提要
約翰在他的福音書中,告訴我們耶穌那段不朽名言:「上帝愛世人,甚至將祂的獨生子……」(3:16)。在本章裡,他告訴我們:「不是我們愛上帝,乃是上帝愛我們,差祂兒子為我們的罪作了挽回祭,這就是愛了。」(10節)約翰說:「上帝就是愛。」(16節)「我們愛,因為上帝先愛我們。」(19節)「上帝既是這樣愛我們,我們也當彼此相愛。」(11節)
怎樣彼此相愛?「不要只在言語和舌頭上,總要在行為和誠實上。」(3:18)愛,簡言之,就是尋求對上帝和鄰舍的最大益處。終極來看,愛不在於你說什麼,乃在於你做了什麼。所以,約翰總把愛上帝和愛人連結起來(參約壹1:9~11)。
這段信息與舊約中先知對公義及公平的呼召是一致的。公義是人與上帝有正常的關係,公平是人對鄰舍有洽當的關係。
即使耶穌也如此強調:我們盡心、盡性、盡意、盡力去愛上帝和鄰舍,以此來滿足上帝的心意(可12:28~31)。
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Overview
It was John, in his gospel, who gave us those immortal words of Jesus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). Now, in this chapter he says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (v.10). "God is love", says John (v.!6b), and He loved us long before we loved Him (v.19). And because God loves us, "we also ought to love one another" (v.ll).
How do we love one another? Not "with words or tongue but with actions and in truth", says John (3:18). Love, simply understood, means to seek the best for neighbour and for God. That, of course, implies more than mere verbalizing — it implies action. Love, ultimately, is something you do. This linkage between love for God and love for neighbour was obviously an issue for John. He says, "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him" (1:9-11).
This message is perfectly consistent with the call of the Old Testament prophets to righteousness and justice. Righteousness meant proper relationship with God. Justice meant proper relationship with neighbour.
Even Jesus stressed it. We're to meet God's expectations of us by loving Him, loving neighbour, and even self, with all our "heart... soul... mind... and strength" (Mark 12:28-31).
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