What is the context?
The command to love rests on God’s own initiative. God sent His Son so that people might live through Him, and that Son is the atoning sacrifice for sins. Human love is a response to a love already given.
The letter moves from God’s action to the believers’ obligation: those loved in this way ought to love one another. Though no one has seen God, His abiding presence is expressed in the love His people practice.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley connects knowing God with love toward God and neighbor, and reads perfected love here as love reaching its intended effect. The USCCB notes similarly understand God’s gift of the Son as the measure of authentic love. The statement that God is love is explained through His action in Christ, not through whatever a person chooses to call loving.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.