Love: The Evidence of Eternal Life

John is not saying [in 1 John 3:14a], 'If you go out and love other people, be a good person, generally pleasant and agreeable but not noticeably different, then you'll make it into heaven by your love.' He is not saying that loving others earns eternal life. John is saying the opposite. He means that the badge, the seal, and the proof that we have this life of God in our souls is that it works itself out in love for other Christians. We know--with confidence, assurance, and certainty--that we have passed from death to life because of our love for one another. He is saying that loving fellow Christians is evidence that new spiritual life has already come.

--Thabiti Anyabwile, The Life of God in the Soul of the Church: The Root and Fruit of Spiritual Fellowship (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2012), 59.