John brought verse 10 to a climax by adding a call to love our fellow
believers on top of his call to righteous living. Excelling in righteous living
and loving our fellow believers are clear indicators that one is a child of
God. So with this addition, John then launched into talking about Christian
love and how it should be expressed. He began by discussing what Christian love
is not, before describing what it is. Just as the absence of righteous living reveals
a lack of intimacy with God, so also the absence of love for the brethren would
reveal a lack of fellowship with God. A Christian who has no love for others is
not of God because he does not have the backing of God. For love is righteousness
in action. Hence, love is the clear reflection of one who professes to belong
to God. The message John’s readers had heard from the beginning was to love one
another.
Illustrating with the account of Cain and Abel,
John shows us what love is not. It certainly is not the kind of action that
Cain demonstrated toward his brother. Being jealous, Cain was overtaken by the spirit
of hatred and ended up murdering Abel. He killed because his deeds were evil in
contrast to his brother’s righteous deeds before God. John tells us that as
Abel was to Cain, so would the Christians be to the world. That’s why the world
has intense dislike for Christians. So in verse 13, we are told that it would
be for the same reason that the world would hate believers. But love for other
Christians clearly indicates that in Christ, a believer has passed from death
into life. A person with no love for the brethren would reveal that he still
abides in death. John deliberately contrasted death and life, hatred and love,
darkness and light, to make his point. In verse 15, we receive the idea that
murder is the ultimate expression of hatred. No one who has eternal life and
abides in Christ, and having fellowship with Him, will ever commit murder.
John went on to show in verses 16-18 what true
Christian love looks like. The Lord Jesus demonstrated true love by laying down
His life for us. This was in contrast to what Cain did. Here, John called on
all believers to emulate the Lord Jesus and love the brethren enough to lay
down one’s life for them. This implies a willingness to sacrificially do
anything for the brethren. Verse 17 tells us that we believers should help to
sustain the life of a fellow believer who’s in need. John advocates that we
should demonstrate it through actions and deeds and not just in words. The practice
of sacrificial love of a believer affirms his status in the Lord. His love for
fellow believers would give one the assurance of God’s approval when standing before
God. When a believer demonstrates love, he stands approved by this righteous
behavior. When a person had shown sacrificial love and yet feels guilty that he
still did not meet a brethren’s every need, John assures that person that God
knows his motive. He would be able to overcome the sense of guilt when he
remembers his sacrificial deeds for his brethren. He can then come to God in
prayer confidently. The two words “before God” in verse 21 is better taken to
mean when a person comes before God in prayer and not at the Judgment seat.
This is supported by verse 22 where John talked about asking God.
By demonstrating love in deeds, a believer would
have kept God’s commandment. In so doing, he would be living in obedience and
this would be pleasing to Him. Hence, whatever he asks of God he would receive.
Verse 23 contains the essence of the teachings here: (1) to believe that the
Name of Jesus is efficacious is to accept Jesus Christ for Who He really is;
and (2) to love one another as Christ has commanded. In verse 24, John showed
the result of being obedient to God’s commandment. It would bring mutual
abiding – God in man and vice versa. The clear evidence of God abiding in man
would be the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the life of that man. Is He
revealing Himself through us?
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