1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. When the venerable John could no longer walk to the meetings of the Church, but was borne there by his disciples, he always uttered the same address; that one commandment which he received from Christ, comprising all the rest, the distinctive feature of the new covenant, "My little children, love one another." When the brethren asked why he always repeated the same thing, he replied, 'Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if this one be attained, it is enough' (Jerome). IN WORD - `with word ... with tongue, but in deed and truth.'...

18._Let us not love in word _There is a concession in this first clause; for we cannot love in tongue only; but as many falsely pretend this, the Apostle _concedes_, according to what is often done, the name of the thing to their dissimulation, though, in the second clause, he reproves their vanity, when he denies that there is reality except in the deed. For thus ought the words to be explained, — Let us not profess by the tongue that we love, but prove it by the deed; for this is the only true way of shewing love. (81) “My dear children, let us love, not only by word, or with the tongue, but by work and in truth.” That is, let us not love only by making in words fair promises, or by expressing sympathy with the tongue, but by giving effect to our sympathy by works, and by making our word true, by fulfilling it. Here we find the same arrangement as in many other instances; the “word” h...

16-21 Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to a perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it must decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to....

Verse 18. _MY LITTLE CHILDREN_] τεκνιαμου, _My beloved_ _children, let us not love in word_-in merely _allowing_ the general _doctrine_ of love to God and man to be just and right; _NEITHER IN TONGUE_] In making _professions_ of love, and of a charitable and humane disposition, and resting there; _but in deed_- by humane and merciful acts; _AND IN TRUTH._] Feeling the disposition of which we speak. There is a good saying in _Yalcut Rubeni_, fol. 145, 4, on this point: "If love consisted in _word only_, then love ceaseth as soon as the word is pronounced. Such was the love between Balak and Balaam. But if love consisteth not in _word_, it cannot be _dissolved_; such was the love of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs which were before them....

MY LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE - By mere profession; by merely sayinG that we love each other. See 1 Peter 1:22. BUT IN DEED AND IN TRUTH - In such acts as shall show that our professed love is sincere and real. Let us do the deed of love, whether anything is said about it or not. See the notes at Matthew 6:3....

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 3:1 TO 1 JOHN 5:12 3. SECOND MAIN DIVISION. _God is Love._ 1 JOHN 3:1 (1) The _evidence of sonship. _Righteousness. 1 JOHN 3:1 The Divine birth is the outcome of the Divine love. 1 JOHN 3:1 BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE! Ποταπός;_ _literally, "of what country," in the New Testament always implies amazement; but,

MY LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE,.... Which though it holds good of love to God, and to Jesus Christ, yet here is to be understood of love to the brethren, as the context shows; and so the Syriac version reads, "let us not love one another in word", c. that is, without the heart, or with a double heart speaking one thing with the lip, and designing another thing in the heart; speaking peaceably with the mouth, and with the heart laying wait; or we should not love in this manner "only"; and so the Arabic version of De Dieu adds. It is very lawful, and right to express our love to one another, and to all men in words, to give good words, and use courteous language, and speak in a kind, tender, and affectionate manner, and especially to persons in distress; but this should not be all, it will be of no avail to say to such, be warmed and filled, and give them no...

I have read this chapter many times in your hearing, but we cannot read it too often, for it is full of the deepest and most important instruction. God grant that fresh light from above may shine upon it as we listen once more to the familiar words! 1 John 3:1. _Behold,_ If you never used your eyes to good purpose before, use them so now: 1 John 3:1. _What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:_ Let the truth of our adoption amaze us, the adoption of such unworthy ones as we were to so high a relationship «that we should be called the sons of God.» 1 John 3:1. Therefore the world knoweth not, because it knew him not.

IV. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE AS MANIFESTED BY THE CHILDREN OF GOD Chapter S 2:28-3:18 __ 1. The children of God and their coming manifestation (1 John 2:28 -1 John 3:3) 2. Sin and the new nature (1 John 3:4) 3. Righteousness and love (1 John 3:10) 1 John 2:28 -1 John 3:3 . The address to the babes in Christ ended with the 27th verse, and now once more he speaks of the teknia, the little children, by which all believers are meant. The exhorta

The hatred of the world is to be expected, but within the Christian brotherhood there must be love, manifesting itself in deeds of self-sacrifice in imitation of Christ's love. If we possess this spirit we shall be able to silence inward misgivings as to our standing before God, because we obey Him in that we believe in Christ and love one another. Such obedience ensures His indwelling, attested by the gift of His Spirit. 1 JOHN 3:14. The teaching is the same as in 1 John 2:9 f., except that the metaphor has been changed, and the soul's lack of correspondence with its spiritual environment is described as death. 1 John 3:15_ a_. An echo of...