And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
We know that we belong to the truth and can quiet our hearts before God when our love is shown in practical deeds and not in words only. That assurance is given before Him as the Judge of all the earth, whose record is examined in the judgment according to works. When the heart does not condemn because of such obedient love, there is confidence toward God to receive what is asked through keeping His commandments and doing what pleases Him. This means believing on the name of Jesus Christ and loving one another, dwelling in Him and He in us by the Spirit He has given. Such love is tender compassion that opens mercy to a brother in need, lays down self as Christ laid down His life, and purifies the soul from selfishness while proving unity with Christ.
Verse Words and Setting
Hereby means that by loving not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth believers know that they are of the truth and shall assure their hearts before God. Acting in love and truth rather than merely speaking of love gives confidence before God, and that love is shown by tender, practical compassion that helps and blesses a brother in need instead of shutting up compassion and mercy in selfishness. It means loving the brethren and laying down self and life for them as Christ laid down His life, and sharing this world's goods with a brother in need. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart and shows the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride, while lack of love leaves the soul weak and under dissension and strife, and a loveless Christian life is incompatible with unity with Christ. This obedient deed-love assures the heart before Him as the Judge of all the earth when the record is examined in judgment according to works.
That assurance brings a heart that does not condemn and therefore confidence toward God, and receiving whatever is asked because His commandments are kept and the things pleasing in His sight are done. His commandment is to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another, and the keeper of His commandments dwells in Him and He in him by the Spirit He has given. This deed-love calls for reformation in every church and institution from selfish, loveless ways. Committing these words to memory brings great blessing.
Being of the truth means being truly converted and sanctified by the truth to be a channel and representative of His grace to the world, to angels, and to men. For those converted to the proclamation of the third angel's message this means presenting unity and not division. The verse belongs to a passage of Scripture that presents the law and the gospel together as a perfect whole, and its teaching is to be received into open hearts. The chapter links love to God and love to the brethren closely together, expressing the great principles of the law in the two precepts to love the Lord with all the heart and to love the neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets. These principles are precious because they express the love of God in life and character in treatment of fellow men, and those who receive the truth in genuine, purposeful faith that receives Christ and appropriates God's gifts, not nominal belief, a theory of truth, or legal religion, can know they belong to the truth and have assurance before God.
The chapter is a call to dwell on God's love, goodness, and compassion rather than on gloomy thoughts about evil and Satan, bringing encouragement by directing attention to Jesus and leading people to praise God. It is to be studied and practiced and its teachings shown in faith, and to be committed to memory by youth, students in schools and sanitariums, and workers in printing offices, and especially by instructors and leaders who need its teaching and must take heed to themselves. It shows youth the wonderful possibility of becoming sons and daughters of God and of walking uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation in the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan. It means learning meekness and lowliness from Christ so His yoke is easy to bear and His burden easy to carry, being witnesses in daily life to the power of grace and the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power through faithful service done as a pleasure not a task, placing sacred fire of God's own kindling in the censer and not common fire. It means never speaking one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word that can ruin a soul, but speaking as Christ spoke with courtesy and respect, keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control, and having the character daily refined, sanctified, and purified.
Assurance Before God
The assurance of the heart is assurance before Him as the Judge of all the earth, and it is given through obedient love when the record is examined in judgment according to works. Loving not in word and in tongue only but in deed and in truth is how that knowledge that we are of the truth is gained.
If the heart condemns, God is greater than the heart and knows all things, yet deed-love brings a heart that does not condemn and therefore confidence toward God. That love means loving the brethren and laying down life for them as Christ laid down His life, and sharing this world's goods with a brother in need instead of shutting up compassion. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart.
That confidence means receiving whatever is asked because His commandments are kept and the things pleasing in His sight are done. His commandment is to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another as commanded. True religion proves itself in this way in personal deeds of goodness, love, and truth, in practical compassion and self-sacrifice for brethren in need, in a life cleared of selfishness with the past redeemed, with all business dealings brought into strict agreement with the Word of God, with standing on the high platform of eternal truth, and with good works shining as light so others glorify the Father. Keeping God's commandments is not a yoke of bondage and brings nothing to be ashamed of.
