1 John: Why We Must Love

The first epistle of the apostle John is a remarkable letter with profound theological truths to assure Christians of their salvation. The purpose of the epistle can be summarized in 1 John 5:13, which says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

But another prevailing theme in this epistle is love.

Love is on every page of the book and appears about forty times in this short letter. It is not only a major theme in 1 John but in the whole Bible, which is often called a love letter. Love also runs in the fabric of our lives. We are created to love, and we all desire to love and to be loved.

Furthermore, love is our highest calling; the two greatest commandments are to love God and, love others. But do you know why we must love? Why love is a commandment?

If you are like me and like knowing the reasons behind the commands you receive beyond “because I said so,” you are in luck! John beautifully tells us why we must love in his letter, and they are as follows:

1. We must love because love is from God 

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 4:7-8

God is the source of love; it’s His essence and He has never not loved. He has always existed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all three have always loved each other. When we believe in Christ, God adopts us into His family and invites us to experience His love. And when we share His love with others, it proves we have come to know God. We may know God intellectually, but if we do not love others, we don’t know Him experientially.

2. God manifested His love for us through Christ

In this is love, not that we have 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 4:10-11

We must love because God made us recipients of His love and demonstrated it through Christ. Christ is the visible display of God’s incredible love for us, and as we have seen Him expressed it toward us, we must show the same love towards others. We live through Christ and share His nature (1 John 4:9), therefore, we also have the capacity to love others as He has loved us. (Ephesians 5:1-2).

3. We must love to bear witness to God

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:12

Love characterizes Christians. Jesus said it’s by our love that people will know that we are His disciples (John 13:35). Though no one has ever seen God, He becomes visible when we love one another. Therefore, we must love to reflect and display the power of God in this fallen world.

4. Love is evidence of our regeneration

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:16

We must love because it is evidence of our salvation; it’s evidence we walk in the light (1 John 2:9-10), we are children of God (1 John 3:10) and that we have passed out of death into life (1 John 3:14). God is the source of love and eternal life. We cannot be spiritually dead and love any more than we can be alive and not love. So, when we love God, understand how God loves us through Christ, and love others the same way, we know we have been born again.

5. We must love to have confidence for the day of judgment

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:17-18

Christ will soon return to judge the living and the dead, and on that day, they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But when we love as He has commanded us to do, we can long for His return without fear because we know we will not endure punishment (1 John 2:28). Love gives us confidence that God will treat us as He treats His Son.

 We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

To sum it all, we must love because God loves us. This love is not merely feelings and emotions that happen to us. It is the love from God which is action-based instead of emotion-driven, choice rather than happenstance, and giving instead of self-serving.

And this is how God says we must love, by laying down our life for others as Jesus did (1 John 3:16), and in deeds and truth (1 John 3:18).

  Grace and peace to you!