Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 John 4:11

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." — 1 John 4:11 (ASV)

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

If such was his great kindness toward us that he denied himself his own Son for our sake, ought we not to be kindly affectioned one toward another?

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

Here we have a fact and an argument. We ought to love. We ought to love in God's way; not because people loved us, nor because they deserve anything from us. We are too inclined to look at the worthiness of those whom we help; but our God is gracious to the unthankful and to the evil.

He makes His sun to rise and rain to fall for the unjust as well as for the righteous; therefore, we ought to love the unlovely and the unloving. But just as God has a special love for His own people, we who believe in Him ought to have a special affection for all who are His.