Love And The Commandments

Haec enim est charitas Dei, ut mandata ejus custodiamus.  Hoc et ipse Dominus dicit: Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit. Probatio ergo dilectionis, exhibitio est operis. Vere enim diligmus, si ad mandata ejus a nostris nos voluntatibus coarctamus. Nam qui adhuc per illicita desideria defluit, profecto Deum non amat, quia ei in sua voluntate contradicit. Sanctus Beda, In I Epistolam Sancti Joannis Source: Migne PL 93.113a

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 1 And indeed the Lord says this: 'If someone loves me, he keeps my commandments.' 2 Therefore the proof of love is the manifestation of the deed. For we love truly if we bind our will to His commandments. For he who yet falls away by illicit desires certainly does not love God, for He cries out against Him with his own will. Saint Bede, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint John 1 1 Jn 5.3 2 Jn 14.15