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“When We Love One Another - Part 3”
When We Love One Another - Part 3
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. In the last two installments of this study, we noticed that when we love one another we show that we are born of God and know God. In this installment, we will notice that we show that we are indebted to God.
When we love one another, we show that we are indebted to God. “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 4:9-11). I want to call your attention to two small words in the eleventh verse. - “if” and “so.” There is no way to understand the verse without understanding these two little lwords. First, let’s look at the little word “if.” The word “if” is sometimes used to refer to the possibility of something. At other times, it is used to refer to the reality of something. It is used to refer to what has happened instead of what might happen. I believe that this is the way that it is used in our text. Since God so loved us in the past, we ought to so love one another in the present . That brings us to the little word “so.” It is an adverb that emphasizes the degree or the extent to which God loved us. God loved us to the extent that He gave His only begotten Son for us. No doubt, the little word “so” reminds us of another verse that features that word. In the gospel that bears his name, John records the following words of Jesus: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son that we might perish, but enjoy eternal life. God also loved us to this extent that we might love one another in the same way. God gave us an example to follow. In the gospel of John, we find these words of Jesus: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Two chapters later, we again read: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Clearly, we are to love one another as God has loved us. In the third chapter of his first epistle, John wrote , “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:16-17). Did you see the parallel in the passage? Jesus laid down His life for us, and we are to lay down our lives for the brethren. Getting back to our starting text - 1 John 4:9-11, since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another. As we conclude this point, let’s notice one more word. The word that I want us to end with is the word “ought.” This word has more letters by itself than the other two words do combined. The word “ought” refers to that which we have an obligation to do. We are obligated to love one another because of how God has loved us. When we love one other, we show how much we have been loved.
We have seen three things that we show to others when we love one another. We show that we are born of God, that we know God, and that we are indebted to God.
