1 John | Chapter 4

1 John 4:1-6

Testing truths

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 1 The Call
  • 2-3 The Test
  • 4-6 The Outcome

  

Introduction

  

The key to understanding this section is found in the phrase of 3:24: “And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” John had taken up the matter of testing ourselves to determine the reality of the transformational encounter we have had with the Lord that would be seen two ways:

  1. In obedience towards the Lord and away from our former life where we no longer habitually practice sin. This is a vertical transformation where our lives have changed towards the Lord and His Word as we want to follow Him and not continually be enslaved to our former life.
  2. It is also seen in a horizontal transformation in how we treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Such a relationship is one characterized by LOVE which is defined by John as more than in word or tongue, but in-deed and in truth.

The question John now anticipates as to the knowledge of God’s abiding in us by the Holy Spirit is: “How do we determine that what we are experiencing is indeed the Holy Spirit?” The reader of this letter will immediately remember that this is not a new topic as John already addressed in in chapter 2:18-28 where he wrote of the differences between the false spirits and the true Spirit! While we cannot know for certain what this first centenary church was experiencing, we can piece together the fact that there was a schism which those that professed to have a greater knowledge in spiritual matters withdrew from fellowship with the true church and were continually engaged in trying to encourage a further exodus from the true church to their higher knowledge. This higher knowledge must have also included an experientialism that was measured upon emotionalism as the basis of determining what is true and what is false! I make this assessment based upon John’s own words of admonishment “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John implies the necessity of testing any truth or experience to make certain that such truth or experience is inspired truth! A simple outline of these 6 verses will help us understand and apply the text:

Vs. 1 The Call, Vs. 2-4 The Test and Vs. 4-6 The Outcome!

 

Vs. 1 The Call

  1. The Call: John issues the command to test those who claim inspiration. This call is made up of three parts:
  2. The Appeal: It starts with the word Beloved which reveals both his attitude and intensity. This is coupled with the phrase “do not believe every spirit”. In the Greek the phrase is “stop believing” and indicates that the appeal was NOT aimed at prevention but rather at continuation, as those he is warning were already engaged in believing every spirit! The truth that this points out is that not everything that proposes to be spiritual truth IS! It is not activity that determines truth it is instead truth that determines the reliability of the activity. The devil can also present things that appear to be spiritual and miraculous. The test is NOT if there is some supernatural activity present, as again the devil can manipulate such things. The question is what the source of this inspiration…is it God?
  3. The Duty: The responsibility to test the spirits is given to every believer; Enthusiasm, popularity and passion are not the guarantee of TRUTH. This is why John issues this commandment to test the spirits. Just like today the believers were either too lazy or too gullible and were prone to believe something was true because how it made them feel! They were to put to test for the purpose of approving it as truth, but it had to meet specific specifications.
  4. The Reason: What necessitated this appeal was that “many false prophets have gone out into the world.” This is an amazing reality given to us in the Bible, the presence of false teachers and prophets. Early on we are made aware of false teachers…Cain being the first. The prevalence of such false teaching is seen in the many warnings issued for example Deut. 13:1-5 where Moses wrote that if a prophet or a dreamer gives a sign or wonder a test was to be employed and that was not if the sign or wonder came true, it was if such a sign or wonder advocated going after and serving other gods. Simply put, the sign and wonder was not that which guided truth and obedience. Jesus in Matt 7:15 warned against false prophets saying, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” The point Jesus makes is that they employ false advertising and are not what they appear to be. They were active early in the early church as we can read of them in Acts 13:6 with a Jewish man who called himself Bar Jesus but was in reality a sorcerer named Elymas that Barnabas and Paul were called to render this man as he was spiritually blind. What we see is that in every age that which is false has sought to counterfeit that which is true. This is why John makes the appeal to prove the spirits, as a half-truth is more dangerous than a full lie! Many a church has fallen into false teaching simply because they didn’t understand that any modification of truth is more dangerous to the body of Christ than those who have openly opposed truth!

  

Vs. 2-3 The Test

  1. The standardized test: What follows in these two verses is the criteria by which truth may be known and distinguished from a lie.
  2. The Test: Throughout the Bible as noted above different tests were applied to determine a false prophet from a true prophet. In Jer. 28:9 we are told that one test is “If what the word which the prophet spoke comes to pass, then the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord had sent.” And Deut. 18:22 tells us that the opposite if this is true in as much as it what they said was from the Lord doesn’t come true then they aren’t of the Lord. And again, it wasn’t just the results that were to be judged it was the in which direction such results led people towards as noted in Deut. 13:1-5 if the what the prophet spoke came true but led the people away from the true and living God then that person was a false prophet. Added to these twofold tests is what John mentions here in these two verses. The prophet must speak the same and agree on the person and work of Jesus Christ, that specifically He has come in the flesh. What does the person say about Jesus, do they acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah come in the flesh or do they deny this? If they deny this, they are not of God no matter how wonderful a speaker they are, how big their church is and how marvelous their activity. This confession is a statement of fact that Jehovah alone saves, and He does so through His Son who is the only Messiah. That this Jesus came in person is incarnate deity and that only He could satisfy the demands of a Holy God. And it is only by a sinner placing their trust only upon Jesus’ sacrifice can the sinner be redeemed.
  3. The Value: John’s point is that only in the Incarnation is a bridge made between sinful man and a Holy God. Without the Incarnation there could NEVER be any contact between The Divine and fallen humanity and because of this there could never be any possibility of redemption. This is NOT just theology, it is proof the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ and that there can be no other way, and nothing added to His sacrifice. Jesus earthly life was the bridge between the human and The Divine! In Deut. 13:1-5 the fundamental test of truth was monotheism: No utterance, no matter how eloquently spoken, no matter the results can ever contradict or deny monotheism! And now added to this is the Apostles words by the Holy Spirit: The fundamental truth of Christianity in accordance with what is spoken in Deut. 13:1-5 is that of the Incarnation: No utterance, however seemingly inspired, miraculous its signs and wonders, if it denies the Incarnation of the above monotheism and the person and work of Jesus, can ever be true! Christians can never tolerate any so-called truth that denies Jesus’ eternal nature as God and His historical humanity as sinless man!
  4. The Issue: The contrast with this confession of the Incarnation is the proof of the Divine Spirit and the denial is equally evidence of the spirit of the antichrist. Has Jesus Christ come in the flesh and is He God the Son? Those who deny such have no fellowship with truth and are not born again of the Spirit of God.

