The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum What is essential

How about CONTEXT? For example...

1 John 3:18 (ASV) "[My] Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth."

And, somehow you left out verse 24, even though the passage reference infers that it is included in your biblical quote?? Perhaps just a slip of the mouse?

1 John 3:21-24 (ASV) "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment. (24)And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he gave us."

Let's not confuse the issue, please. The Lord Christ summed up, aka: summary statement, the whole law by "loving God" and "loving neighbor" (the two tablets of the Ten Commandments). But the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament epistles elaborate what that summary means in great detail... thus the principle of the "Analogy of Faith"; comparing Scripture with Scripture and not simply doing a search for one word in a concordance. Scripturally, love is a Christian's motive, which is and MUST BE expressed in definable ways, according to God's revealed will; profession of right doctrine (truth) and exhibition of right living (holiness).