Andreas of Caesarea : God says: "He who hears my words and does them will not see death but will be changed from death into life." — CATENA Augustine of Hippo : "If the world hate us: we know" What do we know? "that we have passed from death unto life" How do we know? "Because we love the brethren." Let none ask man: let each return to his own heart: if he find there brotherly love, let him set his mind at rest, because he is "passed from death unto life." Already he is on the right hand: let him not regard that at present his glory is hidden: when the Lord shall come, then shall he appear in glory. For he has life in him, but as yet in winter; the root is alive, but the branches, so to say, are dry: within is the substance that has the life in it, within are the leaves of trees, within are the fruits: but they wait for the summer. Well then, "we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death." — Ten Homilies on 1 John 5 Bede : Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Let no one turn the house of prayer into a den of thieves, let no one lay snares of death for the members of Christ, let no one who still remains in death presume to approach to receive the mysteries of life: for he who does not love remains in death. Let us love Christ in himself, and let us love him in his members, let us seek the Lord, and our soul shall live, but let us seek him, not as the wicked do to kill, but as the faithful do to enjoy forever. — Homilies on the Gospels, Homily XXIV Bede : We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. Let no one falsely exalt himself over virtues, let no one measure the poverty of his own strength beyond measure: it gives open judgment, whoever is full of fraternal love, that he belongs to the lot of the elect, because he has earned a portion in the land of the living. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Bede : He who does not love remains in death. He speaks of the death of the soul. For the soul that sins, it shall die. For the life of the flesh is the soul, and the life of the soul is God. The death of the body is to lose the spirit, the death of the soul is to lose God. Hence it is certain that all who are born into this light are spiritually dead, carrying original sin from Adam, but by the grace of Christ, the faithful are regenerated so that they may live in the soul. Indeed the mystery of baptism and faith benefits only those who sincerely love their brothers, drawing them from death to life. And it must be noted that he does not say, "He who does not love will come into death," as if he were speaking of eternal punishment which awaits sinners in the future, but he says, "He who does not love remains in death." Surely in that very death from which he could rise even in this life, if he perfectly loved his brothers. Hence it is said in the Apocalypse: "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection (Apoc. XX); over these the second death has no power." — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Didymus the Blind : Whoever loves his brothers in God's way has passed from death to life, but whoever does not have this love remains in death. In the same way the widow who enjoyed herself was dead, even if technically she was alive. For anyone who lives like that has obviously forgotten God. — COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN Shepherd of Hermas : These have been perverted from the truth: among them there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. Corruption, then, has a hope of a kind of renewal, but death has everlasting ruin. — Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 6