Book of 1 John Chapter 3 Vs. 17

 Love One Another

1 John 3:17 "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

But whoso hath... The acid test of Christianity, by which we know whether we are following the example of God’s love to others. If we are not willing to give of material things to others in need, we certainly would not lay down our lives for them (1Jhn. 3:16-18).

This is just saying, we should show our love by being compassionate to those who have a need. If someone is hungry, we should feed them. If someone is cold, we should clothe them. If they have no place to sleep, we should furnish them a bed. If we have the love of God within us, we will share with those who have need.

this world's good (τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου)

Rev., the worlds goods. Βίος means that by which life is sustained, resources, wealth.

seeth (θεωρῇ)

Deliberately contemplates. See on John 1:18. Rev., beholdeth. The only occurrence of the verb in John's Epistles.

have need (χρείαν ἔχοντα)

Lit., having need. Rev., in need.

bowels of compassion (τὰ σπλάγχνα)

See on pitiful, 1Pet. 3:8. Rev., much better, his compassion. The word only here in John.

True love is not limited to supreme sacrifices, verse 16, but shows up in lesser ones. Genuine Christian love expresses itself in sacrificial giving to other Christians’ needs (i.e., his brother). It is a practical love that finds motivation in helping others (1 Tim. 6:17-19; Heb. 13:16; Jas. 2:14-17).

how dwelleth the love of God in him? Question 3. Next, 1Jhn. 4:20.

Where it dos not exist, it is questionable that God’s love is present. If that is so, it is also questionable whether the person is the Lord’s child, verse 14.

The reason for this descent in thought is wise and sound. High abstract ideas, expressed in lofty and transcendent language, are at once necessary and dangerous for creatures like us. They are necessary, because without these grand conceptions our moral language and our moral life would be wanting in dignity, in amplitude, in the inspiration and impulse which are often necessary for duty and always for restoration. But they are dangerous in proportion to their grandeur. Men are apt to mistake the emotion awakened by the very sound of these magnificent expressions of duty for the discharge of the duty itself. Hypocrisy delights in sublime speculations, because it has no intention of their costing anything. Some of the most abject creatures embodied by the masters of romance never fail to parade their sonorous generalizations. One of such characters, as the world will long remember, proclaims that sympathy is one of the holiest principles of our common nature, while he shakes his fist at a beggar.

Every large speculative ideal then is liable to this danger; and he who contemplates it requires to be brought down from his transcendental region to the test of some commonplace duty. This is the latent link of connection in this passage. The ideal of love to which St. John points is the loftiest of all the moral and spiritual emotions which belong to the sentiments of man. Its archetype is in the bosom of God, in the eternal relations of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is love. Its home in humanity is Christ’s heart of fire and flesh; its example is the Incarnation ending in the Cross.

Now of course the question for all but one in thousands is not the attainment of this lofty ideal-laying down his life for the brethren. Now and then, indeed, the physician pays with his own death for the heroic rashness of drawing out from his patient the fatal matter. Sometimes the pastor is cut off by fever contracted in ministering to the sick, or by voluntarily living and working in an unwholesome atmosphere. Once or twice in a decade some heart is as finely touched by the spirit of love as Father Damien, facing the certainty of death from a long slow putrefaction, that a congregation of lepers may enjoy the consolations of faith. St. John here reminds us that the ordinary test of charity is much more commonplace. It is helpful compassion to a brother who is known to be in need, manifested by giving to him something of this world’s good of the living of this world which he possesses.

Yet the opportunity to sacrifice one’s life for another may not arise. But material possessions as food and clothes help sustain life and, if a Christian’s love is real, he cannot see his brother in need without having pity on him. Pity splanchna suggests a deep-seated emotional concern or affectionate sympathy also used in Luke 1:78; 2Cor. 6:12; 7:15; Phlp. 1:8; 2:1; Phlm. 1:7, 1:12, 1:20).