Commanded to Love: A Reflection on 1 John 5.1-6 and John 15.9-17

I come from a family that values simplicity. You might even say ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ was something of a family motto when I was growing up. So, as much as highly nuanced pieces of theology interest me, I have a soft spot for passages like those from today’s readings that go right to the point. So in honour of that, today will have a simple post on two simple passages.

The Epistle reading assigned for today comes from 1 John 5; it’s short, so I’ll quote it in full:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5.1-6)

What John is saying here involves a logic chain: IF you believe in Jesus, THEN you must love God. And, IF you love God, THEN you must love all of God’s children. And how do you know you love God’s children? When you love God and follow the commandments. (As we’ll talk about more later this week in our series on the Holy Spirit, following the commandments is made possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.) The passage provides an interesting spin on all the reflections I’ve had in this space on the nature of faith. At the start of this passage, it sounds like John is working alone perfectly Protestant lines: belief is the key driving force here. But, by the end, it’s clear that action is what matters to him. I don’t think for a minute that John is contradicting himself, for belief is nothing if it’s not lived out. If we switch out ‘faith’ for ‘belief’ here (a move entirely warranted in the original Greek), the sense becomes even more clearer: What does faith look like? Faith looks like loving God and neighbour by following the commandments.

Of course, as Christians, the ‘commandments’ in question are not primarily the Law of Moses, but the commandments of Christ. And this is where the Gospel of the day comes in. It reads:

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (John 15:9-17)

In his epistle, John wrote that faith and loving God mean following the commandments. And here in his Gospel, we see John saying that his commandments equal loving one another, in actions more than words, even to the point of personal sacrifice.

We live in a complex world with increasingly complex problems, and a social media culture that surfaces only the most extreme voices. But if we ever want to know how to respond to any of these situations, it’s not complex at all: Choose the path of love. True faith has no victims. True love has no collateral damage.

Love one another.

It’s as simple as that.