They’ll know we are Christians by our love
_”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). This powerful message from the book of John emphasizes the importance of love and compassion in the teachings of Jesus. It serves as a guiding principle for individuals seeking to follow the path of kindness and understanding. The call to love one another resonates through generations, inspiring acts of empathy and unity. As we reflect on these words, we are reminded to extend goodwill and support to those around us, fostering a sense of community and harmony. The visual representation of this biblical passage, captured in the image below, serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring relevance of these timeless words.
Cotton candy, that quintessential spun sugar treat brings back nostalgic memories of county fairs, ball games, and the circus. The ingredients are simple: granulated sugar, corn syrup, water, and flavoring. The texture and melt-in-your-mouth experience of cotton candy come from the spun layers of sugar and the air incorporated into them. Watch the masters spin the paper cone around the edges of the bowl of hot sugar, and you’ll see each layer adhere to the cone and then to the previous layers. The more the master spins the cone, the bigger the candy grows. The bigger it grows, the more it takes on the identifiable shape that distinguishes cotton candy from every other confection.
John is the master confectioner in his epistles. “The message you have heard from the beginning” is the spun sugar that, layer upon layer, forms the sweet substance of our confidence in Jesus’s work on our behalf enabling us to share the joy of his salvation by imitating him in love.
“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
John identifies the problem with those who would divide the church: they walk in darkness, practicing lawlessness in their arrogance, and seek to deceive Christians with their evil hearts(1 John 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 9, 11, 15; 3:4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17). John then pivots, reminding the readers that the evidence of faith is love meeting the needs of others while abiding as children of God (1 John 1:5, 7, 9; 1 John 2:3, 5, 6, 10, 17, 20, 24, 27-29; 1 John 3:1-3, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18). The pattern continues for the rest of the first epistle and both the subsequent ones. The message heard from the beginning is as simple as a cotton candy recipe: love God as you love one another. The admonition to love is from Jesus himself, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Anyone who teaches anything else speaks from the spirit of Cain.
Cain, the first born son of Adam and Eve, murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4) after God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s. The Genesis account does not address Cain’s motives for murder, but John does: Cain was of the evil one. John’s explanation that Cain’s motives were self-serving rather than God-honoring helps clarify the Genesis account. Actions that appear righteous but built on a heart in darkness demonstrate hate for the Lord and for his children.
The false teachers addressed in John’s letters denied that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah. Their motivations, like Cain’s, put themselves first and rejected anyone who sought Truth. One such false leader is named in John’s letter to Gaius (3 John). Diotrephes ignored apostolic authority, spoke “wicked nonsense” and expelled anyone who disagreed with him out of the church (vv 9-10). In writing to a devoted believer trying to maintain the integrity of a small church, John addressed the problem of Diotrephes and how to support faithful teachers and leaders. He continued his practice of layering truths of love, ensuring the message resonated with affirmations of love evident in good works.
“Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11).
In commending Gaius and Demetrius for their faithful good work in imitation of Jesus, John illustrates that, while there are always going to be people in the church doing evil, they are outnumbered and outweighed by those quietly doing good. Diotrephes had all the material goods he needed, but he closed his heart against his brothers in need. The love of God did not abide in him (1 John 3:17), just as it did not abide in Cain. The mark of a believer is love and service (1 John 3:14; John 13:17; 14:15, 23). Swindoll (2010) stated that we have a responsibility to love like Jesus. What does that look like?
“When we love like Jesus we are lifted outside ourselves. We shed self-interest. His brand of love sees beyond the normal range of human vision – over walls of resentment and barriers of betrayal. When we love like Jesus we rise above petty demands and snobbish entitlement. We loosen our tightfisted anxiety and relax in a surplus of benevolence“ (Parrot, 2018, italics in original).
Beyond politics, beyond denominations, beyond demographics, God’s love in us allows us to love others in the same way. That is the essence of defaulting to grace.
Resources
The ESV Bible. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org/.
Barclay, William. “Commentary on 1 John 3”. “William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/1-john-3.html. 1956-1959.
Palmer, Earl F., The Communicator’s Commentary Series, Volume 12: 1,2,3 John; Revelation. Word, Inc. 1982.
Parrott, Les. “How to Love Like Jesus in 5 Steps.” Ann Voskamp, 2018, annvoskamp.com/2018/09/how-to-love-like-jesus-in-5-steps/.
Spurgeon, Charles. Verse Expositions of the Bible: 1 John 3. Truth According to Scripture, http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/commentaries/spe/1-john-3.php
Stott, John R.W. The Letters of John. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, vol. 19, InterVarsity Press, 1964, 1988.
Swindoll, Charles R. Third John. Insight for Living, 2010, https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-general-epistles/third-john.
John H Walton & Craig S. Keener (Editors). NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Context Changes Everything), Hardcover, Red Letter: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture. Zondervan, 23 Aug. 2016.
Defaulting to Grace 