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“When We Love One Another - Part 1”
When We Love One Another - Part 1
Wade Webster
John wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11). In these verses, we will see three things that we show when we love one another.
When we love one another, we show that we are born of God. John wrote, ““Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God…” (1 John 4:7). Please note that love is of God. It comes from Him. When we love one another, we show that we have been born of God. “Born of God” is a favorite expression of John. John often identifies certain characteristics as revealing that we have been born of God. First, receiving or believing Jesus reveals that we have been born of God. We read, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (1 John 1:10-12). Again, he wrote, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:1, 4). Second, practicing righteousness shows that we have been born of God. We read, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29). The one who is born of God does not habitually practice sin. John wrote, “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:7-9). Again, we read, “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:18-19). Third, loving the children of God, reveals that we have been born of God. John wrote, “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. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:1-2). In like manner, Peter wrote, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 2.22-23). Sincere and fervent love of the brethren shows that we have been bon of God.