He who keeps His commandments dwells in Him and He in him, which is known by the Spirit He has given. When relations with others are right and pleasant, without careless, harsh, disrespectful words or indiscreet actions that grieve the Holy Spirit, the testimony of the human spirit and the testimony of the Spirit of God together bear witness that the mind is under the control of the divine mind. God's Word furnishes the evidence from which to conclude that believers are indeed His sons and daughters. This distinguishes those of the truth from false teachers who speak not according to the law and the testimony and in whom there is no light.
This assurance settles on whose side a person stands, either the adversary's side or Christ's side as the One who kept His Father's commandments, calling for knowing one's standing and taking a decided baptismal stand with Christ in obedience. It belongs to genuine, purposeful faith that receives Christ and appropriates God's gifts, rather than to nominal belief, a mere theory of truth, or legal religion, for law and gospel together present the perfect truth that gives this assurance. It leaves no excuse for continuing in sin, because it is possible to partake of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust and to claim sonship and daughtership through the power Christ came to give when He laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, and stood at the head of humanity to reveal what human beings can become.
Living Love in Deed
Deed-love is tender, practical compassion that helps and blesses a brother in need by opening mercy and sharing this world's goods instead of shutting up compassion in selfishness. Such active love clears the life of selfishness and redeems the past, brings all business dealings into strict agreement with the Word of God, sets the believer standing on the high platform of eternal truth, and lets good works shine as light so others glorify the Father in heaven. Love only in words is not enough, for true religion proves itself in personal deeds of goodness, love, and truth and in practical self-sacrifice for brethren in need. That deed-love calls for reformation in every church and institution from selfish, loveless ways.
It means loving the brethren and laying down self and life for them as Christ laid down His life, cultivating Christlike brotherly love as Jesus loved. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart and shows the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride. Lack of love leaves the soul weak and under dissension and strife. Instead of exposing variances and warring with one another believers are to cultivate love.
Doing right in daily relations with pleasant conduct assures the heart, without careless, harsh, disrespectful words or indiscreet actions that grieve the Holy Spirit. Never is one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word to be spoken that can ruin a soul, but speech is to be as Christ spoke, with courtesy and respect. This calls for learning meekness and lowliness from Christ so His yoke is easy to bear and His burden easy to carry, for keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control, and for having the character daily refined, sanctified, and purified. When relations are thus pleasant, the testimony of the human spirit and the testimony of the Spirit of God together bear witness that the mind is under the control of the divine mind, and God's Word furnishes the evidence from which to conclude that believers are indeed His sons and daughters.
Such love proves acceptance in Christ and unity with Him, since love for God cannot be separated from love for the brother and a loveless Christian life contradicts unity with Christ. Genuine love for fellow believers is the evidence of belonging to the truth. Without cherishing such love for one another a person cannot love God and will have no standing in the courts of heaven but remains condemned. For those sanctified by the truth to be a channel and representative of grace to the world, to angels, and to men, this means presenting unity and not division.
True religion is seen in its influence and in personal deeds, calling for manliness and firmness in Christian character rather than a cheap profession. A cheap profession works more harm in the world than the character of a worldling, because professed Christians mislead others by professing to represent Christ whose name they assume. This personal piety is gained by wise and unconditional surrender to God and by seeking Him in private prayer shut away from outward activity and human beings in the light of His Word. The soul that seeks after God finds Him and, while left in the world, is kept from evil, with conversation of heaven while looking for the Saviour, becoming a witness in daily life to the power of grace and the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power through faithful service done as a pleasure not a task. Such service places sacred fire of God's own kindling in the censer and not common fire, and walks uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation in the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan.
