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Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.
2. Everyone who loves the begetter also loves the one who has been begotten from him.
In other words, if you love the Father, you're also going to love his child. There's no possible way that you can love God and not love someone born of him. Likewise, you cannot love the one born of God and not love God. It's just not possible. There is a natural familial love that must be present as a necessary indication of truly being born into God's covenant family. If you don't have this familial love for either begetter or begotten, you don't have it at all. If you do have it for the begetter, then you must have it for begotten, and vice versa.
The image John is drawing on is one familiar to us all and which Nathan addressed in his sermon on the "Great Family Resemblance". So I won't belabor the image of the family here, but only make a few comments. What's unique to this passage is the idea of familial love. We all know we're supposed to love those in our family. Parents love children; children love parents; siblings love each other. We're one big happy family. The interesting thing is that, I don't know if you noticed this, but people in our culture are so committed to this idea of family love that people who hate their family members, who can't stand them and want nothing to do with them, will still say they love their family, if you ask them. People can be absolutely brutal to the members of their family, doing things worse than a downright enemy would do, and yet still have the gall to say that they love them. It's really strange. I think in part it reflects the way God wired us--the family instinct, right; in part the fact that we know what we should do, even if we don't do it. And John is pointing to the fact that just by being born into a family, we owe our family love; there is a natural family bond that is engendered in us. We don't get to pick and choose our brother and sisters, but loving and obeying our Father means loving them.
Now some interpreters have tried to claim that because "the one born of him" is singular it must be talking about Jesus here. And in this case it would mean that everyone who loves the Son loves the Father, and everyone loves the Father loves the Son, which is very close to what Jesus says at several points in the Gospel of John, that anyone who receives him, receives the one who sent him, etc. And while it is true that love for the Father necessitates love for his only begotten Son supremely, I don't think that is John's primary meaning here. Why? 2 reasons from the immediate context: First, John has just got done saying in 4:20-1 "If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." The word 'brother' there clearly refers to fellow believers and not Jesus. Second, the way that John is using the term 'born of God' in this entire passage indicates that it is talking about people who believe in Jesus. And so, even though this is a singular expression it's got to refer to believers at large and not just Jesus.
In other words, if you love the Father, you're also going to love his child. There's no possible way that you can love God and not love someone born of him. Likewise, you cannot love the one born of God and not love God. It's just not possible. There is a natural familial love that must be present as a necessary indication of truly being born into God's covenant family. If you don't have this familial love for either begetter or begotten, you don't have it at all. If you do have it for the begetter, then you must have it for begotten, and vice versa.
The image John is drawing on is one familiar to us all and which Nathan addressed in his sermon on the "Great Family Resemblance". So I won't belabor the image of the family here, but only make a few comments. What's unique to this passage is the idea of familial love. We all know we're supposed to love those in our family. Parents love children; children love parents; siblings love each other. We're one big happy family. The interesting thing is that, I don't know if you noticed this, but people in our culture are so committed to this idea of family love that people who hate their family members, who can't stand them and want nothing to do with them, will still say they love their family, if you ask them. People can be absolutely brutal to the members of their family, doing things worse than a downright enemy would do, and yet still have the gall to say that they love them. It's really strange. I think in part it reflects the way God wired us--the family instinct, right; in part the fact that we know what we should do, even if we don't do it. And John is pointing to the fact that just by being born into a family, we owe our family love; there is a natural family bond that is engendered in us. We don't get to pick and choose our brother and sisters, but loving and obeying our Father means loving them.
Now some interpreters have tried to claim that because "the one born of him" is singular it must be talking about Jesus here. And in this case it would mean that everyone who loves the Son loves the Father, and everyone loves the Father loves the Son, which is very close to what Jesus says at several points in the Gospel of John, that anyone who receives him, receives the one who sent him, etc. And while it is true that love for the Father necessitates love for his only begotten Son supremely, I don't think that is John's primary meaning here. Why? 2 reasons from the immediate context: First, John has just got done saying in 4:20-1 "If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." The word 'brother' there clearly refers to fellow believers and not Jesus. Second, the way that John is using the term 'born of God' in this entire passage indicates that it is talking about people who believe in Jesus. And so, even though this is a singular expression it's got to refer to believers at large and not just Jesus.
So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if love of the Father and of his children come as a package deal--you have to have one in order to have the other--then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we truly love those who are born of God?"
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