“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
—1 John 4:20-21
THROUGHOUT THE BOOK of 1 John, the apostle is concerned to exhort Christians to love one another, not just in word but in action. And John emphasized this in many ways. For instance, 1 John 2:8-9 he calls us to love one another because love is what God commands. In chapter 3:14-15, John said believers need to love one another because true love is the evidence that we have been made a new creation in Christ. Love is the evidence that the Spirit of God has changed us from the inside out, from darkness to light. Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another as I have loved you.” In 1 John 4:7-16, John argues that we ought to love one another because God is love, and God demonstrated His love by giving His Son for our redemption. Therefore, if we have been adopted into the family of God and are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, then we ought to love one another in the same manner that God has loved us. But John knows it’s a challenge to manifest this kind of love in the life of the church because of remaining rebellion, and so he continually exhorts believers to love one another.
“IF SOMEONE SAYS, “I LOVE GOD,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21). John is saying that our love expressed to one another as Christians demonstrates the reality of our claim to love God. It is easy to “say” you love God, but the real proof is whether you love other believers. You see, John was writing to warn the congregation against the Gnostic false teachers who said it didn’t matter how you lived –only the spiritual things mattered. Therefore, you could treat others any way you wanted, and it really didn’t matter. But John says true love is always manifested by good deeds –“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” In other words, if someone says he loves God yet has no love for Christians then his claim to love God is false –he’s a hypocrite. John says it even stronger, “he is a liar.”
THE VISIBLE EVIDENCE of our love for God is always demonstrated by our practical love towards other Christians in deeds of kindness, helping one another, and sharing with those in need (James 2:14-26). John makes the point very clear when he wrote the following words, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18). Does the direction of your life (not the perfection) demonstrate that you really love God, or do you wear the hypocrite’s mask?
Friday Devotional: May 29, 2026
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
