First John: 1 John 5:2-The Child of God Can Confirm They Are Loving God’s Children When They Love God By Obeying His Commands Lesson # 188

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. (ESV)

“By this we know that we love the children of God” teaches that by means of divinely loving God the Father and specifically by obeying His commands, any child of God can have definite assurance that they are divinely loving God’s children.

“When we love God” is a temporal clause which speaks of John and the recipients of First John divinely loving God the Father and specifically doing so by obeying His commands.

However, this clause’s emphasis is not the particular time when this takes place but rather that this does take place.

Therefore, the emphasis with this temporal clause is to assure the recipients of First John that they are in fact divinely loving God’s children and thus obeying the command to love one another.

“And obey his commandments” defines specifically for the recipients of First John the previous ambiguous assertion of divinely loving the Father.

1 John 5:2 By means of this, any one of us can at any time confirm that we are divinely loving God’s children: whenever any one of us does at any time divinely love God (the Father). Specifically, whenever any one of us does at any time obey His commands. (My translation)

The apostle John solemnly declares that the means by which he and anyone of the recipients of First John can confirm they are loving the children of God is by divinely loving God the Father.

Then, he identifies what he means by this ambiguous statement by explicitly identifying for the recipients of First John how they must divinely love the Father.

They were to divinely love the Father by obeying His commands.

Therefore, John is teaching here in 1 John 5:2 that the child of God can confirm they are divinely loving their fellow child of God by divinely loving the Father which is accomplished by obeying His commands.

L.L. Morris writes “John keeps insisting that love for God and love for other people are closely connected. Usually he speaks of love for God as shown in love for people, but here he reverses the process: we know that we love the children of God when we love God. Love for God and love for people go together and form a unity. John’s practical turn of mind does not stop at the thought of love for God but goes on to include carrying out his commands. Real love is shown by a concern to do God’s will.”11

1 John 2:12-14, 21, 24, 4:4, and 6 explicitly affirm the recipients of First John were remaining faithful to John’s apostolic teaching here in this epistle.

He is thus seeking to encourage and protect the recipients of First John’s fellowship with God with this assertion in 1 John 5:2.

If they continue to respond in obedience to the command to love one another then they can be assured by this obedience that they not only divinely love God but also, they are divinely loving God’s children.

Consequently, they will continue to experience fellowship with the Trinity which is John’s overriding concern in this epistle according to the prologue in 1 John 1:1-4.

“His commands” in 1 John 5:2 refers to the Father’s commands which the Lord Jesus Christ communicated by the Spirit directly to His apostles and can be summarized as loving one another as He loved the believer and which command is recorded in John 13:34 and 15:12.

It does not refer as it did in 1 John 3:23-24 to the command requiring the unregenerate sinner to trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior in order to be declared justified by the Father and this command to love one another.

This is indicated by the fact that John is speaking in the context of how a child can confirm if they are divinely loving the Father which is not by trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior but by divinely loving their fellow child of God.

Furthermore, the unregenerate sinner does not have the capacity to divinely love God until they receive the Spirit, which they will receive at justification.

Only believers can love like God does.

Lastly, further indicating the plural form of entolē is referring to the various one another commands of Scripture is that John is attempting to identify for the recipients of First John how they can confirm they are divinely loving God’s children.

Of course, it is through obedience to the command to love one another.

The command to love one another is mentioned implicitly two times in First John.

1 John 2:7 Beloved, I am by no means providing in writing information for each one of you regarding an unfamiliar command but rather a familiar command, which each of you have been under obligation to obey from the beginning. This familiar command is identical with the teaching each of you have heard. (Author’s translation)

1 John 4:21 Therefore, each one of us are under obligation to this command from Him, namely that the one who at any time does desire to divinely love God (the Father) must divinely love his fellow-believer. (Author’s translation)

1 John 5:2 is the seventh time this command to love one another has been mentioned explicitly in First John.

1 John 3:11 Therefore, this is the message which each one of you heard from the beginning, namely that, each one of us must make it our habit of loving one another. (Author’s translation)

1 John 3:23 Specifically, this is His command: First, that each and every one of us believed in the name, that is His Son, who is Jesus who is the Christ. Secondly that each one of us continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another just as He gave to each one of us this command. (Author’s translation)

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let each one of us continue to divinely love one another because this love is a characteristic originating from God (the Father). Consequently, the one who at any time does divinely love has been fathered by God (the Father) and as a result they know God (the Father) experientially. (Author’s translation)

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that God (the Father) loved each and every one of us in this manner and we all agree that He did, then each and every one of us are obligated to continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another. (Author’s translation)

1 John 4:12 Absolutely no one at any time has observed God (the Father). If any of us at any time does divinely love each other, this God (the Father) is living in fellowship with us. Consequently, His love is accomplishing its purpose in us. (Author’s translation)

1 John 5:1 Anyone who at any time does believe that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God. Consequently, anyone who at any time does divinely love the Father, correspondingly does divinely love the one who has been fathered by Him. (Author’s translation)

This is not the first time John has associated divinely loving one’s fellow believer as constituting divinely loving God.

He mentions it implicitly in 1 John 4:20 and then explicitly in 1 John 4:21 and 5:1.

1 John 4:20 If anyone enters into making the claim “I love God (the Father)” and yet does at any time hate his fellow-believer, then he is a liar. For the one who at any time does not divinely love his fellow-believer whom he has seen causes himself to be totally unable to love God (the Father) whom he has never seen. 21 Therefore, each one of us are under obligation to this command from Him, namely that the one who at any time does desire to divinely love God (the Father) must divinely love his fellow-believer. (Author’s translation)

1 John 5:1 Anyone who at any time does believe that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God. Consequently, anyone who at any time does divinely love the Father, correspondingly does divinely love the one who has been fathered by Him. (Author’s translation)

Therefore, here in 1 John 5:2 John is teaching that obedience to the Father’s commands, which can be summarized by the command to love one another, is the means by which any child of God can confirm that they are in fact divinely loving both the Father and their fellow child of God.

Interestingly, in 1 John 3:24, John asserts something similar.

1 John 3:21 Beloved, if any of our hearts are not being convicted, then each one of us are experiencing confidence in the presence of God (the Father). 22 Consequently, if any of us does at any time request something, then each one of us are receiving the fulfillment of our request because each one of us are conscientiously obeying His commands. Correspondingly, each of us are practicing that which is pleasing in His judgment. 23 Specifically, this is His command: First, that each and every one of us believed in the name, that is His Son, who is Jesus who is the Christ. Secondly that each one of us continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another just as He gave to each one of us this command. 24 Consequently, the one who at any time does conscientiously obey His commands is living in fellowship with Him. Correspondingly, He Himself is living in fellowship with him. Simultaneously, by means of this, each one of us can at any time confirm that He is living in fellowship with any one of us: By means of His Spirit whom He has bestowed upon each one of us as a gift. (Author’s translation)

Now, here in 1 John 5:2, the apostle John is teaching that the condition the child of God must meet in order to divinely love God and their fellow child of God is obedience to God’s Word and specifically the commands which can be summarized by the command to love one another.

The concept of obeying God’s commands not only appears in 1 John 5:2 but also 1 John 2:3-5, 3:22, and 24.

11 Morris, L. L. (1994). 1 John. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1408). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.