Saint John sees that it is possible for the love of God to become perfect in us. This does not mean that we on earth love God perfectly. It means that God's love for us can reach its objective, making us holy in imitation of Jesus Christ. The very simple language of this First Letter of Saint John proposes high ideals for our spiritual lives.

At the last supper, Jesus seems to have gone beyond the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament to announce a higher ideal, that we should love each other as he loved us. This higher ideal does not reduce the importance of the Ten Commandments. Rather, it contains within itself these Commandments and all their demands. In the first place of the letter, St John reminds us of the need to keep the Commandments. In chapter 4, however, which we read today, he has gone beyond that level to talk more intimately about the love of God for us, reminding us that God is love.