Indelible Mark of a True Child of God Lesson 18
And the pinnacle of all revelations
Anyone who does not love does not know God,
becauseGod is love.
Sowe have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, andwhoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:8, 16
“For although there is nothing in the world deserving of God’s favor,
He nevertheless shows He is favorable to the whole world when He calls all without exception to the faith of Christ, which is indeed an entry into life.”
John Calvin
Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heaven above;
Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love.
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care;
For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere.”
Charles Miles
Introduction: Which test is most important? (without minimizing the other two)
Which does John sense is most lacking?
Upon which does he place the most emphasis?
“Here the epistle rises to the summit of all revelation.”
Robert Law
I. An Exhortation to Love One Another 4:7-12
II. How Love and Sound Doctrine Relate 4:13-16
III. How Mature Love is Both Confident and Active 4:17-21
I. An Exhortation to Love One Another 1 John 4:7-12
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this 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 also ought to love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
Love each other repeated 3 X’s 4:7 as an exhortation
4:11 as a statement of duty
4:12 as a hypothesis
A. Reason #1 Love is the very nature of God
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1. Love comes from God – He is the source of all love –
The one who loves must be born of Him (John 1:13; 3:5)
2. God is love
John 4:24 God is Spirit
1 John 1:5 God is light
Heb 12:29 our God is a consuming fire
God doesn’t condone or ignore sin. He exposes it because he is light
He destroys it because he is a consuming fire
He saves the sinner because he is love
3. God’s love is Trinitarian
a. The link is to the Father 4:7 love is of God
b. The link is to The Son 4:9 God has sent His only begotten Son into the world
c. The link is to the Holy Spirit 4:12 God abides in us
“Up to this point love has been seen mostly as a duty binding upon believers. Now it is seen for what it most truly is, a driving disposition arising out of the devine nature that by God’s grace is now also within the Christian.” James Boice
B. Reason #2 God’s Gift to Us in Christ
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this 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 also ought to love one another.
1. God gave his Son
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world
2 Cor 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
Not greater gift can be conceived because no greater gift is possible.
2. God gave his Son to die
10a In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atoning sacrifice)
3. God gave his Son to die for sinners
10b to be the propitiation for our sins.
Rom 8:32, 38-39
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. The duty applied to John as well as us
4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
C. Reason #3 God’s Present and Continuous Action in Love
4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us,
and His love has been perfected in us
Question: How can people who do not know God see him in our world?
Answer: When we who do know him, love.
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
1 John 3:24 And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
“The love of God displayed in his people is the strongest apologetic that God has in the world. When his love is planted in their hearts, and he himself thus dwells within them, his love is “perfected” in the complementary response which it finds in them, towards him and towards their fellows. It is in this way that they are not only holy and merciful as he is holy and merciful, but, as enjoined by their Lord in the Matthaean version of the Sermon on the Mount, “perfect” as their “heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), and all through that perfection of love poured out for them in the sacrifice of the cross.”
F.F. Bruce
Summary of Part I: Three reasons Christians are to love
1. God is love and we are of God
2. God loved us in Christ and revealed his love for us in Christ’s death
3. God is at work in us by his Spirit to mature that love
II. How Love Relates to Sound Doctrine 1 John 4:13-16
1 John 4:13-16
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
John gives us two concepts in 4:12: (1) God lives in us
(2) God’s love is made complete in us
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
He now elaborates on each (1) in 4:13 God lives in us
(2) in 4:14-16 God’s love is made complete in us
A. We know that we dwell in God and He in us because of the Spirit whom He has given
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
Rom 8:9 Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
B. We know we have the Spirit because we believe in Christ and love each other
1. 1st evidence
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
2. 2nd evidence
16b he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
3 Descriptions:
1. 4:13 “we live in him and he in us” because he has given us his Spirit
2. 4:15 “God lives in him and he in God” because he acknowledges Jesus as divine Son
3. 4:16 “whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him” because God is love
The sequence of thought”
We know we live in God and he in us because he has given us his Spirit
We know he has given us his Spirit because we believe in Jesus (Doctrinal) and love each other (Social)
“The closely knit statement therefore places the reality of the Christian experience of God beyond question, guarding against the dangers of subjectivism on the one hand, and of mere traditionalism on the other; placing equal and co-ordinate stress on love to God, which is the heart of religion, and love to man, which is the foundation of morality, without allowing religion to sink to the level of mere moralism, or morality to be dissolved in mysticism. The passage is the high-water mark of the thought of the epistle.”
C.H. Dodd
III. How Mature Love is Both Confident before God 1 John 4:17-21
and Active toward People
A. Confidence before God in View of Judgment
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: 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 casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1. Boldness (Confidence) in prayer 3:21; 5:14
2. Boldness (Confidence) at judgment 2:28; 4:17
parrhesia , from pas, "all," rhesis, "speech" , denotes
(a), primarily, "freedom of speech, unreservedness of utterance,"; or "to speak without ambiguity, plainly,"
(b) "the absence of fear in speaking boldly; hence, confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, without any connection necessarily with speech";
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
B. Love for each other
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
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?
21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
A. John reverses the order of the natural inclination answer
B. The love that drives out fear drives out hatred also
“It is a false boast when anyone says that he loves God but neglects His image which is before his eyes.”
John Calvin
“We are not to think of love only as constituting God’s eternal being and as historically manifested in the sending of his Son into the world. For God who is love and has loved still loves, and today his love is seen in and through our love.”
John Stott
TNBS Questions Preparation for lesson 19
Read: 1 John 5, with special attention to verses 1 – 5. In answering the questions, use only the Biblical texts.
We should by now be familiar with the 3 tests that John applies to Christians:
1. Pick out phrases in the first 5 verses that applies to each of the 3 tests.
Doctrinal ______
Moral ______
Social ______
2. What idea in verses 1 and 4 tie all 3 together? Why would this be so?
______
3. From verse 1, which comes first, believing, or being born of God. Why would this be important?
______
4. Read John 1:12-13; James 1:18 Whose initiative does birth require? By what means is it accomplished?
______
5. When a child is born, what can we expect of the relationship between his attributes and character and those of his parents? How would this relate to us spiritually?
______
6. Paraphrase verse 2 assuming that “By this we know” refers to what comes immediately after the phrase.
______
7. Paraphrase verse 2 assuming that “By this we know” refers to what has just come before the phrase.
Which of the 2 interpretation is correct? Why?
______
______
8. Read 1 John 5:3; Matt 23:4; Luke 11:46; Matt 11:30 How are Jesus’ commands lighter than others?
______
9. Read 5:1 & 5 Our text (1-5) begins and ends with a reference to the same test with the other 2 tests referenced in the middle. Why would that be? What do you think that implies?
______
10. What are the 3 principles of victory given in 5:4-5? ______
______
1