It is natural that the world (see notes on 1 John 2:15; 1 John 3:1) should hate those whose lives contradict its maxims and condemn its practices. St. John frequently addresses his readers as τεκνία and ἀγαπητοί, here only as ἀδελφοί. The term suits the context, where he enforces love of the brethren. It is no wonder if the world hate us, and its judgment is not decisive. Nevertheless our business is not to be hated by the world, but to commend Jesus to it and win it. We must not impute to the world's hostility to goodness the consequences of our own unamiability or tactlessness. “It is not martyrdom to pay bills that one has run into one's self” (Geo. Eliot).

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Old Testament