The Mark of the Christian

1 John 3:11-18
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, July 15, 2001
Copyright © 2001, P. G. Mathew

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:11-18

Millions throughout the world claim they are Christians. In this epistle, the apostle John objects to accepting a person’s claim to be a Christian without certain proofs in that person’s life. I am sure that John had in mind the words of Jesus: “By their fruits you shall know them.” Behavior proves the being of a person.

What is the preeminent mark of a Christian? Love. Love is the fulfillment of God’s will. All God’s laws are subsumed and contained in love. If you are a Christian, love will be the evidence that you are born of God.

In 1 John 3:10 we read, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” Doing righteousness is loving-loving God and loving one another.

We want to examine three points from this passage: first, our old being or old nature; second, the new being or new nature we have in Christ; and, third, the new way of behaving, which, of course, is love.

Our Old Family

The Scriptures tell us there are only two families among all the people on the earth-the family of God and the family of the devil. All people are born into the family of the devil. If we are born again, our family becomes the family of God.

In Genesis 3:15 we read about the two families-the family of the woman, which is the family of God, and the family of the serpent, or the family of Satan-and are told that God has put enmity between these two families. There is a longstanding family feud between the children of God and the children of the devil.

In 1 John 3 we are told of Cain, who is representative of the family of the devil. He had the nature of the evil one, we are told in verse 12: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one.” Cain’s being was like that of his father the devil. All children of Adam belong to the family of the devil when they are born. Their nature, their being, is of the devil. That is why the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). That is why we are told that every inclination, every imagination, of the thought of man’s heart is only evil all the time (Gen. 6:5). That is why we read that the heart of man is deceitful and wicked (Jer. 17:9) and that out of man’s heart proceeds every evil thought and murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (Matt. 15:19). That is why Paul said that man by nature is dead in his sins and belongs to the kingdom of Satan, whom he obeys fully (Eph. 2:1-3).

The Hatred of the World

Because people’s nature is of the devil, they behave like the devil. We are told in 1 John 3:12, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.” Being determines behavior. Because the natural being of a person is the being of the devil, and the devil is evil, an unbeliever can only do evil all the time.

That evil people will do evil works is a very simple conclusion. Thus, we are told that Cain murdered his brother. John uses a term which means “to butcher.” In other words, Cain used violence to kill Abel, butchering his own brother because of his hatred for him. Why did Cain hate his brother? Because Abel’s deeds were righteous, while Cain’s were evil.

In 1 John 5:19 we read that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one,” and so the world continually hates believers. In 1 John 3:13 we read, “Do not be surprised” or “Stop being surprised if the world hates you.” Actually, that phrase means, “because the world hates you,” or “since the world hates you.” There is no question in the Greek about the hatred of the world toward the children of God. The world, which lies under the control of the evil one, stands for evil people, who can only do evil things. Opposing righteousness, they hate and murder those who are righteous.

We see this truth illustrated in the life of Jesus Christ in John 13 where we read that the devil entered into Judas and prompted him to betray Jesus. In fact, throughout history true Christians have been persecuted by the people of the world. Why does the world persecute Christians? Because, as children of the devil whose being is evil, they hate those who are children of God who do righteousness.

Jesus himself spoke of this situation in John 15:18-19: He begins by saying, “If the world hates you,” and the use of the verb in the presence tense tells us it is an ongoing hatred. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

You see, once we belonged to the world-that was our old being-and we behaved in a thoroughly ungodly way. But since God took us out of the world and gave us a new nature, the world hates us as it hated Jesus Christ.

Thus, the people of the world will continually do what Cain, the representative head of the evil family, the children of the devil, did. That is their distinguishing nature, and we see such hatred even among the people of one household. Jesus spoke about such hatred in Matthew 10:34, saying, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to turn a ‘man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'” Within the same household, if someone is taken out of the world and becomes a Christian by a change of being, many times the people in that household will persecute the believer.

Characteristics of the Old Nature

What are the characteristics of our old nature? There are a number of scriptures that describe it. In 1 Peter 4:3 we read, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” In Titus 3:3-5 we read, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” There we have an understanding of our old being. The unbeliever cannot please God, nor can he submit to God’s law.

Additionally, the unbeliever with this evil nature lives in the realm of eternal death. In 1 John 3:14 we are told, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” There are only two spheres: one is the sphere of death, that is, eternal death; the other is the sphere of life, or eternal life. There is darkness and there is light; there is kingdom of the devil and there is the kingdom of God. There is no third sphere. We are either in one or the other. That is why we must examine ourselves to see in what sphere we are living.

