If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1 John 4

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

I continue my study of 1,2,3 John using the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for these books.  Today, my focus is a commentary-assisted review of 1 John 4:13-21. 

Per the commentary for this text:

Main idea: "God’s love in His people gives them assurance of His presence, confidence awaiting judgment, and power to reflect His character in the world."

Excerpts from the introduction:

• "Our actions are often determined by our identity—who we are and who we think we are. John wants us to be loving (actions), but first he wants us to know we are loved as those who abide in God through the gift of His Spirit (identity)."
• John seeks for us to love as Christ loves us and for us to abide in Him and know Him intimately, including an understanding of how He loves us and blesses us.  As we abide in Him and grow in our relationship with Christ, we are able to be obedient in our love for others - this requires "supernatural assistance" that only the Holy Spirit provides.
• Love of others is evidence of the Spirit and God as the invisible is made visible.
  

Divisions:

1. Love Is an Evidence That We Have the Spirit (4:13-16): "When we experience the power of divine love, we experience the work and enjoy the fellowship of the triune God....Love is certified proof that God now resides in us, not in a pantheistic sense, but through His personal presence....John wants his readers to know, to be assured of many things. Here he wants them to know they abide in God and God abides in them through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the triune God."
   
2. Love Gives Us Confidence As We Await the Day of Judgment (4:17-18): "Love has an intended goal. The word “perfected” carries the idea of completion, being brought to maturity. Abiding in the love of God gives us “confidence,” boldness, for the judgment day. Judgment day is something every person should consider with healthy seriousness. It is real, and it is coming....those who do live in fear of future punishment give evidence that something is wrong, that God’s perfecting work of love has not done its work in their lives. So, out of gospel gratitude for who you are in Christ, love others as He has loved you. The threat of punishment will disappear. The fear of punishment will evaporate. Love never fears judgment or punishment. It is bold. It is confident."
   
3. Love Is a Command Because It Reflects God’s Character (4:19-21): We cannot love God without loving others.  "The Father’s prior love is source and cause for our love of others. If I am not loving others as I ought, then I do not know God’s love as I should....If you do not manage to love His creatures, then you cannot love the Creator."  
   

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of the love, grace and compassion You have for me - my sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

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

1 John 4

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11

I continue my study of 1,2,3 John using the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for these books.  Today, my focus is a commentary-assisted review of 1 John 4:7-12. 

Per the commentary for this text:

Main idea: "The Father of Jesus is the God of Love, whose love is manifested in the sending of Christ and is perfected in the love displayed among His people."

Excerpts from the introduction:

• Love is a focus in several places in scripture, including Songs of Solomon 8:5-14, 1 Corinthians 13, and here in 1 John 4:7-21 (as well as 1 John 2:7-11, 3:11-24).
• "John will take us to the very origin and source of love: God Himself. In fact, love is His very nature, and acting in love is His essential character. How do we know? The cross! The cross of Golgotha is an everlasting monument to the truth that our God is love."
  

Divisions:

1. Love Has Its Origin in God (4:7-8): While non-believers may have love, and they often love more than believers so (sadly), believers must follow the example of God's love - first loving Him, then loving others (see also Matthew 22:34-40 on the two greatest commandments). V7 imparts that as believers we experience a new birth and as a new creation, God deposits in our hearts Himself and this includes love - which is from God and is God. It therefore follows that our love of others is evidence that we love God and seek to love as He does (see also John 13:34).  It also follows that if don't love God and others then we don't know God. We are also cautioned "[that] “God is love” does not equal “love is God” (a form of pantheistic thinking), any more than “grass is green” means “green is grass.” Love does not define God, but God does define love. This is John’s beautiful logic: (1) God is love. (2) Those who have been born of God and know God are God’s children. (3) God’s children have God’s nature. (4) God’s children therefore will love."  
   
2. Love Is Seen in the Atoning Death of Jesus (4:9-10): Christ's death on the cross and God's plan to send His Son to die on the cross provide the perfect example of love for us to follow and for which me must aspire as believers. "This world of humanity was in rebellion against its loving Creator. God sent His Son. This world of humanity was not looking for God and even hated Him. God sent His Son."  God sent His Son to save humanity from the sting of sin and death - this is love. 
   
3. Love Is Perfected in Us When We Love Others (4:11-12): "[W]e must go to those who don’t want us there. We must share a gospel they don’t want to hear. We must love those who may hate and even kill us in return. Because we are connected to Jesus through the new birth, we must go and live like Jesus among our friends and our enemies....Loving others is just what we do because the love that has rained down on us now fills us as we abide in Him....when we love one another, (1) it is proof that God abides continually in us, and (2) His love (God’s love for us; His kind of love) is “perfected,” brought to complete maturity. It reaches its intended goal."
   

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loved me while I was still hostile and an enemy to You.  Thank You Jesus for saving me even though I did not deserve my salvation.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me for my sin and help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.