Jesus Christ In The Writings Of John
THE SUPREME GIFT OF LOVE

Lesson Text:
1 John 4:7-19 (KJV)

Subject:
The Gift of the Savior

Golden Text:
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11)

Devotional Reading:
John 15:12-17

Lesson Plan:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. GOD’S LOVE AND GOD’S SON (VS. 7-10)
3. GOD’S LOVE AND OUR LOVE (VS. 11-14)
4. ABIDING IN LOVE (VS. 15-19)

Setting of the Lesson:
Time: It is the tradition that John died in the time of the Emperor Trajan, about A.D. 98. It is likely that his first Epistle was written not long before that year.
Place: In that case, it was probably written at Ephesus, where John was a leader in the church.

1. INTRODUCTION

John’s First Epistle
"It is almost certain that this Epistle was written by the author of the Fourth Gospel, the same peculiar style and special ideas appearing most conspicuously in both. Though the author nowhere designates himself an apostle, he claims to be eyewitness of the Gospel events and a personal disciple of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-3); and he writes with authority and fatherly affection for his readers. Very early testimony connects the work with John the son of Zebedee, and there is no ancient witness for any other authorship. The Epistle was known to Polycarp and Papias. Irenaeus is the first to cite it by name. It is in the Muratorian Fragment. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian referred it to John. We have here some of the most precious teaching of the New Testament, e.g., concerning the love of God, brotherly love, Christ's propitiation for sin, eternal life. 1 John was written in time of peace, as it contains no allusion to persecution. Avoiding the Domitian persecution, we must assign it either to an earlier period, or more probably to the time after that persecution was over. It gives no hint of any locality where it was written. Probably it came from Ephesus, since John lived there." (Adeney)

“The letter is not written to those at a distance, but, rather, to those who were living in the writer’s own location. John was so old that all in the church, fathers and sons alike, seemed to him to be little children. To them all, he wrote these words of instruction and advice. They were the final formulation of his faith. They were his seal set upon the testimony of his life teaching. They summarized all he had said. These younger generations might read these words and recall his voice as they had heard him utter them. They might read these words and know the highest reach of apostolic revelation. This little book would be the last will and testament of the last of the apostles to the Christian church. It would appeal to the Christians of all generations as directly and as intimately as to those of John’s own day.” (Hayes)

“This epistle is a discourse upon the principles of Christianity, in doctrine and practice. The design appears to be, to refute and guard against erroneous and unholy tenets, principles, and practices, especially such as would lower the Godhead of Christ, and the reality and power of his sufferings and death, as an atoning sacrifice; and against the assertion that believers being saved by grace, are not required to obey the commandments. This epistle also stirs up all who profess to know God, to have communion with him, and to believe in him, and that they walk in holiness, not in sin, showing that a mere outward profession is nothing, without the evidence of a holy life and conduct. It also helps forward and excites real Christians to communion with God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to constancy in the true faith, and to purity of life.” (Henry)

The beautiful prologue in 1 John 1:1-4, like the one in John’s Gospel, has a profound dimension and embryonically states the theme as: “God manifested in Jesus Christ, that man may have fellowship with the Father through the Son.” The remaining six verses are part of a complicated paragraph running through 1 John 2:28, beginning with “God is light” (1 John 1:5), the first of three epic statements about God which are usually considered as roughly marking the three major divisions of 1 John. The other two are: “God is righteous” (1 John 2:29) and the third portion, of which our lesson is a part, treats the still more exalted theme, “God is love.” These are John’s basic subjects in all his writings.

2. GOD’S LOVE AND GOD’S SON

4:7 … “Beloved.” In his Against Heresies, Irenaeus twice in the same section represents John as residing in Ephesus during the latter days of his life. In the first place he calls him “the disciple of the Lord,” and in the second he refers to him in the following way: “Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by Paul, and having John remaining among them permanently until the time of Trajan, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.”

“It seems as if John had taken over, not only the Church of Ephesus, but also Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphis, and Laodicea (Rev. 2 and 3). John would visit the neighboring districts of the Gentiles, appoint overseers, and organize new Churches. What is more natural than to suppose that the First Epistle is directed to these believers?” (Thiessen)

In the portions of the letter treating the subject of love he commonly addresses them as “beloved.”

