06.08.14.god.loving.commentary.1.john.4

John R. Wible, Editor. Sources: Southern Baptist Uniform Sunday School Lesson and Commentary, Summer, 2014; Southern Bap-
tist Advanced Bible Study and Southern Baptist Biblical Illustrator, selected articles; Herschel Hobbs Commentary; Family Bible
Study, and William Barclay, Daily Bible Studies Series, except where noted. Page 1
June 8, 2014 Session 2—God Is Loving - Commentary
The Point: God’s love empowers me to love.
The Bible Meets Life: For many people, love means whatever they want it to mean. They can express a
deep and profound love for someone or something, but later that love has disappeared. Too often, our exam-
ples of love disappoint or fail us. We see in God a completely different example of love. He is the very em-
bodiment of love because He is love. The Bible shows us that we can know and experience that love through
Jesus Christ.
The Passage: 1 John 4:7-12
The Setting: The apostle John wrote this letter to encourage believers, to lead them to avoid sin and false
teaching, and to help them know they have eternal life. The topic of love permeates 1 John, leading us to fo-
cus on God’s love and our need to love each other. One of the evidences that we have a relationship with
God is the presence and demonstration of His love in our lives.
Dr. Scofield tells us:
First John is a family letter from the Father to His "little children" who are in the world. With the
possible exception of the Song of Solomon, it is the most intimate of the inspired writings. The world
is viewed as without. The sin of a believer is treated as a child's offence against his Father, and is
dealt with as a family matter (1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:1). The moral government of the universe is not in
question. The child's sin as an offence against the law had been met in the Cross, and "Jesus Christ
the righteous" is now his "Advocate with the Father." John's Gospel leads across the threshold of the
Father's house; his first Epistle makes us at home there. A tender word is used for "children," teknia,
"born ones," or "bairns.1
" Paul is occupied with our public position as sons; John with our nearness
as born-ones of the Father.2
1 John 4:7-8
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has
been born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1
As the Scots would say.
2
Scofield, C. I. Scofield Reference Notes on 1 John overview."Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition).
http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/view.cgi?bk=61&ch=0 . 1917.

Love is the dominant theme of these verses. John addressed his readers as Dear Friends, a render-
ing of the Greek agapetoi, meaning “loved ones.” John referred to his readers six times using this term of
endearment.
In this specific context, John was speaking of the love that characterized the relationships between fol-
lowers of Jesus. John touched on this subject when writing his Gospel as he reflected on Jesus’ “new
command” (John 13:34-35). In the Gospel, the imperative to love was not the new element. The Law of
Moses commanded love of neighbor centuries before Jesus spoke with His disciples (Lev. 19:18). The
newness of Jesus’ command was in how they were to love—“just as I have loved you” (John 13:34b).
Thus, every aspect of Jesus’ entire story became a worthy example to the disciples for defining true
love. His self-emptying to descend to earth to become a man and servant, His determination to speak the
truth even in the face of bitter opposition, His acceptance of people from the lowest social orders, His de-
sire to heal the sick, and His commitment to teach His disciples, are all examples of what love is and does.
Jesus’ example of love in action included forgiving the very people who worked to have Him crucified
and mocked Him as He was dying on the cross (Luke 23:34).
As John penned the letter we know as 1 John, he instructed his readers, let us love one another. The
verb renders the Greek agapomen, directly related to his greeting agapetoi. In the Greek text the words
stand side-by-side, Agapetoi, agapomen, literally “Loved ones, let us love.” The objects of this love are
one another, specifically referring to brothers and sisters in Christ in this context, fellow members of the
community of faith.
John provided two specific reasons for commanding the faith community to love one another. First, he
reminded them, love is from God. The word love is the Greek noun agape. From God identifies the source.
Since God Himself is eternal and holy (see Session 1, “God Is Holy”), the love He provides for His people
is eternal and holy also. God’s love is not the crude, self-serving, exploitative emotion to which many
people get addicted. God’s love is selfless, others-serving, and involves far more than the emotions.