The truth is that all unbelievers live in the sphere of death. Thus, all unbelievers are of the evil one and their beings are evil. Because they are evil, they practice evil. Unbelievers will, by nature, hate righteousness and persecute the children of God. Additionally, they will dwell in the sphere of death always. It is utterly impossible for an unbeliever, or an evil person, to move from the realm of death into the realm of life without divine intervention.

The New Nature

The second point we want to examine is the new nature we have in Christ. How can children of the devil, those with the old nature of the evil one, become children of God and receive the new nature of a child of God? How can a bad tree that only produces bad fruit be made into a good tree that produces good fruit?

Satan cannot make such a change, nor does he want to. Unbelievers are his hostages, kept under his rule and control. Nor can a sinful man get himself out of the sphere of death and change his being so that he becomes a child of God. Only God can change a child of the devil into a child of God and give him a new being. God does so by performing the miracle of effectual calling and causing the person to be born again from above by the Holy Spirit.

I want to illustrate this idea of effectual call. In Luke 7:11-17 we read about a widow from the town of Nain, whose only son died. As they were taking him out to be buried, Jesus and his disciples met the funeral procession. In Luke 7:14 we read, “Then [Jesus] went up and touched the coffin and those carrying it stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

We see God’s effectual call also illustrated in the story of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus. Lazarus died and was buried. On the fourth day, Jesus Christ came to the tomb and in John 11:43 we read, “When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!'” At this point, Lazarus was truly dwelling in the sphere of death. He had been in the tomb for four days and was already decomposing. It was utterly impossible for him to come out on his own strength. But God performed a miracle: The Lord Jesus Christ came to the tomb and called Lazarus. In verse 44 we read, “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'” This is an example of the effectual call of God. When our lives are changed, that change should be very evident. We will demonstrate the mark of the new being by doing good works.

We find another example of effectual calling in Acts 9. A young girl named Tabitha died, and after her body was washed, it was placed in an upper room where people came to see her. The apostle Peter was asked to come, and in Acts 9:40 we read, “Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.'” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.” This is the effectual calling. When God calls you, you rise from the dead.

However, new birth is a greater miracle than raising the decomposing Lazarus from the dead. It is a greater miracle because it entails the changing of the being of a person, the changing of his intrinsic nature. In place of the old nature, he is now given a new nature and is accepted into the family of God.

Thus, it is through the effectual call of God and supernatural birth that children of the evil one are changed in their being and, therefore, in their behavior. They cease being children of the devil and become children of God.

Crossing from Death to Life

Let us then examine the statement in 1 John 3:1-2: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” Those who are effectually called are born of God. They rise from the dead, repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They leave the sphere of death, migrate from their former home, and they enter the sphere of eternal life. They enter the kingdom of God to be there forever.

In 1 John 3:14 we are told, “We know we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.” This “we know” is an interesting statement. In the Greek it is oidamen, which means it is axiomatic, beyond a shadow of doubt. So John is saying, “We know something that is beyond a shadow of doubt. We are assured of it. It is indisputable, unquestionable. What is it we know in this way? That we have passed from death into life.” Do you see the change of sphere, change of kingdom, and change of being from the realm of sin and death to the kingdom of God and eternal life? What is the evidence that we have made this transition? “Because we love our brothers.”

Jesus Christ makes a similar statement in John 5:24. He begins, “I tell you the truth. . . .” In the Greek it is, “Amên, amên,” or “Listen, I am telling you a very important truth. What is the truth Jesus is speaking about? “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” Here we find the word, metabainô,”crossed over.”

That is the idea in 1 John 3:14. “We know that we have passed from death to life.” John includes himself in this assertion. In the Greek the word for “passed from” or “crossed over,” metabebêkamen, is in the perfect tense. This means the action took place in the past, but the effect continues on to the present. In other words, this was a one-way transfer. If God has transferred you from death to life, it is utterly impossible to move out from the sphere of life back into death. This is why the Bible speaks about the eternal security of a believer. A regenerate person can never go back to being unregenerate.

In Luke 16 we find an interesting expression concerning this crossing over. Remember the rich man and Lazarus? They both died but after they died, they found themselves in quite different spheres-the rich man was in the sphere of death, while the poor man was in the sphere of life. In Luke 16:26 we find Abraham saying, “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed. . . .” In the Greek it is chasma mega estêpiktai. Abraham continues, “. . . so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” It is an utter impossibility! In other words, God has made us members of his household. That is why Paul could declare, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

We crossed out of death and entered into life. How did that happen since we could not do it by ourselves? Someone from the sphere of life came into our death, took us out of the sphere of death, and placed us in the sphere of life.