4:7 … “Let us love one another.” John has been warning his people against the spirit of antichrist, which is the very opposite of the spirit of love, being the spirit of dissension and hatred. They are to show to one another¹ the spirit of love.

“In John’s extreme old age, with every faculty becoming numb, when he could no longer walk to the place of Christian assembly, he caused himself to be borne thither, that he might address the brethren; and this was his whole address: ‘Little children, love one another.’ The disciples and brethren, hearing nothing but this from him, asked him why he always spoke the same thing to them, and nothing else; to which he replied that it was the command of the Lord, and if this only were done, enough was done. The story is not unworthy the name of Him who reported the charge of Jesus, ‘As I have taught you, that ye also love one another.’” (Culross)

4:7 … “For love is of God.” True love has its source in God and nowhere else, though many seek to find it elsewhere. “This paragraph is a worthy complement to the matchless ‘hymns of love’ sung by Paul in the thirteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, for it gives to the virtue which Paul praises its mighty motive, and finds it’s birth in the being of God.” (Erdman)

4:7 … “And every one that loveth.” “Is in the habit of loving; has love for the guiding principle and ruling force of his life.” (Bennett)

4:7 … Is begotten of God.” Is a child of God, as far as he has love in his soul. “Of ‘every one that loveth’ is this true, whether he be unbeliever or Christian: there is no limitation. If a Socrates or an Aurelius loves his fellow-man, it is by the grace of God that he does so.” (Plummer)

In his Commentary on 1 John, Coffman states: “Here, of course, is another test, i.e., the love of ‘one another,’ such love being of God himself. One stands in amazement at a comment on this like that of Russell: ‘The word ‘everyone’ here includes all the human beings in whose nature love is or ever has been, whether they ever heard of God or Christ or not.’ Such a comment is typical of much of the nonsense that has been written on this section of John’s letter. ‘Love one another’ is neither sexual love (eros) nor animal affection (fileo), but Christian love (agape). This is a love known only ‘in Christ,’ being the gift of God Himself, having no connection whatever with mere humanism. John’s repeated stress of such Christian love in this epistle might have been due to the fact, as supposed by Macknight, that ‘some of the Jewish converts, retaining their ancient prejudices, still considered it their duty to hate the heathen,’ even those who had accepted Christianity.”

4:7 … “And knoweth God.” We can know God through being like Him, even as we can know an earthly friend through possessing the same qualities. And there is no other way.

4:8 … “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” This is the opposite of the preceding maxim, but it is more than a mere opposite, it is a most earnest warning. If we have not love in our life, we may be sure that we have not God in it.

Love is the plummet and level by which the walls of our spiritual house are judged. Love is yardstick by which our deeds as Christians in relation to other Christians are measured. It is the warp and woof in the garment of our righteousness. Some years ago I observed in Florida, in the packing houses where the oranges were prepared for shipment that they had a long trough with holes of varying sizes cut in its bottom. This trough was elevated at an incline sufficiently to permit the oranges to run down its slope. As they ran down the trough, they dropped through the holes, each separated from its fellows, according to its size and value. I have conceived of life as a trough by which our deeds are measured, and the hole sizing them is the love we give our fellow. Our deeds are small or large or indifferent as measured by the love they embody.” (Massee)

“God is love”
This beautiful and encouraging statement about the Father is surely one of the grandest in all Scripture. Wesley said, “Love is God’s reigning attribute that sheds an amiable glory upon all of his other perfections.” Barclay called this, “probably the single greatest statement about God in the whole Bible. . . . It is amazing how many doors that single statement unlocks and how many questions it answers.” However, Wilder cautioned that, “God’s nature is not exhausted by the quality of love.” God is light (1 John 1:5), and Spirit (John 4:24), and (considering the oneness of the Father with the Son) He is life, and Truth (John 14:6). Also, “Our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:29)

We make a mistake by failing to recognize that no single word is capable of describing the ineffable God, leading to a gross perversion of this wonderful text. Some laud this verse, as if it said, “Love is God; and here is a God we can all handle; bring on the love!” Too many of us who read these precious words of John do not seem to be aware of the holy and self-sacrificing love John wrote about. God's love for mankind and His glorious attribute of love do not alter or negate the revelation that “the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18), nor the revelation concerning God that He “will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31) – there is no conflict between John and Paul on this point. John’s description of the final judgment in Revelation 6:15-17 is a soul-shaking view of the wrath of God in judgment; just as much so as any in the whole Bible. A proper view of God’s love is one that is big enough to take in His final judgment and overthrow of wickedness, understanding that, in itself, it is a mark of eternal love.