The second reason John commanded members of the faith community to love one another, was because
everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The verb loves renders the Greek participle
agapon, a form stressing continuous action, in this case love.
Love characterizes those who have been born of God. John here referred to the spiritual birth that oc-
curs whenever someone trusts Jesus as Savior by believing on His name (John 1:12-13). Of God is the
same in the Greek text as from God used of love. In other words, God is both the Source of love and the
Source of spiritual or second birth. Since both love and spiritual birth have a common source, namely
God, love defines spiritual birth and spiritual birth demonstrates love. John’s assessment, that this type of
loving person knows God, served as an assurance to faithful believers, a warning to false believers, and an
invitation to non-believers.

John examined the reverse side of the issue also. Anyone who does not love does not know God. The
effect of placing side-by-side the positive statement of 4:7 with its negative counterpart in 4:8 served to
emphasize John’s point. Love, agape, is the defining characteristic of believers.
To know God means to experience Him in a close and cherished way. Know renders a Greek verb car-
rying the ideas of understanding, acknowledging, and interrelating with another person. In view in this
context is a genuine relationship between God and people through which God provides all that people
need. People offer themselves to God in humble and obedient service. Specifically, God’s love, agape, is
directed through believers to other people in the form of loving actions.
The one who allows God to channel His love through him to others does so because he knows God, and
therefore trusts Him. The one who does not allow God to direct His love through him to minister to other
people does not know God or even understand who He is. The final assertion of 4:8 provides the reason
John’s statements are true: God is love. This simple statement provides the title for this session; much
more, it provides a glimpse of God’s heart.
What about us? Do we embrace the full meaning of the statement, God is love? Do we experience God
as a loving presence in our lives? Genuine Christianity is all about worshiping and serving God; true faith
focuses on God’s love and draws strength from it. The best way to ensure “Christian” is a positive term is
for Christians to learn God is love.
1 John 4:9-10
9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so
that we might live through Him.
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
Key Word: Propitiation (v. 10)—A sin offering designed to appease God’s wrath against the sinner. Since
God alone can forgive sin, His righteous indignation against sin must be satisfied.
Having established his point that God is love, John then declared how God demonstrated His love to hu-
mankind. God’s love was revealed among us in this way, is emphatic in Greek. In this way employs the
demonstrative pronoun and is positioned first in the sentence. Revealed is the passive form of the Greek
verb meaning to be manifested or to be made known. The passive voice places the emphasis on what God
has done, not on what people have done. The group represented by among us is the community of believ-
ers John addressed in his letter. Accordingly, John demonstrated his theological proposition that God is
love with a tangible act of God.

How did God reveal His love among us? He sent His One and Only Son into the world. The verb sent
renders the Greek apostello, meaning to send out, from which the word apostle derives. God “sent out”
Jesus from heaven into the world, meaning into the realm of people, those separated from Him by their
sins.
John’s identification of Jesus as God’s One and Only Son is based on a Greek adjective meaning one of
a kind. In a real sense, Jesus is in a class by Himself. While we can become children of God, no one ex-
cept Jesus is the Son of God. John emphasized Jesus’ uniqueness. The same adjective was used with refer-
ence to Isaac to stress his uniqueness (Heb. 11:17). John used this adjective with reference to Jesus four
times in his Gospel (1:14, 18; 3:16, 18). In fact, John is the only New Testament writer to use the term in
reference to Christ. For John, when God sent Jesus, His unique Son, into the world, He was doing some-
thing incomparable.
John identified the explicit purpose God sent Jesus into the world. So that renders the Greek conjunc-
tion used to indicate either purpose or result. Both applications fit the context well in this verse. God sent
Jesus for the purpose that we might live through Him. Jesus’ coming into the world of sinful people from
God opened the possibility for all people to return to God through Him. However, purpose becomes result
as we take God at His word, trust Jesus, and replicate His love in and through our lives. Just as God loved
us by sending (apostello) Jesus to us, Jesus loves the people of the world by sending (apostello) us to
them.
