1 João 4
H.A. Ironside · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 João 4:5
Ironside explains that the "world" is that "system that man has built up in this scene, in which he is trying to make himself happy without God. You get it away back in Genesis, where Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city, and there what we call the world really began (Ge 4:16, 17, 18, 19,20, 21, 22, 23, 24). It was a wonderful world; they were exercised in all kinds of arts, sciences, business, and pleasure, anything and everything to make them happy without God; but it ended in corruption and violence, and God had to sweep the whole thing away with a flood. (cp Ge 6:5) The principles of the world that caused the corruption and violence before the flood were carried into the ark in the hearts of some of Noah's children. They brought the world into the ark, and when the new world was started after the judgment of the flood, they brought the world out of the ark with them, and again set it up. (Epistles of John) Notice that world appears three times in this one verse! Clearly this word is significant to John (and to us)! World is defined more fully below but for now note that the same Greek word kosmos has a different meaning in 1Jn 4:1 and 1Jn 4:3 (cp similar sense in 1Jn 3:17, 1Jn 4:9, 1Jn 4:14, 1Jn 4:17), referring simply to inhabited "planet earth." In our present passage kosmos takes on a more ethical or moral meaning. This difference in nuances of definition in the same paragraph emphasizes how important it is to always carefully consider the context when performing Greek or Hebrew word studies. Remember that context is always King! Related Resources: Web Tools to perform a Greek Word Study How to Perform a Hebrew Word Study using resources on the Web Speak (2980)(laleo) originally meant simply to make a sound like the chatter of birds or the prattling of children. Laleo takes note of the sound and the manner of speaking. Smith writes that John use of laleo instead of lego another Greek word which means "speak" gives "a suggestion of prating (Ed: Webster = talking much without much weight or purpose, talking long and idly, chattering)."
1 João 4:7
Ironside - If you remember from our study in chapter 3, there are two words for love used in the New Testament- phileo and agapao. Phileo refers to a mere human affection, although it is used once when God is spoken of as being a friend to man. Agapao speaks of a more utterly unselfish affection, a love which is seen in all its fullness in God Himself, and which was displayed in our Lord Jesus Christ here on earth. When the apostle said, “Beloved, let us love one another,” he does not merely seek to encourage a natural affection, but has in mind a divine affection. As believers, the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Being possessed of a new and divine nature, having been regenerated, the natural thing for the believer in the Lord Jesus is to love. “Let us love one another: for love is of God” (1 John 4:7). This love is simply the manifestation of the divine nature He has implanted within us. If you find a person who is not characterized by divine love, bearing the name of Christian, you can be reasonably sure that person has not yet been Born Again. On the other hand, be careful about snap judgments lest you yourself fail to exhibit divine love. “Everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God.” Not merely everyone who has natural affection for a father or mother or children or sister or brother, but everyone who loves in this divine unselfish way, demonstrates that he is born of God. Have you been born of God? I’m afraid too many people get in the habit of attending services and listening to Bible expositions, and to a certain degree even enjoying them, yet the power of God’s Word never grips their souls. Let us never forget the solemn words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Ye must be Born Again.” We are told that John Wesley used to preach on this text over and over again, until some people grew weary of hearing it and wished that he would use another theme. Once after having preached on it in a place where he had done so many times before, someone said, “Mr. Wesley why do you preach so often on that one text, ‘Ye must be born again?’” “Why?” exclaimed Mr. Wesley. “Because ‘ye must be born again!’” Many people think they must join the church, be benevolent, turn over a new leaf, be good citizens, or be one hundred percent American in order to be a Christian. But you can do and be all these things and yet be lost for all eternity. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The proof that someone has been born again is that he exhibits this divine love. “Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7). On the other hand, “He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Twice in this chapter we have that wonderful statement, “God is love.” Nowhere else in the world will you find this wonderful truth than in the Bible. Years ago a lady who prided herself on belonging to the intelligentsia said to me, “I have no use for the Bible, Christian superstition, and religious dogma. It is enough for me to know that God is love.” “Well,” I said, “do you know it?” “Why, of course I do,” she said; “we all know it, and that is religion enough for me. I do not need the dogmas of the Bible.” “How did you find out that God is love?” I asked. “Why,” she said, “everybody knows it.” “Do they know it in India?” I asked. “That poor mother in her distress throwing her little baby into the Ganges to be eaten by filthy and repulsive crocodiles as a sacrifice for her sins-does she know that God is love?” “Oh, well, she is ignorant and superstitious,” she replied. “Those poor natives in the jungles of Africa, bowing down to gods of wood and stone, and in constant fear of their fetishes, the poor heathen in other countries-do they know that God is love?” “Perhaps not,” she said, “but in a civilized country we all know it.” “But how is it that we know it? Who told us that God is love? Where did we discover it?” “I don’t understand what you mean,” she said. “I’ve always known it.” “Let me tell you this,” I answered. “No one in the world ever knew it until it was revealed from Heaven and recorded in the Word of God. It is here and nowhere else. It is not found in all the literature of the ancients.” (1 John 4 Commentary - Ironside's Notes) B F Westcott - The consideration of Antichrists and of the spirit of Antichrist and error is now over, and St John lays open the fulness of the Christian life. In doing this he takes up in a new connexion thoughts which he has before touched upon, and groups them in relation to the final revelation God is love (1Jn 4:8, 4:16). The whole division of the Epistle seems to fall most naturally into three sections: 1. THE SPIRIT OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: GOD AND LOVE. (1Jn 4:7–21.) This section deals in succession with a. The ground of love (1Jn 4:7–10). - The Christian Society has been shewn to be clearly distinguished from the world, even when the world obtains the support of spiritual powers. St John therefore passes on to consider the spirit of the Christian life as seen in the Christian Body. This spirit is love, the presence of which is the proof of divine sonship, seeing that God is love (1Jn 4:7, 8); and in the Incarnation we have set before us the manifestation (1Jn 4:9) and the essence of love (1Jn 4:10). b. The inspiration of love (1Jn 4:11–16a). c. The activity of love (1Jn 4:16b–21) 2. THE POWER OF THE CHRISTIANS LIFE: THE VICTORY AND WITNESS OF FAITH. (1Jn 5:1–12.) 3. THE ACTIVITY AND CONFIDENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: EPILOGUE. (1Jn 5:13–21.) John's Gospel mentions many metaphors Jesus used to teach spiritual truth (e.g., light - John 1:4–5, 7–9; 3:19–21; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46; Temple at Jerusalem ~ His physical body - Jn 2:19-22; Wind ~ Holy Spirit = Jn 3:8; Water ~ Spirit within believers = Jn 4:7-15, 7:37-39, cp 1Jn 5:6,8; Food ~ doing the will of God = Jn 4:31–34; Bread ~ Jesus himself = Jn 6:32–51, 58, et al) and here the apostle uses the metaphor of physical birth as Jesus did with Nicodemus (John 1:13; 3:3–8; cf. Jn 6:63) (See comments on John 1, John 2 and John 3) The Quality of Love The Source of Love The Effect of Love God personifies love (1Jn 4:8, 16) We reflect God’s love in the world (1Jn 4:7) God loved us (1Jn 4:19) We love God; our fear is gone; we keep His commands (1Jn 4:18, 19; 5:3) God gave His Son for us (1Jn 4:9, 10) We give our substance for others (1Jn 3:17; 4:11) Christ laid down His life for us (1Jn 3:16) We lay down our lives for others (1Jn 3:16) Beloved (27)(agapetos from agapao = to love, agape = unconditional love borne by Spirit - Gal 5:22-note) means beloved, dear, very much loved. Agapetos describes the God-like love of another, this love being called out of the "giver's" heart by preciousness of the recipient of the love (the "beloved'). Agapetos is used only of Christians as united with God or with each other in love. God the Father uses agapetos of Jesus at the transfiguration (Mt 17:5) and the first 7 uses in the NT are of God the Father speaking of Christ, His beloved Son (Mt. 3:17; 12:18; 17:5; Mk. 1:11; 9:7; 12:6; Lk. 3:22) Agapetos describes "one who is in a very special relationship with another" (BDAG) and in secular Greek is used mostly of a child, especially an only child to whom all the love of his parents is given (cf use by the Father describing His only Son and Abraham describing his "only son" in Ge 22:2). BDAG adds that agapetos " pertains to one who is dearly loved, dear, beloved, prized, valued (papyri, LXX; pseudepigraphia) indicating a close relationship, especially that between parent and child." Beloved is a term of endearment and is someone that you love, and someone you are deeply devoted to. In the context of the New Testament agape love speaks of God’s divine and infinite love, a love that seeks the ultimate spiritual welfare of the one loved. Agapetos could be translated “divinely loved ones.” Brooke observes that agapetos "One of the writer’s favorite words. It occurs ten times in the Epistles, though not in the Gospel. It is his usual method of address when he wishes to appeal to the better thoughts and feelings of his readers, or, to use Paul’s phrase, to “open the eyes of their hearts.” It emphasizes the natural grounds of appeal for mutual love, which can most readily be called out among those who are loved or lovable. AGAPETOS USES BY JOHN - 1 Jn. 2:7; 1 Jn. 3:2; 1 Jn. 3:21; 1 Jn. 4:1; 1 Jn. 4:7; 1 Jn. 4:11; 3 Jn. 1:1; 3 Jn. 1:2; 3 Jn. 1:5; 3 Jn. 1:11 Love (verb) (25)(agapao) means to love unconditionally and sacrificially as God Himself loves sinful men (John 3:16), the way He loves the Son (John 3:35, 15:9, 17:23, 24). Note that agapao is a verb and by its verbal nature calls for action. This quality of love is not an emotion but is an action initiated by a volitional choice."expresses the purest, noblest form of love, which is volitionally driven, not motivated by superficial appearance, emotional attraction, or sentimental relationship." (John Macarthur) Vine writes that "Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son, 1 John 4:9, 10. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects, Ro 5:8. It was an exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself." (Collected Writings)
