The measure of our love for the brethren is not found in sentiment or outward acts alone, but in our recognition of fellow believers as sons of God—those justified by faith, not by works. This is not a secondary matter. It is the very heart of the apostolic witness and the dividing line between the Gospel and its denial.
The Way of Cain: Hatred Rooted in Works Righteousness
Scripture draws a sharp contrast between the love of the brethren and the hatred of Cain (1 John 3:12). Why did Cain hate Abel? Because Cain refused to acknowledge God’s way of justifying sinners. He clung to his own works righteousness, bringing the fruit of his labor rather than the blood sacrifice God required. When God accepted Abel’s offering—an offering that pointed to justification by faith—Cain’s response was not repentance, but murderous hatred.
This is not a mere personality flaw; it is the inevitable fruit of rejecting God’s way of salvation. When a person insists on works righteousness, he cannot recognize or rejoice in God’s acceptance of another by faith. The result is division, resentment, and spiritual death. This is the “way of Cain”—the root of all religious hatred and the spirit of antichrist.
Recognizing the Brethren: The Testimony of Faith
True love for the brethren is demonstrated by recognizing those who confess Christ as the children of God. We do not look to their performance, their background, or their ability to keep rules. We look to their testimony: do they confess that Jesus is the Christ, and do they rest in God’s way of salvation by grace through faith? If so, we must acknowledge them as fellow heirs, justified and accepted by God.
This is not optional. John writes, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14). This love is not a work we muster up—it is the necessary result of believing the Gospel. If I know that I am justified by faith apart from works, I cannot deny that same standing to another who shares that faith. To do so is to deny the very Gospel by which I claim to stand.
The Antichrist Spirit: Division and Danger
The refusal to recognize the brethren is not a minor error. It is the mark of the antichrist spirit, which rejects apostolic authority and refuses to acknowledge the children of God (1 John 2:18-19; 4:5-6). This spirit manifested in men like Diotrophes, who cast out those associated with the apostles and withheld compassion from the saints. In times of persecution, such division was not merely unkind—it was deadly, leaving believers vulnerable and isolated.
To shut one’s heart to the brethren is to align with the world, which does not know the Father and therefore cannot recognize His children. It is to participate in the same hatred that animated Cain. The church loses its unity, its testimony, and its very foundation when this error is allowed to stand.
What Is Lost If We Accept the Error?
If we accept the logic of works righteousness—if we judge our brethren by anything other than faith in Christ—we lose the very basis of our sonship and inheritance. We undermine justification itself. The church becomes a community of suspicion and division, not of grace and brotherly love. We forfeit the assurance that comes from God’s finished work and replace it with endless striving and comparison. The Gospel is emptied of its power, and the love of God is made void among us.
Affirming God’s Way: The Only Ground for Love
To love the brethren is to affirm God’s verdict: that those who believe are justified, accepted, and made His children. This is the only ground for unity, the only basis for compassion, and the only evidence that we ourselves have passed from death to life. Anything less is a denial of the Gospel and a participation in the spirit of antichrist.
Let us be clear: the world will not recognize the children of God, nor will those who cling to works righteousness. But we, who have received grace, are commanded and empowered to recognize and love all whom God has justified by faith. This is not negotiable. It is the mark of the true church and the evidence of genuine faith.
“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.” (Romans 12:10)
To walk in this love is to walk in the light, to stand in the finished work of Christ, and to uphold the very foundation of our inheritance as sons of God. Anything less is to fall back into darkness and division, the way of Cain, and the spirit of the world.
Keywords: love, faith, 1 John, Cain, justification, works righteousness, acceptance, antichrists, world, children of God.
