Let Us Love One Another

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God…” (1 John 4:7)

In 1 John, the beloved disciple describes the person who loves as someone who truly lives in the knowledge of God and the new birth He offers in Jesus (1 John 4:7). This love begins not with us, but in the love of God for us in sending His only Son as a propitiation for our sins “so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9-10). This instruction bears striking resemblance to his own recording of Jesus saying:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. (John 13:34)

It is because of the life-altering magnitude of God’s love in Jesus that we are to love one another as “God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).

Our frail, complicated, beautiful, and wonderful human relationships are the ground in which God works among us and always has. From the beginning God declared “it was not good for man to be alone,” and has continued to make ways in the sin-stained wilderness for sinful and violent humanity to dwell with Him together (Genesis 2:18). He does this most fully and finally in Jesus, who breaks the dividing walls and makes us all one in Him (Galatians 3:28). The unconditional love of God in Jesus instructs us how to see and understand our intimate relationships, and how they witness the reality inaugurated by Jesus Christ even now.

Over the month of February on The Apologetics Corner, we will explore what the Scriptures say about our families, friends, and marriages. In each of these intimate relationships we will ponder how the gospel transforms our understanding of them, and how these spheres of love serve as a witness to God’s love in Jesus Christ for all people.

Family as Display of God’s Love (February 8)
Friendship & The Gospel (February 15)
Marriage: The Love of Christ & His Church (February 22)
The Church as a Creature of Love (February 29)

I pray that as we begin to ponder our relationships in light of the gospel they will be transfigured by God’s love into the shape of the cross. As we seek the Scriptures, I pray we will be ever astounded at God’s kindness in giving us other human beings as heralds of His love, and that our relationships would serve as a finger which always points to Christ crying, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29)

Featured Offer

Until the Whole World Hears

Approximately 70% of people alive learn primarily through audible communication, meaning that around 5.7 billion people need to hear the gospel to understand and accept it. The John Ankerberg Show has partnered with "Faith Comes By Hearing" to provide Audio Bibles. Faith Comes By Hearing spends years creating translations and recording audio versions of the Bible in specific languages. They then distribute these Audio Bibles to groups of people who need them most. The John Ankerberg Show is responsible for sharing FCBH's mission through various media outlets. At the same time, FCBH continues its primary work of translating, sharing, and delivering the Word of God. Join us for this series to discover how God uses Audio Bibles to reach and disciple people worldwide.

About Ankerberg Show

The John Ankerberg Show is a weekly half-hour internationally syndicated television program using informal debates between representatives of differing belief systems, and documentary-styled presentations on major issues in society to which the historic Christian faith has something of consequence to say. The programs are designed to appeal to a thinking audience of Christians and non-Christians alike.

About Dr. John Ankerberg

Dr. John Ankerberg is host and moderator of the nationally broadcast John Ankerberg Show television and radio program. Dr. Ankerberg is an internationally known author, evangelist and apologist.

Dr. John F. Ankerberg in his writings and on his television program presents contemporary spiritual issues and defends biblical Christian answers. He believes that Christianity can not only stand its ground in the arena of the world's ideas, but that Christianity alone is fully true. He has spoken to audiences on more than 78 American college and university campuses, as well as in crusades in major cities of Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands of the Caribbean. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Religious Broadcasters. He and his wife, Darlene, have one daughter, Michelle.