Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Because God displayed such great love by sending His only Son to give life and to atone for sin, believers are placed under a most sacred and binding obligation to love one another. That love was entirely unmerited and came first, not because people loved God but because He loved them. His love is both the reason for loving and the pattern to follow, calling for the same broad, full love shown in Christ to shape all conduct. When that mutual love is present, God lives within and His love is made complete, and this is the test and measure of genuine religious experience and of being born of God. Such love is never in word only but in deed and truth, freely giving to others as freely received, supplying need, laying down self, and refusing censure and unkindness for compassion, tenderness, and help.
God's Love Described
The little word if means because, for God manifested His love toward the fallen world by sending His only begotten Son into it that people might live through Him as the propitiation for sins. That sending is both the ground and the pattern of the obligation to love one another, since love is of God and God is love. Everyone who loves in this way is born of God and knows God, while whoever does not love does not know God. When believers love one another God dwells in them and His love is perfected in them, and dwelling in love is dwelling in God and God in him, known because He has given of His Spirit. This mutual love gives boldness in the day of judgment, and it must be cultivated rather than exposing differences, in Christlike unity, deference and respect.
That love was wholly prior and unmerited, not because people loved God but because He loved them first and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins. It was love without being loved first, and because God so loved, believers are to love one another with the same broad, full love with which Christ loved them. The ought lays a binding claim on all who have Christ abiding in the heart by faith, whose wills are reconciled to God's will, who have faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and who become a savor of life unto life. Where that love is not glowing on the altar of the heart a person becomes cold, hard, unsympathetic as an iceberg, and selfishness and enmity and little grievances and misunderstandings separate those bought with a price to be one as Christ is one with the Father. This love is received by living faith that appropriates God's richest gifts in order to give to others, receiving of His fulness grace for grace, not by mere nominal faith or theory or legal religion.
In sending His Son, Christ took human nature and bound His divinity with humanity so that through His grace believers might be partakers of the divine nature and stand on vantage ground with God. God's love was expressed in the coming of the Saviour to the world in human flesh so the fallen race can understand it. All who believe must reveal in their lives to the world and the heavenly universe that this same love from the Source of all love is in their hearts, so that all will understand that love, and every minister of the gospel must make this love plain and simple by precept and example, tangibly exemplifying it by manifesting the kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love of Christ though fallen himself.
Its full meaning was not comprehended until after Christ's sufferings, crucifixion, resurrection, appearance in Galilee, ascension, and the revelation of love when the Holy Spirit rested on the disciples at Pentecost. Only then did mutual love become the testimony to the world that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, and the test and measurement of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth. All conduct must therefore be fashioned after the divine Pattern and standard of that love. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven with life-giving power, making the grand truths of the Bible bread for spiritual life and bringing all of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life, implanting a new nature, giving faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and developing the grace of Christ more and more.
John made brotherly love his special repeated burden to the day of his death, teaching again and again that love for God must be shown in love for one another and that love for Jesus leads to loving all for whom Christ died in earnest, untiring labor, especially for brethren in the Christian church. He pressed constant exercise of it because brotherly love was waning as believers looked for defects in one another, dwelt on mistakes, gave place to unkind criticism, suspicion, fault-finding, and zeal to condemn, grew strict about outward ceremonies and theory, and forgot their own errors and Christ's lesson. In doing so they unconsciously shut the love of God out of their hearts until happiness and joy went out of their lives and they walked in darkness. The command answers that waning with the constant need of this love, since love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God, and love for God is manifested in practical love to His children.
Our Obligation to Love
Because God so loved means because He first loved by sending His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through Him, not because humans loved Him, and ought means a most sacred binding obligation to love one another. All who have Christ abiding in the heart by faith have wills reconciled to God's will, love their brethren, have faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and become a savor of life unto life. Where that love is not glowing on the altar of the heart a person becomes cold, hard, unsympathetic as an iceberg, and selfishness and enmity and little grievances and misunderstandings separate those bought with a price to be one as Christ is one with the Father. Written on the tables of the heart and obeyed, this love puts workers in harmony with Jesus Christ, glorifies Him, and gives a faith that purifies the soul, while together with supreme love for God it is the perpetual life of the church.
