1John 4:9,10 God's Demonstration of Love
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1John 4:9,10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Elsewhere it says, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Rom 5:8 I think the reason he brings this up is that if we are commanded to love one another, we have to understand what is meant by "love". The way the world thinks of "love" is generally much different than what John is referring to here as "love". In fact the American Heritage Dictionary doesn't even contain the Biblical definition of love. It simply associates love with certain feelings or sexual desire. But as I said previously, Biblical love is not simply a "feeling" of affection. Rather it is the willful intention of meeting the real needs of others. As such, Biblical love is measurable by the degree to which you are meeting the real needs of those you allegedly "love". And this is where the cross serves as an example.