Love One Another

How do you know if someone is a Christian? How can you know if a person is genuinely saved? How do you know if someone is merely professing to know Christ, or if they actually do? These are worthy questions for us to ask. The Bible gives us clear answers too. (See Matthew 5:2-12; John 20:30-31; Romans 8:16; Galatians 5:16-25; 1 John 5:13)

However, often more sensitive-conscienced Christians constantly worry about their salvation, when they should rest in the grace and love of Jesus. So, if you are one who struggles with assurance, remind yourself of the grace of God, depend on the Spirit, and keep following Christ.

But when it comes to ‘how to know if someone is a Christian’, there is an important facet of that question that we really should ask. Let me change the question slightly: How does the world know who the Christians are? This is a worthy question for us to ask as well, and even ask ourselves. After all, not all who say about Jesus, “Lord, Lord…” really know Him (Matthew 7:21)

In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “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.”

These are likely familiar verses for many of us. Soon Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified; He would sacrifice Himself for the sake of His people. And it is this kind of love He is calling His followers to give to one another—a sacrificial love that would capture the attention of the world. John the Apostle picks up on this same call from the Lord in 1 John 4:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loves us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” (vv.7-12)

John reminds all followers of Christ of the mandate from our Lord to love one another in the same way that Jesus loved us (not in atonement, but in intent). We cannot sacrifice our lives to save others, but we can live a self-sacrificed life for the sake of others—especially other Christians. And what is most interesting about John’s words here is verse 12; it’s worth repeating:

“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.”

What is John saying? Simply this: when we love other Christians especially, in the same kind of way and with the same kind of sacrificial love as that of our Savior, we not only show what God is like to the world, but we also show them who His genuine people are.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples…”

There are many things that are encouraging about this passage in 1 John 4, but one of the things that strikes me is that John’s words here address not only how the world can know who the true Christians, but also how a professing Christian can know that they are truly saved—at least one indication of true belief.

“No one has ever seen God…”, but one way the world is meant to “see” Him is through the way His people live, in particular in sacrificial love one towards another—just like our Savior. One of the clearest ways that we show the world that we belong to Him is by whether we love each other like He has loved us, and now commanded us to love one another.

And just in case some Christians need a little bit more motivation, John concludes this thought at the end of chapter 4 by saying, “whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (v. 21b) In other words, even if we don’t want to live this way, our Lord has not given us that option.

So, “let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” May we continually ask the Lord to give us this kind of love—His kind of love.