This is what James was saying: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15–16). Then John draws out a principle of love which is more pervasive and less dramatic: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” In other words, true love not only gives its life for the loved ones, but also its goods. “The most frequent witness to the love of our hearts is what comes out of our mouths.” “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). If it comes down to your life or my life, and I take the bullet, no demonstration of love could be greater. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? (1 John 3:16–17) The preceding verses give us a clue what John means:īy this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. Notice the context, the structure of his words, and what other witnesses say. So, let’s step back and see what John is saying in 1 John 3:18 and what the wider witness of Scripture is. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” It seems to me that we have practical and biblical reasons for saying that the muscle of the tongue is more frequently the instrument of true love than any other muscle of the body. It has always troubled me that 1 John 3:18 could be taken to imply that what we do with our mouths is a less real or less frequent form of love than what we do with our hands. If the “speaking” of Jesus imparts joy, and the “words” of Jesus give spiritual life, then surely such speaking is love. that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13), and, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). The same apostle who said, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18), also recorded Jesus saying, “These things I speak . . .
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