 

Vs. 4-6 The Outcome

 

  1. The outcome when the test is applied: Immediately the reader of these 3 verses will notice the emphasized pronouns of YOU, THEY and WE!
  2. The Victory vs. 4: The first use of the pronoun is YOU and the reference is of those who are of God, true Christians and John says two things about these true Christians: First, they have overcome false teachers! John is not referring to a physical contest but rather an intellectual battle in which these believers have become victorious. The false teachers had sought to deceive believers, but they were unable to succeed in their lies. Second, John points out the basis by which they were able to be victorious: It wasn’t that they were smarter, stronger in spiritual things it was simply because of the work of Christ in their lives that made it impossible for the lies to work!
  3. The Contrast vs. 5: The second use of a pronoun is in verse 5 and it is THEY and this is a reference to the false teachers and John says that the false teachers are of the world and by this they aren’t believers as they possess the world philosophy even though they may use Christian language and represent Christian teachers and pastors. They were among the believers but not of the Believers!
  4. The Result vs. 6: It is the difference between the You and the They that continually reveals that we note that the YOU’S know spiritual truth while the THEYS are continually led by false teachers and lies! It isn’t that the THEYS don’t know truth it is that they prefer the lie! It is here that John uses his third pronoun WE and here it refers to the WE of the letter that John was addressing when he was led by the Holy Spirit to write this letter.

Centuries have come and gone and the church is still facing the same problem; not enough Pastors and teachers to rightly divide the word of God and defend the truth of the Word of God. The truth is the incarnation of God’s Son Jesus the Messiah. It is this that defines and is the focal point of doctrine. There is only truth and error, and anything or anyone that takes us away from this Jesus is not of God!

 

 

1 John 4:7-8

Love one another: What God is

 

  • Introduction
  • 7-8 What God is

 

Introduction

 

Reading this general letter of John’s, you begin to understand that John developed tests by which the reader could determine if they were a maturing child of God:

  1. The moral test: Righteousness
  2. The social test: Love
  3. The doctrinal test: Truth

In the verses before us today the Apostle John for the third time takes up the subject of love:

  1. In 2:7-11 John revealed love was the proof of fellowship with God
  2. In 3:10-14 John revealed that love was the proof of being a child of God
  3. Now in 4:7-16 John will show that love is the proof of our spiritual maturity

It is interesting to note the repeated words and phrases that the Apostle uses throughout his writing. Reading through John’s letters and gospel always reminds me of the repeated chorus in a song as they are repeated for emphasis and drive home what is important. For instance, look at: 3:24 “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us”

4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him, and he in us, because He has given us of His       Spirit.”

Between this repeated chorus of the Holy Spirits song is two proofs of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

  • The FIRST, as noted previously, was the acceptance of the truth of the Incarnation through obedience which grants us life and fellowship with God.
  • The SECOND, that we are about to study now is, the manifestation of true life, which is seen in the fact of love. John will tell his readers that this love proves our transformation as we take on His likeness which is love. It is this love along with God’s holiness that reveal our transformation into God’s nature and why we are exhorted to love as John is only exhorting us to do what we have now been transformed through our relationship with God through His only Son Jesus to do.

 

The entirety of this section from verse 7-21 breaks apart in a simple outline:

  1. 7-12 The exhortation to love one another
  2. 13-16 The connection between love and sound doctrine
  3. 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement

Another repeated chorus of the Holy Spirits song in 1st John is in the phrase seen 3 times in this section. Notice carefully what remains the same and what is different in this chorus. LOVE ONE ANOTHER, is the constant command. What changes is the threefold reason for why the command is issued seen in the words of LET US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO and IF WE:

  • 7-10 “Let us love one another”: The point of revelation in this section is that since we have been born again and love is God’s own nature, we must if we are born again exhibit that nature to each other.
  • 11 “We also ought to love one another”: Since love is God’s gift to His children then we ought to be sharing that gift with our brother and sisters.
  • 12 “If we love one another”: Since God’s love is God’s current activity in and through His children then it must naturally be our activity as well.

It is clear to the reader that God is not asking us, He is commanding us to love one another, and He can do so confidently for the three reasons given.

