Monthly Archive for August, 2001

Page 2 of 4

1 John 5:8

Published on August 21, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.”
 
 
This verse sets forth three witnesses to the truth: 1) the Holy Spirit, 2) the water baptism of Christ and 3) the substitutionary death of Christ by His shed blood.
And there are three that bear witness on earth:
There are three testimonies to Christ on earth.  The “earth” is the sphere where the testimonies bear witness.   
the Spirit,
The “Spirit” here is the ministry of the Holy Spirit through His revelation of the Old and New Testaments and convicting work to each individual.  The Holy Spirit personalizes truth to our experience. 
The water,
“Water” refers to the baptism of Christ. 
And the blood;
The “blood” refers to the sacrificial death of Christ for our sins.  Jesus fully and finally paid for our sins.  No further suffering for them is necessary. 
And these three agree as one
The three witnesses of this verse are in agreement.  Two witnesses to Christ are historical and one is personal.  All three witnesses present Christ in one harmonious whole.  Consensus of the concurring witnesses converges on the one end of the centrality of the person and work of Christ.  The Spirit proves this point in verses 9-12. 
PRINCIPLE:  The Holy Spirit moves us toward making Jesus Christ an integral part of our life. 
APPLICATION:  The Holy Spirit applies to our heart the reality of Christ and His ministry to us.  Jesus’ blood frees us from the penalty of sin.  He wants us to be more than religious spectators. 
Is 53: 4 “Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5     But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6     All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Share

1 John 5:7

Published on August 20, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”
 
 
This verse is not in older Greek manuscripts.
John enlarges on the Holy Spirit’s witness to the truth (5:6) concerning the person and work of Christ.  He appeals to three more witnesses. 
For there are three that bear witness in heaven:
The Law required that two or three witness to verify a thing (Deut. 17:6; 19:15). 
1 Ti 5: 19 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. 20 Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.”
the Father,
The Father is the originator and planner of creation.  He sent the Word.
the Word,
The Word is the revealer. 
and the Holy Spirit;
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of the Father’s plan. 
and these three are one
The testimonies of the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit all converge to prove the same point, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 
PRINCIPLE:  The Bible teaches the fact of the trinity.
APPLICATION:  If this verse belongs to the original Greek manuscripts, it clearly teaches the trinity.  However, if this verse is not a genuine text, the doctrine of the trinity does not rest upon this single verse.  The trinity does bear witness to the person and work of Christ as deduced from the entire New Testament.
2 Co 13: 14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
Share

1 John 5:6b

Published on August 19, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
 
 
And it is the Spirit who bears witness,
The Holy Spirit is an additional witness to the Messiahship of Christ beyond “water” and “blood.”  John uses the word “know” thirty-nine times in 1 John.  This is an emphasis of certainty.  The verb and the noun for “witness” occur nine times in this immediate section of 1 John. 
Jn 5: 31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 “You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 “Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 “He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. 36 “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 37 “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
John uses the various forms of “witness” 10 times in this passage sometimes translated “testimony” or “testify.”  The central ministry of the Holy Spirit is to “glorify” Christ (Jn 16:13-13).  The Holy Spirit is the conclusive witness to truth. 
because the Spirit is truth
John steps beyond the apostolic testimony of New Testament writers to the testimony of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit cannot give testimony to anything but the “truth.”  He is the primary revealer of truth and He cannot lie.  The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Bible (2 Pe 1:21).  He must tell the truth by His very nature. 
PRINCIPLE:  The mission of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ who is the truth. 
APPLICATION:  The Holy Spirit bears witness with our human spirit in a number of ways.  First, He bears witness that we belong to God and are children of God. 
Ro 8: 16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Jesus said, “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6).  He is truth itself.  The Holy Spirit bears witness to that truth and the Holy Spirit is truth as well as Jesus is the truth.  The Holy Spirit delights to communicate who and what the Lord Jesus is all about. 
Jn. 14: 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Jn 15: 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
Jn. 16: 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
The mission of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ.  Any ministry that glorifies the Holy Spirit above the Lord Jesus Christ is off target.  The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus as the Savior and provider for our souls.  If we want to please the Holy Spirit, we must point to Jesus as the center of life. 
We glorify Christ when we emphasize what He did for us, not what we do for Him.  Emphasizing what we do for Him is self-centeredness.  Emphasizing what He did for us is Christ-centeredness. 
Share

