Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NLT
Read 1 John 4:7-21.
This is the one I have been waiting for! The second part of 1 John 4 is to me the bottom line of how to live as children of God. John has emphasized several times already the importance of loving each other, and he has also exhorted believers to live in a way that reflects the character of Christ. He now spells it out more completely what truly makes followers of Christ different from everyone else. Living for Christ is more than just being a good boy or girl, but it is about receiving and extending the love of God to each other.
God is love. That is His true nature, and Christ gave us the most perfect demonstration of love possible when He sacrificed His life for us.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 NLT
Since God is love, and we have God, then we have love. That is the simplest way I know how to put it. We are not capable of love without God, but since He so loved us, we can then demonstrate that same love to others. He gives us the capacity to love, and He supplies the love with which we can love others. If we belong to God, we WILL love.
On the contrary, if we do not love others, we cannot say that we know God. John has said that before, but he elaborated quite a bit more in this chapter. Here are the simple facts:
- God is love.
- God demonstrated perfect love toward us.
- Love comes from God. He gives us the capacity to love.
- Anyone who genuinely loves is a child of God and knows God. In other words, a child of God WILL love.
- If someone does not love, they do not know God.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 NLT
Now that we have that clear, let us consider just how much God loves us. God doesn’t just have affection for us, but He loves us with a greater, deeper love than any human can possibly understand. Human love is limited and often fails, but God’s love is infallible, unconditional, unlimited, and eternal. On our behalf, He set aside His rightful place on the throne to humble Himself as a child. He lived a perfect, sinless life, and then sacrificed His life on a rugged cross in order to save us from our sins. But, He didn’t stop there. He triumphed over sin and death and rose again so that we could have the free gift of eternal life in Him.
There is nothing we can do to earn that gift either. We cannot do enough good works or avoid enough sins to earn our way into right standing with God. Jesus paid the price, and He freely lavishes His abundant grace on us because of His perfect love.
Since God loved us that much, we are to love each other. It is highly unlikely we will ever be asked to die for someone, but in love, we are to lay down our lives for each other. That is to sacrifice our selfish desires, ambitions, and personal plans for the sake of others. We are to have deep affection for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to be kind, considerate, generous, tenderhearted, and compassionate.
Love is more than sacrifice, though. Love is also about fellowship and enjoying each other’s company. Perhaps that can best be explained by saying that we ought to “like” each other as brothers and sisters in Christ as well. What a privilege it is to share life with each other, to laugh together, and to encourage each other.
If we want to truly test the quality of our love, we may use 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as our guide. However, we cannot think that true love is all about checking off a to do list. This kind of love is only possible because of God’s love. Love is a Fruit of the Spirit, and if we belong to Christ, we have His Spirit within. Therefore, we also have a full tank of love to pour into others.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
That brings us to a crucial point John makes here. As we understand that love is a Fruit of the Spirit, we are also reminded by John that we do have His Spirit living within us. His Spirit is the proof that we belong to Him. John states it so clearly that “all who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.” So, when we believe and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and we commit our lives to Him, the Spirit of God comes in to live in and through us. That is how His Fruit can grow and ripen in our lives, and loving each other will come naturally.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 1 John 4:15-16 NLT
Understand that we will not be perfect at the onset. Love becomes rooted in our hearts, and then it must grow and develop. We will improve with practice.
In verse 17, John explains that as we live in God, our love becomes more perfect. Thus, we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but will be able to stand before God with confidence.
One more profound point that John makes that this kind of love drives out fear. When our love is pure and genuine, there is no place to fear God’s judgment. We can have confidence in His perfect love. Yet, if we are steeped in fear before God (being afraid, not the reverential kind of fear), then we can know that we have missed out on experiencing His love to its fullest.
And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 1 John 4:17-18 NLT
John concludes this chapter by repeating his former points. In Scripture, when points are repeated, that indicates the importance of what is being stated. John repeats over and over again the commandment to love each other. In case you haven’t gotten it yet, understand it now. Because God loves us first, we now must love each other.
But, if we say we love God but hate another, we are deceived. Worse, John calls us liars. If we struggle to love someone we can see, how can we love God whom we cannot see?
We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. 1 John 4:19-21 NLT
