Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The Apostle sets love and knowledge of God in direct opposition: where there is no love, there is no knowledge of Him. God is love as the fountain from which it flows wherever knowledge of Him reaches, as He is light, having nothing dark in him but illuminating all things. True knowledge of God remakes us into new creatures and conforms us to His image. Away with that foolish gloss that separates faith from love; it is the same as trying to remove heat from the sun.
AI summary
Love descends from heaven itself, it is God's nature and the fruit of His Spirit. Whoever loves with genuine holy affection is born of God and knows Him truly. But whoever loves not, knows not God; such a soul shows by its very coldness that true knowledge of the divine nature has no dwelling place within it.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 John 4:7-13
To claim love for God whom you have never seen while refusing to love His visible children is a contradiction that cannot stand. God is love itself: the three divine Persons in eternal, inexpressible affection for one another; He bears unchangeable love to His elect in Christ; and from His breast flows nothing but love. The saints must love one another because they are His children, born of Him, and must be like their heavenly Father.
AI summary