God's love toward believers is both the ground and the pattern for their love, shown in sending His Son so that they might live through Him. Believers are to love one another with the same love Christ had for them, the same broad, full love with which Christ loved them, keeping His commandments and abiding in His love. All conduct and the whole course of action must be fashioned after the divine Pattern and divine standard of that love. Because God and Christ love despite infirmities and liability to err, the fallen brother is to be loved in the same way, giving evidence of partaking of Christ's attributes and causing joy in heaven.
Brotherly love is a decided, positive command to be obeyed, constantly exercised, cultivated, and kept with tenderness, thoughtfulness, self-denial and sacrifice that filled the apostles after the descent of the Holy Spirit, shown in daily association by unselfish words and deeds that kindle love in other hearts in willing obedience to Christ's command. The measure is as Christ loved, even to laying down life for friends and for the brethren, in order to bear remaining fruit. This love comes through the Holy Spirit and fulfills Christ's prayer that all believers be one as He is in the Father, so oneness with Christ necessarily brings oneness with His followers, abounding love for the brethren, and a life reflecting His meekness and gentleness. Walking apart from Christ loses love for Him and grows cold toward His followers and causes dissension and discord, while walking closely with Christ the center binds hearts together, and neglecting love through suspicion, criticism, fault-finding, looking for defects, dwelling on mistakes, unkind criticism, strictness about outward ceremonies and theory, and forgetting own errors shuts the love of God out of the heart until happiness and joy go out and believers walk in darkness and lose sight of the Saviour.
Love for God must be shown in love for one another, for love to God supremely and to others as to self is the perpetual life of the church and the very work God's message is designed to perform in the heart and mind of every person. Love for Jesus leads to loving all for whom Christ died, so religion is practical and love to God is manifested in love to His children in earnest, untiring labor and service for fellow men. That obligation rests especially on those connected with Jesus Christ and of the household of faith, who are distinct from the world, though those without the truth must also be loved. Where the message is received, beholding Christ as the living One brings blessing, and life and hope spring up in the heart. This love means seeking to be a help and blessing in every way, jealously guarding every brother and sister, refusing words of condemnation and reproof, and walking in perfect harmony together.
This love requires unity among believers, and disregarding what the Scriptures command about unity is transgressing the law of God just as truly as transgressing the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments.
Evidence of God Within
Love comes from God because God is love, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, while whoever does not love does not know God. That love was shown in sending the only begotten Son into the world that people might live through Him as the propitiation for sins, and because God so loved, loving one another is required. The need is constant, for brotherly love had been waning as believers looked for defects, dwelt on mistakes, gave place to unkind criticism, grew strict about outward ceremonies and theory, forgot their own errors, shut God's love from the heart, lost happiness and joy, and walked in darkness.
When believers love one another God dwells in them and His love is perfected in them. To dwell in love is to dwell in God and God in him, which is known because He has given of His Spirit. This indwelling is joined with confessing Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the world, and with knowing and believing the love God has, so that perfect love casts out fear and gives boldness in the day of judgment. This love for others reflects God's love dwelling within and being brought to completion.
Mutual love faithfully portrays religious obligation to one another and clearly defines the test and measurement of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth. It is the credential and testimony that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, seen in actions that prove professed faith genuine. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven with life-giving power, making the grand truths of the Bible bread for spiritual life. It brings mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life, giving faith which works by love and purifies the soul, implanting a new nature and developing the grace of Christ more and more, unto sanctification of the soul.
By beholding Jesus and appreciating the virtues of His character, His glory full of grace and truth, believers are changed from glory to glory into His likeness and made one with Him in spirit. True love to God then appears in lovingkindness of heart, judgment and righteousness to all, in sanctified association where members cooperate with Christ so He lives and works in them, and in reaching the high standard of Christian perfection as agents who represent Him and tell of the Saviour's love. When the Lord Jesus dwells in the heart, thoughts become the thoughts of God and works become the works of God toward others, and those who have present truth must be sanctified through the truth in this love. This love is received by living faith that appropriates God's richest gifts, pleading for the gift in order to give to others and receiving of His fulness grace for grace, not by mere nominal faith or theory or legal religion. It is lived in the strictest integrity with no robbery toward God or man in obedience to the law, in living communion with the only true God with a living Saviour present, in cherishing love and confidence toward brethren so as to strengthen them and become a blessing to the church, and those who continue in God's service return to whole-hearted obedience by depending on the merits of the crucified Saviour and trusting His atonement, with transgressions forgiven and sins pardoned and with Christ formed within as righteousness and truth begetting a pure fervent love for one another.
