1 John 5:2

Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments.

John echoed here the teachings of the Master who declared that, "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Love of God, therefore, is the type of regard for the Father that issues in keeping his word and obeying the commandments that he gave. The same is true of love for the brethren. "It is practical and active, and expresses itself in deed and in truth, in sacrificial service."[1] "True Christian love, therefore, is that which proceeds from love to God, and leads us to obey all his commandments."[2] Both with regard to love, as here, and with regard to faith, John's usage of either term always carried inherently the concept of obedience.

[1] John R. W. Stott, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 19 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), p. 173.

[2] James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, Vol. VI (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprint, 1969), p. 103.