4:6
This verse merits careful reading. Yet again, John sets up a dichotomy between the world and us who are from God. The “us” here would seem to be John and either the apostles as a whole (though he may well have been the only one left at the time of writing, but representing apostolic reaching), or John and his co-workers. But note that the test John give is listening or not listening to “us”. Someone who rejects clear Biblical teaching may claim they are not rejecting God, but rejecting a man, or simply giving their own interpretation of things. However, John sets this up as another test of whether someone is speaking out of the Spirit of truth, or the spirit of error. We need to appreciate the authority that goes with teaching. If we are a teacher then we need to be very careful over what we teach, making sure we are in line with the word of God. If someone is teaching the word of God accurately then we need to pay close attention.
4:7
John returns to perhaps his favourite theme, love and God. As always, we need to read this verse in context. John is not giving support any notion that it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we “love” each other. Many sin-affirming “Christians” use “love” as an excuse for disregarding God’s commands. The context is the gnostic type teaching which emphasised knowledge, casting doubt on the full salvation of the Christians. John is assuring them that the “proof” that they belong to God is the godly love they have for one another.
4:8
The converse of this is that if someone does not demonstrate the love of God then, regardless of what they might say, they cannot really know God. For God is love. We are saved to be Christlike, so if we do know God then His love will start to be exhibited in our lives.
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