“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1st John 4:7, 8.
The love that exists between the Persons of the Trinity is an unfathomable love. It is infinite, eternal and unchangeable love. Even in trying to contemplate it we are launched out into an ocean without a bottom, without a brim and without any shore. Astronauts launched out into space might as easily grasp the limits of space as a believer can the length and the breadth, and the height and the depth of the love that exists within the Trinity. The very thought of it is overwhelming. We can only gaze in wonder, unable to take in its fulness. Yet it is summed up so simply and briefly in these words: “God is love.” Love belongs to the very nature of God. He is essentially love and is glorious in this respect as He is glorious in all His attributes.
But God is not only a God of love; He also is One who has made His love known to men in the Person and work of His well-beloved Son. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The end which the Father had in view in sending His Son was that poor sinners might experience the love of God in their own hearts through the effectual working of His Word and Spirit in them. The Saviour could say to the Father in the concluding words of His intercessory prayer: “I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).
As those who have the love of God dwelling in them, the true people of God are themselves to dwell in love towards one another. If we have been partakers of the love of God in Christ Jesus and can say, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1), then we must also say, “Beloved, let us love one another.” Love to the brethren is an essential mark of the true believer. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14). Every believer must seek to cultivate the grace of love, for love is the fulfilling of the law. It is also the first of the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galations, chapter 5.
How then are we to grow in love and manifest love to all men and more particularly to those who are of the household of faith? It cannot be apart from loving God. It is as we are more and more knit in love to God in Christ that we will have our hearts drawn out in love to our neighbour and our brethren. What then will make us love God more? Surely an increased realisation that He first loved us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” It is the revelation of His love in Christ to our soul which unites us to Him and draws out our soul in love to Him. If then we love Him who begat, will we not also love those who are begotten by Him?
Another way in which we may have our hearts drawn out in love to the brethren is this. Let us not look upon them as they are in themselves, but as they are in Christ; and let us look for Christ in them. Christian love is not love to the brethren for what they are in themselves. It is just natural love when we love another because of his or her own virtues or outward attractiveness. Love of the brethren is love based on what they are in Christ and on account of what is seen of Christ in them. They will be loved therefore because they are Christ’s and because of their Christlikeness. In the measure that Christ shines forth in any of the brethren, in that measure our soul will be knit to that person in love.
How is it then that there can be any interruption of this love between the brethren? Will not Christ always be attractive in His people? It is through sin that this mutual love is disturbed. Sin will hide the image of Christ in His people. They will appear like the world. When place is given in the heart to sin — to pride, self-seeking, carnality, etc. — then we need not wonder though it should result in estrangement among the brethren. If love between the brethren is to be restored then sin must be put away. This calls each one to honest and diligent self-examination. Love among the brethren cannot flourish unless it go hand in hand with a crucifying of the flesh. There must be a putting off of the old man and a putting on of the new. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:25, 26).
May we be enabled so to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives that men will take notice of us that we have been with Jesus. Other believers then cannot but be knit to us in love because of the image of Christ they see in us. In this way we will promote, not coldness and alienation among the brethren, but a deepening of love towards one another.