16 in this we have known the love, because he for us his life did lay down, and we ought for the brethren the lives to lay down; 17 and whoever may have the goods of the world, and may view his brother having need, and may shut up his bowels from him—how doth the love of God remain in him? 18 My little children, may we not love in word nor in tongue, but in word and in truth!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 John 3:16-18
Commentary on 1 John 3:16-21
(Read 1 John 3:16-21)
Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to a perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it must decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to.