READ: Deut. 6:1-9
… He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar … He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked… – 1 John 2:3-6
John continues his discourse on having communion with God and Christ, and among believers in the church. For that communion, you cannot deny your sins; otherwise, you lie to God. You continually need reconciliation through Christ’s blood and His intercession.
But more is required for communion with God. You must truly know Him; that means in the Bible: loving Him, living with and for Him in intimate fellowship. John now states that to know God and love Him, it’s necessary to keep God’s commandments (2:4).
This means pondering and executing His will. If you disregard God’s commandments, it implies you don’t truly love the Lord. In that case, you neither know nor acknowledge Him! If you claim otherwise, you’re a liar. This reveals that the truth is not in you (2:4).
Knowing is a matter of the heart! See Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Heb. 8:10-11. So, in verses 4 and 5, radical words again resonate from the apostle John. They sharpen your focus: earnestly observing God’s commandments means wholeheartedly loving God or not; having communion or not; being in Him or not. If you wholeheartedly serve God according to His Word, God’s love has been perfected in you.
This means that God’s love, poured out by the Spirit within you (Rom. 5:5), has reached its goal: you respond to God’s love with your reciprocal love. Then there is communion: He in us, and we in Him. This becomes clear to us: through this, we know it. The love for God by remaining in Him was already pointed out by Moses in Deut. 6:5-6: doing God’s commandments out of love for Him. The Lord Jesus Himself emphasized this in Matt. 22:37-40, John 14:23-24. Our love should manifest through our walk with God, just as Christ demonstrated.
Is love for God solely a matter of feeling?
Singing: Ps. 25:5