1 John 3:9-13 (NET)
“Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin,…by this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed…you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous. Therefore do not be surprised brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.”
Context helps us interpret the meaning of different scriptures. When we look at 1 John 3:13 in context, we read the Apostle John’s reasoning about the world’s hatred toward Christians.
The world will hate true Christians because fallen human beings tend to only like those who are just like themselves. People don’t like to feel judged and learn they are behaving sinfully. (See John 16:8.)
A real Christian will not practice sin (not that they don’t fall and make mistakes, but they are not living in a sinful or worldly manner). Their lives should not be like everyone else’s. A true Christian would not be one who has 4-letter words coming out of his mouth, who gets drunk at parties, has sex outside of marriage, lies, steals and so forth.
Such practices are not of God, but of the world and of the Father of the World—Satan. Those of the world who are engrossed in these practices do not feel comfortable around people who do not share their activities. For example, Cain knew he was doing wrong—God told him. (Genesis 4:5-7.) Abel didn’t try to provoke Cain, but Abel’s obedient behavior angered Cain to the point of committing murder.
A contemporary issue is that of the ISIS people. They hate everyone who is not just like them. They even hate their own people, who are not as enthusiastic in their evil ways as they are, and will murder them just as fast as they would a Christian, Jew or anyone else. They are a perfect example of those are sons of the devil and who certainly do not love anyone, never mind their brother. So, when you look at them as an extreme example, you can see the lesser forms of it among others.
The Atheist hates the Christian because they hate God. If you notice, an Atheist doesn’t just not believe in God, they think it their duty to make sure everyone knows it and everyone should bend their lives around their godless agenda. Other religions hate the Christian because True Christians talk about God, talk about Jesus and share God’s plan for all of mankind. Christians are in jail all around the world because of sharing God’s plan—not just in Muslim countries, but in Communist China and North Korea (where they claim there is no God, yet they fear the Christian message so much they persecute and jail the Christian.)
John tells us they are of their father the Devil, and we know the Devil hated Jesus. Consequently, the Devil’s hatred of Jesus and of his followers bleeds over into the unregenerate world, and those deceived ones are still under his control.