1 John 5:6

Published on August 18, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
 
 
Now we come to the combined testimony of three witnesses to Christ the Messiah.  All three testimonies point to the same end – that Jesus is the Son of God. 
John has been emphasizing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who stepped foot into humanity as Jesus.  John stresses the nature of the testimony about the incarnation in verses 6-8 and His deity in 9-12. 
The Greek word for “witness” occurs 10 times in verses 6-12, translated by different English words.  John employs legal testimony to ratify his argument. 
This
“This” refers to the mention of Jesus Christ as the Son of God in the previous verse. 
is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ;
The purpose of Jesus’ coming was to save sinners.
1 Ti 1: 15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
He 10: 5 “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.’”
not only by water,
The “water” here may refer to Jesus’ baptism in water by John the Baptist.  However, it may refer to the water that flowed out of His side on the cross (Jn 19:34).  I believe it is best to take “water” as the baptism of Christ because the false teachers of John’s day believed that the Messiah came upon Jesus at His baptism and not at His birth.  The emphasis on His blood indicates that Jesus was Messiah not only in His life, but even in His death. 
but by water and blood.
The “blood” refers to the shed blood of Christ on the cross.  Cerinthus and other false teachers of the first century taught that the Messiah descended on the human Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His crucifixion.  John argues here polemically against this heresy. 
The only other passage where “water” and “blood” occur together is John 19:34.  The “water” in that case was the water that flowed from the side of Christ on the cross.  John uses “blood” in this book (1:7) for the sacrificial death of Christ. 
He 9: 12 “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
PRINCIPLE:  Certainty is possible for the Christian because he rests his belief on objective witnesses.   
APPLICATION:  Faith leans on testimony.  The validity of the testimony about Christ is at the heart of Christian belief.  Man cannot receive testimony by himself.  There are no human categories available to him through which he can understand it. 
Ben Franklin said in 1789, “Nothing is for certain but death and taxes.”  The Bible disagrees with this assertion.  The Bible asserts the concept of certainty because it offers categories whereby we can know something for sure. 
The spirit of our age is relativism, which asserts that there are no absolutes.  People who declare conviction or certainty about something are viewed as odd and rigid by those who say, “We cannot know anything for sure.  Who are you to tell me that I am wrong?” This spirit has so pervaded preachers of the church (not necessarily preachers of Christ) that Christians have become people with little or no conviction. 
Christianity rests upon truth, a truth beyond ourselves and about Jesus Christ.  Finite man cannot come to ultimate truth by his own wits.  His opinion is no better than anyone else’s opinion.  However, the Christian has two dynamics that afford him certainty: 1) the objective Word of God and 2) the internal witness of the Holy Spirit Himself. 
Share

1 John 5:5

Published on August 17, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
 
Who is he who overcomes the world,
We get our English word “Nike” from the Greek word “overcomes.”  Nike was the goddess of victory.  Each Christian will overcome the world when he enters heaven’s gates but the issue here is overcoming the world while we live on earth. 
but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
No one can overcome the world system unless he believes in the deity of Christ.  The person that believes in the deity of Christ overcomes the world.  Victory results from faith in Him.  This is not simply a rhetorical question but an appeal to fact. 
Gal. 1: 4 “…who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Everything depends on who and what we believe.  Jesus and His work is the content of our trust.  The importance of the cross is who died on it. 
Jn 20: 31 “…but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
PRINCIPLE:  Faith in the incarnate Christ brings power to every Christian to overcome the world system. 
APPLICATION:  Faith in the incarnate Christ brings power to overcome sin and the world system.  This is not a glib statement but a pronouncement of profound principle.  Christians can live lives of victory in the face of powerful, daily pressures from the world system.  They march to a different drummer.  They have enough conviction to not be swayed by the world system.  Spiritual Christians have a different and independent system of evaluation of life.
Ro 8: 37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
2 Co 2: 14 “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
Re 2: 7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God…. 11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death…. 17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it…. 26 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—….
Re 3: 5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels…. 12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name…. 21 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
We overcome the unbelief inherent in the world system totally devoid of true trust in the eternal Son of God in all the fullness of His deity.  There is something in our new life in Christ that allows us to respond to God’s system of values and reject Satan’s system of values.  When we own God’s values and live our lives in harmony with those values, we overcome the world.  If we do not live in harmony with those values, discord comes to our spiritual lives.
True faith does not believe in spite of the facts but it believes in spite of the cost.  It acts on what God says as true.  This is not the faith of years ago when we first came to Christ only.  It is the faith of moment-by-moment trust in God’s counter principles for life. 
The Word of God has a revelatory function in our spirituality.  It shows the power of sin and the power of Christ to counteract sin.  Faith in God’s provisions in the Word of God provides the power to overcome sin issues. 
Share

