1 John 5:1 - Forerunner Commentary

1 John 5:1

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The First Epistle of John 5:1:

I John 5:1-3
Excerpted from: Love's Basic Definition

John is telling us here that the love of God and the love of man (again, mostly here within the fellowship) are inseparable. They are inseparable parts of the same experience. If we love the Father, we also love the child. That is the analogy that he is using. We are the children. If we love the Father that begot the children, then we must love the children the Father has begotten. Otherwise, there is reason to question whether we love God. If we do not love the brethren, then do we really love God? (We will get to that one in a bit.)

Now I John 5:3 is very important because a person can take isolated statements about love from other parts of the New Testament; and this can lead those people into saying that the keeping of the commandments is not necessary. The great body of "Christianity" out there says that the keeping of the commandments is not necessary. In fact, we heard one spokesman for the [Worldwide] Church of God, when asked whether we needed to keep the Sabbath and the holy days, he said, "No." That shows you how far they are drifting away.

So, some will go so far as to say that church and all the rest of the Bible is unnecessary. In fact, I just read a letter within the past two or three days and this person said that all you need to do is keep things like the Sermon on the Mount and you do not have to worry about the law of God.

We are going to see the part that the law of God plays in the love of God, because what that other way will produce is a purposeless, directionless way of life. In practical fact, the person will be doing what is pleasing in his own eyes because he will be the lawgiver. He will be the one who determines what is right and wrong. Now, what the commandments do is define. They make it abundantly clear what the basic elements of love are and what direction our specific actions are going to take if there is going to be love.

Now remember that I said before that God has feelings. He cares. He is an emotional Being. And those emotions can motivate Him, just like they do you and me. We begin to feel like we are being put upon, the emotion of anger is likely to rise up and that feeling will then almost make you do something. Probably strike out in anger with your fist. Maybe it will open up your tongue and you will swear a blue streak. I hope not.

But, nonetheless, you see that feelings will motivate. God is a feeling Being. And we are feeling beings as well. And, all too often, our feelings motivate us to go in the wrong direction. This is where the law of God is important, because it tells us what direction we are to take our actions, so that there is no equivocation, there is no doubt in our mind as to which way love is to go. You cannot take away the law of God and still love, because we will start wandering all over the place, in terms of our acts.

When you see this in the context of the whole book of I John, John is saying that obedience to God is the proof of the love of God. It is proving whether we are following the Guide. Let me give you a longer statement in regard to this. Obedience is an action. Love is an action. But obedience is an action that follows or submits to a commandment of God, a principle revealed by God in His Word, and/or an example of God or the godly. "Follow me as I follow Christ." Be an example.

At this point in understanding what love is—where John gives this definition that the love of God is proved and shown by the keeping of the commandments—we are not considering how one feels about keeping it. God expects us to follow His commandments whether we feel like doing it or not. And so feeling is secondary to the action that is taken, in the love of God. This means we have to be prepared, maybe, to do an awful lot of things that we do not feel like doing.

If love is going to have a beginning, if love is going to be perfected, our feelings may mislead us. And so those feelings have to be overcome by a reasoned effort based on the truth of God and the … . . .

Articles
Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Four)
The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

Bible Studies
Does I John 5:7-8 Support the Trinity Doctrine?

Sermons
We are Called to Liberty
Deuteronomy: Fear
The Two Great Commandments: First Principles
No Failsafe Needed
He Who Overcomes
Control and Self-Control
Letters to Seven Churches (Part Eight): Overcoming
It is Done! The Perfect Peace of God

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