A cold, stern, selfish, loveless heart that hates his brother is lying if it claims to love God. He who loves not his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen, and no one can love God while hating his brother. Such a one does not know God, abides in death with no eternal life abiding in him, will be condemned in the courts of heaven for failure in brotherly love, and by refusing Christlike love for a brother is left answerable before God. The wider context declares the Father's bestowed love in calling believers sons of God, whom the world knows not because it knew Him not. Now are they the sons of God, and though it does not yet appear what they shall be, when He shall appear they shall be like Him for they shall see Him as He is, and everyone having this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. Sin is transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away sins with no sin in Him so that whoever abides in Him sins not, while he that does righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous and he that commits sin is of the devil who sins from the beginning, for which purpose the Son of God was manifested to destroy the devil's works; whoever is born of God does not commit sin for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest, for whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother, since the message from the beginning is to love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and slew his brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous; though the world hate, passing from death unto life is known because we love the brethren.
Practical Love in Daily Life
Because God loved by sending His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through Him, love for one another is binding obligation, and it is not in word and tongue only but in deed and in truth. It carries an inward impulse to help and bless, to seek to be a help and blessing in every way, to guard every brother and sister jealously, to lay down life for the brethren, and to open compassion and supply this world's good to a brother in need rather than shutting up compassion. Loving in this way shows completeness of Christian character, that Christ abides in the heart, that one is born of God and knows God, that one has passed from death unto life, that God dwells within and His love is perfected, and that one dwells in Him because He has given of His Spirit. It requires cultivating love instead of exposing differences, cherishing Christlike love, unity, deference and respect, refusing words of condemnation and reproof, and walking in perfect harmony that puts workers in harmony with Christ, glorifies Him, and gives faith that purifies the soul.
Because God freely offers pardon for sin through Christ, compassion is to be shown toward fellow sinners and what has been freely received is to be freely given to others. This is the ground and meaning of loving one another.
Loving the fallen brother as God and Christ love, despite infirmities and liability to err, forbids censure, criticism, complaint, discouraging words, discord, strife, contention, thinking and speaking evil, suspicion, jealousy, imagined grievances, exposing differences, and words of condemnation. It requires being transformed by grace to become compassionate and touched with human woe, with tenderness, trust, loving confidence, pity, courtesy, and careful treatment of precious souls for whom Christ died. It is shown in genuine sympathy and decided help, in speaking only words that encourage and lift, in using every power in actions that meet necessities, and in quenching evil thinking and speaking and supposing brethren mean harm. Expressing such love encourages an answering love, removes barriers, and discourages jealousy.
This love binds Christians closely and tenderly as members of one family sharing faith, a heavenly Father, and the hope of immortality, so that their love shows faith changes life. It is the golden chain of holy union, with oneness with Christ necessarily bringing oneness with His followers, drawing together around the cross, stripping away selfishness, and binding to God and to one another. Walking apart from Christ loses love for Him, grows cold toward His followers, and causes dissension and discord, while walking closely with Christ the center binds hearts together in abounding love, meekness, and gentleness that bears remaining fruit through the Holy Spirit. No one can love God and yet fail to love the brethren.
Love revealed in home life bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church and extends to neighborhood, community, and nations and kingdoms. Those changed by transforming grace reveal this love in life, work like ministering angels for the salvation of souls in close alliance with God, and give to church and world the sign of discipleship and a strong argument for genuine conversion.
God's love revealed in Christ and His cross is to shape daily life and be central to education and study. Learning this practical lesson of loving others is central for children from their earliest years. Instructors who have themselves experienced that love pass its knowledge on to students, and doing so is missionary work.
Every minister of the gospel must make this love plain and simple by precept and example, tangibly exemplifying Christ's kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love, though himself fallen. All who believe must reveal in life to the world and the heavenly universe that this same love from the Source of all love is in their hearts, so that all will understand that love. Those saved by love for souls must show the same love by helping and encouraging all who can labor where much remains to be done instead of acting selfishly and exactingly toward fellow workers.
Love for the brethren is essential and love for self is not essential. It is essential for daily happiness in this life and in the life to come. All gifts are of no value unless controlled by a softened, subduing spirit of love, and Christian love bears its fruit in loving what God loves because God loves it. That love is to be joined with meekness, lowliness, purity, and a life reflecting heavenly light to others, for Christian religion requires Christian practice as a revelation of God's love.
