Day 536: The mark of a Christian - 1 John 3 vs 11 - 18
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers 17-18 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:11-18 (English Standard Bible)
In this letter of John he’s already referred 5 times to someone who was 'from the beginning' and whom they’d heard about 'from the beginning'. He was eager that they should keep their focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and the original message they had received about Christ. Already in John’s day some people were distorting the gospel. From today's verses what would you say is the mark of a genuine Christian?
A mark is something used for identification, or show ownership. It sets a thing or a person apart from other things or people. At least six times in these verses John speaks of a love that shows how Christians are a people who have moved out of the hatred that is so dominant in the world, into a lifestyle where love is an ongoing action of putting the needs of others before their own. We see that so clearly in vs 16, and vs 17-18.
John holds up the Old Testament man named Cain as a direct opposite of what a Christian is meant to be. And while people may immediately respond by saying 'we would never murder anyone!', what does John say murder is just a supreme expression of. (vs 15)
Just as Biblical love leads to self-sacrifice, i.e. putting others first - so hatred is an attitude that puts others last and is willing to see them harmed. It's interesting to recall that when God sentenced Cain to be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth for murdering his brother, Cain was afraid that whoever found him would kill him in return. But the Lord replied: 'Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.” (Genesis 4:15) We're not told what that mark was, but certainly the common mark of unrighteous people is that of hate. We see that in vs 12, and the implication of it for Christians in vs 13. John says that Christians mustn’t be taken by surprise if people who despise God's righteousness hate them.
If the ultimate expression of hatred is to take someone's life, then, as John points out in vs 16, the ultimate expression of love is to lay down one's life for another. He says that's the reason why we know the love of Jesus is so amazing and genuine. He laid down His life to be the substitute for the payment our sins deserved. Does this mean we can only express this sort of love if we become a martyr? (vs 17-18)
While there have indeed been many martyrs throughout Church history, by God's grace that is not something every Christian has had to endure. But John does call believers to the same readiness martyrs had to lay down their lives for Christ, in laying down our lives through works of compassion towards fellow believers. The mark of a Christian is not just mouthing words about love – that's so easy to do - but it's looking out for the needs of others, and doing what we can to come to their aid. May we ask God often to open our hearts so we can love our brothers and sisters in Christ in the way our Saviour loves them, and has loved us too!