Love God, Love Your Brother

As Jesus said, the great commandment and the second commandment are both commandments. You have to love God and love your neighbor. What John emphasizes in the text before us is that they are intertwined, interrelated, indeed, mutually dependent. You can't love God without loving your brother. It is impossible, both in terms of God's law and nature's law. But you can't love your brother without loving God. Ultimately, this is because obedience is the definition of love.