Such thoughts should not detract from the unique glory of this text. No one in the whole world ever knew that God is love until it was revealed from heaven and written in the New Testament. As Ironside wrote, “It is here, and nowhere else; it is not found in all the literature of mankind.”

4:9 … “Herein was the love of God manifested in us.” “The love of God” here means God’s love of men, not men’s love of God. John has just written about one sphere of manifestation of Divine love: our love of one another. Now he writes of a second sphere in which love is manifested, the sphere greatest of all: God’s love shown in His Son. This also is manifested through humanity. “In our case” rather than “in us” is the true meaning – the manifestation spoken of is God sending His Son to die for the sins of the whole world. In other words, it is not something “in us” but “in our case,” or on our behalf.

4:9 … “That God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world [there is only one Christ], that we might live through him.” The Christian’s spiritual life is the result of the incarnation – the continuation of Christ’s life. If Christ had not come into the world to show us the Father and to die for our sins, we would have died in our sins, never entering into eternal life.

“His only begotten Son”
“This is a better rendition than that of making it read merely ‘only Son,’ because it is admitted by all scholars that ‘uniqueness’ is an essential quality of meaning in this word” (Roberts). “Only Son” would therefore mean that God has no other sons; yet all Christians are “sons of God.” “Only begotten” conveys that essential meaning of “uniqueness,” exactly in the sense of the word (monogenes) as translated in Heb. 11:17 where Isaac is called Abraham’s “only begotten son,” there being a uniqueness in Isaac’s sonship not found in Abraham’s many other sons. Therefore the translation “only begotten Son” is appropriate.

Coffman points out further, that the same word (monogenes) was used of a man’s son (Luke 9:38), of Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:42), and of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:12). Roberts also said, “It could hardly mean only begotten in that case (Luke 7:12), since begetting is a function of the male rather khan the female,” apparently overlooking the fact that nothing is said about the widow having done the begetting. Her son was the “only begotten” of whoever begot him, just as Jesus was Mary’s son, despite having been the “only begotten of the Father.” Coffman and others agree that this is a disputed translation; but we affirm appreciation and preference for the one that has come down through the ages. We simply do not believe that the modern scholars have any more information regarding this than did the translators of KJV and ASV, nor that the recent ones are any more competent.

4:10 … “Herein is love [in what follows], not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” Our love, at best, is imperfect, but God’s is perfect. Our love is secondary, flowing from God’s love; but God’s is primary, original, the fount of love. Our love is tainted with self-seeking, but God’s love is pure self-giving.

“Herein is love”
This carries the thought, “notice just what love actually is.” John defined it as being not merely a sentimental fondness for the human race, but a gracious, unselfish and unmerited act of divine giving of His “only begotten Son” to save people from eternal death. David Smith said: “The love which proves us children of God is not native to our hearts. It is inspired by the amazing love of God manifested in the Incarnation, the infinite Sacrifice of His Son's life and death.”

4:10 … “And sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” “Propitiation” means “atoning sacrifice,” with the thought that by means of it the wrath of the Eternal Judge is removed and He becomes gracious to the sinner, pardoning all guilt. The heart of Christian theology is in this word “propitiation.”² Herein is God’s love to man, not that it is mere affection, however deep and true, but that it is purifying affection, restorative affection, affection that, if accepted, renders the sinner one with God through all eternity. What truth can be greater than this, more vitalizing, more blessed?

3. GOD’S LOVE AND OUR LOVE

After this moving consideration of the wonderful love God in Christ has shown to men, John passes to the statement of the result that love should produce in those receiving it.