1 João 4:8
Ironside - “God is love—1 John 4:8. Love is the manifestation of the divine nature. God is love. His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). As we walk in love we have fellowship with God. Observe, we are not told merely that God is loving. He is more than that Love is the essence of the divine Being. We are told that God is merciful, but we could not say that God is Mercy. We know that He is compassionate, but it would be absurd to say God is Compassion. So with many others of His attributes. But we are distinctly told that God is light (1 John 1:5), and God is love. Light and love tell us what He is in Himself. Light is, of course, a synonym for holiness. In the cross we see both light and love fully displayed. When our souls enter by faith into this, we receive the Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of love (2 Tim. 1:7). And so we delight to walk in holiness (Heb. 12:14) and in love. We manifest love for God by showing love to His people (1 John 4:20). We prove our love for Christ by obeying His commandments and keeping His words (John 14:15, 23). “Come, let us all unite and sing— God is love! While heaven and earth their praises bring— God is love! Let every soul from sin awake, Each in his heart sweet music make, And sweetly sing for Jesu’s sake— God is love! Oh, tell to earth’s remotest bound— God is love! In Christ is full redemption found— God is love! His blood can cleanse our sins away; His Spirit turns our night to day, And leads our souls with joy to say— God is love! —Howard Kingsbury Unexpected Kindness - Journey Day by Day (See Journey Day by Day: Living Life Well - Page 117) The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8) When Aaron and I were first married, I went out of my way to do things for him, even when he didn’t ask me to. I wanted to be an excellent wife, and I enjoyed meeting his needs. But after a few months we began arguing about money. It was a constant source of friction between us. Soon I began focusing on Aaron’s faults instead of his strengths. Since I knew I was part of the problem, I asked God what I could do to improve our relationship. I needed help getting back on track with my attitude, so I purchased The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick. I was a bit skeptical when I first got the book. I mean, how much can you really change a relationship in forty days? But the challenges required in this book were exactly what we needed. On day two of The Love Dare my assignment was to show Aaron at least one unexpected act of kindness. That evening while we were watching TV, I quietly reached over and placed Aaron’s feet in my lap. He seemed genuinely pleased that I initiated a foot massage. By taking the time to show him I cared, I opened the door a bit more to help our struggling relationship. Showing kindness and love in our relationships takes consistent prayer and sacrifice. Sometimes we show more kindness toward strangers than we do to our own loved ones. But in Romans 12:10 we are reminded, “Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.” God wants us to show our love to one another through unselfish devotion. Once you let go of selfishness, you can be more in tune with the heart of God. H A Ironside - Hosea 6:1–3 It is a great thing to realize that human sin and failure do not alter the love of God toward those who have offended Him so grievously. He loves us, not on account of anything meritorious that He sees in us, but simply because of what He is in Himself. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). This is not what He does, but what He is. It is His very nature. And loving us, He has Himself provided a way for our forgiveness when we come to Him as needy sinners, and for our restoration when we fail, even after we have known His grace through salvation. We wrong Him if we doubt His love or if we give in to despair when our awakened consciences accuse us of base ingratitude and colossal iniquity in having offended against so holy a God and so loving a Savior. God of the shadows, lead me through the gloaming, Arch the long road with fretted vaults of green; Send but a gleam to tell me I am homing, Let not Thy face be seen. Fold well Thy cloak of gentlest pity round me, Keep Thy bright secrets till the morning break; Why should I seek Thee, Lord, when Thou hast found me, And know’st the way I take? A W Tozer - COMPREHENDING THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE (See Tozer on the Almighty God: A 365-Day Devotional - Page 22) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. —1 John 4:8 The love of God is the hardest of all His attributes to speak about. You may not understand God’s love for us. I don’t know that I do myself. We are trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. It is like trying to take the ocean in your arms, or embrace the atmosphere, or rise to the stars. No one can do it, so I suppose I must do the best I can and trust the Holy Spirit to make up for human lack…. When it says, “God is love,” it means that love is an essential attribute of God’s being. It means that in God is the summation of all love, so that all love comes from God. And it means that God’s love, we might say, conditions all of His other attributes, so that God can do nothing except He does it in love…. What we mean when we say, “God is love,” is what we mean when we say of a man, “He is kindness itself.” We don’t mean that kindness and the man are equated and identical, but we mean the man is so kind that kindness is all over him and conditions everything he does. So when we say, “God is love,” we mean that God’s love is such that it permeates His essential being and conditions all that He does. Nothing God ever does, or ever did, or ever will do, is done separate from the love of God. AOGII182-183 Loving Father, I can’t comprehend Your love, but I revel in it. I fall to my knees in worship. Amen. Robert Neighbour - “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God it love.” (1 John 4:8.) Love heareth all, is kind, ‘Twas born in heaven above, Where all is perfect love; By God it was designed, Love! Love sums up all that’s good, God’s gift, His holy dove Sent down from heaven above, With faith, and hope, there stood Love! Where is there a sentence like this? “The greatest of these is love.” Faith and hope are great; love is greater. God is love, and whatsoever is born of God, bears the image of God and His love. When we talk of “love,” we are not speaking of a love which is born of the flesh. “Love is of God.” When the Lord said to Peter, “Lovest thou me more than these?” He used a Greek expression designating a divine and holy love. Peter answered, “Thou knowest that I love Thee.” However, Peter used another word, which signifies filial love. Love, as it is seen in God, cannot be divorced from the other inherent attributes of deity. God is love, and at the same time He is holy, righteous, just, and true. God’s love does not make impossible His wrath; in fact, His love makes His wrath a necessity. God’s love to the sinner operates in conjunction with the satisfaction of God’s justice against the sinner’s sins. Love found a way in which God could be just, and also justify the guilty. O holy love, and true! In calm or stormy gale Sing on, thou nightingale, Thou dost my heart subdue: Love! O love! God’s choicest flower, Thy perfumes fill the air With fragrance priceless, rare; How wondrous is thy bower! Love! LOVING THE LORD by John Henry Jowett “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 JOHN 4:8 The secret of life is to love the Lord our God and our neighbors as ourselves. But how are we to love the Lord? We cannot manufacture love. We cannot love to order. We cannot by an act of will command its appearing. No, not in these ways is love created. Love is not a work, it is a fruit. It grows in suitable soils, and it is our part to prepare the soils. When the conditions are congenial, love appears, just as the crocus and the snowdrop appear in the congenial air of the spring. What, then, can we do? We can seek the Lord’s society. We can think about Him. We can read about Him. We can fill our imaginations with the grace of His life and service. We can be much with Him, talking to Him in prayer, singing to Him in praise, telling Him our yearnings and confessing to Him our defeats. And love will be quietly born. For this is how love is born between heart and heart. Two people are “much together,” and love is born! And when we are much with the Lord, we are with One who already loves us with an everlasting love. We are with One who yearns because He first loved us. And when we truly love God, every other kind of holy love will follow. Given the fountain, the rivers are sure. Bouquets of Hope - Karen Whiting (365 Devotionals for Hope) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. —1 John 4:8 A child’s fistful of weeds and a bouquet of long-stemmed roses have something in common. Both send a message of love and hope. The fragrance of roses may smell better than the more common scent of earthy weeds, but the love behind the weeds from a child is just as heartfelt as a gift someone bought at a florist. Both actions renew hope in your heart as someone has taken time to tell you that you are special. This love is how God wants us to relate to one another. Love is important to God because love is who God is. All of the characteristics of God grow out of His love, even His discipline. God expresses His love through discipline because He wants us to do well. If He did not care about you, then He would allow you to continue to make wrong choices. The Bible reveals that a lack of love for others equals a lack of love for God. Therefore, show that you love God by loving others. Reach out and give someone a bouquet of flowers or some other gift. When given with love, a gift can touch someone’s heart with hope. Lord, thank You for special people in my life, people who care enough to shower me with smiles, little gifts, and words that show they care. Amen. Warren
1 João 4:9
