God is Love
📜 The Word
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
— 1 John 4:20
🌎 The World Behind the Word
1 John was written between AD 85 to 95 quite a while after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. This would have been forty years since Jesus’ ministry. By now, the former wise Apostle John is the old seasoned and tested authority on Christian doctrine, the last living apostle, and he is in the right place— Ephesus.
Christianity was normalizing a bit and had become much more accepted. Church worship occurred primarily in houses and there was no central authority. Rival churches were actually competing for membership (sound familiar?). It was a less dangerous, but more spiritually volatile, time for Christianity.
John is speaking to congregations and self-appointed clergy. Compared to the gospel of John, this book is time-tested wisdom forged by decades of shepherding.
For the new Christians, as with any new Christian, there was a lot of praise for God and a lot of broken relationships among followers.
When he writes “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother…” he isn’t theorizing— he’s speaking about what is going on in the church right then and correcting real spiritual pathology…
A pathology that still happens to this day.
❓ The Meaning
This one cuts deep. Think of it— you are a new believer full of fire, and the boss man comes along and calls you a liar, that you don’t actually believe in God. The true test is what the budding believer does next (we will get to that).
Claim: “I love God”
Contradiction: Active hatred (or refusal to love) toward a brother or sister
Verdict: The claim is false
Reason: Love must operate first in the visible realm before it can be authentic in the invisible realm
This is plain math— not theology— and it should be recognized as real truth and wisdom even today. I, myself, struggle to go to some churches as they speak ill of the church down the street. Their doctrine is to preach fear of other believers with a mask of righteousness.
Key word: “hates”.
This isn’t limited to emotional rage, it includes:
Withholding love
Moral indifference
Refusal to relate
Dehumanizing another
Choosing separation when love is required
Another way to put it: absence of love where love is owed counts as hate.
“Whom he has seen” versus “Whom he has not seen”
“Whom he has seen” is us. I see you, I can touch you, I can hear you. I cannot do those same things with God, whom we claim to Love.
The “Whom he has not seen” has always rattle around in my head— we spend so much effort and worship on the “unseen” we forget there is a template of God likely in the next room where you pray today if not sitting right next to you at this moment. Love thy real neighbor and you are loving the invisible God right now!
Note also he says “brother or sister”— he isn’t’ speaking to Charlie on the street corner— he is addressing his claim against fellow worshipers at church.
Love is verified horizontally (as opposed to vertically) to our fellow man. If you can’t love horizontally, you can’t possibly love the unseen God.
Love is not a feeling toward God; it is intended to be a participation in God. You can see the lack of love in someone a mile away and you can feel it, unseen, in someone’s heart. It’s a lot harder to detect true love from afar.
🌿 Covenant Contrast
Old Covenant Ritual:
Love is defined by command
New Covenant Posture:
Love is defined by nature
🤵 Pastoral Word
⚖️ Self-Test Time: ⚖️
Ask yourself:
Who do I spiritually bypass?
Whose pain do I justify ignoring?
Who do I label “unlovable” while claiming divine love?
That relationship, that test, has only one of two outcomes— pass or fail. Don’t sugar coat it or you will miss an opportunity:
If you failed, fear not! You have an opportunity for real Pauline transformation at your fingertips RIGHT NOW.
Brett, you may ask, how do I overcome my disdain for so-and-so? How do I transform?
It’s not as hard as you think. Think of them like you would your errant kids or someone you loved that deeply disappointed you but easily forgave. Then say, “I do love you!” You don’t need special words. Just say what you know— “I LOVE”.
If you do that you will be rewarding yourself, giving a gift to your challenger, and truly worshiping God!
Test it on someone you have never met but know about and secretly or openly dislike. We’re often persuaded to hate these people by those we hang out with who hate them. Then recognize that their eternal self comes from God. They don’t know you, so you can’t hurt them.
The forgiveness prayer helps in this process— 70x7 (Matthew 18:22). But do it with a grounding in love first. Don’t just walk into it cold. If you fail a few times, don’t sweat it. It will eventually take hold and grow roots.
“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Transformation is the path to formation! It’s a practice you should do at every moment as you move through your day.
🙏 Prayer
Faithful God,
Let my love for others be the place
where my love for You becomes real.
in small acts,
in inconvenient moments,
in ordinary faithfulness.
Amen.
🔥 Carry this With You Today
Love for God is not a vertical achievement. It the horizontal practice that proves a vertical truth.
🙏 Pray
God of Love,
Help me live what I say I believe.
Where I am tempted to withdraw,
teach me to stay present.
Where I am quick to judge,
slow me into compassion.
Where fear closes my heart,
open it again with Your peace.
Let my love for others
be the truest expression of my love for You—
in small moments,
in quiet choices,
in ordinary encounters.
Give me the courage to love
without condition,
without calculation,
without delay.
Today, let my faith be visible.
Let my devotion take flesh.
Amen. 💛