1 John 4:21 21And we have this command from him, that the one who loves God should also love his brother.
This verse summarizes the two greatest commands Jesus gave, which condense all the laws of the Old and New Testaments (Matthew 22:37, 39; Luke 10:27; John 13:34). John’s point in this passage is now clear: one demonstrates love for God by loving others. The two are connected and cannot be separated. All of God’s commands can be summarized in the simple command of love. The reason for this is that everything God does is loving. God’s commands come out of his redemptive love. This love is experienced as wrath when confronting injustice, but this confrontation is a form of grace that brings conviction, pointing people to the need to repent and confess.
John’s logic is simple yet life-transforming. His words require us to look within ourselves and examine our motives and attitudes. He started his letter with the call to confess in 1:9 for a reason. We need to be honest before God about our lack of love and obedience and respond to the conviction that results. The good news is that God offers forgiveness and cleansing through our Advocate, Jesus Christ. We do not need to be trapped by hateful actions and attitudes, but we can live with love. The darkness makes love difficult to see. It deceives people into distorting love for selfish reasons, sometimes without them fully realizing it. Even when people move from the world of darkness into the new life of light, they may carry this wrong understanding with them.