  

Vs. 7-8 Let us

 

The first reason John states for the command to love one another is since we have been born again and love is God’s own nature, we must, if we are born again exhibit that nature to each other. Simply put those that have experienced the love of God that has transformed them must naturally be loving those who also have been transformed by this same love of God. The love John describes here is a specific type of love that we are told is the exact same type of love that He has given to us, Agape unconditional love. It is this love that is God’s nature, and it is this love that is only produced by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the child of God that yields to its influence. It was this love that was seen in action at the cross and it is this love that has its elements broken down in 1 Corinth 13. What is also pointed out in in this phrase, Let us in the Greek is that the exhortation is continuous in action as it would read in Greek; Let us be HABITUALLY loving one another. The words one another in the Greek suggest reciprocity which is defined as the practice of exchanging things (LOVE) with others for mutual benefit. In other words, God has given His love us with the expectation that we will give it away as well to benefit others. The phrase “for love is of God” and verse 8 “God is love” need clarification which the Greek provides but the English translation does not.

John states both truths here that:

  1. 7 “For love is of God”: Love comes from God; this is saying that He is the definition and source of that love. John will further define this love for his readers in verses 9-10. The first definition of this kind of love is that its source originates in the Divine nature. Second, John reveals for us that this Love of God is transformative, and to encounter this love causes a NEW BIRTH that transforms us to the naturally unattainable degree of ushering us into fellowship with God who gifted us with this Love. John says that because of God’s love towards us we now KNOW. The absence of love is the absence of the knowledge of God as John writes in verse 8 “He who does not love does not know God.” The words in the Greek in verse 8 “does not know God” are “The person who does not love with this kind of love has never known God.” This reveals to the reader is that our faith is transformative because it has encountered the love of God that changes the person causing them to exhibit that which they have encountered, GOD, with others. Faith is appropriating to ourselves what applies to all. Love is the extension to all of what applies to self.
  2. 8 “God is love”: This does not mean that “LOVE IS GOD” as love does NOT define GOD, but God defines LOVE! God can never be defined by an abstraction and the Greek here places the article on the word God and not on the word love which means that these two words are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. A good translation of this phrase would be that “God, as to His nature is love. It is His nature to be loving.” Furthermore, you cannot separate His nature from other aspects of His nature and as we have already discovered in the words of the apostle that God is also Holy which means that God’s love is a Holy Love and that His Holiness is loving! Much of what in the world that is called love bears no resemblance to God’s love and this phrase has been placed into the world to support the worlds version of LOVE. The fact that John links this to the nature of God further supports the trinity as in verses 7-8 the reference to Love is from the vantage point of God the Father. Where the Love of God is from the vantage point of God the Son in verses 9-11. Finally, the Love of God is from the perspective of the Holy Spirit in verse 12. Love is a valid test for a true relationship with God since God is to His nature love and since we claim a relationship with God in necessitates that we live in this same love towards others, and it reveals the nature of God indwelling us.

 

1 John 4:7-10

For Love is of God

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 7-8 What God is
  • 9-10 What God did

 

  

Introduction

 

We take up where we left off as we noted the entirety of this section on love is from verse 7-21 and a simple outline:

  1. 7-12 The exhortation to love one another
  2. 13-16 The connection between Love and sound doctrine
  3. 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement

The Apostle John for the third time takes up the subject of “LOVE”:

  1. In 2:7-11 Love as the proof of fellowship with God
  2. In 3:10-14 Love as the proof of being a child of God
  3. In 4:7-16 Love as the proof of our spiritual maturity

We also noted the lyrical nature of John’s writing style with the repeated words and phrases. The first was:

  • 3:24 “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us”
  • 4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him, and he in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

Between this repeated chorus John reveals two proofs of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

  • The FIRST, as noted previously, was the acceptance of the truth of the Incarnation through obedience which grants us LIFE and fellowship with God.
  • The SECOND, that we are about to study today is, the manifestation of true life, which is seen in the fact of love.

Another repeated chorus in 1st John is seen in the three-time repeated chorus: LOVE ONE ANOTHER, which is the constant command. What changes is the threefold reason for the command which is seen in the words:

  • 7-10 “Let us love one another”: The point is that since we have been born again and LOVE is God’s own nature, we must exhibit that nature to each other.
  • 11 “We also ought to love one another”: Since LOVE is God’s gift to His children then we must be sharing that gift with each other.
  • 12 “If we love one another”: Since God’s LOVE is God’s current activity in and through His children, then it must be our activity.

John’s words are very specific with regards to this first point as this phrase “Let us” in the Greek is an exhortation that indicates a continuous action and should read Let us be HABITUALLY loving one another. Also noted the words “one another” in the Greek suggest the practice of exchanging LOVE with others for mutual benefit. God has given His love to us with the expectation that we will give it away to benefit others.

 Vs. 7-8 What God is

 

Now we take up the phrase “for love is of God” and verse 8 “God is love” need clarification which the Greek provides but the English translation does not.

