• Download Video
• Download Audio
• Print
• Email
• Save As PDF

"And this commandment we have from Him..."

Text: 1 John 4:21

LOVE EACH OTHER

The Apostle John once again reiterates this commandment to love as one that comes from the Lord Himself.

“And this commandment we have from Him:
that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
1 John 4:21

1. “And this commandment”

a) This was written with specific emphasis in the Greek New Testament.

b) The word “this” is commonly called “a demonstrative pronoun”.

c) Its function is to draw attention to the noun it is associated with.

d) Literally translated it reads, “and this the commandment”.

e) Idiomatically translated it reads, “and this commandment” (NKJV text).

f) The effective word is “commandment” (and not a suggestion).

2. “We have from Him”

a) John was not referring to the past when this commandment was given by the Lord Jesus (John 13:34-35).

b) His use of the Present Tense is significant.

c) This commandment from the Lord is as if he had just received it.

3. “That he who loves God must love his brother also”

a) It is right that we should speak of loving God.

b) This love for God.

i) It is an on-going reality.

ii) It is an active love for God.

iii) This love is in response to God’s greater love for us!

c) “Must love his brother also”

i) This would be the natural result of loving God.

ii) The object of love is “the brother” in Christ.

iii) It is God’s clear commandment that we love one another.

iv) No option is provided.

v) This teaching has been most emphatically taught in 1 John.