Love. One. Another. If you type those three words into your search engine, you’ll find a dozen references.
The first two are found in John 13:34–35, when Jesus tells his disciples to love one another, just as he has loved them. Next, “love one another” repeats in John 15:12 and 17, as Jesus connects the love of God with the love of God’s children.
Paul uses these same three words, when he says in Romans 12:10, “Love one another with brotherly affection.” And Peter echoes Paul’s brotherly instruction in 1 Peter 1:22, when he says, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
Those are the first six uses of “love one another.” Then the last six are found in John’s Epistles. One is found in 2 John 5 and five in 1 John 3–4 (1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 8, 12).
From this basic survey, then, we can conclude two things. First, the command to love one another is always a command to members of one body (Rom. 12:5) to love one another with brotherly affection. This command is not an abstract instruction for individuals to do loving things. It is a mutual command for the body of Christ to love those in Christ.
That’s the first thing. The second thing is that the passage that most fully details how to love one another is 1 John 3–4. And yesterday, as I preached again on the theme of fellowship, I looked at three things.
- The Command to Love One Another is a command fulfilled in the body of Christ.
- The Command to Love One Another is a command that rejects the violent competition of Cain.
- The Command to Love One Another is a command that finds life in the cross of Christ.
In short, to love another as God commands we must reject the spirit of Cain’s violent competition and embrace Christ and his willingness to put others ahead of himself. This is the key to abiding fellowship with God and one another. And yesterday, this is what I tried to show from 1 John 3:11–18. You can find that sermon here.
Check back later this week too, as I share parts 2 and 3 of “A Dangerous Calling: Two Ways to Seek Ministry.”
Soli Deo Gloria, ds
Via Emmaus 