1 John 3:13

Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you.

The apostle Peter wrote a similar warning (1 Peter 4:12), and Jesus Christ had repeatedly warned the apostles of the unyielding hostility of the world (John 15:18,19,25; 16:1ff; 17:14, etc.). Cain with his murderous attitude toward his brother who was righteous is the prototype of all the unregenerated people who ever lived. Although it is natural for the non-Christian world to hate Christians, it is not the business or intention of Christians to seek or encourage such hatred; but, rather, it is the purpose of God's children so to live and deport themselves as to disarm such hatreds and win the lost to Christ. In keeping with that purpose, Christians should diligently eliminate from their lives all lack of amiability, carefully avoiding all behavior that might justly incur the world's hostility.

The reason why the wicked hated the righteous is that, "The good man is a walking rebuke to the evil man, even if he never spake a word to him. His life passes a silent judgment."[33] Alcibiades, a debauchee, said to Socrates, "I hate you; because every time I meet you, you show me what I am."[34] "There is still a Cain, the world, hating its Abel, the church."[35]

[33] William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude (Philadelphia: The Westminster press, 1976), p. 85.

[34] Ibid.

[35] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 73.