Articles
By This We Have Known Love - 1 John 3:11-22
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 Jn. 3:10-11). This is not the first time the readers of John’s epistle have encountered teachings concerning love. They were familiar with the Old Testament’s teaching about love (Lev. 19:18) and Jesus’s teaching about love (Jn. 13:33-34). Love must be at the core of the believer’s life, and John provided a portrait of what love looks like.
Cain is an example of what love does not look like. John wrote that we should love one another “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous” (1 Jn. 3:12). No one reading the account of Cain and Able in Genesis 4:1-15 would conclude that Cain is the epitome of love. He was ruled by anger, callousness, and hate. These are the emotions and attitudes that will prevent us from loving others. They will also prevent us from having eternal life. John wrote, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 Jn. 3:15). John’s negative example of Cain helps us understand what love is and how serious loving others should be.
John’s portrait of love includes a second negative example—the world. He wrote, “Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you” (1 Jn. 3:13). The “world” is a system of beliefs, values, and actions that are hostile to God and stand in opposition to Him. These beliefs, values, and actions are often embodied in people who direct hostility toward believers. The contrast that John made could not be clearer. The world hates. Children of God love.
We can understand something about love by considering the negative examples of Cain and the world. Those examples show us the opposite of love—hate and hostility. John, however, was not content with negative examples. He provided the greatest example of love. John wrote, “By this we have known love, that He laid down His life for us” (1 Jn. 3:16). This positive example of love points us to Jesus. Colin Kruse comments, “The sort of love exemplified in Christ’s death is love which expends itself in the interests of others.” The way of love is the way of sacrifice. It is loving others in “deed and truth” (1 Jn. 3:18).
John’s portrait of love reminds us that love should be at the core of our lives. We can look to Jesus and learn from His example. He enriched our lives by His self-sacrificing love, and we can enrich the lives of others by doing the same.
