²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

John is not interested in moving on from the truth that God’s initiating love is the source and motivation for our love. He drives the application home to interpersonal relationships. Genuine Christian brotherly love is sourced in the love God has for believers. Therefore, John writes that a person who confesses to being a believer and knowing God’s love, yet “hates” another Christian, is a fraud! The attitude of hate makes the person’s proclamation of love for God a lie. God will not be mocked! Jesus made this clear in the Sermon on the Mount:

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matt. 5:22)

Notice, the apostle John is not saying that a genuine believer would lose his eternal life if he hates his fellow believer. No, this passage speaks about identifying whether the individual in question has fully experienced God’s love in the first place. In other words, the genuineness of his faith is in question, and therefore his claim to be converted to Christ is suspect. Our love for others is the proving ground for our love for God.

This passage also speaks a warning to genuine Christians. How could I, being a true believer, act in any shape or form that would be akin to hating a fellow Christian when I have been the recipient of God’s overwhelming love for me, a sinner? So, on the one hand, this passage warns the fraudulent professing “Christians”: acknowledge your self-deception and turn in genuine faith, receiving God’s unmerited love. And on the other hand, this passage motivates real believers: don’t act like unbelieving liars who masquerade as Christians.

So, for us who believe, our love for others must be more than mere words. We need to ask ourselves questions like: How have I sacrificed for other people, following the example of Jesus giving His life for me on the cross? When have I (metaphorically) washed others’ feet as Jesus did for the disciples in the upper room (John 13:1–15)? Since God’s love came to me while I was a sinner and alienated from Him, so too I, as a direct response to God, should initiate loving others even though they are sinners—yes, even when they don’t love me in return.

Lord, I want to grow in my love for others because You have perfectly loved me.