God is the originator of all good (James 1:17), and no man exercises any fine quality that did not come from the Lord. If God had not first loved us, we would not be capable of love. We would have been abandoned in sin and would have produced hate instead of affection. John never ceases to marvel at the primacy of his heavenly Father’s love, and wants to make his readers equally aware of its wonder (cf. Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 10) for the omission of “him.” The clause then reads, “we love,” a wider and perhaps more significant statement than “we love him.” To love one who already loves us is not unusual; but John is claiming that the love of God for us has resulted not only in our reciprocal love for God, which is natural, but also in a universally loving attitude on our part. We are continually loving, not only God, but all creatures, because of the superlative love of God that we have experienced in our own lives.