From the early Church Fathers to now.
8 Patristic · 1 Orthodox
“Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God.”
“Just as the person who does not choose what he ought to choose has done wrong and does not love what he ought to love, so those who love only those who are worthy of love receive only that level of praise due to them.”
“To practice righteousness and judgment means to live virtuously, and to live virtuously means to obey God's law, the purpose of which is to help us to base our lives on the principle of love. This is the love which comes from God, as John says.”
“Love is from God, as have declared those whom he has made not only his great lovers but also his great preachers.”
“"Beloved, let us love one another." Why? Because a man adviseth? "Because love is of God." Much hath he commended love, in that he hath said, "Is of God:" but he is going to say more; let us eagerly hear. At present he hath said, "Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God." Why? "For God is love." What more could be said, brethren? If nothing were said in praise of love throughout the pages of this epistle, if nothing whatever throughout the other pages of the Scriptures, and this one only thing were all we were told by the voice of the Spirit of God, "For Love is God;" nothing more ought we to require.”
“What does it mean to say that love is from God? Surely this refers to the man who came from God, who was revealed according to the image and likeness of the one who made him? For when this man appeared, he was revealed as the beloved and as worthy of being loved. Now since this Savior has been sent into the world because of the Father's great love for the things which he has made, those who have received this blessing and who are thus beloved ought to love one another. For each of us is loved and is called to love, having the command that we should love our neighbor.”
“Beloved, let us love one another, etc. He has highly recommended charity, which he said is from God; he is about to say more, let us listen attentively:”
“And everyone who loves is born of God, etc. What more could be said? God is charity. Therefore, to act against charity is to act against God. Let no one say: I sin against man when I do not love my brother, and it is an easy sin against man, if I do not sin against God alone. How do you not sin against God, when you sin against charity? God is charity.”
“Having shown that one must love certain people, namely those of like mind, he returns to what he said at the beginning. He says that love and the one who loves are from God, that the one who loves, and he alone, is born of God and knows God, while the one who does not have love does not know God either.”
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was revealed in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Again, after the aforementioned, John resumes the discourse on love. For when he had shown whom one ought to love, namely those who are conformed in character, he adheres to what was said at the beginning, stating that both love and the one who loves are from God, and that only he who loves is born of God and knows God: while he who does not have love also does not know God, confirming opposites with opposites. How, then, does he who does not love not know God? He proves it in this way: "God is love." And how will this be revealed? From the fact that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might have true life through Him, and that we might live through Him. For just as goodness is said to exist because it has produced the intellectual and sensible world for the sake of goodness, so that He who truly is, might have some participants in Himself; likewise, also for the love with which He sent His Only Begotten into the world for us, He shows, even through this, that love exists. Therefore, He Himself adds: "By this, is love," that is, in this it is shown that God is love. Then, praising the goodness of God's love, he says: Not that we have loved Him, but that God did this, giving His Son for us, as if He ought to repay the beloved with an equal affection; but through love, first anticipating the benefit towards us, He sent His Son; and not only did He send Him, but also, for our sins, He was an atoning sacrifice by His own blood.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.