Love: The Proof of Salvation
Robert Wurtz II
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35 ESV).
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death (1 John 3:14 NKJV).
The teachings of Jesus on love and our fellow man were so revolutionary and contrary to the world that they seemed impossible to live out at the time. Fulfilling these teachings is only possible and sustainable if we are continually filled with the Spirit. In other words, the Sermon on the Mount is a picture of the Spirit-Filled life. All the fruit of the Spirit are necessary to achieve that standard. Take our passages above. They are impossible to live out until the love of God has been shed abroad in the heart (Romans 5:5). Moreover, it’s not a one-time filling but a perpetual filling (Ephesians 5:18 ISV).
John follows through with Jesus’ teaching on love and states categorically that if a person does not love their brother they abide in death. This is a way of saying that the person is lost and without God. He who does not treat his brother in a loving way is lost. Love is the evidence of both justification and regeneration. Hatred is the same as murder based on 1 John 3:15. Murder is a Greek word that means one who commits homicide. It’s only used here and of Satan in John 8:44.
A New Level of Love
Love is something we do or don’t do. Feelings are secondary. The standard of the 613 Laws of the OT (365 neg and 248 pos) was summarized by Jesus when He told the Disciples, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39b). In Luke 10:29, a teacher of the Law tried to vindicate himself and asked Jesus, “Then who is my neighbor?” Clearly he had one or more people he wasn’t very neighborly towards and he was looking for a loop-hole to exclude those people.
Jesus also issued a commandment to love one another in the same way that He loves us (John 13:34). At the time He spoke these words, He had not yet died for us. He called the disciples to Himself and made them His own despite their backgrounds and their sinful condition. From the very beginning Jesus loved the disciples, including Judas Iscariot (John 15:13, Matthew 26:50).
Hate and Homicide
When Adam fell in the Garden, sin entered the world along with the hateful and murderous nature of Satan. It manifested quickly when envious and rebellious Cain lured his own brother out into a field and murdered him in cold blood. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s works were righteous (1 John 3:12). Cain asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The word keeper in Hebrew is the same word used to describe Adam’s responsibility to keep the Garden. The answer to Cain’s question is, “Yes. We are our brother’s keeper.”
Hatred is when you choose not to treat a person in a loving way. Hatred transcends mere feelings of animosity. It encompasses actions and attitudes that are unloving or harmful toward others. To “hate” someone biblically means more than merely harboring negative emotions; it implies treating them in ways contrary to love. For example, in Matthew 5:43-44, Jesus instructs us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, indicating that failing to act with love toward others, including enemies, can be viewed as a form of hatred.
Do Unto Others
Jesus built on this principle by commanding that we treat others as we wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). When we attack, harm, obstruct, or deliberately neglect others, we are effectively “hating” them, as we are not reflecting the love we would desire for ourselves. When we put the worst construction on a person’s actions, we are hating them.
If you preemptively attack a person because you assume and want to believe they will do wrong, you are hating them. When you are quick to believe rumors and hearsay about a person and use those rumors as a pretext to attack them, make no mistake, you hate them. Again, 1 John 3:15 states, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,” reinforcing that unloving behavior demonstrates unsavedness. Biblical hatred of others is not merely an emotional response but is directly tied to our actions.
A Warning Against Hatred
Beware of the grave danger of singling out a person you secretly harbor hatred toward, for such actions generally stem from envy or unforgiveness (or both), and destroy the soul. We are plainly warned that “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer,” and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in them (1 John 3:15). When you conspire to cause trouble for another, you not only violate the command to love one another but also invite judgment upon yourself.
Haman, a high-ranking official in the Persian Empire, became enraged when Mordecai, a Jew, refused to bow down to him, fueling his hatred not only for Mordecai but for all Jews. In his quest for revenge, Haman manipulated King Xerxes into issuing a decree to exterminate the Jewish people. However, Queen Esther, who was secretly Jewish, revealed her identity and Haman’s plot to the king. In a dramatic turn of events, Haman was ultimately sentenced to death, meeting his fate on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Self-Made Enemies
Beware of the dangerous delusion of excluding those you despise from your love by delegitimizing their Christian faith, for such actions are a deceptive facade that masks your own spiritual depravity. It is vain to attempt to justify mistreatment and harm when we violate Christ’s command to love—those who do so risk entangling themselves in a web of hypocrisy and in the end destroy their own souls.
Remember, Jesus warned against judging others in this way, declaring that with the measure you use, it will be measured back to us (Luke 6:38). If you are guilty of such things, repent of this mindset now before it leads you further down a path of deception, destruction, and damnation. Choose to embrace love and humility, for true followers of Christ do not enviously and hatefully delegitimize those for whom Christ died.
A New Commandment
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (John 13:34 ESV).
We are commanded to love everyone, not just our family or friends, and we mustn’t hate anyone because of them. Loyalties to family and friends often supplant love. The expectation is that everyone must hate a specific person or group with one voice. Loyalty can be the enemy of love. We are commanded to love everyone, not just our family or friends and we musn’t hate anyone because of our family or friends.
Biblical love demands righteousness, equity, and justice. Jesus loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Jesus said, if you love me keep my commandments. This is more than an emotion, its an outlook that expects accountability above loyalty. If Im loyal to a person who needs correction and accountability I’ll overlook their sin and make excuses. Love never does this. Paul turned at least three sinners over to Satan and we know he was moving in love at the time.
By This Fruit of Love
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV).
Peter found out in his interactions with both Jesus and Paul that love sometimes confronts (Matthew 16:23, Galatians 2:11). Love does what is best for a person in light of eternity. Loyalty masquerades as love and allows people off the hook when they should be dealt with. Proverbs reminds us that if we withhold discipline it’s actually hate and not love (Proverbs 13:24). The goal is to help and not harm. Loving one another means we endeavor to see them reach God’s potential for their life.
The fruit of love signals to everyone that we are indeed Christ’s disciples. If this love is absent or we selectively express it, we expose ourselves as frauds. Nobody would have accused Haman of loving Mordecai because the truth was evident to all. A fool could see that he hated him whether they were brave enough to admit it or not. By his plotting and scheming to harm Mordecai and the Jews “all men knew.” There are no Haman’s in God’s kingdom, only in Satan’s kingdom. When we truly love our neighbors, and don’t look for loopholes, we affirm our discipleship and salvation.
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