General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ
Message Six The Lord’s New Commandment Given to Us— That We Love One Another
Outline
IV. In 1 John we see that the practice of the divine love is the outcome of our enjoyment of the Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit, the One who is mov-ing and working within us as the anointing in the fellowship of the divine life to saturate us with all that the Triune God is, with all that He has done, and with all that He has obtained and attained—1:3; 2:3-11, 27:
1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:3 And in this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this one;
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.
1 John 2:7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you heard.
1 John 2:8 Yet again a new commandment I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
1 John 2:9 He who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
1 John 2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him;
1 John 2:11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.
A. If we would experience and enjoy the divine love and have it become the love by which we love others, we need to know God experientially by continuously living in the divine life—vv. 3-6; Phil. 3:10a.
1 John 2:3 And in this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this one;
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.
Phil. 3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
B. In order to practice the divine love as a virtue of the divine life, we need the divine life that has been sown as the divine seed (1 John 3:9; 2:29 and footnote 7) into our being; we also need the divine Spirit (3:24); the divine life is the source, and the divine Spirit is the One who actually carries out the matter of loving others.
1 John 3:9 Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.
1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been begotten of Him.
1 John 2:29 footnote 7: John's writings on the mysteries of the eternal divine life stress very much the divine birth (3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18; John 1:12-13), which is our regeneration (John 3:3, 5). It is the greatest wonder in the entire universe that human beings could be begotten of God and sinners could be made children of God! Through such an amazing divine birth we have received the divine life, which is the eternal life (1:2), as the divine seed sown into our being (3:9). Out of this seed all the riches of the divine life grow from within us. It is by this that we abide in the Triune God and live out the divine life in our human living, i.e., live out the life that does not practice sin (3:9) but practices righteousness (2:29), loves the brothers (5:1), overcomes the world (5:4), and is not touched by the evil one (5:18).
1 John 3:24 And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.
C. We should love God and His children with the divine love and not with our natural love, which must be put on the cross; one difference between God's love and our natural love is that it is very easy for our natural love to be offended.
D. Our living in the love of God toward one another is the perfection and completion of this love in its manifestation in us—4:11-12; 2:5.
1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.
Morning Nourishment
1 John 4:11-12 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
In order to practice the divine love as a virtue of the divine life, we need the divine life and the divine Spirit. The divine life is the divine seed that we all have within our regenerated spirit. In addition to the divine life that has been sown as the divine seed into our being, we also have the divine Spirit within our spirit...The divine life is the source, and the divine Spirit is the One who actually carries out the matter of loving others. The divine love is our daily living as the expression of the divine life carried out by the divine Spirit. (Life-study of 1 John, p. 233)
Today’s Reading
It should not be with our natural love that we love God and His children. On the contrary, our natural love needs to be put on the cross. We should love God and His children with the divine love, the love that is conveyed to us through the word of the Lord and that becomes our experience and enjoyment.
How can our love for God be called the love of God? It is because this love is not our love, but is God’s love. However, this is not the love of God as it is objectively; it is the love of God experienced by us subjectively. This is the love of God becoming our love through our experience and enjoyment of Him. This love then becomes our love for God and others.
If we experience the love of God, we shall have the deep realization that our natural love is one thing and that the love of God which becomes our love through experience is something very different. One difference between God’s love and our natural love is that it is very easy for our natural love to be offended.
When we love others, we become involved with them. For this reason, it is often the case that those we love in a natural way eventually become our enemies. Because natural love may have such a result, those who are wise in a human way are slow and careful in loving others. They realize that if you love others in a foolish way, sooner or later that love will cause trouble. We need to love others by the love of God we have experienced and enjoyed. If we experience God’s love, we shall love God with this love. We shall also love the brothers with this same love. This kind of love does not cause trouble. May we all see that we need to love God and others with the divine love that has become our experience and enjoyment.
In order to fulfill this condition [of the divine fellowship—loving God and the brothers], we need to know God continuously and experientially...We need to know Him experientially by continuously living in the divine life. Our daily life should be a life of knowing God constantly, for our life should be a life of living God. As long as we live God, we shall constantly know Him.
If we would experience and enjoy the divine love and have it become the love by which we love God and others, we need to know God experientially. This is the basic requirement for having the love of God become our love.
When we keep the Lord’s word and receive His supply, the love of God will be perfected within us. This means that as we receive the supply of the Lord’s word, the love of God becomes our enjoyment, and this enjoyment issues in a love for God and the brothers.
If we would fulfill the second condition of the divine fellowship—the requirement that we love God and the brothers—we must know God. If we know Him, we shall keep His word. If we keep His word, we shall receive His supply of life. Then the love of God will be perfected in us. Our experience and enjoyment of God’s love will issue in a love for God and the brothers. This is the fulfillment of the second requirement for maintaining the divine fellowship. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 139-142, 149-150)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 18, 27-29, 34-35; CWWL, 1957, vol. 2, “The Administration of the Church and the Ministry of the Word,” ch. 6
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