John’s phrase, that we might live, included ideas like having abundant life (John 10:10) and having
eternal life (3:16). However, in this present context, John referred specifically to the modus operandi of
the Christian life. Believers live through Him, through Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ, neither abundant
nor eternal life is possible. God demonstrates His love through Jesus Christ and it is only through Him that
we might live.
The Greek preposition rendered through speaks to agency. Jesus is God’s agent enabling us to live
abundantly, eternally, and obediently. We can participate in God’s plan of world evangelization precisely
because Jesus enables us to do so. John wanted his readers to understand this valuable truth. The Christian
life is not merely a matter of what one says. It is a matter of a person living for God through Christ. This
concept embraces Jesus as the believer’s Savior and Lord. People are saved to God through Jesus by be-
lieving in Jesus’ name. Once saved, those believers live for God through Jesus, performing God’s will in
their lives.
John further clarified the type of love he was writing about. When left to their own imaginations, peo-
ple have defined love in many self-serving and debasing ways. To counter this tendency, John shifted the
focus from what people do, placing it on what God has done. He began with an emphatic statement, Love
consists in this. The Greek sentence begins in this for emphasis. John ruled out defining love in terms of
human activity by stating, not that we loved God. The type of soul-saving, life-empowering love John

meant could never originate in human activity; only God Himself could provide such love. Therefore,
John clearly stated, He loved us and sent His Son. The verb loved is accompanied by a second verb sent.
What a beautiful reminder that love is something we do; loving others involves tangible actions like giv-
ing (John 3:16), sending (1 John 4:10), and even laying down one’s life for others (3:16).
John stipulated that Jesus was sent to be the propitiation for our sins. Other English translations use
words like “atoning sacrifice” (NIV) or “expiation” (RSV). The Greek term refers to a sin offering, hence
the NIV’s “atoning sacrifice.” Translators who choose the word propitiation seek to emphasize the sin of-
fering as the means of securing God’s favor through appeasement or placation. Those who choose the
word expiation seek to emphasize the sin offering as paying sin’s debt. For further study, see the article,
“Expiation, Propitiation,” in the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
1 John 4:11-12
11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever
seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.
Key Words: Remains (v. 12)—God lives within believers. His presence is sensed as believers love one an-
other. He remains, abides, and dwells in the hearts of those loving Him.
Perfected (v. 12)—The biblical meaning refers to something being completed, accomplished, or finished.
As we walk with God, we reach His goal of loving others.
Thus far, we have seen that God is love (4:7-8) and that God demonstrates His love through Jesus
Christ (vv. 9-10). John then led his readers to the next logical step. If God is love, and if He demonstrates
love through Jesus Christ, then those who believe in Jesus can love others because of God’s love for them
and in them. Believers become more like God as they lovingly serve others. God’s love empowers believ-
ers to love others.
To reinforce his point John again addressed his readers as Dear friends. He refocused attention from
what God had done in demonstrating His love in Jesus to what believers should be doing as a result. He
began with a conditional statement: if God loved us. The word, “if” does not question that God loved us,
but rather means since God loved us.
God’s love precedes and produces human response. The only appropriate response is for believers to
love one another. At this point, John used the infinitive form of the verb agapao, prescribing love as a
constant characteristic of Christian relationships. To underscore his point, John employed a verb meaning
to owe, to be indebted, or to be obligated, and translated as must. Thus, John’s statement, we also must
love one another, carried a heavy sense of obligation. From John’s perspective, the most legitimate human
response to God’s indisputable love was an unfeigned love for others.