John states in verses 7-8 two truths:

  1. First, Vs. 7 “For love is of God”: Here John reveals that the source of Love is God. God is not only the source of LOVE; His is the only true definition of what love is and behaves like. John offers this definition of love for his readers in verses 9-10 and we will examine that in detail when we get there.
  2. First, John reveals that love’s source is the Divine nature.
  3. Second, John reveals that this Love of God is transformative: As I mentioned previously that the Love of God has the potential if not resisted to cause new birth. And such new birth is unattainable any other way than the Love of God. It is this transforming Love of God that ushers us into fellowship with God who gifted us with His Love. John says that is the only type of person who truly knows God. I believe that this is what was behind Jesus’ words in Matt. 7:21-23 where we read, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Furthermore, according to verse 8 the absence of God’s love in the life of a person who professes to have been in contact with the love of God indicates the absence of the knowledge of God, verse 8 “He who does not love, does not know God.” In the Greek in verse 8, “does not know God” reads “The person who does not love with this kind of love has NEVER known God.” This reveals to the reader that to experience God’s love through faith is transformative! To have experienced the love of God that changes us through New Birth will cause that person to exhibit that which they have encountered, the love of GOD, with others! When looking at Faith and God’s love we discover that
  • Faith is personally appropriating God’s love that has been offered to all.
  • Love is personally extending to all God’s love because it was personally applied to us.
  1. Second, Vs. 8 “God is love”: First we need to realize that John is NOT declaring the worldly popular definition that ALL LOVE IS GOD. To equate that everything that passes as love in the world today is that defines the character and nature of the GOD Head is absurd as it is God defines LOVE which John points out in verses 8, 10.
  2. Two points are made in this verse:
  3. First, God can never be defined by an abstraction! In the Greek, the article is placed on the word God and NOT on the word love which means that these two words are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. A proper translation of this phrase would be “God, as to His nature is love and because of this it is always His nature to be loving.”
  4. Second, you cannot separate His nature from other aspects of His nature! God’s word reveals to us even in 1 John that God is also Holy. What this indicates is that God’s love is always a Holy Love and that His Holiness is always loving! The problem of leaving the definition of God as to His nature and character captive by the worlds concept of love is that much of what in the world calls love bears no resemblance to God’s definition of love. This is brought out further by the observation that John links God’s love to the nature of God Head:
  5. 7-8 The definition to God’s Love is from the vantage point of God the Father.
  6. 9-11The definition to God’s Love is form the vantage point of God the Son.
  7. 12 The definition to God’s Love is from the perspective of God the Holy Spirit.

  

Vs. 9-10 What God did

 

Vs. 9-11 Here the focus is on What God did that demonstrates the fact that His nature is love. Because God is love, He communicates not only in words but in action. God’s love is never static or inactive as He chooses to reveal His love to humanity in actions.

  1. His first action was in creation as humanity is the apex of His creation and everything else in His creation was made to meet humanity’s needs. It was man’s sin that brought this creation under bondage but before this Mankind had on earth a perfect home in which to enjoy and perfect fellowship with their creator.
  1. We can also see how God dealt in love with fallen humanity as He initiated even before the fall a way in which to re-establish fellowship with what humanity destroyed. This was seen in God’s provision of an innocent animal to cover Adam and Eve. It’s seen in God sparing Noah and his family from the wickedness of the world. It’s seen in the covenants God made with Abram in which only God ratified. It’s seen in His loving Israel in spite of them and not because of them as a witness to the rest of humanity. But the greatest demonstration of God’s love for fallen humanity is what Paul describes in Rom. 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Vs. 9 Here we read that John says that “In this the love of God was manifested towards us” and this preface to what will be explained next has important points. The word manifest in the Greek is one that means to be made public. Next when we read the words “only begotten” in the Greek has a different meaning than we would interpret as it means only that Jesus has no siblings. It is used to describe the uniqueness of Jesus who is eternal and has no birth into existence but because he was sent was begotten into the limitation of that which He created. The word “sent” means to be sent on a commission as an envoy with credentials.

This is what Paul declared in Col.1:15-16 where we are told “He (Jesus) is the exact image of the invisible God, the first-born over all creation. For by Him (Jesus) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him (Jesus) and for Him (Jesus).”

Vs. 10 Notice that John writes of two purposes of the Gift of Jesus:

  1. 9 That we might live through Him: The greatest gift ever given is a paradox as Jesus had to die if humanity was going to have the possibility to live.
  2. 10 That He might be the propitiation for our sins: “In this is love”, John writes and the Greek it describes NOT any kind of love but a particular love that God’s nature, a DIVINE LOVE. John further clarifies that in the words “not that we loved” indicates that humanity had no capacity to love like God and would have never possessed this quality. The word sent indicates the greatness of God who with complete understanding of our total inability to love still loved us! God has always loved lost sinners and that is why He alone could be the ONLY One to appease what His holiness demands and that being Jesus’ sacrifice to render those that receive Him favorable. God’s love needs no promise, no good works to initiate His love to work towards us; instead in springs forth spontaneously towards fallen humanity even though this fallen humanity is not worthy of it.

These two truths reveal that Jesus’ incarnation seen in His life and death was not an accident it was instead a deliberate appointment. Jesus didn’t die as a weak martyr, but as a mighty conqueror!

Finally, John gives his readers three aspects to the demonstration of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son Jesus:

  

  1. God gave His best: This is seen in “Who God gave” as we are told that God gave His Son Jesus. That is the best there is to give as nothing could ever come close to the Gift of God the Son. When some person wants to include their offering of works either included with Jesus as God’s gift or apart from Jesus as God’s gift it is the most offensive form of blaspheme a person could ever do. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinth 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift”.