1 John 5:4b

Published on August 16, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
 
And this is the victory that has overcome the world
Some Christians do not gain victory over the world.  The world conquers them.  The “world” is all that opposes the will of God and His commandments. The victory gained at the cross overcomes the world. 
2 Ti 4: 10 “…for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.”
—our faith
Faith is the key to love others.  We more and more gain victory over the world as our faith grows.  The Object and work of our faith is Who and what gives victory over Satan’s system.  Jesus conquered the world during His earthly ministry (Jn 16:33) by His sacrificial death for our sins.  The tiniest faith grasps the reality of God’s eternal order and sees the ultimate failure of the satanic order.  
Ro 8: 37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
1 Co 15: 57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
PRINCIPLE:  We overcome the world system by taking God at His Word. 
APPLICATION:  Faith is simply taking God at His Word.  Faith in an adequate object produces a good outcome.  We get victory over the entire satanic system by placing faith in the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross. Victory does not come by placing faith in ourselves. The adequate object of our faith is the promises of God.
We overcome the world system by faith.  By applying faith in the Word of God to specific problems, we commit to greater standards and values.  We focus faith on Jesus Christ and His provisions.  When we put God’s principles to practice by faith every day, we mature spiritually. 
We can tell we walk by faith if we produce fruit (Jn 15:8), introduce others to Christ and gain victory over the flesh.  Faith is trust in God’s operating assets.  If that does not tie in with experience, experience is wrong.  We do not interpret the Bible by human experience.  If our experience contradicts the Bible, then there is something wrong with our procedure of perception.  We might have experienced a religious hallucination.  We have been deluded.
Rather, we interpret our experience by the Bible.  In God’s system of values, victory always comes through the Lord Jesus.
Ga 6: 14 “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Share

1 John 5:4

Published on August 15, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
 
For
“For” explains why God’s commandments are not burdensome.  There is a victory in the new birth that comes from Jesus Christ.  The world system cannot bear God’s operating principles, so God’s Word is burdensome to them.  They cannot tolerate such a scale of values. 
whatever
Every Christian without exception–spiritual or carnal, mature or immature–has the faith to gain victory.  The principle of victory is universal for each believer, with all that the new nature in its entirety entails. 
is born of God overcomes the world.
The emphasis here is not on the believer who overcomes but on the power that God gave him at his spiritual birth.  The nature of the new birth inclines the heart of the believer towards God’s Word.  The new nature counteracts all the force of the world system. 
Spiritual success originates in our spiritual birth.  The Greek tense indicates that whenever a person becomes born again, he is born again permanently (perfect tense) with a new capacity to live for God. 
The idea of “overcomes” is to prevail, to conquer, to win a victory, to overpower.  Every child of God has the capacity to conquer the world system (4:4).  The Greek indicates that this victory is a continual overcoming.  We must understand the “world” in terms of Satan’s value system. 
Note that the word “overcomes” occurs in 2:13,14.  There we overcame the devil.  Christians need victory over the devil and they need victory over the satanic world system.  There is power in the initial faith exercised in salvation.  There is power derived from our new birth – “born of God.” 
Jn 16: 33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
PRINCIPLE:  Jesus makes His victory the victory of His followers through spiritual birth. 
APPLICATION:  There are some Christians who allow the world to overcome them because they are of the world.  God wants us to be in the world but not of the world. 
2: 15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Christians face very powerful forces against their spiritual life today.  The values of this world fly in our face every day through various media.  The world pushes its values in many ways: immorality as a lifestyle, doing whatever it takes to get ahead, lying if it suits your purposes.  Young adults today, like no other generation, violate biblical norms. 
Share

1 John 5:3b

Published on August 14, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
 
And His commandments are not burdensome
God’s commandments are not irksome.  The reason they are not irksome is because of our love for Him.  It is not hard to obey someone you love. 
The word “burdensome” means heavy, weighed down, grievous, oppressive, troublesome, cruel, severe, stern.  God’s commandments are not oppressive.  The idea is not that God’s commands ask too much of us but that keeping them is an act of love.  Legalism does, however, impose heavy burdens on believers. 
Mt 23: 4 “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
God’s commands are not oppressive since we execute them by love derived from faith (5:4).  It is wonderful to serve the Lord under His operating grace.  His yoke is easy and His burden light.  God’s Word always sets God’s grace in contrast to legalism. 
Mt. 11: 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
PRINCIPLE:  God’s commands are not burdensome because we exercise them in love for God. 
APPLICATION:  The obligations of grace are infinitely more demanding than legalism.  We could not keep them apart from the strength of the Spirit.
Love for God and other Christians should not be an oppressive command.  Christians are members of our spiritual family.  They are fellow believers (4:4). 
Keeping God’s principles for life requires a heart for God.  It is no burden to do something for someone you love.  Love is evidence of life.  Divine life produces divine love.  The single constraint to God’s commands is love. 
Ps. 19: 11 “Moreover by them [God’s commands] Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.”
Ps 119: 32 “I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.”
When you love, it is not difficult to obey.  It is not difficult for people who are in love to obey one another.  It is not difficult for a man who loves his wife to obey her.  If she says, “Please take out the garbage,” he will do it for her.  This is not irksome–a little tedious, but not irksome!  A burden occurs where there is a lack of love. 
We know that God has given to us divine directives in His Word for our own good, for our own benefit.  I grant you, some of the directives we may not fully comprehend.  We may not understand why, and we may question some of them but, nevertheless, God obligates us to do them.  Later in eternity He might explain to us the full rationale for His principles for life. 
Jesus said that Pharisees put religious burdens on people (Mt 23:4).  Jesus offered to lift religious burdens (Mt 11:29,30).  Faith in Him abolishes religious burdens. 
Ga 6: 2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ [love].”
Ja 2: 8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well…’”
Share

