sufficient to expose the fallacy of such reasoning. Cain was "of the wicked one" in exactly the same sense as those Pharisees to whom our Lord said "You are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father you will do". (Jn.5.44). He was "of that wicked one" because he had allowed sin to take root in his heart and exercise control over his actions, and in the end it led him to slay his brother.

Cain did not love his brother; that much is evident. That failure led to hatred, and hatred to murder. It is unlikely that Cain seriously intended things to go so far. There is no hint of animosity when they made their individual offerings, side by side, to God. When Cain's offering was rejected it was to God he first addressed his complaint and it was only after being told that acceptance followed righteousness, and rejection unrighteousness, that the implied contrast between his brother's goodness and his own evil evoked the feelings that led eventually to the crime.

That is the position to which John is leading us here. The world hates the Christian because of its realisation of the contrast. The darkness hates the light because its own deeds are evil. Abel suffered, innocently, because of his own rightness of heart. The very sight of him standing there, or going about his work, was a reproof to Cain and to the evil that he cherished; and Cain thought to remove the reproof by obliterating the sight of his brother, by killing him. So does the unregenerate man try to do away with all that savours of God and His holiness, and is no more successful than was Cain.          So the message comes to us, that we should love one another in sincerity and truth, realising that this is the evidence we have that we have indeed passed from death to life. The world will hate us, but we are bidden not to be surprised at that. Greater cause for surprise would we have if it were found that the world did not hate us. "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you" said Jesus. He did not mean that we should always be expecting and seeking the scorn or active dislike or downright persecution of the world. Some have taken it that way and gone out of their way to make themselves obnoxious to their fellows, hailing the consequent ‑ natural ‑ resentment as persecution incurred for Christ's sake. He did not mean anything like that. What he did mean was that we should expect to find the darkness in the world hating the light that is in us. That of itself will bring all that the Lord intends us to have of disesteem or reproach or persecution. Apart from that, we should expect to find ordinarily decent men and women in the world appreciating and even applauding that which is good and Christlike in our daily lives and our disposition and outlook. The world has fallen to a low level in many ways, but it is not so hopelessly degraded that there are not some who can appreciate and approve the things of Christ that we hold out before them.

"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3.14 - 15. RSV)

In chapter 2 the one who loves his brother is abiding in the light; in this chapter he is passed into life. In chapter 2 the one who hates his brother is walking in darkness and knows not whither he goes; in this chapter he is abiding in death. Once more the analogy between light and life, and between darkness and death, which forms so prominent a theme in John's epistle, is impressed upon our minds. Abiding in the light, we pass into life, through love. Walking in darkness, we eventually abide in death, because of hate. These are simple and easily - remembered equations and they are important ones too.

"By this we know love, that he haid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." (v.16.) John is not thinking so much about the Majesty on high as he is about the Love that reached down to earth. And so sure is he that his readers are following with him in thought and entering into his thoughts that when he comes to refer to his Lord and their Lord, Jesus the Redeemer, he uses the personal pronoun instead of the proper name. " Hereby perceive we the love, because he laid down his life for us ". He has been talking so much about love, love of the brethren, love for the brethren, love of the saints for the world, love of a man for his brother, but now he rises to the height of the greatest love that ever has been. Hereby perceive we the love, the love that is manifest above all others. " Greater love hath no man than this " said Jesus " that a man lay down his life for his friends." That man was Jesus; and because every one of John's disciples and brethren and readers knew Jesus to be that one, John had no need so much as to utter His name. "Because he laid down his life for us." There was only one who did that, only one who could do that, and although the love of God the Father in heaven was just as much involved in this as was the love of Christ the Son on earth, John refers to it just as " the love " because of all manifestations of love that the earth has ever known none can reach up to the level of this.

This laying down of his life for us was not only His death on the Cross but also His daily dying on man's behalf throughout the three and a half years of His ministry. "He poured out his soul unto death " cried Isaiah. " 1 have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished " said Jesus. It is in that way that we, in our turn, can lay down our lives for the brethren. There is value in that "laying down of life". Every sacrifice, every service, every loss, every suffering, incurred in the laying down of our lives on behalf of others, whether of the "brethren" or of the "world" lays up in store something which is of value in bringing men and women closer to Christ and nearer to reconciliation with God.

(To be continued.}

AOH