“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (1 John 4:20-21)
The church John wrote to was experiencing a division. Tradition tells us many left to follow Gnostic teacher Cerinthus, who was known to be an opponent of Johns’. Cerinthus denied the reality of the Incarnation, opposed John’s teachings regarding sin and taught that a general lack of love was needed. These teachings didn’t line up with authentic Christian beliefs. To combat these false teachings, John emphasized in his letter that God is light, He is righteous and He is love. “The whole letter revolves around these three themes … .“(1)
What does this mean to us today? It’s very simple. We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Some will be unlovable in our eyes; crass, inconsiderate and somewhat intolerable. This is irrelevant. God loves them and if we say we are related to God through salvation, then we are to love them just as we are loved. I’m not saying it is always easy, but as we strive to be more like Christ we will slowly begin to see people the way God sees them … as a blessing.
Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
(1) Asbury Bible Commentary; The Situation
