When we read St. John’s letters it can sometimes be difficult to focus on the deeper meaning. John has an amazing depth of thought, but his simple language and abstract structure tend to throw us off. Perhaps the only thing we might get out of today’s reading is that we ought to love God and keep His commandments, for example. This is true, but it does not reach the depths that John experienced.
John says that “we love God because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and then, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother . . . cannot love God” (1 John 4:20). We love God because he first loved us. When was this? God loved us into existence in the first place. His very essence is overflowing love, gift of self, effervescent existence that spills over into the creative act, donating a piece of itself to new creations. God’s love for us is expressed in our very being, our nature as made in His image and likeness.
This image and likeness are, practically speaking, our intellect and will, by which we know the truth and love the good, and our bodies, by which we give of ourselves in loving communion. In giving us a will, God makes us capable of loving like He does. He directs our being to Himself, the only object that can satisfy our longing. Part of this act, John points out, is to love as God loves. And this means loving our brother, because God created our brothers in the same way as He did us. When we love as God loves, we must love those whom He loves. This is the connection John is making. Loving like God and loving God means loving all others in Him, as He first loved them in creation.
“For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments” (1 John 5:3). How does this relate to loving our brother? John has shown us that loving God and loving as He loves means loving the ones whom He loves. It also means doing what He does. When we love someone, we want to imitate Him, to be like Him. It is the same with God. We love because of a shared good. The other’s good is my good. Loving God means wanting to be like Him, seeing as our good the things that are His good. Practically, this means keeping His commandments. God’s commandments are simply the things that He is always doing, translated for our understanding. They are the concrete expression of what God considers good. And if we love Him, this ought to be very important to us.
With this perspective, we can see the great depth in St. John’s thought. It is not just pithy sentiment: love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor, and love of God means keeping His commandments.
Daily Reading
Thursday after Epiphany
Reading I 1 John 4:19–5:4 Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever…
Saint of the Day
Saint Adrian of Canterbury
Saint Adrian of Canterbury (died 710) was a famous scholar and the Abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury in the English county of Kent. He twice turned down a papal request to become Archbishop of Canterbury.
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