The Mandate to Love

In verses 7-21 John uses some form of the word love over 25 times. He is intent on showing us how important it is for believers to love one another. The fact that he has repeated this theme so often in the letter reveals that a lack of love must have been a serious problem in the early church. By nature, humans are selfish and unloving. We love our children, our spouse and other members of our family. But too often our love is focused merely on the people in our life that “matter”. When a person becomes a believer they are placed into a new family. They meet with that family on a regular basis to worship the Heavenly Father. It is imperative that when we meet together and when we see each other on the street that we show love to one another. In these passages I want to share six reasons that believers should show love to each other.

We are to love because it is our nature. Look at what John says in verses 7-8. In verse 8 John says that God is love. That means that God defines what love is. If we look at Him we see perfect love. In His love He created us. In His love He provides for the needs of every, living thing. Psalm 145:9 says “The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all His works”. In His love He has provided salvation through His Son to all who will come to Him in repentance and faith (Romans 5:8).

John tells us that the love we possess as believers comes from God. Look at verse 7; he says “love is of God”. That means it proceeds from Him. We could not love in the way God has called us to love if He did not impart His divine love to us. The love we have as believers is not the same love that the unbelieving world has. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

John tells us that the love we have is a result of the new birth. In verse 7 he says everyone that loves is “born of God”. Obviously he’s talking about a special kind of love here. He’s not saying if you love your dad, your aunt or your dog you are going to heaven. Jesus said that loving people who love us back is even common among unbelievers (Matthew 5:46). John is talking about a special kind of love that is the result of a person being born again. It’s the result of knowing God. In verse 8 he says that those that do not love in this manner do not know God. That is, they are not saved. We are to love because it is in our new nature. The loving God of the universe has made us partakers of His divine nature. Love is the result of our union with Him.

We love because God loves us. We see this expressed in verses 9-11. John expresses beautifully in these verses how we know that God loves us. Let’s break them down. First notice verse 10. John makes it clear that our salvation is not the result of our loving God. John says “not that we loved God, but that he loved us”. Some people seem to think that God looks around for people who love Him and then He saves them. Romans 5:10 says that when we were reconciled to God we were His enemies! If we had loved God we would not have needed saving because we would have been keeping what Jesus calls the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-39).

Notice in verse 9 John tells us how the love of God has been revealed to believers. It is through Christ becoming man and bearing our sins on the cross. Usually we kind of take that truth generally. But I want you to notice the end of verse 9. John says all of this was done “that we might live through Him”. He makes it personal. Believers personally recognize the great love God has for them. We understand the cross in a very particular way. It’s not just folklore or religious doctrine. It is personal. God has shown us as individuals how much He loves us by sending His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. That’s what that big word “propitiation” in verse 10 means.

After establishing that God loves us, John tells us in verse 11 that we ought to love one another. It is the natural response to the love of God. God loves believers and we should love them as well. God is our example. He has shown His love to a lost world by sending His Son to be the sacrifice for their sins. We should show love to others as well.

We love because it is the testimony Christ has called us to have. Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another”. The proof that we belong to Christ is our love for one another. John says in verse 12 that no man has seen God. John Himself told us that we have seen God in that we have seen Jesus (John 1:14, 14:9). Other verses in the Bible reveal that people have seen portions of God (Exodus 33:19-23). However, no one has seen God in His fullness.

John tells us in verse 12 that if we love one another people will see God. He says the love of God will be perfected in us. God is not walking around on the earth now as He was when Jesus walked the earth. When Jesus was here he manifested the perfect love of God to everyone that came into contact with Him. However, as believers, the love of God dwells in us. We display the love of God to a world that desperately needs to see it.

Once again John confirms that the love of God has been given to us by the Spirit of God (13). He continues in verse 14 to tell us what the Spirit has done for us. He has opened our eyes to the truth about Jesus “we have seen”. He inspires us to share the gospel message “we testify”. That message is that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Christ has called us to love one another because we represent God on this earth. If we fail to love one another we prove that we do not know the Lord. If we fail to love one another we hide God’s grace from a world in need of salvation.

We love because we dwell in God. Two times in verses 15-16 John says that believers dwell in God and God dwells in believers. To “dwell” means “to live in, or continue in”. I want us to notice that John shows us how this comes about. In verse 16 he says “and we have known and believed the love God hath to us”. That is, we have believed the gospel. In verse 15 he says “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God…” When we take these truths together we get a picture of what a person must do to dwell in God. We must believe the gospel and we must confess Christ as Lord. That’s exactly what Paul said in Romans 10:10.

Once again we see that John is teaching that love is the result of salvation. We love because we dwell in God and He dwells in us. The presence of God within us will be manifest through righteous actions. At the forefront of those actions will be a love for God and a love for others.

We love because it gives us confidence. Verses 17-19 are very beautiful verses. They describe the believers’ hope. They teach us that salvation can be confirmed. We can know that we are saved. Let’s look closely at these verses.

The first thing we should notice is that not everyone that is saved is certain they are saved. John speaks of our love being made perfect. Mature love speaks of spiritual growth. As we grow in grace we bear more of the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, we grow in love. Mature believers have a growing and abiding love for God and others. Immature believers are described in verse 18 as being tormented by fear. The fear is the anxiety they experience as they think about the fact that they have to stand before God and be judged one day.

A mature love gives us confidence in the Day of Judgment. John says we can have boldness in the Day of Judgment. In other words, we can know that we will not be condemned when we stand before God (Romans 8:1). John tells us in verse 18 that mature love casts out fear. When we love God and others as we have been called to do we will not fear God’s wrath. This teaches us that assurance of salvation, in the subjective sense, is dependent on spiritual growth (2 Peter 1:9).

Verse 19 deals with confidence in our salvation as well. It shows that our salvation is not dependent on ourselves. We love because God first loved us. God initiated our salvation and He will bring it to completion as well (Phill. 1:6). In verse 17 John says “as he is, so are we in the world”. He’s saying that our confidence is based on the fact that we are like Jesus. We are clothed in His righteousness. Our salvation did not come from within. It came from Jesus. Maturity in the Lord brings us to the place that we recognize we stand guiltless before God because Christ has taken our guilt and given us His righteousness.

We love because it confirms our salvation. John doesn’t want people thinking they are saved just because they believe the facts about Jesus. In verse 20 he makes it clear that salvation is revealed in our love for others. If a person claims to love God but does not love people, that person is a liar. In verse 21 he reminds us that loving one another is not a suggestion, it is a command. We can’t claim to love God and at the same time not love people. The same God that commands us to love Him also commands us to love others. Jesus told us that if we loved Him we would keep His commandments. Those two, to love God and people, are the greatest.

The second part of verse 20 is not an easy one to interpret. The point is obvious, however. John says we can’t claim to love someone we have not seen when we refuse to love someone we have seen. Maybe John’s point is that if we don’t love people, how do we know we will love God when we see Him? If our love is conditional, will God meet the conditions of our love? God has not called us to analyze Him, to look over Him and see if He is worthy of our love. He has commanded us to love Him. He has also commanded us to love one another. That love is not to be based on the person meeting our standards or appealing to us in any way. We are to love people simply because God has told us too. If we aren’t willing to love people, how can we be sure we love God? Love confirms our salvation. We know we are saved because our faith in Christ has resulted in a love for God and others. It leads us to obedience to God’s commands.

John has shown us the reason there is such a mandate to love in the Scripture. We love because it reflects our new nature. We love because God loves us. We love because it is the testimony Christ has called us to have. We love because we dwell in God. We love because it gives us confidence in the Day of Judgment. We love because it confirms our salvation. Let us continue in that love.