Writer of 1 John saw love as the very nature of God
Corollary: To love is to know God
![Two hands approach a radiant light with hearts in the background Two hands approach a radiant light with hearts in the background](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7c9770c2-e0c1-404b-a21a-18c48aa0e16b_1280x675.jpeg)
Claiming that you know God doesn’t mean that you do. That is one of the lessons of the First Epistle of John, probably written to the Christian church as a whole late in the first century.
For the author1 of 1 John, God is light and God is love, and to truly know God you must walk in light and walk in love.