IF A
MAN SAY, I LOVE GOD, AND HATETH HIS brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him,
That he who loveth God love his brother
also.[i]
Among the many things I
read on a daily basis, both joy and profit come from
reading a little Shakespeare.[ii] Among my favorites
of his plays is Henry V. In
one of the most dramatic scenes in the history of
English literature, Henry is speaking to his troops
before the Battle of Agincourt in France (1415). The
heavily armed French knights were standing between the
English troops and Calais, the port city that Henry’s
band needed to reach for their return to England. War
weary and suffering from dysentery, morale was low as
the dwindling band gazed upon the overwhelming,
four-to-one, force of the French knights. Rising to the
occasion, however, King Henry stood before his men and
spoke words of encouragement that rallied them together
and carried them to victory. While the incident was
true, Henry’s speech is fiction, but it still serves to
underscore the critical nature of unity in a fighting
force, whether in medieval or modern times. Dubbed the
St. Crispen’s Day Speech, the core of it
reads:
This story shall the
good man teach his
son;
And Crispin Crispian
shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the
ending of the world,
But we in it shall
be rememberèd;
We few, we
happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that
sheds his blood with
me
Shall be my brother;
be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall
gentle his
condition:
And gentlemen in
England now a-bed
Shall think
themselves accursed they were not
here,
And hold their
manhoods cheap whiles any
speaks
Interestingly, there
seems to be no doubt that Shakespeare was, in fact, the
first to use the term band of brothers in
classical literature. It has appeared several times
since, such as in Friedrich Schiller’s play Wilhelm
Tell in 1803. We find it often during the American
Civil War. Stephen Douglas used it during the great
Lincoln-Douglas debates. Frederick Douglass also used it
in reference to his days in slavery. It even became a
line in the second most popular war song of the South,
“The Bonnie Blue Flag”: “We are a band of brothers, /
And native to the soil, / Fighting for our liberty, /
With treasure, blood, and toil.” The line also appears
in the song “Hail Columbia,” which many have referred to
as America’s first national anthem: “Firm, united, let
us be, / Rallying round our Liberty; / As a band of
brothers joined, / Peace and safety we shall find.”
Finally, contemporary (though late) historian Stephen
Ambrose titled one of his many books Band of
Brothers, the true story of the
101st Airborne’s Easy
Company, which fought with distinction at Normandy, the
Battle of the Bulge, and on to the end of the
war.
The theme in all
this, of course, is a martial philosophy, where unity
and unit cohesion is absolutely critical for victory.
This should strike us all profoundly because Christians
are, indeed, in a war, and unity among this band of
brothers (and obviously sisters) is crucial. One of the most serious and
devastating things that can occur in a church body is a
lack of love among believers for one another. Most of us
have seen, to one extent or another, a lack of love
among believers, and it is a heartbreaking thing to
witness. I would, therefore, like to share my heart with
you on this grave matter.
The story is told of an
infant girl in a small Midwestern town who had been
critically injured and was in desperate need of a blood
transfusion, but no one could be found who had her rare
blood type. Finally it was discovered that her
7-year-old brother had the same type of blood. The
doctor took him into his office, held the youngster on
his knee, and said, “Son, your sister is very, very
sick. Unless we can help her, I’m afraid the angels are
going to take her to heaven. Are you willing to give
blood to your baby sister?” The young boy’s face turned
pale, and his eyes widened with fright and uncertainty.
He appeared to be in great mental agony, but after a
minute or so he half-whispered, “Yes, I will.” The
physician smiled reassuringly and said, “That’s a fine,
boy; I knew you would.” The transfusion took place, but
the 7-year-old, watching the tube carrying the
life-giving fluid to his sister, seemed apprehensive.
The doctor said, “Don’t be nervous, son. It will all be
over before long.” At that moment big tears welled up in
the little boy’s eyes. “Will I die pretty soon?” he
asked. It then became apparent that he thought he
was giving up his own life to save his baby
sister![iv]
THAT is love,
the New Testament agape (self-emptying self-sacrifice) love, the putting
of someone else ahead of ourselves.
