Loving God and others

"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; God begets everyone who loves and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." (1 John 4:7-10)

In this beautiful and deeply theological exhortation, Saint John presents the very heart of the Christian message: that God is love, and that authentic love among believers flows directly from their participation in God's own life. The command to "love one another" is not a mere ethical injunction, but an expression of the fundamental reality of divine life shared with humanity. John clarifies that love originates in God Himself, and that true love, properly understood, is both the sign and the fruit of divine filiation. To love authentically is to manifest the life of God within oneself, for the one who loves "is begotten by God and knows God."

Theologically, John's declaration that "God is love" constitutes one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture regarding the divine nature. Love is not simply an attribute or action of God; it is His essence. Every act of creation, revelation, redemption, and sanctification manifests this fundamental reality. Knowing God is not an intellectual exercise but a relational participation in divine charity. Where love is absent, true knowledge of God is also absent, for to know God is to enter into the dynamic of divine self-giving revealed most perfectly in Christ.

John points to the definitive revelation of God's love in sending His "only Son into the world." This mission of the Son is the ultimate manifestation of divine charity, ordered not merely toward revelation but toward the granting of life itself. Humanity is offered participation in divine life through Christ's Incarnation, death, and resurrection. The definition of love here is profoundly Christocentric: "not that we have loved God, but that he loved us." This inversion emphasizes that human love for God always responds to God's prior initiative. Divine love is not conditioned by human merit but flows freely, culminating in Christ's expiatory sacrifice for sinners.

Practically, this passage calls believers to ground their lives in divine love, allowing it to shape every relationship, action, and intention. Active love for others becomes the true measure of one's communion with God. Participation in the Eucharist, where Christ's sacrificial love is present and offered to the faithful, nourishes and sustains this divine charity within the believer. Daily practices of forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and compassion become concrete ways of living out the call to "love one another" in imitation of Christ's love.

1 John 4:7-10 stands as a perennial summons to enter more deeply into the mystery of divine charity. It challenges believers to recognize that their identity, mission, and destiny are all rooted in the love of God revealed in Christ. By authentically loving one another, Christians not only fulfill the commandment of Christ but also become living witnesses to the divine nature, making visible in the world the profound truth that God is love, and that through Him, humanity is called to share forever in the life of eternal love.

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