Because God displayed such great love by sending His only Son to give life and to atone for sin, believers are placed under a most sacred and binding obligation to love one another. That love was entirely unmerited and came first, not because people loved God but because He loved them. His love is both the reason for loving and the pattern to follow, calling for the same broad, full love shown in Christ to shape all conduct. When that mutual love is present, God lives within and His love is made complete, and this is the test and measure of genuine religious experience and of being born of God. Such love is never in word only but in deed and truth, freely giving to others as freely received, supplying need, laying down self, and refusing censure and unkindness for compassion, tenderness, and help.
God's Love Described
The little word if means because, for God manifested His love toward the fallen world by sending His only begotten Son into it that people might live through Him as the propitiation for sins. That sending is both the ground and the pattern of the obligation to love one another, since love is of God and God is love. Everyone who loves in this way is born of God and knows God, while whoever does not love does not know God. When believers love one another God dwells in them and His love is perfected in them, and dwelling in love is dwelling in God and God in him, known because He has given of His Spirit. This mutual love gives boldness in the day of judgment, and it must be cultivated rather than exposing differences, in Christlike unity, deference and respect.
That love was wholly prior and unmerited, not because people loved God but because He loved them first and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins. It was love without being loved first, and because God so loved, believers are to love one another with the same broad, full love with which Christ loved them. The ought lays a binding claim on all who have Christ abiding in the heart by faith, whose wills are reconciled to God's will, who have faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and who become a savor of life unto life. Where that love is not glowing on the altar of the heart a person becomes cold, hard, unsympathetic as an iceberg, and selfishness and enmity and little grievances and misunderstandings separate those bought with a price to be one as Christ is one with the Father. This love is received by living faith that appropriates God's richest gifts in order to give to others, receiving of His fulness grace for grace, not by mere nominal faith or theory or legal religion.
In sending His Son, Christ took human nature and bound His divinity with humanity so that through His grace believers might be partakers of the divine nature and stand on vantage ground with God. God's love was expressed in the coming of the Saviour to the world in human flesh so the fallen race can understand it. All who believe must reveal in their lives to the world and the heavenly universe that this same love from the Source of all love is in their hearts, so that all will understand that love, and every minister of the gospel must make this love plain and simple by precept and example, tangibly exemplifying it by manifesting the kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love of Christ though fallen himself.
Its full meaning was not comprehended until after Christ's sufferings, crucifixion, resurrection, appearance in Galilee, ascension, and the revelation of love when the Holy Spirit rested on the disciples at Pentecost. Only then did mutual love become the testimony to the world that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, and the test and measurement of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth. All conduct must therefore be fashioned after the divine Pattern and standard of that love. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven with life-giving power, making the grand truths of the Bible bread for spiritual life and bringing all of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life, implanting a new nature, giving faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and developing the grace of Christ more and more.
John made brotherly love his special repeated burden to the day of his death, teaching again and again that love for God must be shown in love for one another and that love for Jesus leads to loving all for whom Christ died in earnest, untiring labor, especially for brethren in the Christian church. He pressed constant exercise of it because brotherly love was waning as believers looked for defects in one another, dwelt on mistakes, gave place to unkind criticism, suspicion, fault-finding, and zeal to condemn, grew strict about outward ceremonies and theory, and forgot their own errors and Christ's lesson. In doing so they unconsciously shut the love of God out of their hearts until happiness and joy went out of their lives and they walked in darkness. The command answers that waning with the constant need of this love, since love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God, and love for God is manifested in practical love to His children.
Our Obligation to Love
Because God so loved means because He first loved by sending His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through Him, not because humans loved Him, and ought means a most sacred binding obligation to love one another. All who have Christ abiding in the heart by faith have wills reconciled to God's will, love their brethren, have faith which works by love and purifies the soul, and become a savor of life unto life. Where that love is not glowing on the altar of the heart a person becomes cold, hard, unsympathetic as an iceberg, and selfishness and enmity and little grievances and misunderstandings separate those bought with a price to be one as Christ is one with the Father. Written on the tables of the heart and obeyed, this love puts workers in harmony with Jesus Christ, glorifies Him, and gives a faith that purifies the soul, while together with supreme love for God it is the perpetual life of the church.