As he had done in his Gospel, John asserted, No one has ever seen God (John 1:18). Belief in the un-
seen God is a matter of faith. Yet, what gives such faith expression or tangibility? John answered the ques-
tion for his readers by telling them, If we love one another, God remains in us. The verb remains renders
the Greek word meaning to stay or to dwell. Thus, when one believer loves another believer, the unseen
God is present in a tangible way. The unseen God is experienced in real ways as believers love one anoth-
er.
In this way, His love is perfected in us. What does perfected love mean? The Greek term means to
reach the goal or to be fulfilled. God’s goal in loving us is that we will love Him. By extension, we ex-
press our love for God by loving others. This reciprocating love was necessary for the preservation and
health of the covenant community. In this regard, New Testament love (agape) parallels the Old Testament
love (), which put a heavy emphasis on covenant loyalty.
Even the Ten Commandments promoted reciprocating love. People were to have no other gods before
the One True God, because He alone delivered His people from Egyptian bondage. Devotion to the One
True God is reflected in each of the first Four commandments. This reciprocating love is evident also in
the remaining Six commandments, each of which deals with some aspect of human relationships in the
covenant community. Honoring parents was demonstrably reciprocal. Additionally, valuing human life (do
not murder), marriage (do not commit adultery), property (do not steal), and integrity (do not bear false
witness), were ways of demonstrating reciprocating love amongst members of the covenant community.
The Tenth Commandment, to avoid coveting, was intended to protect the mind, the bastion of reciprocal
love.
John encouraged his readers to love God and to love others. He spoke of love as a noun (agape; 4:7, 8,
9, 10, 12), as a finite verb (agapao; 4:7, 10, 11, 12), as an infinitive (agapan; 4:11) and as a participle
(agapon; 4:8). I do not mean to make this a grammar lesson, but simply want to show that John wrote
about and prescribed love in every way available to him. In doing this he accentuated that, as believers, we
can love because of God’s love for us and because of God’s love in us. In this way, the world experiences
God’s love, seeing it expressed through our daily actions.

DIGGING DEEPER:
Propitiation—The Greek word translated propitiation (1 John 4:10) also occurs in 1 John 2:2. Both verses
focus on Jesus, whose sacrifice paid for sin. In the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old Testa-
ment, the Greek word translates the Hebrew word for “sin offering.” Jesus, by His death on the cross, pro-
vided the perfect sin offering and satisfied His Father’s wrath against our sin. Paul expressed this same con-
cept in 2 Corinthians 5:21 when he wrote that God “made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Propitiation: Propitiation (v. 10; hilasmos) was a concept from the religious world to speak of rites intended
to appease or placate an angry god. Therefore, some Christian Bible teachers question whether this word is
appropriate to describe what was accomplished by Christ’s death on the cross. Some prefer the concept of
expiation, the payment of a penalty to remove guilt. Still others prefer the translation “sacrifice of atone-
ment” or “atoning sacrifice” (NIV).
EXPIATION, PROPITIATION (Ex pee ay' shuhn; Proh pih tee ay' shuhn): Terms used by Christian theo-
logians in attempts to define and explain the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross as it relates to God and
to believers. Expiation emphasizes the removal of guilt through a payment of the penalty, while propitiation
emphasizes the appeasement or averting of God’s wrath and justice. Both words are related to reconciliation,
since it is through Christ’s death on the cross for our sins that we are reconciled to a God of holy love (Rom.
5:9-11; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Col. 1:19-23).
Remains—Remains (1 John 4:12) can also be translated “lives” (NIV), “abides” (NASB, ESV), or
“dwells” (KJV, “dwelleth”). It occurs 24 times in 1 John and stresses God’s intimate relationship with His
children. He remains in us, and we remain in Him. He remains in us through the Holy Spirit, whom He has
given us (2:27; 4:13). We show we remain in Him when we keep God’s commandments and serve others in
need (3:17; 24). We also show our relationship with God by loving one another (4:12).