As the Apostle John
recorded the words of our Lord Himself, “Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends” (Jn. 15:13). What does that say to us
today, who are so concerned about our feelings,
preferences, and sensitivities that such a thought would
never occur to us? True love, however, lays down its
life for another. Picking up on that truth and building
on it, John wrote much about love for fellow believers
in his first Epistle. In fact, he repeatedly mentions
that brotherly love is a major test of true
Christianity. It’s tremendously significant that the
word “commandment” (singular) appears seven times in
John’s first letter and the word “commandments” (plural)
appears another seven, and that each and every
instance of the singular refers to the commandment to
“love one another” (2:7–8; 3:23; 4:21). In other
words, this singular commandment is crucial to the
Christian faith. Our feelings are irrelevant. What
matters is that we truly love one another. As we will
see, in fact, if we do not love each other, we do
not love God and should
therefore not even call ourselves Christians.
To put it another
way, while John’s Gospel was written that men
might believe on Christ and have life (Jn.
20:31), his first Epistle was written that men
might know they have that life (I Jn. 5:13). It
is for that reason that John records many tests of true
Christian life, not the least of
which is love for fellow believers. Here is a major
test of true Christianity. Let us meditate on two
thoughts: the necessity and
expression of brotherly
love.
I. The
Necessity of Brotherly Love
John expressed the
need for love among the brethren earlier in the
epistle:
In this the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither
he that loveth not his brother (3:10). We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in
death (3:14).
I have witnessed
some professing Christians who simply can’t stand
certain individuals, who can’t get along and love them.
I’ve seen church fights and splits, and no word better
describes this than SIN. This
is not a minor issue, as we just read, rather a major
problem. It reveals a heart of unrighteousness and even
spiritual death.
John reiterates this
truth in our main text with even more thundering force.
He makes it
crystal clear: if you
say you love the Lord, but don’t
love your brother, it is a
glaring contradiction. J. C. Metcalfe once wrote
in The
Overcomer:
There is much more that
can be said about this link between the birth from above
and the resultant entry into a completely new attitude,
in which love is the predominant feature. The general
life of the evangelical section of the church is a
strange commentary on all this. The bitterness,
strife, criticism, petty rivalry, and discourtesy which
we so often meet raise the question as to the validity
of our claims, and the value of those religious
qualities and practices we consider to be so
important. Do not Paul’s pungent words
in the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13
need to be read again and again, and rigidly and
honestly applied in our own lives? Experiences, gifts,
soundness of knowledge, and ministry, faith, charity,
and even supreme sacrifice are swept aside, and love is
enthroned alone.[v]
Each of those listed
practices are important, but without love none of them
mean anything; they are vain, empty, and worthless. What
practical effects this love has upon every relationship
of the believer within the family of God! If we truly
love God and keep His commandments, then we
will love the children of God. That is an
absolute. If we do not love other brothers, we do not
love God, no matter how much we think or claim we do.
Paul’s
command to the Romans is equally unavoidable:
“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also
received us to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7). What a
rebuke to, as Metcalfe just put it, our
“bitterness, strife, criticism, petty rivalry,
and discourtesy.” How this
exposes our excuses for mistreating our brethren in
Christ, either in deed or in word! To claim a love for
God and at the same time to reject, despise, mistreat,
and criticize those who are brethren in the same family
is a staggering contradiction. It shows a heart of
selfishness, self-centeredness, and
sin.
