The love of Christians mutually is the proof and the power of communion that God abides in us and that His love is perfected in us, instead of being choked by the flesh or enticed by the allurements of the world.
Christ must be the life for such a reproduction. Yet when the disciples saw its perfection in Christ, how little they realized God in Him! When He died and rose, they understood it better. But when anointed with the Spirit they enjoyed it best of all and walked as they abode in that love, which is the energy of God's nature. It is so with us now in principle and in fact too according to the measure of our spirituality.
We can readily see how much this love of God in us toward our brethren rises above moral duty. If the Holy Spirit had not so written through the Apostle, we might have thought it a grievous exaggeration to give it such value as to say that if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. May we fully and simply believe His Word, that we may be enabled thus to love, and assure our souls that as love is of God so He abides in us to walk in it, apart from the world which can mix only to destroy its character, instead of His love being perfected in us! [23]