4:11 … “Beloved [once more the affectionate address, so appropriate to the apostle’s theme], if God so loved us.” Since God has so greatly loved us. Compare the use of “if” in the sense of “since” by Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 28:20), and especially by our Lord Himself at the Last Supper (John 13:14).

4:11 … “We also ought to love one another.” An ordinary writer would give us his conclusion, “then we also ought to love God.” But this is not the result to which God is aiming. Of course, God wants our love, and of course we shall return His love as soon as we realize it; but to look no farther than that would be for God to imitate our human self-seeking. He loves us that we may pass His love on to other men, and thus His love shall be magnified, and made to bear ever more and more fruit in the earth. What an insight John had into the heart of the Infinite Lover. In this verse, Christians’ loving each other is motivated by the overwhelming majesty of the love of God Himself. “One another” here does not mean “everybody on earth.” Though the love of every Christian certainly reaches out to the ends of the world, it is not reflected in the intensity commanded here.

4:12 … “No man hath beheld God at any time.” To be sure, John reported to us in his Gospel (14:9) that whoever had seen Christ had seen the Father; but Christ was God incarnate in man, God’s glory so veiled by the flesh that Christ Himself said, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Of the Infinite Being in His full splendor it is true that “no man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18); He is the One “dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Blaney was probably correct in seeing this as a warning to Christians against “trying to know God in any other way than the one he is describing.” Some have sought, outside of Christianity, to know more about God, hoping for a clearer perception; but this apostolic warning declares all such attempts to be futile. However, Morris pointed out that “John is not here discounting the visions of God reported in the Old Testament, but meaning that those visions were partial and incomplete. It is in Christ that we see God (John 14:9).”

4:12 … “If we love one another.” Primary meaning: love of the brethren. The humanistic philosophy that reads this “love of all mankind” is an inadequate conception. Plummer wrote, “Our love toward God is perfected and brought to maturity by the exercise of love towards our brethren in him (Christ).” Such things as astrology, spiritism, witchcraft and Satanism are basically ways of finding a so-called “reality” apart from Biblical revelation. John’s injunction states unequivocally that there is nothing out there which might enlighten or bless people. The true revelation – “the way, the truth, and the life” has already been given.

4:12 … “God abideth in us.” Why make excursions into deserts, dark rooms, or explore the mysteries of esoteric cults, or plunge into the abyss through drugs or alcohol when God Himself will take up residence in the soul of one who, through loving, will open up room for Him who is love.

4:12 … “His love is perfected in us.” “Though we may not see God with these outward eyes, yet if we thus love, God is in us as really as if we saw Him. He is where His love is, for love, as a divine principle, is part of Himself” (Sawtelle). Thus through love not only do we see God, but others come to see Him through our love. The only Bible we can really get others to read is the one written in our own conduct, disposition, and character. People must see God’s love in us. When one goes to Paris to begin mission work, he may know only a few words of French. But even though he might learn to say, “God loves you, and I love you,” his message will not be listened to if others cannot see the love of Christ in the preacher. In other words, the love of God is interpreted to others through us (Miller).

4:13 … “Hereby we know that we abide in him and he is us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” “John does not say, ‘He has given us His Spirit,’ but ‘of His Spirit.’ It is impossible for us to receive more than a portion; the fullness of the Spirit is possessed by Christ alone” (The Pulpit Commentary). “The argument is that god would not have granted us this priceless gift if He were not in intimate relation with us and had not a steadfast purpose of grace toward us.” (Smith)

In 1 John 4:12-16, the indwelling God is mentioned three times, and the reciprocal nature of it (He in us, we in Him) is stressed twice. The evidence of God’s indwelling is differently stated as follows: 1 John 4:13 – He hath given us his Spirit; 1 John 4:15 – Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God; and 1 John 4:16 – He that dwelleth in love.

“Because he hath given us of his Spirit”

It should be carefully noted that the Christian’s possession of the Spirit of God is an “evidence of,” not an “antecedent cause” of God’s indwelling our hearts. Also, as Coffman points out, “it is a mistake to suppose that there is even any microscopic difference between God’s indwelling and the Spirit’s indwelling.” There are eight different New Testament designations of that inner presence which differentiates Christians from the world, as set forth in Paul’s writings; and John in this letter added to that list the fact that God’s love abides in Christians,³ and Christians abide in God’s love. This verse is virtually a repetition of 1 John 3:24.