Paul speaks about this change in Romans 6:1-3. He begins, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” In other words, there has been a change of sphere. Paul continues, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

How did we cross from death to life? We put our trust in Jesus Christ, who entered into death for us and emerged into life. Faith in Jesus Christ will bring us from the sphere of death to the sphere of life.

You may ask, “How can I believe in Jesus Christ?” God must give you a new being, a new nature. If you are born again, faith will be a result of your new birth. PGM Those who are born of God will repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the new and living way out of hell, out of death, and into the sphere of life. If you believe in him, you will make this one-way transfer and never go back. Now the question you must ask is, have you crossed from death to life in this way?

The Mark of a Christian: Love

Third, what is the mark of a Christian? What distinguishes the behavior of this new person who has been effectually called, who is born of God, and who has moved from death to life?

A Christian is one whose being has been changed by a miracle of God. He has been given divine nature. He is like God; thus, his behavior will emulate that of his heavenly Father.

We are told in 1 John 1:5 that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” Because God is light, his children will be righteous and practice righteousness. Thus, we can draw the conclusion that if a person doesn’t practice righteousness, he or she is not a child of God. It is that simple. And in 1 John 4:8 we are told that God is love. Because God is love, his children will practice love. Love is the distinguishing mark of the children of God.

The Essence of Love

In 1 John 3:16 we are told what the essence of love is. This verse is also called the second John 3:16. There is a first John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world that he gave one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If we love the first John 3:16, we should love the second John 3:16. It begins, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” There is no way we could have known what love is without God’s revealing it to us in Jesus Christ. In other words, this world can give us no knowledge of what true love is. It had to be revealed to this world through the intervention of Jesus Christ into history.

What is love? Contrary to modern ideas, it is not sentimentality or emotional explosion. In the Greek we read, “By this we have come to know,” tên agapên, “the love.” The word egnôkamen, “we have come to know,” means we acquired this knowledge of what love is through intellectual exercise into what happened in human history. If we are mentally lazy and don’t want to study the Bible, we shall never know the essence of love. Egnôkamen tells us that this knowledge of love came to John and the members of his church through research, particularly through their understanding of the most important event in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The clearest demonstration of love in the history of the world occurred on Calvary’s hill.

That is what love is all about. Nothing else can describe it. We can read all the romance novels in the world, but we will never get the true meaning of love from them. To know what love is, we must read and study about it in the Holy Scriptures and understand what happened on Calvary. Paul said he did not want to know anything other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is what the essence of love is: Christ died on the cross for the weak, ungodly, sinful enemies of God. He gave himself for our sakes. So John writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”

What is the nature of God’s love as demonstrated by Christ’s death on the cross? It was sacrificial. God sacrificed himself on the cross. It was costly. God didn’t redeem us by gold and silver-perishable things-but by the precious blood of Christ. It was unconditional and effectual. As a result of his death on the cross, Jesus can say of his people, “I give them eternal life.” It was voluntary and intentional-God planned our salvation from before the foundation of the world. Finally, it was substitutionary. Christ died in our place for our sins.

The cross alone demonstrates what true love is. Nothing else in the history of the universe can explain the essence of love. If we want to know what love is, we must go to the cross and stay there. As we study, think, and meditate on what happened there, then we will understand love, and he who does not know what happened in history on Calvary’s hill has no idea of what love is. That is why unbelievers are ignorant of true love. To know love, we must know the gospel of the cross, for it is the essence of love.

The Evidence of Love

What is the evidence of love? How can we prove that we have the love of God? In John 13:34 Jesus told his disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The same idea is also found in John 15:12.

In 1 John 3:16 we are told to do something beyond loving our brothers. John writes, “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” The word for “ought” is opheilomen, which means this is moral obligation, this is a debt we owe to our brothers. Love is the fulfillment of God’s law, and this is shown by laying down our lives for our brothers.

In Galatians 5:6 Paul writes, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” How do we express our faith? Through sacrificial love. All the commandments are fulfilled in loving God and loving one another. In other words, it is utterly impossible to be a Christian and hate your brother. In fact, if you find yourself hating your brother, you must question whether you are a Christian or not. That is why not to forgive someone is a serious issue. If you cannot do it, it means you are not a Christian. These are serious matters.