A striking
illustration of the operation of love for the brethren
appears in the experience of the early church at
Jerusalem (Acts 11). In one Spirit the believers there
had been baptized into one body. Subsequently, Simon
Peter was sent by God to a Gentile household in
Caesarea. Accompanying him were some believing Jews
from Jerusalem, and they were astonished that the
Gentiles had also received the Holy Spirit. The apostles
and brethren that were in Judea had heard what happened
in the household of one who was not a Jew. Peter was
summoned to Jerusalem to explain why he had gone into
the home of a “Gentile dog” (as
Gentiles were dubbed). These Jewish
Christians were filled with prejudice, but that was
inexcusable, for they all, Jew and Gentile, had experienced the love of God in
Christ. Peter concluded his report to them with these
words, “Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the same gift
as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God?” (v.
17). The love of God in those Christians at Jerusalem
then manifested itself in brotherly love for the new
members of God’s family who were Gentiles: “When
they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the
Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (v.
18).
What an indictment
that is! If first century Jews and Gentiles could lay
aside their differences, and even centuries of hatred,
and get along with each other, is it not reasonable that
we today can set aside our feelings and petty
differences and love each other?
Now, we can
partially understand why those Jewish believers were at
first unwilling to accept as brethren the Gentiles in
Caesarea—after all, they were new to the group, from
different backgrounds, practiced different customs,
possessed different gifts, and so forth. But their reluctance
was still inexcusable. For
believers to refuse to accept in Christian love others
who know the same Savior, who have been regenerated by
the same Holy Spirit, and who are members of the same
body, is to disobey the direct command of our Lord and
causes us to question seriously their love for the
Lord.
As John mentions
earlier in the letter, “We love Him, because He first
loved us” (4:19). What else can we do? Romans 5:5
declares, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.” We also read,
“The love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14).
Therefore, love for fellow believers is the evidence of
a true love for God. Remember, we are all in the same
family. This love is to be active toward all who are
of the household of faith. They may be agreeable or
disagreeable, but that is not the issue. The reason for
loving them is that they are born of God, saved by the
same Savior, members of the same body. In the very next
verse after our text (5:1), John adds, “Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and
every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him.” If we truly love our Lord, our
“Elder Brother” (Rom. 8:29), we will also love every one
of His “siblings.” Part of the “divine nature” that
Peter refers to (2 Pet. 1:4) is that of love, and this
love fellowships not only with God but with all who know
Him. “For this is the love of God,” John writes in 5:3,
“that we keep His commandments: and His
commandments are not burdensome.” Brotherly love
must of necessity be a reality in the
Christian’s life. Anything less is incongruous,
contradictory, and, as we’ll see,
destructive.
II. The
Expression of Brotherly Love
It’s one thing to say, “Okay, I
love my brother in Christ,” but quite another to show it.
Consider the love that Thomas Steward’s brother William
had for him. Thomas injured one of his eyes with a
knife. A specialist decided that it should be removed to
save the other. When the operation was over and he
recovered from the anesthesia, it was discovered that
the surgeon had blundered by removing the
good eye, so rendering the
young man totally blind. Undaunted, Thomas pursued his
studies in law at McGill University in Montreal. He was
able to do this only by the aid of his brother William,
who read to him and accompanied him through all the
different phases of college life. The blind brother came
out at the head of his class, while the other came
second.
How many of us would
be willing to do that for a fellow Christian? How many
of us are even willing to do something far less dramatic
for a fellow believer? In short, how many of us are
willing to be second? Are we
willing to set ourselves aside for
another?
First John 3:17–18
provides a practical illustration of how to express our
love for others:
But whoso hath this
world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how
dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let
us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and
in truth.
In other words,
“Okay, here is a Christian who sees a fellow believer
who has a physical or spiritual need, but won’t do a
single thing to help him, won’t pray for him, won’t
encourage him, nothing. Just how in the world, then,
does God’s love dwell in this Christian?” The answer is
obvious—it doesn’t. Words are cheap, as the adage goes,
and to say we love each other is empty unless we show it
in our actions. If we do not love
our brother and treat him as God has treated us (Rom.
15:7), we do not love the Lord. There are plenty of needs around—needs of the
body, of the mind, and of the soul—and we are to meet
those as we are able.