Ironside - Only Begotten Son. That relationship remains unique for all eternity. Think of it! God the Father loved a world dead in trespasses and sins in such a way that He gave His unique Son, the darling of His bosom, that we might live through Him. (Ibid) His death was not an accident; it was an appointment. He did not die as a weak martyr, but as a mighty conqueror. -- Warren Wiersbe Sam Storms notes that God "gave his Son to die; not primarily to live or to teach or to exhort or to be an example but to die He gave his Son to die for sinners (Ro 5:6-8); not for righteous people or loving people or kind people or pretty people, but sinners. (1 John 4:7-21) Into the world - John mentions world three times in this section on love (1Jn 4:7-21) - "God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1Jn 4:9+), "the Father as sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." (1Jn 4:14+), "As He is, so also are we in this world." (1Jn 4:17+) God clearly demonstrates His love for the world in these passages, sending His Son as Savior, giving us His Son's life and leaving us on earth so that others might see Him in us (1Jn 4:17)! Glenn Barker - The author makes clear that the love he speaks of involves concrete and objective acts. God’s love required him to send his Son. God’s love in us requires deeds by which we show our love for one another. (Borrow The Expositor's Bible Commentary - Abridged) Ironside wrote that this "is the first manifestation of divine love. Creation proclaimed God’s omnipotent power and wisdom, but creation could not proclaim His love. When God looked down on a world groaning under the sentence of death because of sin, a world of people who were alive to the things of this life, but dead to the things of God, God found it in His heart to go down after those people and find a means of bringing “whosoever will” into newness of life. He said in effect, “I am going to give them the greatest gift that one could possibly give, My only begotten Son. I am going to send Him into the world that they may have life through Him.” (1 John 4 Commentary) Three times in this section on love John writes that the Father sent His Son - that we might live through Him (1Jn 4:9), as the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 4:10+), and as the Savior of the world (1Jn 4:14+). In horse racing a trifecta is when the bettor wins by selecting the first three finishers of the race in the correct order. That Jesus would achieve all three of the goals for which He was sent was never in doubt, as His cry underscored -- "It is finished." (Jn 19:30) (See discussion of Tetelestai - It is Finished! Paid in Full!) REAL LIFE THROUGH CHRIST'S DEATH So that (hina) we might live (zao - aorist tense) through (dia - the source or the means) Him - So that (hina)(term of purpose/result) should always prompt "What is the purpose/result?" The purpose (and the result) of God's Son being sent is for us to have eternal life now and forever. This refers to true life, life as God intended it to be lived. It is that supernatural, spiritual life available only in Christ, Who is "the Resurrection and the Life." (Jn 11:25-26+, cf "the Life" - Jn 14:6+). Zao describes life wrought by the new birth wrought by belief in the Gospel (Ro 1:17+ "the righteous shall live by faith") (Life) includes the removal of the sentence of death, the return of spiritual life of the soul, and the final enjoyment of eternal life in heaven.” D Edmond Hiebert explains might live in the aorist tense - The aorist tense declares the purpose of Christ’s mission as the actual bestowal of life with the resultant ongoing possession of eternal life. The added phrase through (dia) Him declares that the Son Himself is the mediating agent of this bestowal of eternal life, imparted to them while they are here on this earth. This God-given life is not merely future; through Christ it is received here in this life and will continue into the eternal future. “It includes the removal of the sentence of death, the return of spiritual life of the soul, and the final enjoyment of eternal life in heaven.” (1 John 4:7-21) Ray Stedman on that we might live through Him - Is that not love? Does that not grip you? He did it that all the chains of fear, hate and evil which bind us and shackle us might be broken, these powerful forces within us might be subdued and brought into control, and quarreling, bickering, and abuse might cease between human beings. That is why he came. That it all might be replaced, not by negative nothingness, but by patience, acceptance, and the power to remain calm -- "in order that we might live." Now that is the measure of love. John says if you want to measure love, use that as your standard. Do not measure love by the warm affection of your heart toward God, the gratitude you feel toward God. Naturally, if God has blessed you, helped you, and strengthened you, you will feel a warm affection toward him arising within you, but that is not the measure of love. God is altogether lovable, so do not define love as that quality of warmth and gratitude which rises up when you meet a lovable and lovely person. That is not love. (See 1Jn 4:10 for John's description of God's love!) Steven Cole on we might live (zao) through (dia) Him - Christianity is not primarily a matter of a person deciding to stop certain sinful practices and to start doing morally acceptable practices. It is not a matter of changing from being a non-religious person who spends Sundays for himself, to becoming a regular churchgoer. Rather, at its heart, Christianity is a matter of God imparting new life to those who are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1-5). That new life manifests itself in loving behavior. As born again people who have experienced God’s love, we should display His love to this wicked world that crucified the Son of God. (1 John 4:7-11 Why We Must Love) It is something of a paradox that Christ had to die so that we may live! Warren
1 João 4:10
Ironside - On the Cross the Son of God took our place in judgment. It was not merely the sufferings that men heaped on Jesus that settled the sin-question, but there as he hung upon the cross and supernatural darkness covered the scene, we read that Jehovah made “his soul an offering (a guilt offering) for sin” (Isaiah 53:10). In those hours of darkness God was dealing with His Son in judgment. There He bore in His inmost soul the punishment that you and I would have to bear ourselves for all eternity if left without a Savior. There He became the propitiation and expiation for our sins. It is at the Cross that we see the fullest extent of God’s love. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1John 4:10). This indeed is love. We hated Him, we loved our own way, we wanted to take our own course, and we did not want to be submissive to His will. But He loved us and looked upon us in grace. He yearned to have us with Him in glory, free from every stain of sin. And because there was no other way whereby we could be justified (declared righteous), He sent His Son to become the propitiation for our sins. Don’t talk about believing God is love if you won’t accept the gift of His love, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Christ alone we have life and propitiation. “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), but the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 John 4 Commentary) Harry Ironside - It is God who came out to us. We did not seek after Him. We did not love God, and our hearts were filled with hatred for Him. But He met our every need. You see, because we were dead we needed life and God sent Christ that we might live through Him. Because we were lost and guilty sinners it was necessary that a propitiation be made for sin, and God sent His Son to effect that propitiation. (1 John 4 Commentary) The Son of God was sent to be the Son of Man that He might die for man. His death was not an accident but an appointment! (Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28, Messianic prophecy in Acts 3:18, 2Ti 1:9NIV-note) (See related resource: Messianic Prophecies) John
1 João 4:11
Ironside reminds us that God "did not wait for us to love Him first; He did not wait for us to behave ourselves before loving us, but “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro 5:8+). God loved us when there was nothing lovable about us. God loved us when we were at enmity against Him, "alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” (Colossians 1:21+). God loved us when our desires were contrary to His desires, when we were trampling His Word beneath our feet, spurning His grace, and breaking His commandments." John's point is that if God loved us with such a great love when we were by all human measures, quite unlovable, then we have a debt to love others with this divine, Spirit enabled love (even when they too might not be very "lovable" humanly speaking!) A Christian’s love for others should be as obvious as pink wool on a flock of Scottish sheep. — Dave Branon David
1 João 4:11
Ironside reminds us - We remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same?” (Mt 5:46+) Even the most corrupt people in the world love those who seem to give them some return for their affection. But the great principle laid down here is that after we have been born of God and are partakers of the divine nature (2Pe 1:4+), we will not wait for people to love us, but will love them no matter how they behave. That is divine love demonstrated through the new nature. This kind of love is a challenge even to Christians, because we still have the old nature in us. Though born of God (1Jn 4:7, 5:1, 4, 18), the Christian has a nature that came from fallen Adam (ED: flesh), and that nature is selfish and is looking for satisfaction in others and in the things of this world. It is only through the power of the new, divine nature inherited at the second birth, that the Christian can rise to the standard set before him (ED: cf God the Spirit continually "energizing" us - see Php 2:13NLT+). “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought (opheilo - present tense - habitually, continually) also to love one another.” I like that word, ought. It suggests duty. Sometimes Christians do not like to be reminded of duty, for they have an idea that duty is not consistent with grace. But the grace of God, when it is active in the life, leads (and empowers) men and women to do the things they ought. Here is one thing we ought to do - we ought to love one another. We ought to love those who do not love us, who mistreat us, who speak evil of us, who harm us, and who would ruin us if they could. That is the way God loves us. Nothing that men did to our blessed Lord Jesus, nothing that they said about Him, could change the attitude of His heart toward them. As He was hanging on the Cross and the angry rabble cried out for His life, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34+). This is not natural love. No one loves like this naturally. This is divine, spiritual love, and is possible only by walking in the power of the new nature (Gal 5:16+, Eph 5:18+), which God gives to those who believe. Beloved (27)(agapetos from agapao = to love, agape = unconditional love borne by Spirit - Gal 5:22+) means beloved, dear, very much loved. Agapetos describes the God-like love of another, this love being called out of the "giver's" heart by preciousness of the recipient of the love (the "beloved'). Agapetos is used only of Christians as united with God or with each other in