1 John 5:3

Published on August 13, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
 
John folds three spiritual dynamics into one: 1) trust in the truth, 2) application of truth to experience and 3) manifestation of love for God.  The believer who brings these dimensions together is a spiritual believer. 
For this is the love of God,
The word “for” explains the preceding verse (5:2).  Applying God’s principles to experience is the key to knowing that we love God’s family.  Love in God’s economy involves more than sentimental love; God’s love revolves around His principles.  “For” explains the substantiation that our love for God is synonymous with doing His commandments. 
It is our love for God that is at issue here, and not God’s love for us.
that we keep His commandments.
When we obey divine directives for our lives, we demonstrate love for God.  Observation of God’s commandments flows from loving Him.  Keeping God’s commandments maintains us in the sphere of His will because His commandments reveal His character. 
2 John 6 “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”
PRINCIPLE:  Christians apply divine directives to their lives because they love God. 
APPLICATION:  God’s commandments reveal His nature.  The believer shows God’s character by applying God’s Word to experience. Each time we apply the principles of God’s Word to experience, we reveal God’s glory. 
It is possible to blaspheme God’s love.  If we claim to love God but live contrary to His principles, we blaspheme His name and detract from His glory.  People will then speak against the Bible and against God’s name because we do not live consistently with His truth.  People will say that we are inconsistent.
Ti 2: 5 “…to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
The Word of God is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.  It is our compass, our plumb line for life and our measuring rod of truth.  The Bible is our standard for living so there is no relative ethic in biblical Christianity.  Relative ethics say that what is wrong in Canada may be all right in the United States or Europe.  Biblical commands are always true in any culture of any age.  They never change.  They are the same in every period of history and in every society. 
Share

1 John 5:2b

Published on August 12, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to 1 John

 

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.”
 
And keep His commandments
The definitive twofold proof that we love God and His family is when we “love God and keep His commandments.” 
The word for “commandments” refers to the principles of God’s Word (2:3,5).  We apply God’s Word to experience because we love God.  We have to know before we believe.  We cannot believe what we do not know.  We cannot apply what we do not believe.  We know first, believe second and act third.  We do what we do because God said it.  Because God said it, that makes it right. 
“Commandments” are plural indicating the many principles of God’s worldview.  If we wish to find out whether we love God’s family, we should ask ourselves if we love God’s Word.  If we wish to find out whether we love God, we must ask ourselves whether we execute His principles of life toward others (which is synonymous with loving God). 
We know that we entered into eternal life because we love Christians (3:14).  We know that we love God because we love the family of God.  The reverse is also true.  We know that we love Christians if we live under God’s operating principles for life toward Christians.  Implicit in love for God is the corollary of love for His people.  This is a circular dynamic.  If one love is present, the other love must be present as well. 
PRINCIPLE:  Applying God’s life principles in love to other Christians assures us that we operate in God’s economy.  
APPLICATION:  Application of truth to experience is an indication that we belong to God: we love His people; we love His Word; we believe His Word and we obey His Word.  Because God says it, we do it.  Because God says it, that makes it right.  It does not always follow that we understand everything in the Word of God.  We believe even where we do not understand.
As our love for the people of God reflects our love for God (3:10, 17), so our love for God by the application of truth to experience is a manifestation of love to the family of Christ.  Love for neighbor rests on love for God.  Authentic love for God always results in love for His family.  Each act of love to God out of application of truth to experience is evidence of love for the family of God. 
Jesus emphatically made the point in the Upper Room that love for God and His Word is evidence that we love the children of God.
Jn 14: 21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Jn 15: 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
Jn 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Jn 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Non-application of truth to experience is a sin against love.  Profession of love for God and non-obedience to His truth is an expression of indifference toward God.  John equates the two ideas of non-love toward Christians and non-application of God’s Word to experience. 
Share