We know that we belong to the truth and can quiet our hearts before God when our love is shown in practical deeds and not in words only. That assurance is given before Him as the Judge of all the earth, whose record is examined in the judgment according to works. When the heart does not condemn because of such obedient love, there is confidence toward God to receive what is asked through keeping His commandments and doing what pleases Him. This means believing on the name of Jesus Christ and loving one another, dwelling in Him and He in us by the Spirit He has given. Such love is tender compassion that opens mercy to a brother in need, lays down self as Christ laid down His life, and purifies the soul from selfishness while proving unity with Christ.
Verse Words and Setting
Hereby means that by loving not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth believers know that they are of the truth and shall assure their hearts before God. Acting in love and truth rather than merely speaking of love gives confidence before God, and that love is shown by tender, practical compassion that helps and blesses a brother in need instead of shutting up compassion and mercy in selfishness. It means loving the brethren and laying down self and life for them as Christ laid down His life, and sharing this world's goods with a brother in need. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart and shows the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride, while lack of love leaves the soul weak and under dissension and strife, and a loveless Christian life is incompatible with unity with Christ. This obedient deed-love assures the heart before Him as the Judge of all the earth when the record is examined in judgment according to works.
That assurance brings a heart that does not condemn and therefore confidence toward God, and receiving whatever is asked because His commandments are kept and the things pleasing in His sight are done. His commandment is to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another, and the keeper of His commandments dwells in Him and He in him by the Spirit He has given. This deed-love calls for reformation in every church and institution from selfish, loveless ways. Committing these words to memory brings great blessing.
Being of the truth means being truly converted and sanctified by the truth to be a channel and representative of His grace to the world, to angels, and to men. For those converted to the proclamation of the third angel's message this means presenting unity and not division. The verse belongs to a passage of Scripture that presents the law and the gospel together as a perfect whole, and its teaching is to be received into open hearts. The chapter links love to God and love to the brethren closely together, expressing the great principles of the law in the two precepts to love the Lord with all the heart and to love the neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets. These principles are precious because they express the love of God in life and character in treatment of fellow men, and those who receive the truth in genuine, purposeful faith that receives Christ and appropriates God's gifts, not nominal belief, a theory of truth, or legal religion, can know they belong to the truth and have assurance before God.
The chapter is a call to dwell on God's love, goodness, and compassion rather than on gloomy thoughts about evil and Satan, bringing encouragement by directing attention to Jesus and leading people to praise God. It is to be studied and practiced and its teachings shown in faith, and to be committed to memory by youth, students in schools and sanitariums, and workers in printing offices, and especially by instructors and leaders who need its teaching and must take heed to themselves. It shows youth the wonderful possibility of becoming sons and daughters of God and of walking uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation in the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan. It means learning meekness and lowliness from Christ so His yoke is easy to bear and His burden easy to carry, being witnesses in daily life to the power of grace and the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power through faithful service done as a pleasure not a task, placing sacred fire of God's own kindling in the censer and not common fire. It means never speaking one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word that can ruin a soul, but speaking as Christ spoke with courtesy and respect, keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control, and having the character daily refined, sanctified, and purified.
Assurance Before God
The assurance of the heart is assurance before Him as the Judge of all the earth, and it is given through obedient love when the record is examined in judgment according to works. Loving not in word and in tongue only but in deed and in truth is how that knowledge that we are of the truth is gained.
If the heart condemns, God is greater than the heart and knows all things, yet deed-love brings a heart that does not condemn and therefore confidence toward God. That love means loving the brethren and laying down life for them as Christ laid down His life, and sharing this world's goods with a brother in need instead of shutting up compassion. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart.
That confidence means receiving whatever is asked because His commandments are kept and the things pleasing in His sight are done. His commandment is to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another as commanded. True religion proves itself in this way in personal deeds of goodness, love, and truth, in practical compassion and self-sacrifice for brethren in need, in a life cleared of selfishness with the past redeemed, with all business dealings brought into strict agreement with the Word of God, with standing on the high platform of eternal truth, and with good works shining as light so others glorify the Father. Keeping God's commandments is not a yoke of bondage and brings nothing to be ashamed of.