Dwelleth: Dwelleth (v. 12); meno) can be understood as “stay, remain, live, abide, to be in a close and set-
tled union.” The Greek word also can describe a state that begins and continues yet may not end. While the
word is used in 1 John 4:12 to refer to God abiding in the life of the believer, John frequently used the word
to describe the believers in relationship to Christ. Believers are to “remain” or “abide” in Christ (John 15:7-
10; 1 John 2:6).
Abide a-bı̄d´: Old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,”
“continue,” “endure”; represented richly in Old Testament (King James Version) by 12 Hebrew and in New
Testament by as many Greek words. In the Revised Version (British and American) displaced often by words
meaning “to sojourn,” “dwell,” “encamp.” The Hebrew and Greek originals in most frequent use are ‫ֵשָי‬‫ב‬,
yāshabh, “to dwell”; μένω, ménō, “to remain.” “Abide (sit or tarry) ye here” (Gen 22:5); “The earth abide
(continueth) forever” (Eccl 1:4); “Who can abide (bear or endure) the day?” (Mal 3:2); “Afflictions abide

(await) me” (Acts 20:23). The past tense abode, in frequent use, has the same meaning. “His bow abide
(remained) in strength” (Gen 49:24); “There he abide” (dwelt) (John 10:40).
Abode, as a noun (Greek μονή, monḗ) twice in New Testament: “make our abide with him” (John 14:23);
“mansions,” the Revised Version, margin “abiding-places” John 14:2). The soul of the true disciple and
heaven are dwelling-places of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Perfected—The word perfected (1 John 4:12; so KJV, HCSB, ESV) also can be translated “made complete”
(NIV). It occurs four times in 1 John. God’s love is perfected in us when we keep His word (2:5), when we
love one another (4:12), and when we abide in Him and He in us (v. 17). Fear can rob us of God’s perfecting
love, but perfect love casts out fear (v. 8). As these traits become more evident in our lives, we become more
complete, more complete, more as God intended us to be.
Perfected: Perfected (v. 12); teleoo) comes from a word that means “to complete, accomplish, finish.” The
word does not indicate sinslesness or moral perfection. When something is perfected it is brought to its in-
tended end; it accomplishes its purpose and reaches its goal. John used a tense of the word that describes a
completed action with enduring results.
PERFECTION: Reaching an ideal state of spiritual wholeness or completeness. It is not a quality which is
achieved by human effort alone, nor is it an end in itself. Christian perfection consists essentially in exercis-
ing the divine gift of love (Col. 3:14 NIV), for God, and for other people (Matt. 22:37-39). The basis of per-
fection lies in God Himself, whose law (Jas. 1:25), works (Deut. 32:4), and way (Ps. 18:30) are perfect. God
is free from incompleteness; He can, therefore, demand from believers, and enable them to receive, com-
pleteness (Matt. 5:48).
Through a covenant relationship with His people, and by grace, God thus offers to His people the possibility
of perfection. In the Old Testament being “perfect” is ascribed to individuals, such as Noah (Gen. 6:9) and
Job (1:1), in response to their wholehearted obedience. In other contexts, corporate perfection and being “up-
right” belong together (Ps. 37:37; Prov. 2:21). In the New Testament, God’s relationship with His people is
itself fulfilled, as the old covenant is replaced, and through Christ believers can be perfected for ever (Heb.
10:14). Christians are, however, to grow from spiritual infancy to maturity to share the full stature of Christ,
in whose image they may become renewed and perfected (Col. 3:10).
A tension exists here. Because on earth sin remains a possibility for all, believers (1 John 1:8), need to be-
come perfect even while attaining a relative perfection (Mic. 6:6-8; Phil. 3:16, 12-14). For that reason, per-
fection is not equated in the Bible with sinlessness (but see 1 John 3:6, 9 NIV). The New Testament also
stops short of deification (becoming God) as an option for believers, even if it allows for their perfect rela-
tionship with God (2 Pet. 1:4). The divine gift of perfection will be fully realized only in eternity (Phil. 3:10-
14; 1 John 3:2). It is a goal to be sought (2 Cor. 7:1; Heb. 6:1) which, like the complete vision of God, can-
not be found this side of heaven (Eph. 4:13; Jas. 3:2).

