Introduction: Is there such a thing as mutual “love at first sight”? Psychologists debate the idea. Fans of romance endorse it. Filmmakers often employ the possibility as a plot device. Some happily married couples affirm it was true for them. But relationships don’t usually work this way. Far more common is for one person to be attracted to another and thereby begin a courtship to convince the other. One person loves first; the other person comes to love later. In today’s lesson, John uses this sequencing of love, but he is not writing about the romantic love that men and women have for each other. Rather, he is explaining our relationship with our loving God. He expresses this with one of the Bible’s classic verses, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We do not need to attract God’s attention and convince Him to love us. He has loved us from the start. God knows us before we are born (Psalm 139:13-16). That fact is more astonishing than even “love at first sight”!
1 John $7-12KJV
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
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.
This is one of John’s absolute statements, so we should read with care. At first glance it may seem to say that every one on earth who demonstrates love has a personal relationship with the Lord, that loving behavior is proof that a person knoweth God. But we all have known people who demonstrate love toward others and yet have no relationship with God at all. Instead, it’s the other way around: all who have been born of God (that is, Christian believers) are to demonstrate the love of God in their lives and relationships. The further point is that a lack of love among those who claim to be Christian indicates that their relationship with the Lord is not what it should be.ohn has sometimes been called “the apostle of love,” because of his frequent use of that word and concept in his writings. Indeed, some form of the word love occurs about two dozen times in today’s lesson text alone! But the churches in and around Ephesus seem to be lacking in love. John knows that love cannot be commanded, but it can be expected. His tone is not “I order you to love your brothers and sisters in Christ or else!” but rather “Why do you not love your fellow Christians?” This is a call for self-examination. To fail to be loving is to exclude God from one’s life, for God is love. Other religions speak of love and the love of God. For example, Islam speaks of God’s mercy. But other religions would not agree with a statement as bold as God is love (also in v. 16). This is not merely “God is loving” or “God is capable of showing love.” And especially, it is not “love is God.” John presents a doctrinal truth that there is something essential and fundamental about the nature of God that cannot fully be explained. God did not learn how to love. God does not adopt love as a practical good. God does not merely choose to love. God is love! The implications of that statement should make our heads spin and our hearts skip beats! We might imagine John’s opponents asking the questions skeptics ask today: “How do I know that God loves me? What about all the pain in my life?” Perhaps John’s opponents try to explain the apparent mismatch of continued suffering and the doctrine of a loving God by teaching that claims about God’s loving nature are irrelevant. We deduce from the letter that the false teachers are saying that the way to salvation is through something other than faith in a God who loves. They do not teach that Jesus came to die for our sins, but to impart secret knowledge. What matters, they say, is being given secrets and insights that allow membership in a fellowship of spiritual elites.John’s response is to pull the reader back to the fact of history we see in the verse before us. How do we know God loves us? Because He sent his only begotten Son on a mission to save the world (John 3:16). John draws a direct connection between Jesus’ life and God’s love.
1 John 4:13-19 KJV
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 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.
18 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.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
John and the other apostles saw in the flesh the Son of God (1 John 1:1). Jesus is the focus of God’s love, the expression of God’s love to us. God proves His love to us by sending His Son to save the world (John 3:16). We prove our love to God by believing John’s testimony and by replicating God’s love to others. ohn now ties three things together: (1) our confessed belief that Jesus is the Son of God, (2) the mutual dwelling of God in us (through His Spirit) and we in God (through our faith), and (3) the uniting factor of love. To say God is love is not an abstract concept. It is the basis for our lives. How do we get to know God better, to have a closer relationship with Him? There may be more than one answer to this, but John is teaching here that our relationship with God grows deeper when we love others. Teresa of Calcutta, the tireless servant of the poor, said of the children she served, “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” This outlook reflects Matthew 25:31-46, discussed below.
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