1 John 4:20 - 5:5
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
If we hate others, we cannot love God; to do so is simply to lie against the truth, for loving God necessitates loving others made by God and loved by Him as well. We think we can say we love God sight unseen, but at the same time somehow rationalize that we have the right to hate others right in front of us. These things should not and cannot be so. If nothing else, we are commanded by God’s own words to love our brothers also; if we try to imagine that brothers are only other Christ followers, we miss the point of Jesus telling of the Good Samaritan. Our neighbors are all made in the image of God. If we then truly believe Jesus is the Messiah, we are regenerated in Him, and are given a new birth as a new creation. Because of this grace in forgiveness, we must (not just should) love our brother and neighbor. It is not optional and is also a telltale sign of the work done in us that makes us Christ’s. We do have a special love for others reborn as we are of Christ is truly in us, and we keep His words commanded to us, including those to love each other. All His commands are no longer too much to bear from the time He has written them in our hearts and come to live in us as His Spirit to enable the keeping of them. We have already conquered this present world though faith in knowing Jesus as the Christ (Romans 8:37). True victory over life and death is in understanding and confessing truly that Jesus is the Son of God come as a man, yet always God (John 1:1, 12-14). Believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, acknowledges Him as divine and entering into the world to save us from His wrath on our sin and its resulting eternal punishment. We overcome by faith given by God in His Son, the chosen and anointed one. We love God and others in thankful obedience.
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