God's love toward believers is both the ground and the pattern for their love, shown in sending His Son so that they might live through Him. Believers are to love one another with the same love Christ had for them, the same broad, full love with which Christ loved them, keeping His commandments and abiding in His love. All conduct and the whole course of action must be fashioned after the divine Pattern and divine standard of that love. Because God and Christ love despite infirmities and liability to err, the fallen brother is to be loved in the same way, giving evidence of partaking of Christ's attributes and causing joy in heaven.
Brotherly love is a decided, positive command to be obeyed, constantly exercised, cultivated, and kept with tenderness, thoughtfulness, self-denial and sacrifice that filled the apostles after the descent of the Holy Spirit, shown in daily association by unselfish words and deeds that kindle love in other hearts in willing obedience to Christ's command. The measure is as Christ loved, even to laying down life for friends and for the brethren, in order to bear remaining fruit. This love comes through the Holy Spirit and fulfills Christ's prayer that all believers be one as He is in the Father, so oneness with Christ necessarily brings oneness with His followers, abounding love for the brethren, and a life reflecting His meekness and gentleness. Walking apart from Christ loses love for Him and grows cold toward His followers and causes dissension and discord, while walking closely with Christ the center binds hearts together, and neglecting love through suspicion, criticism, fault-finding, looking for defects, dwelling on mistakes, unkind criticism, strictness about outward ceremonies and theory, and forgetting own errors shuts the love of God out of the heart until happiness and joy go out and believers walk in darkness and lose sight of the Saviour.
Love for God must be shown in love for one another, for love to God supremely and to others as to self is the perpetual life of the church and the very work God's message is designed to perform in the heart and mind of every person. Love for Jesus leads to loving all for whom Christ died, so religion is practical and love to God is manifested in love to His children in earnest, untiring labor and service for fellow men. That obligation rests especially on those connected with Jesus Christ and of the household of faith, who are distinct from the world, though those without the truth must also be loved. Where the message is received, beholding Christ as the living One brings blessing, and life and hope spring up in the heart. This love means seeking to be a help and blessing in every way, jealously guarding every brother and sister, refusing words of condemnation and reproof, and walking in perfect harmony together.
This love requires unity among believers, and disregarding what the Scriptures command about unity is transgressing the law of God just as truly as transgressing the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments.
Evidence of God Within
Love comes from God because God is love, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, while whoever does not love does not know God. That love was shown in sending the only begotten Son into the world that people might live through Him as the propitiation for sins, and because God so loved, loving one another is required. The need is constant, for brotherly love had been waning as believers looked for defects, dwelt on mistakes, gave place to unkind criticism, grew strict about outward ceremonies and theory, forgot their own errors, shut God's love from the heart, lost happiness and joy, and walked in darkness.
When believers love one another God dwells in them and His love is perfected in them. To dwell in love is to dwell in God and God in him, which is known because He has given of His Spirit. This indwelling is joined with confessing Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the world, and with knowing and believing the love God has, so that perfect love casts out fear and gives boldness in the day of judgment. This love for others reflects God's love dwelling within and being brought to completion.
Mutual love faithfully portrays religious obligation to one another and clearly defines the test and measurement of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth. It is the credential and testimony that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, seen in actions that prove professed faith genuine. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven with life-giving power, making the grand truths of the Bible bread for spiritual life. It brings mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life, giving faith which works by love and purifies the soul, implanting a new nature and developing the grace of Christ more and more, unto sanctification of the soul.
By beholding Jesus and appreciating the virtues of His character, His glory full of grace and truth, believers are changed from glory to glory into His likeness and made one with Him in spirit. True love to God then appears in lovingkindness of heart, judgment and righteousness to all, in sanctified association where members cooperate with Christ so He lives and works in them, and in reaching the high standard of Christian perfection as agents who represent Him and tell of the Saviour's love. When the Lord Jesus dwells in the heart, thoughts become the thoughts of God and works become the works of God toward others, and those who have present truth must be sanctified through the truth in this love. This love is received by living faith that appropriates God's richest gifts, pleading for the gift in order to give to others and receiving of His fulness grace for grace, not by mere nominal faith or theory or legal religion. It is lived in the strictest integrity with no robbery toward God or man in obedience to the law, in living communion with the only true God with a living Saviour present, in cherishing love and confidence toward brethren so as to strengthen them and become a blessing to the church, and those who continue in God's service return to whole-hearted obedience by depending on the merits of the crucified Saviour and trusting His atonement, with transgressions forgiven and sins pardoned and with Christ formed within as righteousness and truth begetting a pure fervent love for one another.
