International Sunday School Lesson Commentary on 1 John 3:11-23 Wk 0f 04-12-15

V.11: God gave us the Law and Christ. The law was not taken away but fulfil in Christ’s statement in John 13:34 ‘’A new commandment I give to unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love have love one to another’’ V.12: The love of family forms the smaller circles; members with the same  mother God warned Cain in Genesis 4:7 that ‘’sin was at the door’’ of his circle. Cain killed ‘’his b-r-o-t-h-e-r’’, Abel. The writer used the word ‘’b-r-o-t-h-e-r’’ in Vs.12, 14,15 & 16 and he used the word ‘’b-r-e-t-h-r-e-n’’ in Vs.13,14 & 16. 

V.13: Marvel not my brethren. The word ‘’Brethren’’ meaning is found in Galatians 6:10 in the words of those who ‘’are of the household of faith’’ all who share a belief in Christ the Savior. We who are of the household of faith must love each other because the world hates us as it did Chist. Satan has organized the world which he is prince (John 12:31) upon his cosmic principles of force,greed,selfishness, ambition, and pleasure. Those are the things he offered in Matthew 4:9 in his temptation of Christ. I think the saddest words in the book are in V.15 If you hate or hurt the members of your family circle, you are a murderer and a destroyer and eternal life does not abide in you. The statement in V.14 is anchored in V.16, how can you know you love the brethren when you are not willing ‘’to lay down our lives for the member of the household of faith.