If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
What a litmus test for our belief in Jesus Christ! John has written this little letter, like he did his gospel, to make sure we know we have eternal life:
1 John 5:13 (ESV)
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.
He didn’t want those in the church who had heard the gospel not know that the gospel had given them eternal life. This was a theme of John, even for his gospel:
John 20:30-31 (ESV)
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
In his gospel writings John states that we can know we have eternal life by believing in the “signs” that Jesus did as the Son of God (the “signs” that John recorded in this gospel). In this first letter, above, he tells us it is not just believing, it is loving. His argument is pretty simple. We can’t love God, who we can’t see, if we can’t love one of His children, that we can see. Our love for God, through Christ, is demonstrated by our love for His children, through Christ. We can’t say we “love” God and “hate” our brother. If we have issues with our brother and don’t demonstrate to them agape love, we have no confidence in our faith toward God. So, in his gospel, John tells us we can be assured of our salvation if we believe the “signs” that Jesus did. In his first letter, John tells us we can be assured of our salvation if our beliefs in those “signs” leads us to love our brothers. This is James argument that “faith without works is dead.” Believing in Jesus is assure as we love His children.
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