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NASB | John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 13:35 "By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another." |
Bible Question (short): Then love is a litmus test? |
Question (full): John does give criteria for judgment, does he not? “Believe not every spirit”, he says, “but try the spirits to see whether they are of God.” What then do you make of those in our midst who show no love? John says, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”. Does that mean some brethren, or all the brethren? Does it mean “Us four and no more”, or does it mean all the brethren? Who is my brother anyway? Is he the one who looks like me or talks like me or makes me feel good? I think I am talking about some things we see among professing Christians. John’s words seem to be an acid test. “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him”. Yet who dares suggest to a person that he’s not saved because he is not showing love? He will say he is saved and he will even say he’s showing love, tough love or something. Some deride the idea of love altogether, choosing instead the criterion of truth. But it seems there are objective ways to perceive love. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”. Some of us are unwilling to sacrifice anything, least of all our lives. There are objective ways to perceive love. A person may say he loves. “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” But one may ask, “Who is my brother?” And everyone has those whom they would help. But would they help him simply because he is a brother? All these questions really amount to one question. Is there such a thing as a saved person admitting that he does not have love toward certain other saved people? Or would such an admission mean he is not saved? What then? Does he try to show love? Or does he repent of his sinfulness and seek salvation? A person sometimes wonders if he is saved. A person often wonders if the other person is saved. Is not love for the brethren a litmus test? How does a person know. John says, “We know because we love”. Jesus had said, “By this shall all men know”. |