If thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love.

Dear Christian Bro. & Sis,

1 John 4:11 Young's Literal Translation, tells us

Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;

The Apostle John reminds us in verses 12 to 19 that God remains in us and His love is perfected in us if we love one another, that as we confess Yeshua the Son of God and remain in this love of God, we remain in God and God remains in us. Verse 19, in particular, tells us, "we -- we love him, because He -- He first loved us".

This reminder is reiterated in verses 20 and 21 as follows,

1 John 4: 20-21 YLT

20 if any one may say -- 'I love God,' and his brother he may hate, a liar he is; for he who is not loving his brother whom he hath seen, God -- whom he hath not seen -- how is he able to love?
21 and this [is] the command we have from Him, that he who is loving God, may also love his brother.

Brothers and sisters, how shall we obey this command to love one another? What shall we do to love our brethren whom we see, so that we can also honestly say we love God whom we have not seen?

Thanks be to YHWH our God and Father in Heaven, for he has given us detailed instructions on how to love our fellow brother. These instructions are recorded in the Torah of Moshe, in the book of Leviticus, chapter 19, where Moshe commands the people of Israel not to steal, nor to cheat, nor to rob, nor show partiality nor even carry tales against their brothers. The only difference is that, besides using the term "brother", Moshe also employed the terms "one another", and "neighbour" to refer to a fellow Israelite.

Let us read this passage more closely.

Leviticus 19: 11-18 NKJV
11 ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.
12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I AM YHWH.
13 ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I AM YHWH.
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I AM YHWH.
17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I AM YHWH.

Notice firstly, that the above commandments of Torah, come directly from YHWH our God. Four times, in verses 12, 14, 16 and 18 we read the declaration, "I am YHWH".  These are not mere opinions nor suggestions of Moshe. They are not the word of Man. Instead they are the Word of God himself.

Secondly, note that all the commands forbid us to commit evil act against our fellow brothers. We are to avoid acting wickedly
- neither with our hands (stealling, putting a stumbling block before the blind),
- nor with our words (lying, swearing falsely, cursing the deaf, talebearing),
- nor with the thoughts in our minds (injustice in judgment, partiality against the poor, favour to the powerful)
- nor in the desire of our hearts (cheating, robbing, withholding wages of the hired workers)

Finally, we see that this list brings us to the command to love our fellow brothers and sisters from our hearts. We are commanded not to hate our brother in our heart, but instead to rebuke him if he has sinned against God (v17). We are not to take vengeance, not even to bear any grudge against fellow children of God's people (v18a).

Most important of all, we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves (v18b). This command is described by our Master Yeshua in Matthew 22:39 as the Second Greatest Commandment in the Torah.

When we look into the Torah of YHWH, we can now understand better the instruction in 1 John 4:21. By reading the commandments of YHWH in Leviticus 19, we can heed the reminder by the Apostle John,

1 John 4: 21 YLT

and this [is] the command we have from Him, that he who is loving God, may also love his brother.

Brothers and Sisters, let us love one another.