"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." [1 Jn 2:9-11]
Here in John, we see another truth of the true Christian: love for the brethren. John says, “he that loveth his brother abideth in the light…but he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness…” And,
“…whosoever is not practicing righteousness is not of God, neither he that is not loving his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” [1 Jn 3:10-11]
And again,
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we continue to love the brethren. He that is not loving his brother abideth in death. Whosoever is hating his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” [1 Jn 3:14-15]
It is one of the most repeated truths in this epistle of John’s, that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must love one another: for it is the command Jesus gave before His death, that which we have heard from the beginning, “a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” [Jn 13:34] And in that John speaks of brethren in Christ is manifest; for he writes, “whosoever believeth that Jesus is The Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him,” that is, the brethren – those whom, as Jesus says, have been “born again…born of The Spirit.” [1 Jn 5:1, Jn 3:3-6]
We would do well to remember that when Jesus said, “love one another, as I have loved you,” that He spoke this before His death. And in that immediate context, the love Jesus spoke of was as the gospels show us: Jesus’ daily giving up of Himself for His disciples and for the people around Him in teaching, service, and prayer. When we see the clear evidence of a true Christian, to be loving his brother, we should understand it in this way. And to this John also bears witness, for he writes by The Spirit, explaining to us what this love is,
“Hereby perceive we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” [1 Jn 3:16-18]
This word is very similar to what James writes regarding faith,
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” [Jam 2:14-16]
True love and true saving faith are alike in this way: they must produce works; they must result in tangible action. For if they do not, they are dead altogether, merely professions and not realities. See that in the passage above, John points out that love must be “in deed and in truth,” and shows us likewise what this means, giving us an example of a brother with a tangible need. The true Christian, who is loving his brethren, when he comes to realize through whatever means, that a brother or sister has need and also that he himself has “this world’s good” which are necessary to fulfil that need, then he will provide for that brother or sister. This must be the lifestyle that he maintains. Most of the time, the man who is truly loving the brethren will do this. However, for the man who, like in John and Jame’s passages, sees a brother with a tangible need, but refuses to give that which is necessary, even going so far as to in lieu of provision provide only prayer, is no better than an unbeliever: his profession of the love and faith of God is dead and vain, for it has not produced any useful fruit. For the man who cannot provide for the need, prayer is excellent; and we are commanded to be, “praying always…for all saints.” [Eph 6:16] Further, even for the man who can provide, prayer is good and necessary; however, if our lifestyle is that of only prayer, of only words, and never deeds and never actions, then we fall under the condemnation of what The Holy Spirit says through James and John.
The true Christian will be exhibiting a lifestyle of helping his brethren in tangible acts of useful-kindness. John shows us what it means to “lay down our lives for the brethren” in his example wherein a man who, “hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need,” so provides for him. For John rhetorically states that if that man “shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,” that is, the man refuses to provide that which God has freely given him to supply that brother’s need, then, “how dwelleth the love of God in him?” We see then that the love of God does not dwell in that man, for “he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love,” [1 Jn 4:8] and again,
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” [1 Jn 4:20]
But notice another thing, besides the mere act of providing or doing some good for a brother in need, the act must be a useful one. In Galatians, when Paul speaks of the fruit of The Holy Spirit, he says, “but the fruit of The Spirit is…gentleness.” [Gal 5:22] The KJV word translated “gentleness” is a word which means “useful kindness.” It is a Greek word which derives from the word for usefulness/profitable. This is the type of kindness and love that we are to show to our brethren. For imagine, if through inquiry and conversation a man recognized a brother in need of a stove. The usefully-kind response would be to provide a stove; but what if the man, knowing his brother to be in need, instead provided him with a couch? Well, one might say, ‘that is very kind;’ but is it useful? It may have been kind, for couches can be expensive: but it was not useful, and so, not providing for the brother’s need, the action remains unfruitful and unloving. For if we are those who love to give, but only love to give away unwanted and useless things to others, we are not loving nor kind: we are merely using others to dump off unwanted goods from this world in order to perhaps satisfy our conscience or afford ourselves some pleasant feelings. In testing our lives for this proof of true Christianity, we must recognize that what John and James both describe, is useful kindness.
With this, let us prove our souls to see if they are truly filled with God’s love. Can you, with a true heart, say that you maintain a lifestyle of love for other Christians, that is, brothers and sisters in Christ? Does Christ live in you? Does Christ live out of you? You may say, ‘I pray for all my brethren daily;’ but, dear brother, if you possess “this world’s good” or that which is “needful to the body,” do you provide it for those brethren to whom The Spirit has made you aware? If God has given you that which another brother needs, and you come to know this of a truth, and possess all that is necessary to provide for him, the scriptures teach us that we must. For how can a man claim to love God, if he maintains a lifestyle wherein no tangible acts of love ever flow out? Jesus tells us, “he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” [Jn 7:38] Is it then possible that a man who is truly saved, who has The Spirit of God dwelling within him, does not have these rivers flowing out of His heart and life and into others’? It cannot be. For the man who is truly saved will exhibit a lifestyle of loving his brethren; that is, when he is made aware of a brother’s lack wherein he has supply, he will lay down his life as Christ did his. As Jesus “did not think equality with God a prize to be grasped, but emptied Himself,” [Phil 2:6-7] so too shall that man empty himself of whatever goods God has given him and say as Paul said, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” [2 Cor 12:15]
To see past and future posts in this series of Testing Your Salvation, click here.