1 JOHN 3:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? — the practical test moves from death-threatening to ordinary hardship. Closing one's heart (kleio splanchna) against a needy brother contradicts God's love. The rhetorical question reveals the contradiction between love-profession and love-denial.
Church Fathers on 1 John 3:17
“In this know we love:” 1 John 3:16 he means, perfection of love, that perfection which we have bidden you lay to heart: “In this know we love, that He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Lo here, whence that came: “Peter, do you love me? Feed My sheep.” John 21:15-19 For, that you may know that He would have His sheep to be so fed by him, as that he should lay down his life for the sheep, straightway said He this to him: “When you…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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