love. God the Father uses agapetos of Jesus at the transfiguration (Mt 17:5) and the first 7 uses in the NT are of God the Father speaking of Christ, His beloved Son (Mt. 3:17; 12:18; 17:5; Mk. 1:11; 9:7; 12:6; Lk. 3:22) Agapetos describes "one who is in a very special relationship with another" (BDAG) and in secular Greek is used mostly of a child, especially an only child to whom all the love of his parents is given (cf use by the Father describing His only Son and Abraham describing his "only son" in Ge 22:2). BDAG adds that agapetos " pertains to one who is dearly loved, dear, beloved, prized, valued (papyri, LXX; pseudepigraphia) indicating a close relationship, especially that between parent and child." Beloved is a term of endearment and is someone that you love, and someone you are deeply devoted to. In the context of the New Testament agape love speaks of God’s divine and infinite love, a love that seeks the ultimate spiritual welfare of the one loved. Agapetos could be translated “divinely loved ones.” Brooke observes that agapetos "One of the writer’s favorite words. It occurs ten times in the Epistles, though not in the Gospel. It is his usual method of address when he wishes to appeal to the better thoughts and feelings of his readers, or, to use Paul’s phrase, to “open the eyes of their hearts.” It emphasizes the natural grounds of appeal for mutual love, which can most readily be called out among those who are loved or lovable. AGAPETOS USES BY JOHN - 1 Jn. 2:7; 1 Jn. 3:2; 1 Jn. 3:21; 1 Jn. 4:1; 1 Jn. 4:7; 1 Jn. 4:11; 3 Jn. 1:1; 3 Jn. 1:2; 3 Jn. 1:5; 3 Jn. 1:11 Love (verb) (25)(agapao) means to love unconditionally and sacrificially as God Himself loves sinful men (John 3:16), the way He loves the Son (John 3:35, 15:9, 17:23, 24). Note that agapao is a verb and by its verbal nature calls for action. This quality of love is not an emotion but is an action initiated by a volitional choice."expresses the purest, noblest form of love, which is volitionally driven, not motivated by superficial appearance, emotional attraction, or sentimental relationship." (John Macarthur) Vine writes that "Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son, 1 John 4:9, 10. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects, Ro 5:8. It was an exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself." (Collected Writings)
1 João 4:12
Ironside has an interesting comment on no man has seen God - This is not the first time this expression is found in the Scriptures. In John 1:18 you will find the exact same words, “No man hath seen God at any time.” Let’s examine these controversial words, for Scripture seems to indicate that there were many instances where men saw God. Didn’t God speak with Moses face to face, and didn’t He put him in a cleft of the rock while He passed by? Didn’t Adam speak with God in the garden? And doesn’t Isaiah say that “In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1)? Didn’t Ezekiel have visions of God, and didn’t the glory of the Lord appear to Daniel and many others? Yes, and yet it remains true that, “No man hath seen God at any time.” God is a Spirit, infinite and eternal, and is Himself invisible. Christ, however, has revealed God to men. But before Jesus became incarnate, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit were all invisible. The Old Testament characters of whom it is written that they saw God, saw a form that God took-a Theophany-by which He revealed Himself to them. They saw His glory and splendor, but they could not see His deity. No one, in a sense, has ever seen you. People have seen your body, your face, and your eyes, but they have never seen the real you-the spirit that looks out through your eyes. We cannot see the real man, for under present conditions the spirit of man is invisible. We shall never really see one another as long as we are in the flesh, but in eternity we shall see and know one another in spirit. No one has ever seen the sun. Someone might object to that and say, “How can you tell me that I have never seen the sun! Of course I have seen it. I have seen it rise, I have seen it moving through the heavens, I have seen it set as it dips into the west.” But you are mistaken. You have never seen the sun! You have seen the robe of glory that envelopes it, but you cannot pierce that glory and see behind the flame that enfolds mat great globe. That would be impossible. It is the sun that gives out that glory and you cannot even gaze on that in its full strength at noonday for one minute, because of its blinding glare. A great astronomer was so delighted when one of the finest telescopes was first invented that, in his haste to look at the sun through it, he forgot to put the dark glass over the lens. Swinging that great instrument into place, he leaned down and with the naked eye looked through the lens at the sun. The next moment he uttered a cry of pain as the blinding light burned his eye, destroying its sight completely! Plato said, “The radiant light is the shadow of God.” David declared of God, Thou “coverest thyself with light as with a garment” (Ps 104:2). The light, the glory, the radiance is just the garment, and God is behind it all, invisible. We read in John 1:18 that “the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Jesus Christ came into the world as God revealed in the flesh and made God known to man. We understand God as we could not have done otherwise. Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Hebrews 1:3 we read that Christ is “the express image” of the Father. In other words, Jesus is the exact expression of God’s character. All that God is is seen in Jesus. Jesus walked this world for a brief period of thirty-three and one-half years, and during that time God was manifest, God was seen on the earth, in the person of His Son. When Jesus went back to Heaven was God left without any manifestation on earth? We read, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God [abideth] in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). God dwells in all believers, but the Greek word for dwelleth is different from that for abideth. If we love one another, we exhibit the new and divine nature. If we walk in love, then men can see God in us, for God abideth in us. If we are living in fellowship with God, we are manifesting and making Him known. We have read the account of the professed conversion of the President of China (Chiang Kai-shek). We hope there has been a real work in his soul, but only eternity will tell. I was reading how he came to his Christian wife who was saved long before he made a profession, and said, “I can’t understand these Christians. They have been treated most abominably here. They have been robbed, beaten, and many of them killed. They have been persecuted fearfully, and yet I never find one of them retaliating. Anytime they can do anything for China and for our people, they are ready to do it. I do not understand them.” “Well,” said his wife, “that is the very essence of Christianity. They do that because they are Christians.” That is how God is manifest in China, and how you and I are called on to manifest Him wherever we may be. There are many who will never read the Bible, but they are reading us. They are looking at our lives. How much of God is really seen in us? You are writing a gospel, a chapter a day, By deeds that you do, by words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithless or true; Say, what is the gospel according to you? People may never read the Gospel of Matthew, never look at the Gospel of Luke, never heed the Gospel of Mark, and never consider the Gospel of John, but they are reading the gospel of you-they are watching you, listening to you, and observing you. They are getting their ideas of Christ and of God from what they hear and see in you. A number of years ago I was down in Ganado, Arizona, visiting a Presbyterian mission. In the hospital there was a poor Navajo woman who had been desperately ill but had been nursed back to life and health through the Christian missionary doctor and nurses. She was a poor Indian woman who had been cast out by her own people when they thought she was going to die. She had been thrown behind a clump of brush and left there for three or four days. It was the middle of August when the heat is terrific during the daytime and the nights become bitterly cold. There she lay without food or drink, suffering terribly. This missionary doctor found her, brought her to the hospital, and did everything that Christian love and surgical skill could suggest. At last he brought her back to health. After nine weeks in the hospital, she began to wonder about the love shown to her and said to the nurse, “I can’t understand it. Why did he do all that for me? He is a white man and I am an Indian. My own people threw me out. I can’t understand it. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.” The Navajo nurse, a sweet Christian girl, said to her, “You know, it is the love of Christ that made him do that.” “What do you mean by the love of Christ? Who is this Christ? Tell me more about Him.” The nurse was afraid she would not tell it in the right way and so called the missionary doctor. He sat down and talked to her, and day by day unfolded the wonderful story. After a few weeks (for she could take in only a little at a time) the hospital staff thought she understood enough to make her decision. They had a special prayer meeting for her then gathered around her bed and prayed that God by His Spirit would open her blind eyes. Again they told her the story of God’s love, and asked, “Can’t you trust this Savior? Turn from the idols you have worshiped, and trust Him as the Son of the living God!” She looked at them with her big dark Indian eyes and was silent a long time. Then the door to her room opened and the doctor stepped in. Her face lit up and she said, “If Jesus is anything like the doctor, I can trust Him forever,” and she came to Christ. Do you see what had reached her? She had seen divine love manifested in a man. That is what you and I are called to exhibit to the world. “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth [abideth] in us, and his love is perfected in us.” The love that was revealed so fully in Jesus is now being revealed in those who have trusted in the risen Christ. They are called to make known to a lost world the same wondrous love that led Him to go to the cross. (1 John 4 Commentary) Love Extravagantly - Dan Wilt - A Well-Worn Path: Thirty-One Daily Reflections Today, the body of Christ will experience extravagant love flowing from me. 1 John 4:11–12 calls us—unabashedly and without reserve—to love one another. In fact, it suggests that the invisible God is revealed to the world when people see us generously, deeply acting in love toward the family of God. In his famous sermon “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis suggested that, one day, the person in the faith whom we find most difficult to love will become a creature so glorious