Hereby we have known love, because *he* has laid down his life for us; and *we* ought for the brethren to lay down [our] lives.
Between a murderer's hatred and a believer's love, John sets one measure: the death of Christ. It tells us what love is, then hands us the cost of it. Commentators press hard on one detail — John says "we ought," not "we do."
Love defined, not described
John does not argue for love or define it in the abstract. He points to one act and one Person. Some translations add the words "of God" to the first clause. One writer argues against the addition.
To add "of God" spoils the sentence. There is no ground for inserting any words. But only One showed such love, and He was man as surely as God. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us." If you want to know what love is, look here. This was love indeed.
Hatred and love, traced to their sources
The verse stands against what came just before it: a brother's hatred. One writer sets hatred and love side by side. Neither is a passing mood. Each comes from somewhere.
We have seen that hatred, which is murder, comes from the devil, who sinned from the beginning. Here we are taught that we know love by this: that He laid down His life for us. The contrast could not be more complete — hatred and love, each traced back to its source.
His death and ours
The verse puts our self-giving alongside His, but not on the same level. A note on the wording observes that the little word "for" in John 10, where Jesus lays down His life for the sheep, carries the sense of one standing in the place of another — while here it carries the sense of acting for someone's benefit.
The following "for," as Meyer says, indicates substitution, not only benefit, as in 1 John 3:16.
Another writer makes the same guard while refusing to soften what John actually asks of us:
We might soften what he says here by telling ourselves that he only means we should spend our lives serving other believers. But that is not what he says. He says plainly that we ought to die for them. Not as a substitute, of course, the way Christ died for our sins — but still to truly lose our lives in death.
The weight of "we ought"
John states a debt, not a record of what believers already do. One writer weighs that difference.
"And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." His was a depth beyond measure, and nothing can match it. Still, it becomes the model for those who are His, however far short of atonement... He does not say that "we do" — though some believers have died not only for Christ's sake but for their brothers. He is content to say "we ought." Our love, since it comes from God, is able to do it. And in fact, if our dying would be of real use to our brother, we ought to be willing.
Whether it means dying, or living
Commentators differ here. Some, as above, hold the plain sense of dying. Others read it as the daily giving up of one's own life.
Yet His laying down His life for us is also an example for us... If this should end in death, so be it. But we ought to lay down our lives in service for the sake of God's people. That means living for them, not only dying for them if the occasion calls for it. Again, we are not giving our lives merely to a fine cause, however noble it may look. We give them to the glory of God, and for the blessing of the true children of God, not of the world.
Either way, the same power carries it:
With His perfect example before us, we should be ready to lay down our lives for our brothers, in the power of the new life that is marked by love. This does not have to mean actual death. It can mean letting go of life here for Christ's sake.
The test that comes any day
Kelly adds how rarely this demand takes its extreme form, and how often it takes a small one.
We may not often be called to lay down our life for our brothers. But are there not plain, simple, everyday ways in which it can be tested? My brother may be in need. It is no use talking about being ready to die for my brother if I shrink back from meeting his ordinary and perhaps urgent need. There is nothing grand here. It is very ordinary, but how practical! It puts the heart to the test, and the test may come any day of the week.
Summary
- Look: Love is not explained here but exhibited — one Man, one act, one place. "If you want to know what love is, look here."
- Learn: Hatred and love each run back to a source — hatred to the devil, love to the One who laid down His life.
- Owe: His death stood in our place, and nothing can match it. Ours is service, and John calls it a debt — "we ought," not "we do."
- Live: Some read this as literal death, others as the daily letting go of one's own life. Both say the new life supplies the power.
- Aim: The target is not a noble cause in general but the children of God — love spent where His love was spent.