If you say, “I love this church; it is the people I can’t stand,” you have a serious problem. We are told in 1 John 2:15 that we are not to love worldliness: “Do not love the world nor anything in the world.” But we are specifically now told that we must actively love the people of God. So, for example, if you are a Christian husband, but you cannot love your wife, who is also your sister in the Lord, as Christ loved the church, you are not a Christian.

John also tells us specifically how to show our love. In 1 John 17-18 we read,

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

John tells us that if you have bios, which is the world’s goods, the means to help someone-money, in other words-and you see your brother in need, yet do nothing, how can the love of God be in you? This is why people should show up in the church, not only to worship, but to fellowship afterwards. Don’t run away after the service. Talk to your brother or sister and find out how that person is doing, and offer to help that person, if necessary, with whatever you can provide. This is a very important aspect of being in a church and why we cannot approve of a church where people come and go away without any interconnectedness.

So the apostle is saying, in essence, “If anyone has means and if he sees a brother having a need,” and in the Greek it means he has had this need for some time, “if you slam the door of your heart in his face, how can the love of God dwell in him?” It is against biblical law not to help the brethren.

We find several illustrations of people in the early church taking care of the needs of those who were poor. In Acts 2:42-47 we read,

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

In Acts 4:32-37 we read,

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

James speaks about this in James 2:14-17, saying, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” meaning your claim that you are a Christian. Later on James tells us, “Faith without works is dead.” In other words, our works of love will prove the authenticity of our faith.

Matthew 25:34-40 speaks about the practice of love in the family of God:

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

If you do not practice love specifically and concretely, then you are not a child of God. In Hebrews 13:1 we read, “Keep on loving each other as brothers.” Then the writer gives us a specific way of loving: “Do not forget to entertain strangers,” meaning brothers who are strangers to you, coming to you from a far place, “for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Then the writer gives another example: “Remember those in prison,” meaning people of God who had been arrested and taken into prison for their faith in Jesus Christ, “as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

In other words, here we are told what love is in terms of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, and then we are told it is our obligation to show such love to others. This is the mark of a person whose being has been changed by the miracle of new birth. This is the mark of a person who has been transferred from the sphere of death into the sphere of life. This is the mark of a kingdom person. He loves specifically and concretely with his money, his time, and his talent. Some of you went to a hospital the other night because one of our people was in need. You ended up staying until early morning, until you knew the person’s needs were taken care of. That is what love means. Or suppose you see somebody in the church doing something crazy or harmful to himself or others. You must rebuke, correct, counsel, and instruct that person. It is all part of love. Such love will prove that you have crossed from death to life and are now children of God. Such love will demonstrate that you have a different being, divine nature.

Love Means Life

The mark of an unbeliever, a child of the devil, is that he or she is self-centered. But the mark of a child of God is that he or she is self-sacrificing. The only people who know what love is are the children of God, those who believe in Jesus Christ, because they alone know what the cross is all about. Knowing what love truly is, such people alone can truly love. This is the gospel.

If there is no love, there is no life. If a person does not have love, that person is dwelling in death and has never crossed from death to life. Such a person, instead of coming to the cross of Jesus Christ, rejects it.

Luke 16 spoke about a fixed chasm that no one can cross. You see, it is not yet fixed while you are living. But the moment you die, there will be a fixed chasm which no sinner can cross. If you haven’t crossed over to life by then, you will be locked in death forever.

The singular purpose of this life is that we may hear the gospel and move from death to life. There is no other purpose, no matter what we think. If you have not moved from death to life, you are missing out on the only true purpose of human existence. But there is still hope, as long as you are alive. You may cross today because you are not dead yet.

How can a person cross from death to life? Through Jesus Christ and the cross. Jesus said, “He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

If you are not a Christian, I pray that you will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. The Bible tells us, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Do not pretend that you are a Christian but examine yourself on the basis of this criterion: Do I do righteousness? Specifically, do I love God and the people of God, particularly and concretely? What is my passion? Am I self-centered or self-sacrificing? Am I trying to get something or am I eager to give myself sacrificially? Do I manifest the mark of a Christian? Don’t be superficial but serious in your examination.

As you think about these things, Satan will come to you and try to distract you or make you fall asleep because he wants to keep you in the sphere of death. But know that Christ bound the strong man, destroying the work of the devil, and he has been continually bringing out his people into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He alone is able to save us; there is none other.

If you truly are a child of God, then I say to you: Practice love. Abound in good works. Show your faith by your deeds, and glory in the truth that God has given you eternal life and you will never go back again into the sphere of death.

May God have mercy upon us and save those who truly repent and believe in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May God guide us to abound in good works that we may glorify his name now and in eternity. Amen.