in the presence of God that we will be strongly tempted to fall down and worship them. In other words dignify your brothers and sisters in Christ today, despite their flaws, by extravagantly expressing unconditional favor toward them. Call Christ forward in them. Give them the gifts of your time, energy, and encouragement. If you can take that step toward them, God will show Himself to everyone who meets you. Prayer: Father, I have been so loved and graciously forgiven by You, how can I harbor bitterness against those You also love? Forgive me for missing the mark, and, today, empower me to love beyond my own capacity—extravagantly. Mormons Answered Verse by Verse - Borrow Mormons : answered verse by verse : Reed, David A or see Mormons Answered Verse by Verse 1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. The King James Bible published by Mormons for their own use (Salt Lake City, 1990) features a footnote to this verse referring to the Joseph Smith Translation and giving its rendering: “No man hath seen God at any time, except them who believe . . .” [italics and ellipsis theirs]. For a refutation of this addition to the Bible, see the discussion of John 1:18, a text in which Smith made a similar change in his “translation,” as well as the discussion of the Bible in chapter 3: “Mormon Scripture.” John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Since Joseph Smith claimed to have seen God the Father, this verse proved to be a problem for him. However, rather than back off from his claim of having seen God, he sought to change Scripture. Thus Mormons are able to turn to their Doctrine and Covenants and read, “For no man has seen God at any time in the flesh, except quickened by the Spirit of God”—from a revelation allegedly received by Joseph Smith in November, 1831 (Doctrine and Covenants 67:11). Not satisfied simply to have added this ‘exception’ by means of a personal revelation, Smith went on to retranslate the text of John’s Gospel itself. Thus his “translation” of the Bible presents John 1:193 as saying, “And no man hath seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son; for except it is through him no man can be saved.” On what basis did Smith change the Bible text to conform to his thinking? Did he render some Greek words differently to produce this new wording? No, because the Greek words in the manuscripts Bible translators have been using for years could not possibly be rendered that way. Did Smith discover other ancient manuscripts with different wording? No, he did not claim any such discovery. On what basis, then, did he produce such a radically different “translation”? Again, the claim was that he was personally “inspired” to do so-even though his rendering has no basis in any existing ancient manuscript and in fact contradicts the hundreds of Greek manuscripts preserved from ancient times. It should also be pointed out to Mormons that Joseph Smith’s claim to have seen God the Father and Jesus Christ in his “First Vision” also contradicts Mormon scripture. Doctrine and Covenants 84:21, 22 says that “without the ordinances … and the authority” of the Melchizedek Priesthood, “without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.” Yet Smith claimed to see God the Father in his “First Vision” several years before he allegedly received the Melchizedek Priesthood. See also the discussions of Genesis 32:30, Exodus 24:10, 11; 33:11; Deuteronomy 4:2; 1 John 4:12; and chapter 3, “Mormon Scripture.” James Smith - LOVES FOUR PREPOSITIONS. 1 John 4:16, 9,12, 17. I. "Toward us"—the Direction of love (4:9). II. "To us"—the Intention of love (4:16). III. "In us"—the Habitation of love (2:15; 3:17; 4:12). IV. "With us"—the Perfection of love (4:17, margin). "Herein hath love been perfected with us" (A. V., margin). Suggesting a greater measure of the love of God dwelling within us, and a greater realisation, by mind and heart, of the greatness of His love. ILLUSTRATIONS - Bible knowledge alone does not take the place of personal experience of God’s love. In fact, it can be a dangerous substitute if we are not careful. Helen came home from a youth retreat greatly enthused over what she had learned. “We had some terrific sessions on how to have personal devotions,” she told her sister Joyce. “I plan to have my devotions every single day.” A week later, while Joyce was running the vacuum cleaner, she heard Helen screaming, “Do you have to make all that noise? Don’t you know I’m trying to have my devotions?” And the verbal explosion was followed by the slamming of a door. Helen still had to learn that personal devotions are not an end in themselves. If they do not help us love God and love one another, they are accomplishing little. The Bible is a revelation of God’s love; and the better we understand His love, the easier it should be for us to obey Him and love others. A second consideration is that unless we love the lost, our verbal witness to them will be useless. The Gospel message is a message of love. This love was both declared and demonstrated by Jesus Christ. The only way we can effectively win others is to declare the Gospel and demonstrate it in how we live. Too much “witnessing” today is a mere mouthing of words. People need an expression of love. One reason why God permits the world to hate Christians is so that Christians may return love for the world’s hatred “Pastor, the Bible tells us to love our neighbors, but I doubt that anybody could love my neighbors,” Mrs. Barton said at the close of a Sunday School lesson. “I’ve tried to be nice to them, but it just doesn’t work.” “Perhaps ‘being nice to them’ isn’t the real answer,” the pastor explained. “You know, it’s possible to be nice to people with the wrong motive.” “You mean as though you’re trying to buy them off?” “Something like that. I think you and I had better pray that God will give you a true spiritual love for your neighbors. If you love them in a Christian way, you’ll not be able to do them any damage,” the pastor pointed out. It took some weeks, but Mrs. Barton grew in her love for her neighbors; and she also found herself growing in her own spiritual life. “My neighbors haven’t changed a whole lot,” she told the prayer group, “but my attitude toward them has really changed. I used to do things for them to try to win their approval. But now I do things for Jesus’ sake, because He died for them—and it makes all the difference in the world!” (Bible Exposition Commentary) No one has ever seen God: but if we love one another . . . his love is made complete in us. - 1 John 4:12 TODAY IN THE WORD When pastor Scott Wright first met his future wife, he wasn't a Christian. No doubt he noticed her beautiful eyes and winsome smile, but what he recalls most from that time was how she and her friends loved each other. They really enjoyed being together. Prior to meeting his wife, Scott thought he knew how to have fun—parties, baseball games, late nights drinking. But the love and joy he encountered in this new group wasn't like anything that he'd seen before. Eventually this is what drew Scott to Christ. The popular chorus “And they'll know we are Christians by our love” captures Scott's experience. Millions of people like him have been “loved” into the kingdom. Given the power of Christian love, it's no wonder Paul prayed that the Thessalonians' love would increase. Recall from yesterday Paul's praise to God for the good report about the Thessalonians. The benediction recorded in today's passage flows naturally from that gratitude. Notice first the affirmation of Christ's deity. Many scholars believe that 1 Thessalonians is one of Paul's earliest letters, which counters the popular idea that the very early church didn't affirm that Jesus was God. From this, Paul turns to love. Notice that Paul prays that the Thessalonians would not only love each other, but also love everyone else. It's easy to love those within your own circle, but love extended to outsiders is powerful. For the Thessalonians this included loving their persecutors. Finally Paul prays that the Thessalonians would be strengthened to be holy and blameless in God's presence. Here holiness indicates being set apart for God, and blameless is a legal term that describes a believer's standing before God. Here we see another link between godly living now and Christ's future return. Today's prayer anticipates the rest of the letter, where holiness (1Th 4:1-8), love (1Th 4:9-12), and Christ's return (1Th 4:13-5:11) will be discussed further. TODAY ALONG THE WAY Today's prayer can be prayed for all believers everywhere because love and holiness should always be increasing in every believer's life. The connection between love and holiness can be easily overlooked, but as Bible scholar D. Edmund Hiebert aptly notes, “An unloving man cannot be a holy man.” Notice also that the process of standing blameless at Christ's return begins now. Consider adopting this wonderful prayer for yourself and other believers in your life, such as members of a Bible study group or choir. A W Tozer - The Spirit Is Emotion (See Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional - Page 19) If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. —1 John 4:12 Another quality of the indwelling Fire is emotion.… What God is in His unique essence cannot be discovered by the mind nor uttered by the lips, but those qualities in God which may be termed rational, and so received by the intellect, have been freely set forth in the sacred Scriptures. They do not tell us what God is, but they do tell us what God is like, and the sum of them constitute a mental picture of the Divine Being seen, as it were, afar off and through a glass darkly. Now the Bible teaches that there is something in God which is like emotion. He experiences something which is like our love, something that is like our grief, that is like our joy. And we need not fear to go along with this conception of what God is like.