A cold, stern, selfish, loveless heart that hates his brother is lying if it claims to love God. He who loves not his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen, and no one can love God while hating his brother. Such a one does not know God, abides in death with no eternal life abiding in him, will be condemned in the courts of heaven for failure in brotherly love, and by refusing Christlike love for a brother is left answerable before God. The wider context declares the Father's bestowed love in calling believers sons of God, whom the world knows not because it knew Him not. Now are they the sons of God, and though it does not yet appear what they shall be, when He shall appear they shall be like Him for they shall see Him as He is, and everyone having this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. Sin is transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away sins with no sin in Him so that whoever abides in Him sins not, while he that does righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous and he that commits sin is of the devil who sins from the beginning, for which purpose the Son of God was manifested to destroy the devil's works; whoever is born of God does not commit sin for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest, for whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother, since the message from the beginning is to love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and slew his brother because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous; though the world hate, passing from death unto life is known because we love the brethren.
Practical Love in Daily Life
Because God loved by sending His only begotten Son into the world to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through Him, love for one another is binding obligation, and it is not in word and tongue only but in deed and in truth. It carries an inward impulse to help and bless, to seek to be a help and blessing in every way, to guard every brother and sister jealously, to lay down life for the brethren, and to open compassion and supply this world's good to a brother in need rather than shutting up compassion. Loving in this way shows completeness of Christian character, that Christ abides in the heart, that one is born of God and knows God, that one has passed from death unto life, that God dwells within and His love is perfected, and that one dwells in Him because He has given of His Spirit. It requires cultivating love instead of exposing differences, cherishing Christlike love, unity, deference and respect, refusing words of condemnation and reproof, and walking in perfect harmony that puts workers in harmony with Christ, glorifies Him, and gives faith that purifies the soul.
Because God freely offers pardon for sin through Christ, compassion is to be shown toward fellow sinners and what has been freely received is to be freely given to others. This is the ground and meaning of loving one another.
Loving the fallen brother as God and Christ love, despite infirmities and liability to err, forbids censure, criticism, complaint, discouraging words, discord, strife, contention, thinking and speaking evil, suspicion, jealousy, imagined grievances, exposing differences, and words of condemnation. It requires being transformed by grace to become compassionate and touched with human woe, with tenderness, trust, loving confidence, pity, courtesy, and careful treatment of precious souls for whom Christ died. It is shown in genuine sympathy and decided help, in speaking only words that encourage and lift, in using every power in actions that meet necessities, and in quenching evil thinking and speaking and supposing brethren mean harm. Expressing such love encourages an answering love, removes barriers, and discourages jealousy.
This love binds Christians closely and tenderly as members of one family sharing faith, a heavenly Father, and the hope of immortality, so that their love shows faith changes life. It is the golden chain of holy union, with oneness with Christ necessarily bringing oneness with His followers, drawing together around the cross, stripping away selfishness, and binding to God and to one another. Walking apart from Christ loses love for Him, grows cold toward His followers, and causes dissension and discord, while walking closely with Christ the center binds hearts together in abounding love, meekness, and gentleness that bears remaining fruit through the Holy Spirit. No one can love God and yet fail to love the brethren.
Love revealed in home life bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church and extends to neighborhood, community, and nations and kingdoms. Those changed by transforming grace reveal this love in life, work like ministering angels for the salvation of souls in close alliance with God, and give to church and world the sign of discipleship and a strong argument for genuine conversion.
God's love revealed in Christ and His cross is to shape daily life and be central to education and study. Learning this practical lesson of loving others is central for children from their earliest years. Instructors who have themselves experienced that love pass its knowledge on to students, and doing so is missionary work.
Every minister of the gospel must make this love plain and simple by precept and example, tangibly exemplifying Christ's kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love, though himself fallen. All who believe must reveal in life to the world and the heavenly universe that this same love from the Source of all love is in their hearts, so that all will understand that love. Those saved by love for souls must show the same love by helping and encouraging all who can labor where much remains to be done instead of acting selfishly and exactingly toward fellow workers.
Love for the brethren is essential and love for self is not essential. It is essential for daily happiness in this life and in the life to come. All gifts are of no value unless controlled by a softened, subduing spirit of love, and Christian love bears its fruit in loving what God loves because God loves it. That love is to be joined with meekness, lowliness, purity, and a life reflecting heavenly light to others, for Christian religion requires Christian practice as a revelation of God's love.