1 John 4:19b-21

In 1 John 4:19b-21 we are reminded again that “We love because he first loved us.” Love is not our idea. God loved us first. Spurgeon explains He loved us when we were still sinners: “Every man that ever was saved had to come to God not as a lover of God, but as a sinner, and then believe in God’s love to him as a sinner.” Poole wrote “His is the fountain love, ours but the stream: his love the inducement, the pattern, and the effective cause of ours. He that is first in love, loves freely; the other therefore loves under obligation.” And Clarke said it this way:

“1. We love him because we find he has loved us.

2. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude.

3. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs.”

Spurgeon simply said it this way: “Love believed is the mother of love returned.” But as that love comes to us, it has to flow through us to others. “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” It is often easier for someone to proclaim his love for God, because that is often viewed as a private relationship with an invisible God. But John rightly insists that our claim of loving God is false if we do not also love our brother, and that this love must be seen. It can’t be theoretical or in thought but must be lived out in action.

John is strong in his insistence – if we say we love God but don’t love our fellow brethren, he calls that person a liar. Not someone who is in training or working to develop love. By this crucial measurement, Jesus said the world could measure our status as disciples by the measure of our love for one another: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another”. (John 13:35) Boice explains there is a difference between the love of man, and divine love. “These verses are the equivalent of saying that a person cannot practice agape-love unless he can first practice philia-love.”

But to make sure we don’t miss the truth – loving our brother is not an option. It is a command. “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Being born of God and abiding with Him give us the ability to love; but it is a choice of our will to draw upon that resource and give it out to others. Therefore we are given a command to love, not the option or opportunity. We learn how to love God by loving people. You might say, “I want to love God more; I want to grow in my love for Him. But how can I love a God who is invisible?” God would say to us, “Learn to love Me, Whom you cannot see, by loving My children, whom you can see.”