…God has said certain things about Himself, and these furnish all the grounds we require. Once the seeking heart finds God in personal experience there will be no further problem about loving Him. To know Him is to love Him and to know Him better is to love Him more. WE CANNOT SEE GOD WITH HUMAN EYES No one has ever seen God. 1 John 4:12 God is invisible. He is spirit and light and love. He’s in all places at all times. One of the reasons Jesus came to earth was so people could see what God is like. Whoever saw Jesus saw God the Father. Jesus only ever did what He saw His Father doing. Grow Your Faith God told Moses no one could survive seeing the face of God (see Ex. 33:20). One day, we’ll get new bodies that can endure the pure holiness of God. In the meantime, we can invite His holy presence into our hearts and lives in ever-increasing measure. Grow Your Child’s Faith Sometimes it’s hard to love a God we can’t see. But think of it like loving people you know but don’t live near. Those people are there and your love for them is huge even though you can’t see them in real life today. Dear Father, I wish I could see You. But I’m so glad You’re everywhere so I’m never really alone. Amen. THE INVISIBILITY OF GOD Walking with God Day by Day No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 JOHN 4:12 Why does God say, “No man hath seen God at any time”? Why does John suddenly introduce this idea of the invisibility of God? John does not say that we cannot love God except through loving our brethren; that is not his argument. Nor does he say that we can only love God by means of loving our brethren. Rather, he tells us that we are to love God—that we can love God and that we should love Him. It seems to me that John is here introducing a new theme, a new idea, into his great discussion of the question of loving the brethren. And this new theme I would describe as the theme of assurance of salvation; it is the whole question of our knowledge of God and of the way in which we can know God. In other words, I am suggesting that John here is linking up with that with which he left off at the end of verse 8. Let me reconstruct it to you in this way: “Beloved,” he says, “let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. . . . No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (verses 7-8, 12). “So,” says John in effect, “it is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation and from the standpoint of your fellowship with God.” John is more like a poet than a logician. Although he tends to arrive at his position in circles instead of straight lines, though there is something of the mystic in his thinking, nevertheless there is firm logic at the back of it; there is a definite line of reason. It is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation. Get It Together - Nancy Leigh DeMoss (See The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings - Page 30) No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.—1 John 4:12 EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was the epicenter of a revival that swept much of Canada and portions of the United States in the early 1970s. During the initial days of this movement, two brothers were marvelously reconciled who had not spoken to each other for two years—even though they attended the same church! God broke through their hardness and pride one evening, and they fell sobbing into each other’s arms. The church was amazed at the drastic change in the two men, and God greatly used their testimony to spread and deepen the work of revival. Right relationships—especially within the family of God—are among our most powerful means of communicating the gospel. “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14). Through the cross of Christ, those who were once separated from God can now draw near to Him. And through that same cross, the “dividing wall of hostility” that so easily rises between us and others has been broken down as well, making it possible for us to be reconciled, to live at peace together as those who were once estranged humble themselves before Him. Revival and reconciliation are inseparable. When believers cannot get along with one another, when we fail to resolve conflicts biblically, we actually discredit the gospel. But when God’s people are reconciled to each other, we demonstrate the power of the cross and make it believable to others. Who in your life could be the next testimony to His reconciling work as you ask for His grace to break through in that relationship? If you have done all you think you can do to heal a damaged relationship, don’t hesitate to ask God for a miracle. Keep praying. Keep loving. To the extent it is possible, keep pursuing reconciliation. God desires it as much or more than you do! IMAGE OF GOD It seems to be a stumbling-block to many in this world that they cannot see God. ‘If only I could see God I would believe in Him’, they say (ED: THAT IS NOT TRUE! THEY STILL WOULD NOT BELIEVE IN HIM. MOST OF ISRAEL WHO SAW GOD IN JESUS REJECTED HIM!). There are two fundamental reasons why mankind cannot see God. The first lies in the very nature of God and is, simply, that He cannot be seen, 1 Tim. 6:16. He is a spirit being and therefore invisible to the human eye. ‘No man hath seen God at any time’, John 1:18; 1 John 4:12. Men have seen something of His glory, and they have seen manifestations of God, known as theophanies, but they have never seen Him in His essence. God’s answer to this problem was to send His Son into the world. Because Christ is God, He can reveal God to mankind. Therefore, Christ is the image, the perfect manifestation, of God. He could say, ‘he that hath seen me hath seen the Father’, John 14:9. The second problem in seeing God is in the spiritual sense. Here the problem does not lie in the nature of God but in the nature of man. Mankind is sinful and being sinful is neither able to see God nor to understand Him. This problem is compounded by the fact that Satan himself, the god of this world, has deliberately and maliciously blinded the hearts of sinners so that they cannot see God’s truth. How then, can God overcome this blinding of the minds of sinners? In the beginning, when He created the heavens and the earth, He commanded light to shine out of primeval darkness with the majestic words, ‘Let there be light’, Gen. 1:3. The God of creation in the Old Testament is the God of re-creation in the New. However, with spiritual blindness, He does not merely command light to shine into the hearts of men; His Son is the light that shines into their hearts. This light shines out of spiritual darkness to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is a sovereign act of God in salvation, for without it, a sinner, as Paul knew, would remain bound in the darkness of ignorance and sin, unable and unwilling to see. Satan has indeed great power over the hearts of men. Yet, God has the greater power, to over-rule and over-ride this blindness, enabling men to see the truth and believe it. A W Tozer - Jesus Asks Us to Love the Unlovely (See Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings - Page 323) No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12 In his earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus loved babies, publicans, harlots and sick people—and He loved them spontaneously and individually! The person who claims to follow Christ cannot afford to do otherwise. A peril always confronting the minister is that he may come unconsciously to love religious and philosophic ideas rather than saints and sinners. It is altogether possible to feel for the world of lost men the same kind of detached affection that the naturalist Fabre, say, felt for a hive of bees or a hill of black ants. They are something to study, to learn from, possibly even to help, but nothing to weep over or die for! Where this attitude prevails it soon leads to a stilted and pedantic kind of preaching. The minister assumes that his hearers are as familiar with history, philosophy and theology as he is, so he indulges in learned allusions, makes casual references to books and writers wholly unknown to the majority of people who listen to him, and mistakes the puzzled expression on the faces of his parishioners for admiration of his brilliance! Why religious people continue to put up with this sort of thing, as well as to pay for it and support it, is beyond me. I can only add it to the long list of things I do not and probably never will understand. John Henry Jowett - THE LOVE OF GOD 1 John 4:7-14 LET me more assiduously think of God’s love. Let me sit down to it. In the National Gallery can be seen two sorts of people. There are the mere vagrants, who are always “on the move,” passing from picture to picture, without seeing any. And there are the students, who sit down, and contemplate, and meditate, and appropriate, and saturate. And there are vagrants in respect to the love of the Lord. They have a passing glimpse, but the impression is not vital and vitalizing, and there are the students, who are always gazing, and who are continually crying, “O the depth of the riches of the love of God in Christ!” “His riches are unsearchable!” And God’s love is the creator of my love. “While I muse the fire burns.” I am kindled into the same holy passion. That is to say, contemplation determines character. We acquire the hues of the things to which we cling. To hold fellowship with love is to become loveful and lovely. “We love because He first loved us.” And then, in the third place, it is through my love that I know my Lord. “Everyone that loveth knoweth God.” Love is the lens through which I discern the secret things of God. Matthew
1 João 4:17
Ironside - Perfect Love (from God's Unspeakable Gift) "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:17). THESE verses troubled me for some six years after I was converted more than anything else in the Bible, excepting one verse from the Epistle to the Hebrews, which isn't there at all! The verse I imagined was in Hebrews caused me many sleepless nights, and much soul anxiety. I had often heard it quoted and I was so impressed with its importance that I had it painted on a banner to hang up behind me almost every place I went, for I was sure it was God's Word, and I believed it, even though it caused me a lot of trouble. I shall never forget how amazed I was when at last I found that it wasn't in the Bible. I had heard great sermons preached on it, and I even preached on it frequently myself. The text was, "WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD." I was absolutely certain that it was in the Book. and I had been told that holiness was a second definite work of grace subsequent to justification, an experience of inward cleansing whereby all Adamic sin was eliminated from one's being; and that unless one obtained this experience of holiness here on earth, no matter whether he had been regenerated, justified, and enjoyed much of Christ, he would never see the Lord after all. I used to tremble sometimes as one old friend of mine preached with terrific intensity on the startling topic, "Holiness or Hell!" He insisted that if we did not get all inbred sin purged out of us while in this life, so that we were absolutely holy in thought, word, and deed, we would be lost eventually in spite of any Christian experience we had enjoyed. Again and again I sought the Lord in earnestness of spirit, pleading with Him to root out all the sin from my heart. I told Him I would do, be, or go, whatever and wherever He would have me, and I claimed the blessing by a faith, which I now know was presumption, and tried to keep on claiming it even when I was greatly distressed by the fear that the claim had no foundation in fact. For, while I would go on well for a little time, eventually something would always go wrong, and I would have to start all over again seeking the experience of holiness. Moreover, I saw that people with whom I associated were all in the same boat as myself. No one's "sanctification" lasted very long, but all broke down from time to time, yet