13.9.18

BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD

BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD

Loving one another is not only an imitation of God’s love to us; it is also an outward expression of our inward love for God. In his first letter John refers to another commandment from God: ‘This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also’ (1 John 4:21). If we claim to love the invisible God while we hate God’s visible children, we are liars and hypocrites (1 John 4:20). Loving the children of God is the natural result of our love for their and our Father in heaven (1 John 5:1–2); we sometimes have to remind ourselves that other Christians are our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the same family. If we love God, we will keep his commandments (1 John 5:3). John repeats this in 2 John 6 and ends up by coming back to where he started: God’s commandment is that we should walk in love. If we love God, we will obey his commandments and, therefore, love one another.


Terence Peter Crosby, Opening up 2 and 3 John, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2006), 32–33.

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