How, then, may even this limited perfection be achieved? The New Testament locates the means of perfec-
tion in Christ. Through His suffering and exaltation, God made Jesus perfect (Heb. 2:10) and fitted Him to
win for the church and the individual believer a completeness which echoes His own (Col. 1:28; Heb. 5:9).
So we and all the saints of God can be saved, and through the Spirit be given access to God and the daily
help we need (Heb. 7:25; 4:14-16). See Holy.
Biblical Vocabulary: The point of difference in interpretation for theologians has centered on the Greek
word hilasmos in 1 John 2:2; 4:10. A look at various translations show the distinctions here: “propitiation”
(KJV, NASB); “expiation” (RSV); “atoning sacrifice for our sins” (NIV, NRSV, compare REB); “means by
which our sins are forgiven” (TEV). Related Greek words occur in Matthew 16:22; Luke 18:13; Romans
3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 8:12; 9:5. KJV uses various translations of these words: “be merciful,”
“Make reconciliation,” “to be a propitiation,” “the mercy-seat,” “be it far from thee,” “I will be merciful.”
In Greek writings, hilasmos refers to soothing the anger of the gods. In the Septuagint, the earliest Greek
translation of the Old Testament, hilasmos appears in Leviticus 25:9 in the expression, “day of atonement”;
in Psalm 130:4 to confess that there is “forgiveness” with God; in Numbers 5:8 in the expression the “ram of
the atonement”; and in Ezekiel 44:27 as a “sin-offering.” Daniel 9:9 uses the plural form to speak of “for-
givenesses” which are a character trait of God.
Some scholars interpret these Old Testament references to mean that God has acted as the subject to cover
and forgive sins. He has removed the uncleanness or defilement of sin. Other scholars see God as the object
receiving the offering for sin which then in some sense pacifies His anger and meets His holy need
for justice. In the New Testament setting, this would mean that on the cross Jesus either dealt with the evil
nature of human sin and covered it so that God forgives it, or it means that Jesus satisfied God’s holy anger
and justice so that forgiven sinners could freely enter the presence of the holy God. Some scholars would see
both ideas present in the word hilasmos, so that God in grace initiated the sacrifice of Jesus to provide cover-
ing and forgiveness for human sin but that He also received the sacrifice that satisfied His anger and justice.
The background of the idea is the Old Testament sacrificial system. The whole system sought to procure
God’s favor through obediently following ways He commanded. God promised to show His mercy after
His faithful people followed certain ritual requirements. These included the burnt offering (Lev. 1:3-17), the
peace offering (3:1-17), the sin offering (4:1-5:13), and the guilt offering (5:15-6:6). None of these dealt with
“defiant sins” (Num. 15:20-31), only with “sin through ignorance” (Lev. 4:2). The high point of the sacrifi-
cial cult was the annual day of atonement when the sins of the people were laid on a scapegoat by the high
priest and the sin-laden animal was then driven into the wilderness to perish (Lev. 16:1-34). Such a system
could easily forget its basis in God’s grace shown in the Exodus and in His commands providing the system.
Then sacrifice could quickly be viewed as a mechanical way to forgiveness. When this happened, the proph-

ets of the Old Testament frequently protested against the externalism of the priestly cult of sacrifice, saying
much more effect came through a humble heart, the sacrifice of repentance (Ps. 51:17; Isa. 1:10-20; Jer.
6:20; Hos. 6:6; Joel 2:13; Mic. 6:6-8).
In the Old Testament, the note of grace is clearly present. God did not simply wait for His people to bring
before Him the appropriate sacrifices. He took the initiative in specifying which sacrifices would be needed.