I could not believe that the trouble was in the text, or in my understanding of it. I felt it must be in myself. Surely my consecration was not complete, or I would attain to the blessedness of sinless perfection. I can scarcely describe my astonishment when after six years of this dreadful uncertainty, I sat down one day to thoughtfully peruse Hebrews 12, and when I came to verse 14, I could hardly believe my own eyes as I read, "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." In a moment the light broke. I said to myself, "Dear me, that is what I have been doing ever since I was converted. It has been the earnest desire of my heart to be at peace with all men, and to walk in holiness. But if you follow holiness you certainly haven't caught up with it." I am sure you can see how different the actual text is to that which I had imagined. The bare statement, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord" had conveyed an utterly wrong thought to my mind, whereas the exhortation to "follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord" simply tests the reality of one's profession of a new birth, for every truly born again person delights in holiness and follows after it, even though conscious of the fact that he has not yet attained to it in the absolute sense. "Without Peace No Man" Take the other part of the verse. Suppose one were to say, "Without peace with all men no man shall see the Lord." Why, I have been following peace for forty-two years, but I am not at peace with all men yet. Many of them won't let me be at peace with them no matter how earnestly I seek it. But it is my ideal; I have no desire to wound and injure people, nor needlessly to enter into conflict with them. I delight in peace as every true Christian should. But it is very plain that you have not caught up with something which you are following. And on the other hand, a man who does not follow after peace and holiness, whatever his profession is, just to that extent he is a hypocrite. Which of my hearers can say he is absolutely holy in the flesh? I heard a man make the statement in a meeting many years ago, "I want you to know that I am as holy as Jesus Christ was!" Two days later the police broke into his house in response to his wife's screams, just in time to save her from being beheaded, as he sought to kill her with an axe. Of course, the poor fellow was demented, and he died in an insane asylum shortly afterwards. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The most devoted saint has no holiness in the flesh. But our standing is another thing altogether; we are seen by God as holy in Christ. God hath made Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification (or holiness), and redemption. "Love Made Perfect" But now I want to examine with some degree of care the verses which I have read as a text for this discourse. They used to trouble me greatly. I simply could not understand them. I knew I had been born of God. I was sure His Spirit dwelt within me; I yearned for greater fellowship with Himself. I loved His Word, and I delighted in declaring the Gospel (so far as I then understood it) to others. But these verses distressed me terribly. I would say to myself, as I read them, "Herein is our love made perfect, but my love is not made perfect. My love is very imperfect. There is a great deal of selfishness connected with it. I am often very inconsiderate; I am frequently thoughtless about the comfort and happiness of others, and think more of ministering to my own pleasure. If my love were perfect this would never be. I would always think of others first, and of God and of Christ, and not of myself at all. But the verse says, 'Our love is made perfect,' and boldness in the Day of Judgment seems to hang upon this." Oh, the agony I went through as I looked forward to that Day of Judgment! What if, after all I had known and enjoyed of Christ, that Day of doom simply brought out the fact that my love was still so imperfect there could be no heaven for me! I did not understand the Christian's relation to judgment, of which I shall speak later. I knew that Christ had died for my sins, and that through faith in Him my soul was saved. But I thought of the Christian life as a probation and that the final test was to be made in the Judgment Day, as to whether I should go to Heaven or Hell. How could I then have boldness in the Day of Judgment, when my persona I experience was so unsatisfactory? The last part of the verse was even more perplexing, "Because as He is, so are we in this world." The words were simple enough. Nine monosyllables, but who could claim to have attained to such perfection as this? I said to myself, "I am not as He is, not yet, at all events. I am not as holy as He is; I am not as righteous as He is; I am not as true as He is; I am not as faithful as He is; I am not as compassionate and thoughtful of others as He is. How then can I say, 'As He is so am I in this world?'" Then the next verse declares, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." "Ah," I said to myself, "if I could only attain to this blissful condition where I would be perfect in love, then all this torment and fear would disappear. But that is just the trouble with me, I am not vet perfect in love. I still have fear; fear does torment, and I do not see how I can ever have settled peace until I attain this greatly to be desired experience of perfect love." I wonder how many who are listening to me tonight have gone through a similar—time of perplexity and anxiety. I wonder if there are any who are going through it now. If you are, I beg you follow me most carefully as I seek to show you How I Found Deliverance First let me remark that although I have tried to read my Bible regularly all my life, I have to confess I have often read it very carelessly. For instance until about the same time as the revelation came to me concerning the Hebrews passage, I had never noticed the marginal emendation in connection with 1 John 4:17, "Herein is love with us made perfect." "Love with us!" What does it mean? It certainly does not mean that our own love is perfect, but it speaks of a love in which we share. I was startled and thrilled. I looked it up in some more critical versions, and I found that the real meaning of the passage was this, "Herein has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment, that even as He is we also are in this world, "It seemed that everything was clearing in a moment. I saw that for six years I had been looking for perfect love in the wrong man. God, by the Spirit, seemed to say to me, "Perfect love is in another Man, the Man Christ Jesus, and in that Man for you." And then I noticed the connective "herein." This, of course, is intended to direct our minds to something that has been written before, and so I glanced back in the chapter, and, oh, what precious things I found! "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." "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10). Here indeed is perfect love, and that in all its fulness. It is God's love to me manifested in the Mediator between God and man, our Lord Jesus Christ. It was love that gave Him, and notice the double nature or character of the gift. Because we were dead in trespasses and in sins, God in His infinite love sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Because we were guilty and defiled by sin, God sent His Son to make expiation for our iniquity. Thus we have everything in Christ, and Christ is everything to the believer for time and eternity. God's love is seen in all its fulness in the work of the Cross. Herein has love been perfected with us. And so we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment. If God sent His Son to be the proitiation for my sins, I need not now fear the sudgment, because the Lord Jesus has already gone into judgment for me. He took my place, He paid my debt, and delivered me from every claim of the outraged throne of God. "By faith the Lamb of God I see Expiring on the Cross for me; He paid the mighty debt I owe, He died because He loved me so. "For me the Father sent His Son, For me the victory He won; To save my soul from endless woe, He died because He loved me so." This indeed gives boldness in view of the Judgment Day. For when that last. dread hour arrives, my case is not coming up. It was all settled nineteen hundred years ago, and settled to the divine satisfaction. No Fear of Law Suppose I am passing a court-house, and I see a group of manacled men entering under guard of a police platoon. I inquire of some one standing by as to what is going on, and I learn that a number of desperate criminals are to come up for trial. I decide to go in and heal some of the evidence, but as I am about to enter some one says to me, "Are you not afraid to go in there? Do you not realise that these men are likely to be condemned to penal servitude, or possibly to death? Are you not afraid to be in that company?" I answer, "Not at all; I am not on trial; the law has nothing against me; I simply go in as a spectator." You see I would have boldness in the day of Judgment. And so in regard to the last great Assize; perfect love has cast out all fear. "He bare on the tree the sentence for me, And now both the Surety and sinner are free; And this I shall find we too are so joined, He will not be in glory and leave me behind." He is in Heaven now as my representative, and I am accepted in Him. And so we read, "As He is so are we in this world." Perfect love has given me His place now before God, It is not a question of my likeness to Christ morally, while I seek by grace to become more and more like Him, but I am always conscious of my short-coming. Yet I know that I am as He is in relation to the question of judgment. What a wealth of meaning is found in these nine monosyllables. God wrapped up one of the profoundest truths of Scripture in a child's sentence of one syllable words. Sometimes, when we who try to preach, want to impress people with t.he profundity of our thoughts, we strike an attitude, attempt to look very profound, and draw on the dictionary for all the big words we can find with which to cover up the real poverty of our thought. But God uses the simplest words to express the greatest truths. Who would have believed it had He not Himself declared it? That as Christ is so are we even in this world, if we have put our trust in Him. He has made us accepted in the Beloved. Is it not wonderful? Do you believe it? If you do, I know that all fear is driven out, for He that feareth is not made perfect in love. To be made perfect in I ove is to have learned the lesson that the Holy Spirit is here seeking to teach us. The Latin Test Think of a group of young people who are to have a Latin test in school. Your days prior to the examination you see most of them going about with a Latin Grammar under their noses, conjugating verbs, and trying to fill their minds with Latin phrases. They are desperately afraid of failure. Why? Because