1 John 4 (part 2)

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

F The “Apostle of love” encourages us to love one another. This type of love is agape. That is the same type of love the Father had for us when He gave His Son as the redeemer on the cross.

F Why should we Christians love one another? Because love comes from God. If we carry the theme John is emphasizing of the family relation of God the Father with his children, Christians, we could say that love is a family characteristic. (College Press)

Ä Love for others is so peculiarly Christian in its origin that where it exists there is evidence of the new birth. Only one who has received the spiritual life which comes through the birth from above exhibits such a disposition. Love, in this passage, is a sign and proof of the new birth, and not a condition precedent to it.—Gospel Advocate Commentaries

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

L If a person does not love (agape) and does not practice love, then, that person is not a child God.

L The verb here—loveth—is translated from the present active participle of agapao, "He who does not continue to love does not know (is without an acquaintance) God. "Knoweth now" is aorist active indicative (ouk egno ton theon), has not once known, hence, has never known, God. The meaning is that one who claims to be a child of God, but does not, and has not, felt the love which exists between true children of God, demonstrates the fact that he not only does not know God, he has never known him—was thus never genuinely converted.—Gospel Advocate Commentaries

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Ø Jesus was one of a kind in this birth, hence, “only begotten Son.”

Ø Jesus was commissioned to go into the world.

Ø Jesus fulfilled His mission and therefore we continue to benefit from the results. Cf. Luke 19:10

F Jesus is our intercessor!

F This verse shows that Jesus existed before He came into this world.

F that we might live through him:

NT:2198

2. emphatically, and in the Messianic sense, to enjoy real life, i. e. to have true life and worthy of the name — active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God (or zooee aioonios;

see zooee, 2 b.): Luke 10:28; John 5:25; 11:25; Rom 1:17; 8:13; 14:9 ((?) see above); Gal 3:12; Heb 12:9;

with the addition of ek pisteoos, Heb 10:38;

of eis ton aioona, John 6:51,58;

sun Christoo, in Christ's society, 1 Thess 5:10;

this life in its absolute fullness Christ enjoys, who owes it to God;

hence, he says zoo dia ton patera, John 6:57;

by the gift and power of Christ it is shared in by the faithful, who accordingly, are said zeesein di' auton, John 6:57;

di' autou, 1 John 4:9

v The great purpose of that visitation from the Dayspring from on High was that, through obedience to the Son of God, people might have the blessing of eternal life.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

J This is one of my favorite verses in the bible. The fact that God loved us to so much that He sent someone to pay the penalty for our transgressions rather than giving us what we deserve. By His Grace and Mercy He did this because He loves us.

Ø The gift of God's Son was the highest possible manifestation of love, and in the nature of things could have issued only from a benevolent Father—Gospel Advocate Commentaries

Ø What does propitiation mean?

Ä PROPITIATION:

2. Hilasmos (NT:2434), akin to hileos ("merciful, propitious"), signifies "an expiation, a means whereby sin is covered and remitted." It is used in the NT of Christ Himself as "the propitiation," in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, signifying that He Himself, through the expiatory sacrifice of His death, is the personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided. In the former passage He is described as "the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." The italicized addition in the KJV, "the sins of," gives a wrong interpretation. What is indicated is that provision is made for the whole world, so that no one is, by divine predetermination, excluded from the scope of God's mercy; the efficacy of the "propitiation," however, is made actual for those who believe. In 4:10, the fact that God "sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," is shown to be the great expression of God's love toward man, and the reason why Christians should love one another. In the Sept., Lev 25:9; Num 5:8; 1 Chron 28:20; Ps 130:4; Ezek 44:27; Amos 8:14.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

F This “ought” in our lives comes at a high price. Christ has died for our sins, we have received the forgiveness of our sins, and now we also ought to love one another. This comes as an obligation to us, as is suggested by the verb ojfeivlomen (opheilomen, “we ought”) - College Press

F The passage affirms not only God loved us, but that he so loved us, i.e., in such measure as to give the priceless treasure of heaven as a sacrifice to die in our stead. The adverb not only indicates the immeasurable extent of the love, it also designates the quality of it (Cf. Rom. 8:32.) The word "also" establishes a basis of comparison: since God loved us to such an extent, and with such a selfless quality of love we, on our side, ought to love (agapain, keep on loving) one another.

-Gospel Advocate Commentaries

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

F No one has ever seen God. How can we love someone whom we have not seen? This is a concept addressed several times in the Old Testament. Moses was allowed to see God's back side but was never allowed to see “God's face.” John discusses this elsewhere. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only [NIV fn: but the only Son], who is at the Father's side, has made him known” (John 1:18). There is a difference in the “invisibility” of God and the revelation of the incarnate Son. Jesus taught his disciples that if they had seen him, then they had seen the Father.

- College Press

F The noun God (theos) is without the article here, and thus reference is made to the divine nature, and not to the first person of the Godhead, exclusively. The word God is properly applied to each of the divine persons of the Godhead, since it is the name of the nature which each possesses in common. By an ordinary figure of speech in which the whole is put for a part, each of the divine persons is so designated in the scriptures. E.g., 1 John 4:9, where the reference is to the first person; John 1:1-3, to the second; Acts 5:3, 4, to the Holy Spirit, the third. The meaning is, no man has seen the divine nature, the real essence of the Godhead, inasmuch as it is invisible to the physical eye. Deity (God) can be seen only through its manifestations, and the revelation which it has made of itself in the incarnation. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," i.e., revealed him. (John 1:18.) Since the advent of the Son into the world, it can be no longer pleaded that God is unknowable; Jesus has revealed him, made him known. Though God, deity, the divine nature, is not seen with the eye, this does not mean that he is not near us; on the contrary, he is so near he abides in us, providing we love one another and his love is perfected in us—Gospel Advocate Commentaries

F If we love one another, God dwelleth in us

Ø This is the answer to our question, “How is it possible for us to love God whom we have not seen?” We develop our love through loving our fellow Christians, and God lives in us. His love is made complete when we learn to love him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. This is the essence of love.

Ø How does God abide in us? Not literally, physically, or bodily, but through that inward relationship which establishes fellowship with him. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. .... If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 1:3, 5.) God thus abides in us as we conform to his will and walk in harmony with his precepts. And thus, though God, in his essence and divine nature is invisible to our eye, we may enjoy the blessed privilege of his abiding presence if we love one another!—Gospel Advocate Commentaries

F “If” makes the indwelling of God conditional. It is conditioned on the habitual practice of agape love for brethren and sisters in Christ. (Wayne Fussell)

F and his love is perfected in us. "Is perfected" is teleioœ, "to bring to completion, to accomplish, finish." If saints have this agape love habitually for one another, that shows that this love which God is in His nature, has accomplished its purpose in their lives. It has made us loving and self-sacrificial in our characters. This love has been brought to its human fulness in the lives of the saints. The verb "is perfected" is perfect in tense, speaking of a past completed act having present results.