He who keeps His commandments dwells in Him and He in him, which is known by the Spirit He has given. When relations with others are right and pleasant, without careless, harsh, disrespectful words or indiscreet actions that grieve the Holy Spirit, the testimony of the human spirit and the testimony of the Spirit of God together bear witness that the mind is under the control of the divine mind. God's Word furnishes the evidence from which to conclude that believers are indeed His sons and daughters. This distinguishes those of the truth from false teachers who speak not according to the law and the testimony and in whom there is no light.
This assurance settles on whose side a person stands, either the adversary's side or Christ's side as the One who kept His Father's commandments, calling for knowing one's standing and taking a decided baptismal stand with Christ in obedience. It belongs to genuine, purposeful faith that receives Christ and appropriates God's gifts, rather than to nominal belief, a mere theory of truth, or legal religion, for law and gospel together present the perfect truth that gives this assurance. It leaves no excuse for continuing in sin, because it is possible to partake of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust and to claim sonship and daughtership through the power Christ came to give when He laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity, and stood at the head of humanity to reveal what human beings can become.
Living Love in Deed
Deed-love is tender, practical compassion that helps and blesses a brother in need by opening mercy and sharing this world's goods instead of shutting up compassion in selfishness. Such active love clears the life of selfishness and redeems the past, brings all business dealings into strict agreement with the Word of God, sets the believer standing on the high platform of eternal truth, and lets good works shine as light so others glorify the Father in heaven. Love only in words is not enough, for true religion proves itself in personal deeds of goodness, love, and truth and in practical self-sacrifice for brethren in need. That deed-love calls for reformation in every church and institution from selfish, loveless ways.
It means loving the brethren and laying down self and life for them as Christ laid down His life, cultivating Christlike brotherly love as Jesus loved. Having this love shows the truth is in the heart and shows the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness, hardness of heart, moral defilement, and spiritual pride. Lack of love leaves the soul weak and under dissension and strife. Instead of exposing variances and warring with one another believers are to cultivate love.
Doing right in daily relations with pleasant conduct assures the heart, without careless, harsh, disrespectful words or indiscreet actions that grieve the Holy Spirit. Never is one harsh, passionate, rash, ill-advised word to be spoken that can ruin a soul, but speech is to be as Christ spoke, with courtesy and respect. This calls for learning meekness and lowliness from Christ so His yoke is easy to bear and His burden easy to carry, for keeping hereditary and cultivated tendencies under control, and for having the character daily refined, sanctified, and purified. When relations are thus pleasant, the testimony of the human spirit and the testimony of the Spirit of God together bear witness that the mind is under the control of the divine mind, and God's Word furnishes the evidence from which to conclude that believers are indeed His sons and daughters.
Such love proves acceptance in Christ and unity with Him, since love for God cannot be separated from love for the brother and a loveless Christian life contradicts unity with Christ. Genuine love for fellow believers is the evidence of belonging to the truth. Without cherishing such love for one another a person cannot love God and will have no standing in the courts of heaven but remains condemned. For those sanctified by the truth to be a channel and representative of grace to the world, to angels, and to men, this means presenting unity and not division.
True religion is seen in its influence and in personal deeds, calling for manliness and firmness in Christian character rather than a cheap profession. A cheap profession works more harm in the world than the character of a worldling, because professed Christians mislead others by professing to represent Christ whose name they assume. This personal piety is gained by wise and unconditional surrender to God and by seeking Him in private prayer shut away from outward activity and human beings in the light of His Word. The soul that seeks after God finds Him and, while left in the world, is kept from evil, with conversation of heaven while looking for the Saviour, becoming a witness in daily life to the power of grace and the Saviour's moment-by-moment keeping power through faithful service done as a pleasure not a task. Such service places sacred fire of God's own kindling in the censer and not common fire, and walks uprightly in a crooked and perverse generation in the contrast between the principles of Christ and the principles of Satan.