II John 1:6 “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
The Commandment to “love one another” (II John 1:5) is so vital to our well-being in the Church of Jesus Christ that the Apostle John repeatedly addresses it, explaining it in various ways to ensure that we get the message. Using the phrase, “And this is love”, John again directs us to both the root cause and evidence of this blessed “love”. John previously told us that “We love him [Our Lord], because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19); and we immediately experience this Blessed “love” when the Holy Spirit gives us Spiritual Birth (John 3:1-8). Also, when he tells us that “We love him, because he first loved us.”, He is pointing us to the cause and effect of our godly “love”; that is, the presence of His “great love” (Ephesians 2:4) in us, is the cause and motivation for us to “love” Him and “one another”. Furthermore, He tells us that “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15); that is, our “love” for our Lord and for “one another” and for obedience to Him rises from His implanted “love” for us. John says that this is what “love” looks like; when you see a Church walking “after” our Lord’s “commandments”, you are seeing a faithful Church that “loves” the Lord, “loves” “one another”, “loves” our Lord’s Church-Kingdom, and “loves” the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Such “love” is a walking manifestation of the “fruit of the Spirit” in us; that is, you are seeing a great outpouring of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23) and “goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). The overriding message to us, is that we are to ignore the world’s enticements that would distract us and tempt us to step off our Lord’s Walking Path of “love”; and to faithfully “walk” in “love” all the days of our lives!