The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle of S. John
Ver. 12. — Not as Cain. For he loved himself only, and hated his brother because he saw that his offering was acceptable to God. As God says to Cain (according to LXX), “ Hast thou not sinned, if thou offerest rightly, but dividest not rightly? ” “ For Cain did this,” says S. Augustine (de Civ . xv. 7). “ Giving to God something which was His, but gratifying himself. Which,” says he, “ all who do not follow the will of God, but their own will, and in their perversity of heart make Him an offering with which they think He can be bought off, and this too even to gratify their depraved desires.” And accordingly Eusebius (de Prcep . xi. 4) says that he was appositely called Cain from the Hebrew word kana to envy. See S. Gregory, Mor. x. 6 ; S. Chrysostom, in Matt xviii., where he speaks of nine degrees of love; and S. Augustine (de Doct . Christ , i. 22), who says, “The rule of love is laid down by God. And in saying ‘ the whole heart,’ &c., He left no portion of our life unemployed, and left no room for the enjoyment of ought beside. So that whatever else comes into our minds as an object of love, it should be swept away into the full current of our complete love for Him. He then who loves his neighbours aright, should at the same time love God with all his heart and mind. And thus loving his neighbour as himself, he should refer all his love of himself and his neighbour to that love of God, who suffers not a single drop to be withdrawn from Him, so as to diminish our love for Him.”
Who was of that wicked one . Cain was not of God, but of the devil, by imitating him, and listening to his suggestions. For when the devil could not injure God Himself, he sought to injure man who was His image ; the malignity of Cain, and of the devil also, consists in hatred and envy. Such too is the life of tyrants, who like fishes prey upon those who are weaker than themselves. A fish was a type of envy. (See S. Clement, Strom, lib. v.)
And wherefore slew he him ? Because his own works were evil. Because he took little account of God, and offered Him the poorer victims, reserving the better ones for himself, and, moreover, envied Abel, who by the more excellent offerings he made was the more acceptable to God. From this envy sprang hatred and ultimately murder. S. Cyprian dwells on this at great length in his treatise “de zelo et livore .”
But his brother’s righteous. Innocent, righteous, and holy. For he esteemed God above himself, and therefore presented the best offerings he could. There were three special grounds for praising him, his virgin life, his priesthood, and his martyrdom. (As the writer of the Quæstiones ad Orosum says); and S. Cyprian (de Bona Patient .) calls him the Protomartyr. So also Rupert in Isa. lix.; S. Jerome iv. 42 ; S. Augustine (contr . Faust., xii. 9 and 10), and others. S. Augustine commences his “City of God” from Abel, and the city of the devil from Cain. See Book xv. 8.
Ver. 13. — Marvel not , my brethren , if the world hate you . This is an inference from the previous antithesis of the children of God, and the children of the devil. Our Lord alludes to the hatred of wicked men against Christ in S. John xv. 18. Everything is opposed to and hates its contrary, as black is opposed to white, cold to heat, sweetness to bitterness, &c. The world hates the faithful — 1st. Because their ways of going on are so different. See Wisdom ii. 15.
And S. Leo ( Serm . ix. de Quadrig,), “ Wickedness never is at peace with righteousness. Drunkenness ever hates temperance, &c. ; and so obstinate is this opposition, that when there is peace without there is war within, so that it never ceases to disquiet the hearts of the righteous ; and it is true that they who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, and that our whole life is a temptation.” And he gives as another reason the craft and malice of the devil, who when he cannot overpower our virtue would undermine our faith.
2d. There is further the envy which worldlings feel when they see that the righteous are not ensnared by their evil desires, but are stedfastly going on towards heaven, while they themselves are sinking down and down to hell.
3d. They hate the righteous, because they withdraw themselves from their company. See Matt. xv. 18 ; Wisdom ii. 16.
4th. Because their conduct is a tacit reproof to the worldly. See Wisdom ii. 12 ; and John xv. 8.
5th. Worldlings are full of self-love, but Saints are full of the love of God, for which reason they hate them.
S. James (iv. 4) agrees with S. John, and so does S. Paul, Gal. i. 10. Tertullian and others read here, “ Be not afraid,” for some not only marvelled, but were afraid of the hatred they would incur in becoming Christians. S. John therefore exhorts them not to be surprised or afraid, for those whom the world hates God loves. “ It would be a greater wonder,” says Didymus, “ if wicked men did love those who were godly.” We must not therefore in the least regard the hatred of such persons, but rather persevere in holiness and love of God, and make it our endeavour to make them our friends when they hear that we surpass them in charity.
As S. Peter says, 1 Pet. iv. 12. And Seneca (de Prov. cap. 1) says, “ God brings not up a good man in delicate ways ; He makes trial of him, He hardens him, and thus prepares him for Himself, while the man himself considers all misfortunes as means of training, and as teaching him how much his patience can bear.” And S.
Basil (adm. ad filii spirit) says that “ Patience is the highest virtue of the mind, enabling us most speedily to attain the height of perfection .” S. Augustine gives the reason, that God, through the hatred of the world, may draw us on to love Himself. “ Oh the unhappiness of mankind ! The world is bitter, and yet is loved. But how much more would it be loved, if it were sweet! How gladly wouldest thou gather its flowers, since thou withdrawest not this hand even from its thorns.”
Ver. 14. — We know that we have passed from death unto life. Not because we believe that we are predestinated, but as a moral certainty , by the testimony of a good conscience, by the innocency of our life, and the consolation of the Holy Spirit. S. John says this for their consolation and to keep them from dreading the hatred of the world. Be comforted by the thought, that by faith ye have been translated from the death of sin to a state of grace in this world, and in the world to come to glory, which will raise us above all hatred. And the clear proof of this is that we love the brethren. For this love is an undoubted sign and effect of sanctifying grace, and of the Holy Spirit Himself, from whom, as from an uncreated source, all love proceeds. S. Basil truly says, “ When can a man be fully persuaded that God has remitted his sins ? When he finds that his feelings are like his who said, ‘I have hated and abominated iniquity’ (Ps. cxix. 163).”
He gives here three signs of indwelling grace and righteousness. (1.) Hatred of sin ; (2.) mortifying the flesh, and all evil desires ; and (3.) zeal for the salvation of others, like S. Paul (2 Cor. xi. 29). And S. Gregory (Dial. i. 1), “The mind which is filled with the Divine Spirit, furnishes its own proofs, viz., virtuous actions and humility. And if those perfectly co-exist in the same mind, it is clear that they witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit.” And S. Leo (Serm . de Epiph. viii.) gives these three signs of grace and sanctity, humility, forgiveness of injuries, and doing as we would be done by. And “let every one who is such, doubt not that God rules and dwells within him.”
He who loveth not (when he ought, or he who hates) abideth in death, with the stain of habitual sin, which abides after the act of sin is over; and from this he cannot escape, except by the grace of Christ, says Thomas Anglicus. But how the soul though immortal can yet die through sin, S. Augustine explains (de Civ . iii. 1), “The death of the soul takes place when God forsakes it, just as the body dies when the soul leaves it. It is then the entire death of a man, when the soul which has been forsaken of God, leaves the body, for in this case it does not itself live by God, nor does the body live through it.” And in like manner S. Cyril Alex, says, “ Death, properly speaking, is not that which separates body and soul, but that which separates the soul from God. God is life, and he who is cut off from Him, perishes.”