John’s point in our
text is just such empty profession, professing that
which actually is not true in one’s life. If a man
say, I love God—there’s
the profession—but hateth his
brother—there’s the reality—he is a
liar. Strong words, indeed. John doesn’t say the man
is embellishing or just mistaken, rather knowingly
lying. Our orthodoxy can be impeccable, our
doctrine even precise—we’ve plumbed every prophecy,
expounded every truth, exegeted every verse—but we can
still hate our Lord because we hate one of His people.
John continues, for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not seen? In other words, if you can’t love the
one in front of you, you can’t love the One above you.
Finally John writes, And this commandment have we
from him, That he who loveth God love his brother
also. It’s automatic.
It’s interesting
that at least six verses begin in a similar way,
three using the phrase, “If we say” (1:6, 8, 10), and
three opening with the words, “He that saith” (2:4, 6,
9). Love and hatred are incompatible; they are
opposites. Again, to say we love God while we hate
another believer is to speak a lie (2:9; 3:15). There is no middle
ground here. As a “son of thunder” (Mk. 3:17), John
was not a soft spoken milquetoast, rather he thundered
out the truth that if we say we love God and really
believe that we love Him, but at the same time hate
another, we are deceived. If we say we love the Lord,
and we know that we do not love Him, we are a hypocrite
and a liar. Likewise, if we say we love God, but don’t
love other believers, that too is hypocrisy. Why?
Because those believers are part of Christ. To
mistreat a child of God is to mistreat the Lord
Himself.
We should interject
here that this is one practical reason for observing the
Lord’s Table every Lord’s Day (see TOTT #2). Our hearts should be right not only with
God but with other believers before we come to that
table (cf. Matt. 5:23–24 and I Cor.
11:27–29).
The beloved Bible teacher
Lehman Strauss writes of his own struggle with our
text:
Some years back I found it
difficult to understand the words, “He that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen?” It was easier for me to love God,
because all I ever knew about Him was good. But I could
see the flaws and faults and unattractiveness in some of
my brethren, and I found it harder to love them. Then
one day God made it clear to me, from this verse, that
if I do not love my brother, whose failures and
unattractiveness I see, it proves the love of God is not
in me. Actually the verse assumes the two to be an
impossibility.[vi]
Could John have made
the principle any clearer that the way you treat your
brother is the test as to whether or not you really love
the Lord? Anything less cannot be justified or defended.
Neither can it be tolerated in a church and should be
dealt with via church discipline, for it sows discord in
the body (cf. Prov. 6:14, 19; Matt. 18:15–17; 1 Cor.
5:11, “railer”; Rom. 16:17–20).
Such behavior is nowhere
exposed more dramatically than in our speech, which is
why James takes such great pains in dealing with the
tongue:
If any man among you seem
to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but
deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
(1:26)
Even so the tongue is a
little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how
great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is
a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on
fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of
hell. (3:5, 6)
But the tongue can no man
tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
(3:8)
How careful we must
be in what we say and how we say it. One
of the most tragic stories I have ever read was of the
young sailor who called his parents after his release
from the military. He said he was bringing his buddy
home to stay with him. “You see, Mom,” he said, “my
friend is pretty badly broken up. He was severely
wounded and has only one leg, one arm, and one eye.”
After a little reflection, the mother said grudgingly,
“Of course, Son, I guess he can stay with us a little
while.
Her voice, however, carried the
message that they would not like to be burdened very
long with such a severely handicapped fellow. Two days
later they received a telegram from the admiral’s
office, saying their son had plunged to his death from a
hotel window. When his body arrived for burial, his
parents saw that he had only one arm, one leg, and
one eye! The memory of her last conversation with him
lingered with that mother for the rest of her life. She
often cried out, “Why didn’t I speak more carefully,
more lovingly? If only I could take back those
thoughtless words ‘he can stay with us a little
while.’ But it is too late
now!”[vii]
That woman’s lack of
love in her heart showed forth in her
voice. And once she said it, the damage was
irreparably done, just by the inflection of her voice. I
have never forgotten one illustration of evil words I
heard decades ago: Trying to take back something we said
is like tearing open a feather pillow and then catching
every feather before it hits the floor. We need to be
reminded often that we can say things that can never
be fixed.