As we have seen, John follows no classical outline in his writing. Roberts offers another thought on 1 John, that when used in a little wider sense, is applicable to all the New Testament books. He wrote: “John's thought pattern continues to retrace ideas and to pick them up like an orchestra does the strains of a melody in order to develop them more fully.”

4:14 … “And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” “We have seen with adorning wonder; the impression of the sight abides with us, and bears witness; that the Father hath sent the Son as the Savior of the world – one of the numerous loops that bind the Epistle to the Gospel. It is the phrase of the Samaritans, who have been convinced, not only by the woman’s witness, but by their own hearing, in John’s Gospel (4:42). The language here is certainly such as would be inappropriate in any but an eyewitness.” (Alexander)

Reference to the Father hath sent the Son reduces the entire Bible story, from Genesis to Revelation, to one line.

4. ABIDING IN LOVE

“Abide” is a word constantly reappearing in John’s writings. He perceived clearly, taught by His Lord, that Christian graces are of little value if they are temporary. What counts in character and achievement must be permanent. “Abide in me, and I in you,” said the Master. Read His last discourse in the upper room (John 14–17), and see how often this thought recurs.

4:15 … “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God.” The false prophets about who John just been writing (1 John 4:1-3) did not so confess; they had the spirit of the antichrist. The deity of Jesus Christ is a foundation doctrine of Christianity, reaching further, deeper, and higher than any other Bible Truth. Until it becomes a vital part of life, one cannot really know what Christianity is and does.

Coffman points out that there are two possible meanings of John’s words here, and both of them may be correct: First, “John refers to the Christian’s confession of faith in Christ, which is, of course, a prominent part of conversion. If this is what was in the apostle’s mind, the meaning of it is almost identical with Peter’s words on Pentecost (Acts 2:38f), Peter’s ‘gift of the Holy Spirit’ meaning exactly the same thing in that passage that John meant by ‘God abideth in him’ here. Obviously, there is no difference in these.” Second, “If, as Roberts thought, John was speaking of a time in the lives of Christians long after their conversion, then he may be ‘saying that if this confession can be sincerely repeated by the believer, that God abides in him, and he in God.’”

In either of the above views, it is conversion itself, and primary obedience of the Gospel, to which this verse undoubtedly refers. This fairly sudden mention by John of initial Christian obedience, after all he has been saying and continues to say about “love,” reminds us that: “With John, love always includes obedience to all God’s commandments; and where obedience is not manifested, love is not. Even with God, love was not mere sympathy, but sending his Son to be the propitiation.” (Hurte)

4:15 … “God abideth in him, and he in God.” Herein is the permanent dwelling with God, to see and know God in Jesus Christ. This is because God has chosen to manifest Himself in Christ, the Savior is God’s mode of approach to men, and if we wish to find God we must seek Him where He is. Note the word “whosoever” – it is all-inclusive. Sinclair points out that “the noble width of this declaration is most remarkable, in opposition to human inventions of narrow and sectarian communions.”

4:16 … “And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us.” Or, “in our case,” as the margin gives it. Knowledge and belief are the two elements in faith. Ours is to be an intelligent religion, and we are always to be able to give a reason for our hope in Christ (1 Pet. 3:15). Regarding the phrase, “Know and have believed the love which God hath in us,” Morris declared, “Believing and knowing the love is certainly a very unusual expression.” It is more than likely John’s way of referring to us knowing and believing the whole thesis and system of Christianity, which can easily be summed up as “knowing and believing the love of God.” What a beautiful way to express it. “This was the blessing, this was the privilege. The infinite misery of the denying world was that it did not know and believe the love that God had to it; that it believed Him to have no love in it; that it refused all communion with love.” (Maurice)

4:16 … “God is love.” Again the great assertion of v. 8: love is the essence of God; love is the fullness of God; love is the being and action of God; know love you know Him.

4:16 … “And he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.” A mutual and reciprocal indwelling, as the wave abides in the ocean and the ocean in the wave.

