Here we go again with love. We just talked about it a few days ago, and now we find ourselves talking about it again. Absolutely! Love is a central part of Christianity. Furthermore, according to John, our ability to love is an indicator of the condition of our soul.
Not much commentary is needed for today’s reading. Just take it a verse at a time and let the Word speak to you. Let yourself be instructed, and maybe stirred to better, regarding love.
-Pastor Conley
1 John 3:11–4:21 (MEV)
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: We should love one another,
12 not like Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s works were righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love his brother remains in death.
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
16 By this we know the love of God: that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 Whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, but closes his heart of compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in him?
18 My little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
19 By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall reassure our hearts before Him.
20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence before God.
22 And whatever we ask, we will receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He commanded us.
24 Now the one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He remains in us, through the Spirit whom He has given us.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world, and therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 In this way the love of God was revealed to us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 We know that we live in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.
16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In this way God’s love is perfected in us, so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 We have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.