And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
John writes this short letter to a woman and her children. He urges the old command to love one another, then says plainly what that love is: a walk marked out by God's commandments, on a path unchanged since the start.
Love Given a Definition
John does not leave love to each reader's taste. He asks what love is, and his answer rules out the popular substitutes.
William KellyBut what is love? "And this is love:" it is not being independent of each other. It is not agreeing to differ. It is none of those human inventions, which are not only a departure from the truth but are in fact morally evil and harmful. "This is love, that we walk according to his commandments." You cannot separate it from Christ. You cannot separate it from obedience.
The Pattern Set by Christ
Christ Himself is the pattern. He kept His Father's commandments because He loved Him.
J. N. Darby"And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments." Just as Christ walked according to the commandments of God because He loved Him. As He said (John 14:31), "I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." So it is with those who follow Him.
The same writer points to two guards John sets around love. Christ Himself was both of them.
J. N. DarbyThen he takes these two guards of true love: one is the truth and the other is obedience — exactly what Christ was when He was in the world. He came into the world as love, the witness and testimony of love. He was the truth. He was the obedient man. He showed His love for His Father by obeying Him in all things.
Love Flows in God's Channels
Love that comes from God can only move in God's own channels. His commandments mark out those channels.
The Christian's FriendLove which is of God can only flow out according to the nature of God, and so in divine channels. The commandments of God express His nature, what He is, and in this way they reveal Him to us in and through the living Word. So we have sure directions for the love John speaks of. If we neglect them, confusion follows among the people of God, to their spiritual loss and damage. Love builds up, but only when we show it according to God.
Love and Obedience Are One Road
So what about love that seems warm but ignores what Christ commanded?
J. A. TrenchWe must not forget that the paths of love and obedience are not two paths, but one. "And this is love," said one who lived very near the heart of Jesus, speaking by the Holy Spirit, "that we walk according to His commandments." You may meet with love on paths of disobedience. But that is not the holy love which has its spring in God, the love Jesus commands His people to have.
What "From the Beginning" Means
The verse ties the commandment to what the readers heard at the beginning. For the Christian, that beginning is not Adam but Christ.
William KellyAdam was the beginning of the human race on earth. But Christ is the beginning for the Christian. With Christ came grace and truth, and the source of Christian obedience and mutual love… When the Son of God appeared in flesh as foretold, grace and truth came in Him. The light judged everything that did not match God's nature, and the truth showed every person and thing as it really is.
A Walk to Be Continued
The verse uses the word "walk" twice. Love proves itself by obeying, and that obedience must keep going on the path known from the start.
F. B. HoleBut love shows itself in practice by obeying the will of God. There may be love on the lips without obedience in the life. But love in the heart must produce obedience in the life. And the commandment of love is this: we should walk, and keep on walking, in all that God has made known to us in Christ from the start. The danger then threatening was that, under various excuses, some would be drawn away to follow and obey ideas foreign to what had been from the beginning.
Summary
- Defined — John does not leave love to personal taste. He defines it as walking by God's commandments. You cannot cut it off from Christ or from obedience.
- Displayed — Christ obeyed the Father because He loved Him. In Him love, truth and obedience were one, and they stay one in those who follow Him.
- Directed — God's commandments express what He is. They are the channels His love flows through, and love builds others up only when it keeps to them.
- Distinguished — Love found on a path of disobedience is not the love that springs from God. The road of love and the road of obedience are one road.
- Durable — What they heard "from the beginning" is Christ, made known here on earth. Keep walking in it, and refuse ideas foreign to it.