Summary of Personal and Impersonal Love;
1 John 5:2–3
1 John 5:2 NASB
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe
His commandments.
The doctrine of love: summary
1. Love is one of the most misunderstood concepts in our
culture. It is often and usually confused with certain feelings, certain
emotions, or with certain sentiments. Some people equate love with sex; other
people today never equate love with sex. Others use the word love so much that
it becomes trivialised and loses its real meaning. We have to let the Bible
define love rather than let our experience define love.
2. In the New Testament love is for the believer the
highest expression of spiritual life. Love summarises the adult spiritual life.
Spiritual infants don’t love; they have not developed the spiritual character,
integrity or virtue necessary for there to be love.
3. Love is the unique
mark of the disciple in the New Testament—not the believer but the disciple. There
is a distinction between disciple and a believer in the New Testament; a believer
may not be a disciple. A disciple is a student, a person who is putting forth a
tremendous amount of effort to fully understand everything that the Word of God
teaches. John 13:34, 35.
4. Jesus said in that commandment that we are to love “even
as I have loved you.” So the standard for understanding divine love is what
Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. This is substantiated by a number of
verses in 1 John, e.g.
5. Christian love is evidenced by obedience to the Word;
it is not evidenced by feeling. John 14:21; 1 John 3:17, 18.
6. Those who love God love His Word. Love has to do with
wanting to know all we can about a person: how they think, what they like, what
they dislike, etc., and you want to be able to please them. The only way we can
love God and demonstrate and demonstrate a knowledge
of who He is and His value system so that we can live in a way that pleases Him
is to know how He thinks. To know how He thinks we have to know His Word, and
the only way we are going to know His Word is by being involved in a consistent,
dedicated systematic study of the Word of God, making it a priority in life
over and above every other priority in life. To love His Word means having to
learn His Word.
7. As we learn God’s Word and apply His Word in our life
our love for God grows and strengthens. John
8. Love, therefore, represents the believer who has advanced
to spiritual adulthood because he is abiding with God. It is only in that state
of abiding, when we are filled with the Spirit and walking by the Spirit, that
that love that the Spirit alone produces in us is manifested.
9. Love for God develops from our knowledge of Bible
doctrine, and in no other way. It is the fruit of the Spirit and is the unique
distinguishing mark of the disciple, it is not
something that can be naturally generated.
10. Love for God, then, motivates love for other believers
and that is why John can say that if someone says they love God and hates his
brother is a liar. There is an intricate and intimate relationship between
loving God and loving other believers.
11. Impersonal love for other believers is the evidence
that we truly love God. So that becomes a barometer for spiritual adulthood.
In 1 John 5:3a John says, “For
this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…” Then there is a break
so that “and His commandments are not burdensome” should go with the next
verse. Verse 4 begins, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world…” The
English word “For” is the Greek word hoti
[o(ti] which is an explanatory or causal particle. In this case it is a
causal particle and it is explaining the previous sentence. The sentence should
read: “And His commandments are not burdensome because whatever is born of God
overcomes the world.” That begins the next section which focuses on the key
word nikao [nikaw] which means to have victory or to overcome. So
whatever is born of God has victory over the world, and the words “even our
faith” is not talking about salvation but the faith-rest drill.