If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18
“John describes the selfish believer of whom three things are true. First…John describes a person with an adequate though perhaps not lavish physical livelihood.
Second, this believer sees a fellow believer in need. Similar language in other NT texts reveals this was a frequent issue in the early church: some “had need” in the Jerusalem congregation (Acts 2:44; 4:35); Paul labored to supply the “needs” of himself and his coworkers (20:34); Paul commanded that “the needs of the saints” be met via sharing (Rom 12:13; cf. Eph 4:28; Tit 3:14). Such activity requires not only industry and economy but also willingness to give. In the scenario that 1 John 3:17 envisions, the former may have been present, but the latter was not.
Third, this believer with means “is callous” toward the one in need…To “close” this faculty is to be hardened, whether through indifference or brazen heartlessness…
First John 3:18 concludes with a terse exhortation to match confession with tangible action.”
Robert W. Yarbrough, 1-3 John BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008) 203-204.