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1Jn_3:13. If Cain is the type of the world, it is not to be wondered at that the children of God are hated by it; accordingly the apostle says: μὴ θαυμάζετε κ . τ . λ .; comp. 1Jn_3:1; not exactly to comfort his readers about it, but rather to bring out the antithesis clearly; Neander: “it must not surprise Christians if they are hated by the world; this is to them the stamp of the divine life, in the possession of which they form the contrast to the world.”
The particle εἰ expresses here neither a doubt nor even merely possibility; for that the world hates the children of God is not merely possible, but in the nature of the case necessary; it is only the form of the sentence, and not the thought of it, that is hypothetical;[223] comp. Joh_15:18, also Mar_15:44.
[223] Ebrard explains εἰ incorrectly: “whenever the case occurs,” for the hatred which is here spoken of is not a frequently occurring case, but a necessary relationship. Braune unintelligibly says: “by εἰ John signifies that his readers as a whole or as individuals have after all at present no hatred to endure.”