²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

-I John 4:20, NLT

Is this love?

Lying to, abusing, stealing, and otherwise risking the well-being of another. 

Of course, not.

This is the opposite of love. These actions declare contempt and hatred towards the other. Minimally, they are indifferent to the welfare of the other. That is not love.

So, what does this mean?

This verse from I John 4 calls cheaters to account. These unloving behaviors put into question whether a cheater even knows God.

They are not acting in a loving way towards their spouse. That is a prerequisite to actually knowing God according to the author of I John.

It is not merely saying one knows God that is enough. Loving actions need to follow those words in order for those words to be true.

Cheaters usually fail miserably in the follow-up, though.