to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applicatio… · verb — present active indicative, 1st person plural
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
love
ἀγαπῶμενagapōmen
G25
to love (in a social or moral sense) · verb — present active indicative, 1st person plural
children
τέκναtekna
G5043
a child (as produced) · noun — accusative plural neuter
God
θεοῦ,theou
G2316
figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
when
ὅτανhotan
G3752
whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertain… · conjunction
love
ἀγαπῶμενagapōmen
G25
to love (in a social or moral sense) · verb — present active subjunctive, 1st person plural
God
θεὸνtheon
G2316
figuratively · noun — accusative singular masculine, a title
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
keep
τηρέωtēréō
G5083
perhaps akin to G2334 (θεωρέω))
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
commandments
ἐντολὰςentolas
G1785
injunction · noun — accusative plural feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1 John 3:22-24 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 John 5:1-5
I. The apostle having, in the conclusion of the last chapter, as was there observed, urged Christian love upon those two accounts, as suitable to Christian profession and as suitable to the divine command, here adds a third: Such love is suitable, and indeed demanded, by their eminent relation; our Christian brethren or fellow-believers are nearly related to God; they are his children: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, Jo1 5:1. Here the Christian brother is, 1. Described by his faith; he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ - that he is Messiah the prince, that he is the Son of God by nature and office, that he is the chief of all the anointed world, chief of al…
By--Greek, "In." As our love to the brethren is the sign and test of our love to God, so (John here says) our love to God (tested by our "keeping his commandments") is, conversely, the ground and only true basis of love to our brother.
we know--John means here, not the outward criteria of genuine brotherly love, but the inward spiritual criteria of it, consciousness of love to God manifested in a hearty keeping of His commandments. When we have this inwardly and outwardly confirmed love to God, we can know assuredly that we truly love the children of God. "Love to one's brother is prior, according to the order of nature (see on Jo1 4:20); love to God is so, according to the order of grace…
By this we know that we love the children of God - Our love of God's followers is a proof that we love God. Our love to God is the cause why we love his children, and our keeping the commandments of God is the proof that we love him.
John Gill on 1 John 5:2
By this we know that we are the children God,.... The Ethiopic version reads, "by this know that we love God"; which, in connection with what follows, makes a tautology, and is a proving "idem per idem": whereas the apostle's view is to show when love to the saints is right; and that is,
when we love God, and keep his commandments: love to the brethren may arise from such a cause, as may show that it is not brotherly love, or of a spiritual kind; it may arise from natural relation, or civil friendship, or from a benefit or favour received from them, and from some natural external excellency seen in them; and a man may do acts of love and kindness to the brethren, from what may be called goo…
The Church Fathers
In this we know that we love the children of God, etc. Therefore, he alone is proven to love his neighbor rightly who is known to burn with the love of the Creator. And lest anyone deceive himself about the love of the Creator, professing that he loves by word alone, after having said: In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, he added, and we keep His commandments.
John was speaking just before of brotherly love, and said, "He that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?" But if thou lovest thy brother, haply thou lovest thy brother and lovest not Christ? How should that be, when thou lovest members of Christ? When therefore thou lovest members of Christ, thou lovest Christ; when thou lovest Christ, thou lovest the Son of God; when thou lovest the Son of God, thou lovest also the Father. The love therefore cannot be separated into parts. Choose what thou wilt love; the rest follow thee. Suppose thou say, I love God alone, God the Father. Thou liest: if thou lovest, thou lovest Him not alone; but if thou lovest the Father, thou lovest also the Son.
Therefore, he that loves the sons of God, loves the Son of God, and he that loves the Son of God, loves the Father; nor can any love the Father except he love the Son, and he that loves the sons, loves also the Son of God. What sons of God? The members of the Son of God. And by loving he becomes himself a member, and comes through love to be in the frame of the body of Christ, so there shall be one Christ, loving Himself. For when the members love one another, the body loves itself. "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." And then he goes on to say, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
1 John 5:1-5
1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.
1. Omnis qui credit quod Jesus est Christus, ex Deo genitus est; et omnis qui diligit eum qui genuit, diligit etiam eum qui genitus est ab eo.
2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
2. In hoc cognoscimus quod diligimus filios Dei, si Deum diligimus, et praecepta ejus servamus.
3. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
3. Haec est dilectio Dei, ut praecepta ejus servemus, et praecepta ejus gravia non sunt.
4. Fo…
Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God have been born spiritually as children of God (see John 20:31). Such people are empowered by the Spirit of God to love him and others, and by their faith to obey God and overcome the evil temptations of the world. Through faith, they can love God and live in obedience to him.
