3. Who is our visible brother whom we are to love?

³ Who is our visible brother whom we are to love? Well, we cannot limit him to someone of the same race, the same color or the same nationality, can we? Rather, our brother is our fellow servant of Jehovah in the local Christian congregation, or in any other congregation of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses throughout the earth. He is our brother in the faith. (Gal. 3:26-28) So we are obligated by Jehovah’s love to have intense love for our Christian brothers, thereby proving we are true Christians.

4. What does Paul recommend at 2 Corinthians 13:5, and so what questions should here be considered by all?

⁴ As an organization today, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses show such love for one another. There is no fighting between national groups; there is no racial bias or hatred. And this is as it should be. The mark of true Christianity is definitely there in the organization. But the question is: How are we as individuals doing in this matter of showing love for our Christian brothers? Are we individually displaying true agápē love for one another? Do we individually have intense love for one another? In this respect it is good for each one to examine himself according to the standard set out in Jehovah’s Word. Yes, as Paul said: “Keep testing whether you are in the faith, keep proving what you yourselves are.”​—2 Cor. 13:5.

5. (a) Is love optional as a quality for Christians? (b) How far should a Christian’s love reach out?

⁵ We have learned from the words of Jesus, and also from John, that love for our brothers is a necessary Christian quality. It is not something we could call optional; love is not something we can practice only when it is convenient. Rather, the command from Jesus for his disciples to love one another is really a royal law, one that should influence all our actions. Neither can we limit our love to just a few close associates in the congregation, but, rather, our love should reach out to include the entire association of brothers in all parts of the earth. Just as Peter wrote: “Have love for the whole association of brothers.” (1 Pet. 2:17) How important it is, then, that we do not limit our love but that we reach out to include the entire association of brothers.

12. What example does Jehovah set for us in this matter of love, and what does Peter therefore advise us to do?

¹² It is also good to consider that Jehovah loves all of us, and we are all imperfect. So Jehovah does not restrict his love to just a few in the congregation, but through his loving arrangement he is willing to forgive our mistakes and errors and accept our loving service. So intense heartfelt love for our brothers is based on the truth and a genuine appreciation of the worth of our brothers in Jehovah’s eyes.

15. How would you apply 1 Timothy 1:5 to this matter of loving one another intensely from the heart?

¹⁵ Yes, love for all our brothers should be out of a clean heart, and it should be wholehearted. Remember what Paul told Timothy: “Really the objective of this mandate is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience and out of faith without hypocrisy.” (1 Tim. 1:5) This means that our heart is cleaned up by the truth, and if we see ourselves lacking in some respect in love for our brothers, then we should allow the truth to purify our lives through more frequent use of God’s Word. A clean heart should impel us to have a wholesome, honest and helpful relationship with all the brothers in the congregation. Our conscience will then be a good conscience because it will be at rest. We will be sure that we are doing right. Our love will be easily observable by others, for it will not be a hypocritical display or something contrived just for the sake of appearance. True love is a godly quality, a pure inner quality that is real and that issues from a good, clean heart.