Verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

(1.) Because he is so much exalted above us, and if he has loved those who were so inferior and so unworthy, we ought to love those who are on a level with us;

(2.) because it is only in this way that we can show that we have his Spirit; and,

(3.) because it is the nature of love to seek the happiness of all. There are much stronger reasons why we should love one another than there were why God should love us; and unless we do this, we can have no evidence that we are his children.

{e} "if God" Mt 18:33; Joh 15:12,13