“God’s love is like His sunlight, diffused throughout the heaven, catching the heights of the hills and crowning them with ruddy gold and clothing them in purple. So it seems to us an easy and a natural thing for God to love some people; outstanding men and women whose goodness might make them dear to Him. But this is not all that the sun does. It climbs higher that it may creep lower – down the hillsides further and further, until it lifts the mists of the valley and covers the meadows with its glory, and kisses the daisy and fills its cup with gold and puts energy and strength into its very heart. God loves the good, the true, the pure, but His love rises higher that it may come down lower; and He loves me – me. I can wrap this love of His about me and claim it all as my own.” (Pearse)

4:17 … “Herein is love made perfect with us.” “Herein,” that is, by God’s dwelling with us in love. This loving communion of man with God develops and completes the quality of man’s love, making it more and more like God’s blessed love – a most inspiring and hopeful promise.

4:17 …”That we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” “The confidence which we shall have in that day, and which we have even now by anticipation of that day, is the perfection of our love.” (Alford)

“Have boldness”
“One grand dividend received from a love-oriented and love-motivated life is a dramatic diminution of fear, both with reference to earthly fears and those regarding the ultimate summons of all people to the judgment of God.” (Coffman)

“In the day of judgment”
Like the Lord Jesus, John spoke of only one judgment. There are literally dozens of places in which the New Testament makes reference to the final judgment; and each time, the reference is in the singular: “the day of judgment.”

4:17 … “Because as he is, even so are we in this world.” “Not absolutely, but according to our measure, as men in this world” (Vincent). The more like Christ we become, the less fear we shall have in approaching the final tribunal where Christ Himself is to be our Judge; and the way to become like Christ is to love.

“As he is, even so are we”
It is Christ whom Christians resemble, and therefore He is the One referred to here. Since all Christians are in the business of being like Christ, to the extent of denying self and seeking total identity with Him “in Christ” and “as Christ.” Coffman pointed out that “to the extent that this is achieved, through having love like him, it becomes also a pledge of our likeness to him in glory, the same being the firm ground of overcoming fear.”

4:18 … “there is no fear in love.” “Fear, which is essentially self-centered, has no place in love, which in its perfection involves complete self-surrender. The two cannot exist side by side. The presence of fear is a sign that love is not yet perfect.” (Brooke)

4:18 … “But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment.” Fear is punishment in itself and looks forward to punishment in the future; but we fear no punishment from those that we love and who love us. Fear is the deadliest foe of human peace. It has been well said that all unchristian religions are founded on fear, are modes of appeasing the wrath of angry gods and demons. Christianity alone is happily based on the confidence of love.

One after another, John presents “all but impossible levels of Christian attainment.” (Wilder):

a. The love of all people with a self-sacrificing love like that of Christ;

b. The living of a life free from every sin;

c. Confidence in the hour of the final judgment when people are pleading for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them; and

d. The banishment of all fear. Notice the last phrase in this verse stated below: “made perfect in love.” Is this not the total God-like perfection enjoined by Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:48? It is not the same thing exhibited by James, as God’s basic requirement of all who would be saved? One may say, “That is impossible for human beings.” Yes, it certainly is; except in the manner revealed in Christ. To those who are “in Christ,” abiding in Him, loving Him, following Him, obeying Him to the fullest extent of human ability – shall be given the blessings in view here. Therefore, only “in Christ” may we attain the unattainable.

4:18 … And he that feareth is not made perfect in love.” Therefore, we are to look upon any worry or anxiety or dread as a warning: it demonstrates a lack of love for God, a serious defect in our religious life. To be sure, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10); but it is only the beginning: assured peace based on the love of the Lord is the end of wisdom. Therefore, Paul wrote to the Christians of Rome, “Ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15)

4:19 … “We love, because he first loved us.” Herein is the humility of Christian love. Let no man have confidence in his own love to God or man, for it is derived and partial; but let him have all confidence in God’s love, which is the perfect source of our imperfect human love. “Ye did not choose me,” said Christ to His closest friends and apostles, including John himself, “but I chose you.” (John 15:16)