 

  1. God gave His Son to die: Second the measurement of this great love of God in sending God the Son as a gift is seen in Jesus’ cost to accomplish the mission for the reconciliation of humanity, HIS DEATH! God the Father didn’t merely send God the Son to teach the world about Himself and that would have been wonderful, but knowledge of the character of God wouldn’t have been enough to redeem fallen humanity even though it would have been far more than humanity deserved. Neither did God the Father send God the Son to be our example of the possibilities and benefits to a relationship with God. This too would have been wonderful but inadequate because humanity was and is hopelessly and helplessly lost and no example can suffice as we have no ability to live up to it. Instead, God’s love didn’t stop at a teacher or an example, it went all the way to death. And not any death, a death reserved for the worst of sinners. It is this truth that Paul writes of his confidence in found in Roman’s 8:31-39 why he boldly proclaims that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God”.

 

  1. God gave for sinners: Finally, we realize that Jesus was willing crucified for those who did all that they could to crucify Him. Those that God the Son went this far to demonstrate His love for were not lovely, good people but instead the most vile of all creatures, people like me who rebelled against Him and hated Him who created us. Those who given the chance even after they have received so much from God would not hesitate to rebel against Him and scream out crucify Him. The measure of God love is realized in both the gift, the purpose of the gift, and to whom the gift was given for. By these three truths we understand God’s love!

 

1 John 4:11-12

“God’s love perfected”

 

  • Introduction
  • 11 Since God so loved us
  • 12 God’s love perfected in us

 

Introduction

 

We are still examining God’s love in 1st John chapter 4:7-21 and specifically the exhortation to love one another. The apostle’s style of writing was very lyrical as he repeats words and phrases like a song writer would repeat a chorus and that is what we have been studying in the three-time repeated chorus: “LOVE ONE ANOTHER”, where what changes in the chorus is the three reasons for the command to “love one another” which is seen in the words:

  • 7-10 “Let us love one another”: The first point we examined is in the two words “let us” and it is that since we have been born again and LOVE is God’s own nature, we must exhibit that same nature of God’s love to each other.

Now we will move on to the next two parts of this repeated chorus:

  • 11 “We also ought to love one another”: Since LOVE is God’s gift to His children then we must be sharing that gift with each other.
  • 12 “If we love one another”: Since God’s LOVE is God’s current activity in and through His children then it must be our activity.

As it related to the first phrase “Let us” in the Greek is literally “Let us be HABITUALLY loving one another.” This along with the Greek words “one another” indicate the practice of exchanging LOVE with others for mutual benefit. Previously we finished our study through verse 10 where we specifically looked at the two phrases: “for love is of God” and verse 8 “God is love” as John stated two truths:

  1. First, Vs. 7 “For love is of God”: The source of Love is God, and the only true definition of what love is and behaves like. And in that we noted that love’s “source” is the Divine nature. And because it is a part of God’s Divine nature this Love of God is transformative: According to verse 8 the absence of God’s love in the life of a person who professes to have been in contact with the love of God indicates the absence of the knowledge of God, as verse 8 in the Greek reads, “The person who does not love with this kind of love has NEVER known God.” This reveals to the reader that to experience God’s love through faith is transformative! To have experienced the love of God that changes us through New Birth will cause that person to exhibit that which they have come into contact with, the love of GOD, with others!
  2. Second, Vs. 8 “God is love”: John is NOT declaring the worldly definition that ALL “LOVE IS GOD”. John makes two points are made in this verse. In the Greek the article is placed on the word God and NOT on the word love which means that these two words are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. A proper translation of this phrase would be “God, as to His nature is love and because of this it is always His nature to be loving.” The second point John makes is that you cannot sperate His nature from other aspects of His nature! God’s word reveals to us even in 1 John that God is also Holy. What this indicates is that God’s love is always a Holy Love and that His Holiness is always loving! Vs. 7-8 The definition to God’s Love is from the vantage point of God the Father.

The final aspect of God’s love that we examined was in verses 9-10 where the focus was on “What God did”. The point was because God is love, He communicates not only in words but in action. Our attention was upon the atonement as the greatest demonstration of God’s love towards humanity as we noted three aspects of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son Jesus:

 THE GIFT: “God gave His best” First, God gave His Son Jesus. That is the best there is to give as nothing could ever come close to the Gift of God the Son. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift”.

THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die” Second, the measurement of this great love of God in sending God the Son as a gift is seen in Jesus’ cost to accomplish the mission for the reconciliation of humanity, HIS DEATH! God’s love didn’t stop at a teacher or an example in sending Jesus instead He went all the way to Jesus’ death. And not any death, a death reserved for the worst of sinners. It is this truth that Paul writes of his confidence in found in Roman’s 8:31-39 why he boldly proclaims that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God”.

WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners” Finally, we realize that Jesus was willing crucified for those who did all that they could to crucify Him. God demonstrate His love for ALL of humanity who were not lovely “good people” but instead the most vile of all people. The measure of God love is realized in those three aspects:

  • THE GIFT: “God gave His best”
  • THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die”
  • WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners”

 

Vs. 11 Since God so loved us

Vs. 11 It is now that the Apostle moves further into the commandment. The word “IF” is an unfortunate translation as it would be better worded as “SINCE” because the word reaches back to the act of the Father in sending His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins. This is the “chief cornerstone” on the building that expresses God’s nature of love. The heart of God the Father is in view who sent His Son and placed Him upon the cross and it was His holiness that demanded what only His love could satisfy as He abandoned fellowship as our sin was placed upon His Son. Because of God’s action if we have truly been impacted by this love towards us, we have an obligation to be constantly loving one another with God’s love which is NOT a love that is called forth by the virtues in another but is spontaneously the initiator in loving one another! There are six truths with regards to God’s love towards one another:

  1. It is spontaneous in its source
  2. It is universal in its scope
  3. It is long-suffering in its intensity
  4. It is self-sacrificing in its character
  5. It is aggressive in its action
  6. It is constant in its duration

With this as the context of the definition of the love of God comes the action required by God to those to whom have experienced this love; “We ought to love one another”. Based upon what God has done for us comes the increasing and permanent obligation that comes from being a recipient of God’s love, we are to love one another the way that He has demonstrated His love towards us in the above six ways! Our loving one another must never be seen as a mere OBLIGATION but rather as an expression of our devotion and APPRECIATION of having been recipients who continually enjoy that same love! Paul wrote of this appreciation in Romans 13:8 when he wrote “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law”. Such love must be as John has already written of in 3:18 not in “word or tongue but in deed and in truth”. Not just with the words that can be empty “love you” as sentiment is feeling without responsibility. Instead:

  • The MIND must understand the truth
  • The HEART must appreciate the truth
  • The WILL must act upon the truth

The greater we abide in God’s love and do what Paul wrote of in Eph 3:18-19 where he said that being rooted and grounded in God’s love would cause us to “comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” As this takes place the natural outcome is that we will love greater one another!

Vs. 12 God’s love perfected in us

Vs. 12 Because of the believer being impacted by the love of God, we note that He has done:

  • God’s love has done something to us
  • God’s love has done something for us
  • God’s love has done something in us

And because of those facts God’s love now must do something THROUGH US! There are three ways in which the revelation of God’s love is maid known to humanity:

  1. God’s love is PROCLAIMED in God’s Word.
  2. God’s love is PROVED at the cross.
  3. God’s love is PERFECTED in the believer.

John states the need for this perfection in the manifestation of His love through His children be reminding them that His nature is invisible to mortal eyes. So how does God manifest His nature to those who are blind to Him? John says it’s through how we Christians love one another. As we demonstrate God’s love, His nature becomes visible! It is made possible because John declares here that “God abides or has made His home within us”. Finally, when we act upon what is ours through the indwelling Holy Spirit, this love matures and our fellowship with God is manifested towards the world. The proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit isn’t in the Gifts of the Spirit but rather in the love of God being poured out through the life of the believer.

 

1 John 4:13-16

“Love and sound doctrine”

 

  • Introduction
  • 13 How to know if you have received God’s gift
  • 14-15 Knowing and loving
  • 16 Growing more in love

 

 

Introduction

At the start of the 4th chapter, I offered an outline of the chapter starting in verses 7-21 and it was all based upon repeated phrases and words that form a chorus:

  1. 7-12 The exhortation to “love one another”
  2. 13-16 The connection between Love and sound doctrine seen in the words “abide in Him and he in us”
  3. 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement. And here the words repeated are “perfected love”

John’s focus has been on three aspects of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son, Jesus:

  1. THE GIFT: “God gave His best” First, God gave His Son Jesus.
  2. THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die” Second, the measurement of this great love of God in sending God the Son as a gift is seen in Jesus’ cost to accomplish the mission for the reconciliation of humanity, HIS DEATH! God’s love didn’t stop at a teacher or an example in sending Jesus, instead He went all the way to Jesus’ death. And not any death, a death reserved for the worst of sinners.
  3. WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners” Finally, we realize that Jesus was willingly crucified for those who did all that they could to crucify Him. The measure of God love is realized in those three aspects:
  • THE GIFT: “God gave His best”
  • THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die”
  • WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners”

These three aspects underscore the greatness of God’s love as we recognize that God gave His best to make the ultimate sacrifice for the worst of humanity! We saw previously that this “Love of God” has six aspects to that must find its way in our love of one another:

  • It is spontaneous in its source
  • It is universal in its scope
  • It is long-suffering in its intensity
  • It is self-sacrificing in its character
  • It is aggressive in its action
  • It is constant in its duration

All of that brought the reader to the understanding that “loving one another” with God’s Love is far more than a mere OBLIGATION it is instead an expression of our DEVOTION and APPRECIATION. The reason for this is that as believers we have been impacted by the love of God three ways:

  • God’s love has done something to us
  • God’s love has done something for us
  • God’s love has done something in us

And because of those facts God’s love has no choice but now must do something THROUGH US to love one another!

