“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11)
The Essential Characteristic
Having discussed our need to believe in the Jesus preached by the apostles, John moves to the second important commandment we must keep. Several times in this epistle, we have discussed how love is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Christian discipleship. If we love our fellow Christians, we love God and know we are walking on the path to eternal life. Failing to love our fellow Christians places our souls in eternal jeopardy. Hating our brethren puts us in fellowship with people like Cain. Love is integral to the Christian faith because love is integral to God.
Living Out the Truth That God is Love
John says, “Love is of God,” and “God is love.” As children of God, we inherit the genetic traits of our Heavenly Father, His spiritual DNA. Thus, whether or not we love our brethren separates true Christians from fake. Love is so essential to the character of God that He even loves His enemies. Jesus died for our sins because God so loved the world, including those who hated and would hate God. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus urges us to love our enemies so that we may be perfect.
The Sacrifice That Proves God is Love
Love for His enemies compelled Jesus to pray for forgiveness for those who crucified Him. Loving our brethren, loving the world, and loving our enemies separate Christianity and Christians from the rest of the world and its religions. As John goes on to teach, the sacrifice of Jesus compels us to pursue such a love. Because of sin, the world was lost. Sin separates us from God because God is holy and cannot have fellowship with anything unclean. As John says in 1 John 1:5, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
We did not love God, but God loved us. John says the love of God abides in those who keep His commandments. But despite our best intentions, mankind has failed to consistently keep God’s commandments. Our sins show that we do not love God. Out of His love for a lost world, God sent Jesus to save us from our sins. John says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” Jesus says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”
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