1 Corinthians 8:3

but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him.

'if any man loveth God' -'present tense verb; hence, "if any man keeps on loving God."' (Willis p. 265)

Points to Note:

1. This implies that one can have "knowledge", even correct knowledge of God and His will and yet "not love God." The Pharisees knew. lot of truth and yet many of them lacked. love for God. (Matthew 23:3; John 5:42)

2.. must not only "know the truth",. must "love the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:10), and loving the God that such truth so often reflects.

3. Loving God of course involving keeping the commandments of God. (John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23; 1 John 5:3) Therefore, Paul infers that it is possible for Christians to "know the truth" and yet fail to obey or properly apply it.

'the same is known by him'

'Although we might have expected the sentence to read, "If any man love God, the same knows God," we read that the person is known of God. This is. greater blessing than the other reading would have been. In. king's mansion, every person knows the king; however, the king does not know every servant. To say that. servant is known by the king is to say something greater than to say the servant knows the king.' (Willis p. 265)

'known' -in the sense of "accepted by" (Matthew 7:23; Galatians 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:19) 'No one is acquainted with God who does not love him' (1 John 4:8). God sets the seal of his favour on the one who loves him.' (Robertson p. 138)

***'What is the value of our knowing, even our knowledge of God in contrast with idols, if in the end God does not know us as his own?' (Lenski p. 337)***

Having laid down this principle--that love is the final arbiter (not the world's definition of love, but love of God) and not "mere" knowledge..Paul now proceeds with the problem at hand.