 

Vs. 13 How to know if you have received God’s gift

 

Vs. 13 You may recognize the words “by this we know that we abide in Him” as they were very similar to what John wrote in 3:24 where he wrote “by this we know that He abides in us.” The first time we saw this chorus it was Jesus making His home with us that John wrote about offering the assurance of this was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that was a visible reality to us when we loved one another with God love! Now John’s 2nd use of this phrase is also an assurance of our relationship with the Lord. The word “abide” in the Greek is such an intimate word as it means “to live in the home of another”. I pray that we can understand that the proof of a relationship with the Lord was not to be found first in what we intellectually know but instead it was to be found in where we LIVE! It may be a few years before a child can tell anyone where they live but their lack of being able to give their address has nothing to do with not knowing where they LIVE. Of further interest to me is that same word for abide in the Greek speaks of fellowship between two or more individuals. The phrase “of His Spirit” speaks of every believer His gifts as John uses the word “OF” and this is evidence of the abiding relationship that the believer enjoys. The point of bring this up is to reinforce that for the Christian there must not be any separation between their inner life and their outer life. “Loving one another” will produce two things in the life of the believer:

  1. 12 We Grow in knowledge: God’s love being perfected in us.
  2. 13 We Grow in faith: Whoever lives in God’s love, will have the assurance that they have changed addresses and are indeed living with the Lord.

The more we grow in the love for God, the more we will understand the Love of God. And the more we understand the Love of God, the easier it will be trust God. Which is what John well say in 4:18 as he says that “perfect love casts our fear”. Experiencing God’s love destroys our insecurities: When we know Jesus intimately, we will love Him sincerely and that will cause us to put all our confidence in Him supremely! The negative of this is that if a person speaks of experiencing the Love of God and yet remains bound in their own insecurities, it is obvious that they have not spent enough time in His Love and instead have been living in their own self-love. Because God IS love, we CAN love. His love is NOT HISTORY, it is PRESENT REALITY. Therefore “love one another”:

  • Began as a COMMANDMENT in verse 7
  • Grows into a PRIVILEGE in verse 11
  • But becomes a CONSQUENCE in verse 12 as “loving one another” isn’t something that we “ought to do” or “must do” it is instead something that we “want to do”!

 

Vs. 14-15 Knowing and loving

 

Vs. 14-15 At the time John wrote this a phrase “the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world” instead of the Emperor of Rome was a capital offence punishable by death. The Christian would have been called an atheist. It would be good to realize this today as the world is religious, worshipping themselves and it is the Christian that is the “atheist” as we are against worshipping the religions of the world and have instead worshipped THE ONLY true and living God.

John wants the reader to understand that Love and Truth are not two separate things, they are connected. The more we live out God’s Love the more we will grow in our comprehension of God. Biblical knowledge is not obtained in a classroom, it is instead gained by a personal encounter with God who is by His very nature, Love. Any personal devotion with God that doesn’t make us behave more like God suggests that we have spent time in only an action instead of an encounter. The phrase in verse 15 that we must agree with is that “Jesus is THE Son of God and as such God the Son, or as it reads in Greek; very God of very God”. This is confession of the deity of Jesus the Messiah and implies surrender and obedience to Him and not just lip service. This was being said to a culture that understood a mere mortal being worshipped as a god in the Emperor and John is declaring that Jesus is NOT merely a good man, created to teach, prophet etc. No Jesus is God the Son!

The Bible’s revelation of God’s love MUST cause in us not only a better understanding of God’s love, but it also MUST make it easier to obey His word to love one another. The Christian cannot fall into the false view that our witness is only verbal! Without love demonstrated our words are useless. Jesus demonstrated what he declared and that is how the gospel will be effective today when what we declare is demonstrated and lived out in our daily lives. The gospel must be an expression of love. I think it is for this reason that God allows the world to hate Christians, so that we might return God’s love for the worlds hate. Our confession of Jesus as God the Son is not mere lips service or an intellectual theory, instead it is a personal and spiritual truth to where I agree with God as to God the Son coming in the flesh! The result of this is that we have a “reciprocal relationship” with the Lord where we live together in mutual love for each other.

 

Vs. 16 Growing more in love

 

Vs. 16 John speaks of the Love of God as something that the Christian has experienced personally and is not just a theological point but instead of reality that they have enjoyed! This is further brought out in the words “known” and “believed” as those words suggest both “recognition” as well as “persuasion” of this love! John starts that this experience is grounded in the truth that God as to His very nature is LOVE and this love is active and causes us to change our address back to living with Him and enjoying this relationship!

 

 

1 John 4:17-21

“Perfected in love”

 

  • Introduction
  • 17-19 Love’s confidence
  • 20-21 Love’s honesty

 

 

Introduction

We are now in the last of the chapter starting in verses 7-21 that was based upon three repeated

phrases or words that form a chorus:

  • 7-12 The exhortation to “love one another”
  • 13-16 The connection between Love and sound doctrine seen in the words “abide in Him and he in us”
  • 17-21 The perfection of love seen in the confidence of the believer before God at the judgement. And here the words repeated is “perfected love”

John’s focus over the last few weeks has been on three aspects of God’s love seen in God’s gift to fallen humanity in sending His only Son, Jesus: The measure of God love realized in those three aspects:

  • THE GIFT: “God gave His best”
  • THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFT: “God gave His Son to die”
  • WHO THE GIFT WAS FOR: “God gave for sinners”

The context of these three truths was to reveal to the reader the reason why God could expect from His now transformed children the exhortation that the body of Christ ought to be “loving one another” as God’s Love is far more than a mere “OBLIGATION” instead it’s an expression of our DEVOTION and “APPRECIATION”. The reason for this is that as believers we have been impacted by the love of God three ways:

  • God’s love has done something to us
  • God’s love has done something for us
  • God’s love has done something in us

And because of these facts God’s love has no choice now must do something THROUGH US to

love one another!

