Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
Observe here, 1. The nature of the sin condemned, it is a secret sin of the heart, not an open sin of the life; he that hateth his brother, that is, in his heart, is a murderer, though he doth not smite him either with his tongue, or with his hand.
Love to the brethren marks our passage from death to life, our evangelical justification. This love is not mere party zeal, but a general love to mankind founded on their being the excellent work of God, made in His image.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 John 3:14-19
Hereby perceive we the love of God,.... The phrase "of God" is not in the Oriental versions, nor in the Greek copies, but is in the Complutensian edition, and in the Vulgate Latin version, and is favoured by the Syriac version, which reads, "by this we know his love to us"; and so the Ethiopic version, "by this we know his love".