John Calvin Commentary 1 John 4:11

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

Beloved, now the Almighty applies to His own purpose what He has just taught us regarding the love of God. For He urges us by God’s example to brotherly love, just as Paul also presents Christ to us, who offered Himself to the Father as a sacrifice of pleasant fragrance, so that each of us might work to benefit our neighbors (Ephesians 5:2).

And John reminds us that our love should not be mercenary, when he instructs us to love our neighbors as God has loved us. For we should remember this: we have been loved freely. Undoubtedly, when we consider our own benefit or return favors to friends, it is self-love, and not love for others.