As always, the beloved
Harry Ironside forces us to meditate on God’s
Truth:
The way you treat your
brother is the test as to whether or not you really love
the Lord. “And this commandment have we from Him, that
he who loveth God love his brother also.” If you do not
keep His commandments, you are not walking in obedience
to His Word. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love
one another” (John 13:34). We need to remember the
word, “Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but
in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Think of this the
next time you feel provoked with somebody. Say to
yourself, “How often I have grieved the Holy Spirit, but
He loves me still. How often I have provoked the Lord,
but He loves me still. How often I have dishonored the
Father, but He loves me still. Blessed God, by Thy Holy
Spirit let that same divine all-conquering love be shed
abroad in my heart, that I may never think of myself but
of others for whom Christ has died, and be ready to let
myself out in devoted, loving service for their
blessing.” This is Christianity in practice.[viii]
My greatest passion in
ministry is orthodoxy and right doctrine. I am driven by
the absolute Truth of God’s Word and desire accurate
exegesis and correct Theology at all times. But as vital
as that is, it is nothing without love for God’s people;
it is empty and meaningless. Regardless of how many
hours I might pour over a verse or even a single word to
make sure I get it right, it is a waste if I don’t love
the ones to whom I preach.
Oh, how often “self”
raises its ugly head! We are more concerned with our
feelings, our views, and our opinions, than that of
others and ultimately the edification of the Body of
Christ itself. In short, we are more concerned with
self than the Body and totally unconcerned
with how what we say or do might affect the Body.
Without unity, the Body cannot function properly,
and without love there can be
no unity.
Mark it down: Not
loving a brother in Christ is a direct attack on the
Body of Christ and therefore Christ
Himself. Would any of us look at
our hand and say, “I just hate this hand?” Of course
not, because it’s part of the Body. Likewise, we must
love every member of the Body of
Christ.
“But does this
really mean everybody?” we
might ask. “Aren’t some Christians less lovable than
others?” If we may answer this way, name one single
person on earth who is lovable, including you or me. Not
one. “We love [God] because He first loved us” (I Jn.
4:19), and we now love each other for the same reason.
We love each other because He loves us
all.
J. N. Darby offers a good
illustration:
We cannot love a person
without taking an interest in his children. But suppose
the case of a father having three sons; I love two of
them, this does not testify that I love their father,
for if I did, I should love the three sons.[ix]
Try that if you
dare! What would happen if you said to a father, “Well,
I sure like those two boys of yours, but I just can’t
stand that girl.” How well will that go over? But that
is exactly what we do if we do not love all
believers and treat them accordingly; we have attacked
one member of the family and therefore the
whole
family.
Dear Christian
Friend, we are, indeed, a band of brothers (and
sisters). The question is: Are we acting like
it? I’ll close with this
encouragement and challenge from Theodore Epp, to which
I could add nothing:
The love that we
have for God is measured by the love that we have for
other people. The closer we walk with God, the
sweeter will be our love for others. Here is a good test: Select someone who is
seemingly unlovable. Ask yourself, How can I get along
with that person? How can I show my love to him?
We may disagree with the
person over issues or principles, but that need not
affect our love for him or her. It is not necessary that
we agree on all points with another person before we can
love him. In fact, it is a greater expression of the
life of Christ within us to show kindness and
consideration to those with whom we disagree on
certain things. This can indeed be a real test of our
love for God. Our love for other people will prove how
much we love the Savior. Seek to love the
unlovable; this is the acid test of our love for
God.[x]
Dr. J. D.
Watson
Pastor-Teacher
Grace Bible Church
