He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him.
The love of brethren appearing in this verse is not a love tinged with passion or self-seeking; but it is "the pure disinterested seeking for another's welfare, of which Christ was the great example."[29] This is a far different thing from that humanistic love which is coming more and more to be the religion of our non-Christian world.  Such love, cultivated for its own sake and without regard for Christ must ever prove to be artificial, powerless and disappointing.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot be nourished and kept alive apart from the life-giving Spirit himself.