“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.”
1 John 3:14

In my previous posts I stipulated that 1 John was written to give assurance to the doubting believer – pointing out the birthmarks of those born from God – namely, Righteousness, Love, and Truth. These marks aren’t things that we do in order to earn salvation and God’s favor, but are signs to which we may look in order that we may know we are indeed saved.

We come to salvation, as John writes in chapter one, by knowing Jesus is the manifestation of the Word of Life, and by entering into fellowship with him as we confess our sins and trust in His atoning work for our forgiveness and cleansing. John then tells us, and repeats throughout the letter, that the first mark of those who are in Christ is a life of righteousness, obedience to His commandments, living as He lived, walking in the light.

The second of the three birthmarks is this – Love. If there was one word that jumped off the page when reading 1 John, it would be “love.” I would put John’s letter next to 1 Cor 13, maybe even before it, in its impassioned call for us to love one another. Consider the call to love in 1 John –

• (1 John 2:10) Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
• (1 John 3:10–11) By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
• (1 John 4:7–8) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
• (1 John 4:19–21) We love because he first loved us. 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. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
• (1 John 5:1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

Certainly, the list is not exhaustive, but the evidence is clear. If we are in Christ, we will love God, and we will certainly love one another.

J.C. Ryle put articulated the point so well:

A man born again, or regenerate, then, has a special love for all true disciples of Christ. Like his Father in heaven, he loves all men with a great general love, but he has a special love for those who are of one mind with himself. Like his Lord and Savior, he loves the worst of sinners, and could weep over them; but he has a peculiar love for those who are believers. He is never so much at home as when he is in their company. He is never so happy as when he is among the saints and the excellent of the earth. Others may value learning, or cleverness, or agreeableness, or riches or rank, in the society they choose. The regenerate man values Grace. Those who have most Grace, and are most like Christ, are those he most loves. He feels that they are members of the same family with himself. He feels that they are his fellow-soldiers, warring against the same enemy. He feels that they are his fellow-travelers, journeying along the same road. He understands them, and they understand him. He and they may be very different in many ways-in rank, in station, in wealth. What matter? They are Jesus Christ’s people. They are his Father’s sons and daughters. Then he cannot help loving them.

The evidence given, then, for every believer is this: Love one another. Here are the evaluative questions: Do I love fellow Christians? Do I look forward to our fellowship together? Do I seek forgiveness and willingly give it because of our shared grace in Jesus Christ? Will I invest my time, my life, my energies, to show my love to those in need?

Beloved, let us love one another!

SDG