Quote:
Originally Posted by Connie
Maybe this is clearer: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" is a warning that we can't say we love God if we don't keep His commandments. In fact this is a warning about relying on a superficial feeling we call love. True love obeys, period. I don't think it means that we can obey WITHOUT that feeling of love though, which is what you seemed to be implying.
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It's not a warning; it's a statement of fact. I don't see how you can read it any other way in 1st John 5. It's not about feelings at all.
We're not saying we can't "feel" a love for God -- just that the Bible doesn't put the emphasis on such emotions. Which is not surprising, since human emotion is such a fleeting thing.
Also, the emphasis on the commandments in 1st John 5 is that of believing God. I take from 1Jo 5 that first and foremost, loving God is
believing him. Stemming from that comes obedience.