The connection between this section and what we have already examined in this chapter is in verses 13-16 the apostle introduced the proof of God’s love was the abiding of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The perfection of God’s love in the believer was not to be that which was open to fallen humanities definition of love, which is a love called forth by the object that they love meeting their specific expectations and whims. Instead, the love that we are to love one another with is the love that God has for us in which it is a love springs forth from the person irrespective of the object being worthy of this love. The only way a person can love this way towards another is if they have been touched by God themselves.

Vs. 17-19 Love’s confidence

Vs. 17-18 Here the chorus is found in verse 12 and again in 17 with the word “perfected”. The Greek word used here is in the perfect tense which means a “past act in the believer’s life with a present reality”. The point is that “The person who has been impacted by the love of God in the past can expect for it to have a present reality NOW!”  In verse 12 John used that word “perfected” in reference to God’s love in the life of the believer saying that; “God’s abiding work in us makes the believer the instrument of making visible the invisible God to a world that is blind to His reality.” This describes the work of God’s love working through us. But now John lists two more ways God’s love works in the life of the believer

  1. 17-19 Confidence
  2. 20-21 Honesty

The apostle tells his readers in what specific way the believer’s “confidence” is perfected by God’s love in verse 17 “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment”. The maturity of the believer in God’s love produces confidence and that will be seen in the absence of fear as we realize that we are secure in God’s love as His love is both:

  • Driven towards us in SPITE of us and not because of us.
  • And is a “perfecting” love that grows deeper and deeper in the life of the believer.

John’s reference is specific “in the day of judgment” and it is this perfecting of God’s love in us that produces boldness and confidence which in the Greek is “freedom of speech”. God’s perfecting love removes any hesitation of our communication with God, especially in the day of judgment as we won’t fear any torment as His love has been perfected in us. People are afraid because of something in the PAST still haunts them in the PRESENT and make them worried about the FUTURE. But the believer that God’s love has impacted seen in how they love one another has nothing to fear from the past, present, or future for they have experienced God’s love in spite of themselves and in their lives, God saw it perfected in them from day to day! Furthermore, the assurance of this confidence is in the phrase, “because as He is, so are we in this world”. Our confidence is assured in judgment first and foremost because Jesus suffered our judgment upon the cross and because of this fact for the Christian our judgment is NOT future, it is in the PAST. This produces a sweet assurance that when Jesus returns, we shall be like Him, God will have completed His work making us in His likeness! There are 3 things God’s love changes about the believer’s position in judgment:

  1. Future: We are now identified with Jesus so closely as members of His body that since He took our spot here on earth on the cross, He has given us His spot in heaven with Him. That means with regards to judgment The Father could not judge our sins again without judging His Son, “for as He is, so are we in this world”.
  2. Past: The words in verse 19 that “He first loved us” restates the truth that from the very start God’s love was not based upon our goodness but His! He chooses based upon His nature alone to love us and because of this we have no fear of the past sins coming back upon us because of present failures. Since God loved us while were yet practicing sinners and outside of His family how much more should we be confident that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God now that we are His children?
  3. Present: Neither do we need to fear the present because “perfect love cast out fear”, verse 18. As we grow more in God’s love, we will become less fearful of what God will do and is doing in our lives!

All of this speaks to the believer’s assurance that because of the love of God they can enjoy both now and in the future at the judgment seat of Christ a “free and fearless confidence with nothing to hide or be ashamed of”. The Love of God that has been enjoyed by faith, casts out fear, unites us to God who is love and assures our future with Him. Paul wrote of the power of this love in Rom 8:35-39 when he declared that there was nothing anywhere that can separate us from His love. Let that sink into your heart and head that your security is so safe that there is literally NOTHING and NEVER WILL BE that will be able to separate you from God’s love! The Greek wording of this phrase is “As for us, let us be loving, because He Himself first loved us”. The security is further stated by John as he reminds his readers that it was God while we were yet sinners Who initiated His love which was clearly not drawn out based upon those to whom God would lavish His love upon.

Vs. 20-21 Love’s honesty

Vs. 20-21 The above assurance and confidence isn’t a greeting card it is to give the believer encouragement. As the second thing experiencing the Love of God does for the believer is that it creates HONESTY especially as it relates to self-evaluation. For the seventh time John writes “If someone says…” and each time they are meant to cause the reader of this letter to evaluate their heart before the truth presented to determine if they a pretender instead true believers! The lack of experiencing the love of God cannot be hidden as it will be seen in insecurities that they will try to cover up but will be unable to do so for any length of time. It will produce a lack of confidence in the Lord, it will cause fear towards the Lord as we won’t be able to trust Him. And it will be seen in us becoming fakes and phonies towards other people. A Christian who lacks confidence with God will also lack confidence with God’s people! So, the admonition is again put forth by the Apostle John that “if anyone says, that they are constantly loving God with His love, and at the same time saying or behaving in a way that demonstrates that they are hating their brother or sister, then that person is lying to themselves and others!” The reason for this John says is that God’s love is transformative, and it causes us to love the way He has loved us and if we are not then we are not in contact with God’s love! God’s love is very messy once it’s got us it can’t help but get on everyone else that we are in contact with!!!