“In the words of this verse is the romance (if we may dare to call it so) of the Divine love-tale. Under its influence the face once hard and narrow often becomes radiant and softened; it smiles, or is tearful, in the light of the love of His face who first loved. It is this principle of John which is ever at work in Christian lands. In hospitals it tells us that Christ is ever passing down the wards; that He will have no stinted service; that He must have more for His sick, more devotion, a gentler touch, a finer sympathy; that where His hand has broken and blessed, every particle is a sacred thing, and must be treated reverently.” (Alexander)

“To know that God loves, and to love again – there is a little pocket encyclopedia in two volumes, which contains the melted-down essence of all theology and all morality. . . . So, Augustine’s paradox, rightly understood, is a magnificent truth, ‘Love! and do what you will.’ For then you will be sure to will what God wills, and you ought.” (Maclaren)

“We may say of the full-orbed moon that she shines in soft beauty because she reelects the glory of the far-absent sun. But of the sun we can only say that it shines because it shines. We know of no external sources from which it draws its glory. So it is with the great heart of God. He loves, because He loves – “He first loved us.” (Burroughs)

Christ was not crucified in order to persuade God to love people, but because God already loved mankind. God’s love preceding redemption, and existed in His heart even before the world was. One great purpose of the cross was the persuading of people to receive the salvation God so willingly gave. Another important truth is that, “Our love (whether of God or man) is our plain duty, since God first loved us” (Roberts). Coffman pointed out that “the very fact of God’s loving sinful and fallen humanity provides a powerful incentive for all perceptive souls to do likewise.” Why does God love us, even in our sinful state? Because we have been designed and created in the image of the Father; and through God’s provident mercy, all of the moral and eternal consequences of our sins are potentially removable, through the means God has revealed. Also, the disaster which fell upon humanity was actually brought upon us by the seduction and skillful cunning of our inveterate enemy, Satan. God pitied us because we were so heartlessly betrayed and ruined by the sadistic moral destruction of Adam and Eve’s innocence in Eden; and pity is never very far from love. Should not similar considerations lead us toward loving others? Who like us are victims of sin, yet potential heirs of eternal glory because of the blood of Christ? “Such love flows from the nature of the lover, and not from the worthiness of the one loved” (Morris). Therefore, since the great redemptive purpose of God in Christ is to make His children like Himself, not to love negates our own redemption. “After God’s love in giving his Son for us, it would be monstrous not to love.” (Plummer)

Footnotes:
¹ See One Another in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
² For more on propitiation, see God’s Salvation in Contents section of StudyJesus.com. Coffman provides additional considerations: “Although it is true that expiation is a synonym of propitiation, the latter meaning is a little different. This word appears frequently in the Septuagint (LXX). However, in the whole New Testament it is found only here and in 1 John 2:2. The objection to ‘propitiation’ is purely ‘theological.’ It is said to conjure up ideas of vengeful and vindictive pagan deities who had to be ‘appeased’ by offerings and bribes, ideas which, of course, are foreign to any true ideas of God. Nevertheless, despite the scholars' support of their preference with ‘linguistic arguments,’ there is a sense in which the anger and wrath of Almighty God were indeed turned away by the sufferings of Christ. The Greek word to be translated by one of these words (propitiation, or expiation) is [hilasmos], the primary meaning being ‘the removal of wrath.’ It is this element of the meaning which some would like to get rid of. However, there is a divine wrath against every form of sin (Rom. 1:18), and God’s forgiveness is not merely the ignoring of this wrath. ‘Expiation’ carries the meaning that Christ’s blood indeed procured for people the forgiveness of sins, but it leaves out the connection with God’s wrath. Full agreement here is felt with Stott, Morris, and others who preferred ‘propitiation.’ There are implications in the atonement wrought by the death of Christ that are completely beyond any total understanding by finite intelligence. ‘Propitiation’ means the ‘removal of wrath,’ and ‘expiation’ means the ‘removal of guilt’; but in view of the fact of God’s wrath being a reality mentioned countless times in the New Testament, it would appear to be far better to retain the word that includes ‘removal of wrath’ in its meaning. The objection that ‘propitiation’ leaves out of view the love of God is not well taken. ‘So far from finding any kind of contrast between love and propitiation, the apostle can convey no idea of love to anyone, except by pointing to the propitiation’ (James Denney, The Death of Christ)”
³ For more information on how to become a Christian, see God’s Salvation in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.

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