Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 John 3:18

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

Turning back to “little children” (see comment on v.13), John admonishes with the tone of a spiritual father pleading for the heartfelt response of his children. Love requires more than idle talk or exalted theology. It demands simple acts, which anyone can see, in order to meet the needs of brothers and sisters in distress. Any expression of love that fails here is not only empty but blasphemous (cf. James 2:15; 1 Corinthians 13:1).