The Word Made Fresh
1See how great is the love the Father gives us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is who we are. The reason the world doesn’t know who we are is because it does not know him. 2We are indeed God’s children now, friends, but who we will be in the future has not yet been told. We do know this, however; when he is made known we will be like him, and we will see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him is purified as is he.
4Sin is lawlessness, and everyone who sins is lawless. 5You know that he was made known in order to take away sins, for there is no sin in him. 6No one who lives in him sins, and no one who sins has ever seen him or known him. 7Children, don’t be deceived. All who do what is right are righteous. 8All who sin belong to the devil, the one who has been sinning since the beginning. This is why the Son of God was made known – to destroy the devil’s works. 9Those who have been born of God do not sin because God’s seed lives in them. They can’t sin because God has rebirthed them. 10This is how God’s and the devil’s children are revealed: all those who do not do what is right and do not love their brother are not from God.
11This is what you were told from the start, that we should love one another. 12We must not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because the things he did were evil, while his brother’s deeds were righteous. 13Don’t be surprised that you are hated by the world, friends. 14We know we have gone from death to life because of our love for one another, and those who do not love will remain with the dead. 15Those who hate one another are murderers who don’t have eternal life within them.
16This is how we know love: Christ gave his life for us, and we should give our lives for one another. 17How can God’s love dwell within anyone who has plenty, but on seeing another in need refuses to help?
18Children, let us love one another not just in what we say, but in truth, and we will be reassured before him 20whenever our hearts accuse us. For God is greater than our hearts. God knows everything. 21Friends, if our hearts don’t accuse us we can be bold before God, 22and he will grant us whatever we ask if we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23This is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has told us. 24For everyone who obeys his commandments dwells in him, and he in them. This is how we know he dwells within us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
Commentary
1-3: But righteousness is not the ultimate aim of our faith. The day will come when Christ is “revealed” (certainly a reference to his coming again), and those who love will be transformed into his likeness.
4-10: For John, there are two kinds of people in the world; the children of God and the children of the devil. Those who are righteous (loving God and neighbor) are God’s children. Those who are lawless are the devil’s children.
11-17: “Love one another” is the primary commandment. Any other way of living is sin, he says, using Cain as an example, and other examples quickly follow: Christians are persecuted because sin hates love, while their love for one another is proof that they have entered that life Jesus taught them, life that is abundant and eternal; love leads to life, the absence of it leads to death; hating others is tantamount to murder, but haters are really murdering themselves; Christ demonstrated his love by dying for us, in contrast to those who have plenty but refuse to help others who have little.
18-22: Actions speak louder than words, and so it is with love. Doing is better than saying, and validates the state of our hearts even when deep inside we think we’re not being as faithful as we ought. Love in action emboldens us in our relationship to God and enables us to ask of God anything we wish.
23-24: Believe in Jesus. Love one another. That pretty much sums it up.
Takeaway
Love one another. If we practice this one simple rule, our agonizing and painful encounters within the church will work their way out in favor of both sides.