they are not made perfect in Latin. But see that bright young girl walking across the campus with tennis shoes on, and a tennis racket in hand. Some one calls out and says, "Where are you going? Don't you know there is a Latin test coming?" She answers, "Oh, yes, I know all about that, but I am going out to play, for I know my lesson, and I have no fear of the test." And so, if our hearts have really taken in the truth that this wonderful chapter was intended to teach us, all fear and dread of the Judgment will disappear, and we shall be able to look forward to it with perfect equanimity, knowing that we are one with Him who shall sit upon that throne. Now the moral result of it all comes out in the closing verse of the text, which is literally, "We love because He first loved us." It is true that we love Him, but the editors generally omit the pronoun. Some of you may feel that you are losing something by leaving it out. But think a moment, and you will see that you are really gaining. For it is not only that we love Him, but we love His. We love all for whom He died. His perfect love is now shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us, and we love because He first loved us. The Prisoner's Purpose Let me close with an incident, which I read in a Christian periodical some time ago. In a large penitentiary there was a Christian guard who was deeply interested in the welfare of the men he was set to watch. During a certain part of the year, it was his duty to take a group of men fettered hand and foot, down to the river-side where they were loaded aboard a boat and taken across the stream, and put to work breaking stone on the road. As he was escorting his squad one morning, he noticed in the rear of the line an old man who had spent almost an ordinary lifetime behind grey walls. The guard suddenly remembered that the aged convict's time was nearly up, and he was soon to be discharged. He stepped back and walked along with him to the river, inquiring concerning his expectations when he should return to the world outside. He learned that the old man did not have a friend to whom he could go. All who had ever been interested in him had died long since. Asked what he expected to do when he got back into the world, the old man looked at him with eyes blazing with hatred and said, One of the first things I intend to do is To Kill a Policeman "Why," exclaimed the guard, "that is a very foolish thing to do. What do you want to kill a policeman for?" "I am going to kill the policeman that swore my liberty away and put me here. I have done time often for crimes I committed, but this time I have been here for ten years for a crime I never committed, and I have been nursing the desire for revenge all through the years. Now I am eager for the moment when I can kill the man that put me here." The guard asked, "Have you thought of the consequences? What will happen after you kill the policeman?" "Oh, I will be arrested again, and taken to jail." "And after that?" "Well, I will go to trial, and I suppose they will send me back to the penitentiary." "And after that?" "Oh, well, I will have to hang for it." "And after that?" The man shifted uneasily, but said, "Oh, I know what you mean; but there cannot be any worse Hell than I have lived in all these years." The heart of the guard was deeply moved, and he silently looked up to God, praying that he might be able to say the right thing and give a message that would reach this hardened, desperate criminal. Then he asked him, "Do you have a Bible in your cell?" The man admitted that he did. "Have you read it?" "Yes, I have read it through several times. It has helped me to pass the hours away." "Did you ever read this in your Bible, 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life?'" "No," he exclaimed, "I have never read that. That isn't in my Bible. God doesn't love this world, and He hates sinners like me." "Will you do something for me?" "Yes, I will if I can. You are the one man that said a kind word to me in ten years. I will do anything I can for you." "When you go home tonight, will you take your Bible, and turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16, and tell me tomorrow what you found there?" He readily promised, and the guard left him, committing the case to the Lord. The next day as the little squad gathered together to go down to the river, the old man came from his cell with A Strange Light in His Eyes and the look upon his face was such as had never been seen before. When opportunity presented itself, the guard slipped over to him, and asked quietly, "Did you look up that verse?" "Yes, I did," was the reply. "I could hardly believe it as I read it. It was just as you said. I have read it over and over, and oh, sir, it seems too good to be true, that 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' I have been reading it over, and thinking; about it all night long. Oh, sir, if God has loved me like that I cannot fight against Him any more. I have taken Christ to be my Saviour." The guard grasped his hand while tears of joy flowed down both their faces, and then the aged convict leaned over and said in low tones, "Do you know, sir, something has happened. I don't want to kill the policeman. I wish I could find him and throw my arms around him and tell him that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Yes, this is the effect of the love of God when the Gospel message is believed. "We love because He first loved us." "His is love, 'tis love unbounded, Without measure, without end; Human thought is here confounded, 'Tis too vast to comprehend. Praise the Saviour, Magnify the sinner's F
1 João 4:20
Ironside - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.John 13:34–35 The new commandment, “That you love one another,” is all-embracing. “Love,” we are told, “is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). No one who truly loves his neighbor will ever be guilty of willfully breaking any of the commandments that set forth man’s duty to his fellow. We do not disobey parents when love is in exercise. We will not steal from those we love, nor will we lie about or defame them. To kill or corrupt by uncleanness would be unthinkable, and covetousness too is ruled out, for if I love my brother I do not want his goods, but rather rejoice in his possessions. But such love is not human. It is divine, and is only imparted by the Holy Spirit; so it is as we love God, the unseen, that we love our brothers also (1 John 4:20). Therefore where love rules, we are not under the law. We do not love in order to obtain merit, or to win the divine favor, but because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the indwelling Spirit, after we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1–5) and regenerated by the word of the Gospel (1 Peter 1:23–25). God is love. It is His very nature, and the man who is born again has become a partaker of that nature (2 Peter 1:4). So love is as characteristic of the real Christian as apples are characteristic of an apple tree. Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love, The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above. —J. Fawcett Charles Stanley - IN NEED OF GRACE SCRIPTURE READING: 1 JOHN 4:17–21 KEY VERSE: 1 JOHN 4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? In your life there will always be someone you know who will irritate you in the most frustrating manner. He will know how to effectively push the buttons that lead to aggravation, fear, and anger. You will be tempted to hate him and, perhaps, even seek revenge. However, the Bible has a strong warning for you in 1 John 4:20: If you say you love God, but hate your brother, do you really love God? This person in your life is not a foe, for you have no human adversaries. Rather, this person has been placed in your life so that God can grow godliness within you and exercise your faith. Wayne W. Dyer explains, “The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty of something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.” Whoever is tempting you to anger is a person in need of grace. It will take all of your trust in God to deal with that person in a godly manner, but you are called to no less. Trust God to give you the power to forgive. Oh Father, I am unable on my own to love those who irritate me. You alone can give me the strength to love them as I ought. Adrian Rogers - 1 John 4:20 One of the marks of the twice born is that we love one another—the members of His church. This doesn't mean, however, that all of us are lovable by nature. In fact, we are all sinners. A church is comprised of people who have finally realized that they are sinners and have banded themselves together to do something about it. This makes the church the only organization I know of, besides Hell's Angels, in which you have to profess to be bad before you can join. And yet we Christians are called to love the church—to love those who, like us, are sinners who have turned our lives over to Jesus James Smith - LOVE OF THE BRETHREN. 1 Peter 1:22. There are eleven Commandments—the ten given by God through Moses, and the eleventh, the New Commandment given by the Lord Jesus: "That ye love one another as I have loved you." We love the Lord Whom we have not seen (1:8); we must love our brethren whom we have seen and do see. The latter is indeed the test of the former (1 John 4:20). I. Its Nature. Now love is more than courtesy, attachment, or affability. It means self-denial, self-giving; it means that we shall check the hasty word, the unkind speech, the damaging criticism. It is a fair and exquisite flower. The flower of love Peter has in mind is a tender exotic. There is a coarser kind more easily grown, common to all, irrespective of creed or belief. But this is a tender plant, yet, oh, so much needed in this weary world! II. Its Reason. "Being born again." Love possessed, enjoyed, and lived out, is an evidence of the New Birth and a result of the New Birth. III. Its Soul and Atmosphere. Purity of heart and life is here pointed out as the soul and atmosphere of true love. There is such a thing as impure love. Moffatt renders it "purified your souls for a brotherly love." "From a pure heart fervently" is R.V. and W. "For cherishing sincere brotherly love." IV. Its Cultivation. "See to it that ye love one another," etc. The mode of its growth is the Word of God loved and indwelling. Love is knowledge of the Word set on fire. The cause of its growth—the maintenance of purity within. V. Its Guardianship. "See that ye love," etc. We are in charge of that tender exotic. We are its guardians. VI. Its Quality. 1. BROTHERLY LOVE. "Love of the brethren" (22). 2. UNFEIGNED LOVE. That is to say, no mere pretence at loving. Often we are tempted to profess more than we feel. 3. STEADY LOVE. Moffatt's rendering: "Love one another heartily and steadily." A love that is steady, whatever its testing or trial. 4. FERVENT LOVE. Not a cold love. "Heartily and fervently" is the W. version.