One who practice truth must love his brothers and sisters
The world hold knowledge in high esteem. The audience of John is faced with the culture of knowledge pursuit and lacked in loving one another. Sounds familiar? The distraction of spiritual growth is when Bible knowledge remains as intellectual knowledge. The purpose of learning the Bible is obtain a kind of knowledge that enable learners to relate with God (we call it relational knowledge). If a knowledge remains intellectual, it is of no use to improve the relationship between the believer and God. Therefore, the epistles of John emphasised practicing truth by obeying God's commands must result in loving one another because God is love. The term "love one another" happened 7 times in the epistles of John with the implication of being an active community in showing love to one another. When believers pursue loving one another by God's standard, the world can see God in the community of believer. Since Jesus has ascended to heaven and the Body of Christ remains on earth, it is God's will to reveal His love (and glory) through the Body of Christ. The original language of "love one another" has the connotation of "no restriction". God meant for the church to love one another without restriction. Our Lord Jesus entrusted His earthly mother to John before He went to the cross. Let us consider how we practice truth and love one another in our community. What could be the hinderance for us to reach such high standard of loving community? What can we do to overcome this hinderance? How can we personally practice this truth?
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