Of Faith and Love: A Meditation on 1st John 3

Of the many disputed points during the Reformation era, the relationship between Faith and Love were among the greatest.  While Lutheran Reformers were resolute in emphasizing Faith which clings to Christ and receives salvation by His Grace, the Roman apologists were immovable in their emphasis that Faith must be coupled with Love for it to be saving at all.  While Lutherans sounded the trumpet of Faith Alone, the Romans sounded back that Faith without works of Love is dead.  Since this is the week in which we celebrate the anniversary of the Reformation, it seems appropriate that we enter into this discussion once again… and with the light of St. John’s first epistle to guide us, perhaps we can find ourselves at a more charitable conclusion.

I will make no effort to hide my love for this epistle, or for the whole of St. John’s writings.  I find his Gospel is the most magnificent theological treatise ever written, and his letters drive home his theology, received from Christ and inspired by the Holy Spirit.  The Apocalypse given to him by Jesus Christ during his exile on Patmos is the culmination of his heavenly teaching, and the capstone to the entire Christian canon.  St. John the Evangelist, the great theologian who rested his head upon Christ’s breast at the Last Supper, and who was the last of the Apostles to enter in heavenly rest, has much to teach the Church in every age.  We are wise to listen, for as he opens his first epistle, he tells us plainly that his Apostolic witness has the goal of giving us fellowship with him, whose fellowship is truly with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

By the time we reach the third chapter of St. John’s first epistle, we have been immersed in his poetic Hebrew style of parallelism, and either / or dichotomies.  To be in the Light of God, is to be in the Light of Christ; in Christ there is no darkness at all, but the world is awash in wickedness; those who are of God, imitate Christ, while those who are of the world, imitate the world.  St. John minces no words, when he tells his readers, that if someone claims to love God and hates his neighbor, he is a liar, and the love and life of God do not abide in him.  Consider the short summation St. John offers in 3:7-10:

Little children, let no man

deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even

as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the

devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this

purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might

destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of

God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and

he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the

children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:

whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he

that loveth not his brother.

It would seem that the Romans were right, and in a certain way, they are.  We cannot discard the clear teaching of St. John, that by the works of people, the Children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.  It is an eternal truth, that we shall know people by the fruits or works they produce, just like we know a tree by the fruit it produces.  Jesus taught this principle to St. John, and St. John faithfully passes that teaching on to us.

And what are the commandments that St. John tells us must be kept, that we might be known as the Children of God?  He presents this clearly in 3:23:-24:

And this is his commandment,

That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,

and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him,

and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us,

by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Here is where St. John helps to settle the hash of the Reformation debaters.  What is the first commandment?  To believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the same command that Jesus speaks of in the 8^th chapter of John’s Gospel, where His true disciples are those who hear His Word, believe it, trust it, keep it, and live by it.  The first commandment that John records, that Jesus taught, and that the Law given on Mt. Sinai present, are all the same—it is the command to fear, love, and trust God above all things, having no other god before Him.  This love of God that hears and believes Him, trusts Him for salvation in Jesus Christ, and overcomes the world, is a work that God begins and sustains in us.  St. John makes this clear in 4:7-11.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God;

and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us,

because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world,

that we might live through him. Herein is love, not

that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to

be] the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so

loved us, we ought also to love one another.

The life of love we have, is born of God—born from above by Water and Spirit.  That we love God, believe Him, trust Him, and live in Him, is a work He accomplishes for us through the power of His Word coming to us, and raising us from the death of our trespasses and sins.  This faith, which God gives to us through His Word, rests in His Word, and trusts His Word above all things.  Such faith is life eternal, receiving all things from the pierced hands of Christ, who poured out His Divine Love upon us.  It is not we who approach God, seeking to love Him and keep His commandments, thereby earning our salvation; but rather it is God who approaches us in the Person of His Son, seeking and saving lost and condemned sinners like you and me.

And from a faith born from the Love of God in Christ Jesus, what else can emerge but the love of God and neighbor?  How can faith born of Jesus Christ, who gave His life as the ransom for the whole world, bring forth anything but love and compassion for our neighbors?  Indeed, it cannot—for this good Vine produces only good fruit, because in Jesus there is no darkness, no hatred, no lying, no evil at all.  If we live in Him by faith, then His Love becomes our love, and His fruits of righteousness become our fruits of righteousness.

But as St. Paul will write in his epistle to the Romans, where then in our boasting?  It is excluded.  Christ is all in all.  He is the one who seeks and saves the lost; His Love is what brings us forth from the death of unbelief to the eternal life of faith; His grace poured out through His Cross is forgiveness, life, and salvation; His Works of Love become our works of love, and if we live in Him, His Life is our life.

The resolution of the Lutheran and Roman controversy, is entirely here in the words of St. John.  Faith alone can receive from God the love and grace and mercy to be called His sons and daughters, through the Gospel of His Only Begotten Son.  But such faith and love of God, since it is born of God and lives in God, cannot ever be without love of God and neighbor.  No one can claim to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ, who abides in hatred of his neighbor, because the love of God in Jesus Christ suffers all things for the salvation of every man, woman, and child who will ever live on this earth.  The love of God creates faith in us, which in turn produces love toward God and neighbor.  Indeed it is faith alone which receives the love and grace of God in Christ Jesus, but such saving faith is never alone—it is always proceeding forth from our Savior who gave it freely to us by His Word, and proceeding through us to our neighbor who needs our works of compassion and mercy.

And so what are we to do, when we find ourselves full of wrath, envy, malice, and hatred of our neighbor?  We are called to repent, for saving faith does not abide with mortal sin.  We hear the Word of Christ, which calls us to leave our wickedness behind, and live in His love by grace through faith, which will work itself out in fruits of love and mercy and grace toward our neighbors.  Here the Christian lives in the tension between St. John’s first chapter, in which we confess our sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, cleansing us from all unrighteousness; and his concluding verses in chapter five, especially verses 4-13:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh

the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world,

[even] our faith. Who is he that overcometh the

world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

…

 These things have I

written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of

God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye

may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Amen.