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1 John 3:23–24
“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
John the Apostle has connected the Christian’s confidence before God to the keeping of His commandments and the doing of what pleases Him (1 John 3:21–22). This raises an obvious question: Which commandments? Among the many specific duties laid on the people of God in Scripture, what does John have most centrally in view?
Today’s passage answers with extraordinary clarity. The whole of the Christian life can be summed up under two heads: faith in Christ and love for one another. John writes: “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (v. 23). The two duties stand together. To believe in the name of Jesus Christ is to receive Him in the fullness of who He is, the eternal Son of God become flesh for our salvation, the only Mediator between God and man. Such belief is not merely intellectual assent to a set of propositions, however; it is the trustful resting of the soul on the Christ proclaimed in the gospel.
But John pairs this faith with love for one another. The two commandments are joined here as a single command, faith and love as two parts of one whole. Genuine faith in the Son issues necessarily in love for those whom the Son has redeemed. If faith is real, love follows; if love is absent in any established way, the faith that should produce it is brought into question.
Verse 24 then draws together the great theme of mutual abiding that has run throughout the letter: “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.” The keeping of God’s commandments, faith and love together, is the visible evidence of an invisible reality: the believer’s union with God in Christ. If these commandments are kept, the abiding life is present. If they are not, the abiding life is not present.
John concludes with a fresh assurance grounded in the Spirit: “And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (v. 24). The believer’s keeping of the commandments is not merely an outward fulfillment of duty but the work of the Holy Spirit within him. The Spirit produces the faith that lays hold of Christ, and the Spirit produces the love that flows from that faith. When these are present, the Spirit’s work is evident, and the Spirit’s presence is itself the seal of God’s abiding in His people.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Faith and love stand together as the twin commands of God to His people, and neither flourishes without the other. May we continually trust afresh in the name of His Son and continually love those whom He has redeemed, knowing that both gifts come from the Spirit who abides in us.
For further study
- John 6:28–29
- Romans 5:1–5
- Galatians 5:6
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 24–26
- Titus 1