John wrote this epistle to urge his readers to continue to be obedient to God by responding positively to the truth of His revelation. He also wanted them to resist the inroads of false teachers who sought to distort this truth. He dealt with the first purpose in verses 4-6.
v. 4 John began by commending the church. He had met some of its members who were walking in obedience to God's truth (i.e., walking in the light, 1 John 1:7).
v. 5 John's message for this church was not some new revelation. It was a reminder to keep on walking in obedience to God's truth by continuing to love one another (cf. 1 John 2:3-9; 3:14-18, 23; 4:7, 11, 20-21). This was important since false teachers were encouraging the readers to depart from the truth they were hearing (v. 6).
"It is not that love precedes truth or belief but that love offers the clearest test of the truthfulness of the confession and the sincerity of the obedience given to God's commands. Belief may be feigned and confession only of the lips, but love is harder to counterfeit."9
v. 6 If anyone had a question about what loving one another meant, John explained that it is essentially obeying God (cf. 1 John 5:2-3a). That is, we love each other best when we obey God's will that His Word reveals.
"Love strives to realise [sic] in detail every separate expression of the will of God."10
The antecedent of the last word in this verse is not clear in the English text or the Greek text. "It"could refer to "love"or "commandment."The latter alternative seems somewhat more likely in view of John's argument. In this case John's point was that his readers should obey God's commands as they had heard these from the beginning of the apostles' preaching (cf. 1 John 1:1). They should not obey the gospel that the false teachers were proclaiming.
All the specific "commandments"of God are really one "commandment"or obligation for the Christian (cf. 1 John 3:22-23).
