‘By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.'

He now draws attention to what that love must be like. It is a love known through experience (‘we know'), for love is what Jesus showed in His life and practised, and through which we have benefited. Jesus, he points out, gave us an example of it, by laying down His life for us. He did the opposite to Cain. Instead of taking life He gave His life. It is therefore sacrificial love. It is an all-giving love. It is practical love. It is love that is full of consideration for others. Indeed if we so truly love we will be ready to lay down our own lives for the brethren, and especially for those who bring us the truth.

But the thought goes deeper than that, for here John is linking love for the brethren with the love that brought Jesus to the cross. This is Christian love, love linked with the cross, love that is unlike any known before, love that gave itself on the cross to bear men's sins, love that takes part in Christ's sacrifice of Himself and lives it out (Galatians 2:20), and thus it is love that is dead to sin and reveals true Christian faith (compare 1 John 4:9; John 10:15).

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