When Abraham showed willingness to sacrifice Isaac, God Himself supplied the adequate substitute offering
(Gen. 22:1-19). The Old Testament repeats its promise that God remains gracious even in our sinning, that
He stands ready to forgive even before we are ready to repent (Psalms 78:21-28; 89:28-34; Isa. 65:1-2; Jer.
31:1-3, 31-34; Hos. 6:1-2). God expects people both to repent of sin and to commit themselves to obey
His covenant.
The New Testament shows how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament system of sacrifices and thus replaced it
with His own work on the cross. The Old Testament system could not purify the consciences of those who
offered them (Heb. 8:7, 13; 10:1-4). In their stead, God provided a perfect Sacrifice, that of His own Son.
This sacrifice is eternal, not provisional; it is sufficient to cover or expiate all human sin, not just specific
sins (Heb. 7:26-28; 9:25-26). The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary restored the broken relationship be-
tween God and His people and did not need to be repeated. He made reconciliation available to all people in
all times. Such reconciliation involves a change both in God’s attitude toward us and in our attitude toward
God. The cross of Calvary was God’s eternal plan to deal with human sin so that John could describe Jesus
as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). God chose to forgive us before the sacri-
fice was enacted in history, but His forgiveness could not reach us until this sacrifice took place.
To understand the need for propitiation and for expiation, we have to remind ourselves that the God of the
Bible is both holy and loving. His holiness means that sin cannot be condoned. His love signifies that
the sinner can be accepted if the claims of divine holiness are recognized. The atoning sacrifice of Christ
both satisfies the demands of His holy law and demonstrates His boundless love, the love that goes beyond
the law. God was not waiting to be appeased (as in the pagan, Greek conception). Rather, God condescended
to meet us on our level to remedy the situation. He provided the sacrificial offering that expiates human sin
and makes reconciliation possible. Both Old and the New Testaments proclaim that only God’s grace opens
the door to salvation.
All ritual requirements for sacrifice in the Old Testament are replaced by the sacrifice of the cross, which
wipes away the record of our debts to God (Col. 2:14; Heb. 10:14-18). The only sacrifices now required of
the Christian are those of praise and thanksgiving, which take the form of worship in spirit and in truth and
the obedience of discipleship (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15-16; 1 Pet. 2:5). God calls us to demonstrate our grate-
fulness for His self-sacrifice by leading lives of holiness, lives that give the world a sign and witness of
God’s great love for us shown in Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, the doctrine of the atonement includes both the dimensions of propitiation—averting

the wrath of God—and expiation—taking away or covering over human guilt. By the expiation of human
guilt, the wrath of God is turned away, the holiness of God is satisfied. Yet it is God who in the person of His
Son performs the sacrifice of expiation. It is God who in the person of His Son swallows up evil within
Himself through vicarious identification with the sin of His people. A sacrifice was necessary to satisfy the
demands of His law, but God Himself provided the Sacrifice out of His incomparable love. What hu-
man ritual offerings could not do, God has done once for all by giving up His Son for the sins of the whole
human race.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND READING:
Love In John’s Writings
By Robert E. Jones, pastor of Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, Bristol, Virginia.
IDENTIFYING KEY THEMES IN JOHN’S WRITINGS1
is relatively easy because the apostle used certain
key words repeatedly. New Testament scholars have identified at least 10 prominent themes in John’s writ-
ings. One of these is love, a theme the apostle defined primarily through two Greek words: the verb agapao
and the noun agape. The verb agapao occurs throughout ancient Greek literature; the noun agape appears
primarily, however, in biblical literature. The term is in every New Testament book except Mark, Acts, and
James. Of the 116 uses of agape in the New Testament, 30 occur in John’s writings. Additionally, more
than half of all the New Testament occurrences of the verb agapao (143 times) appear in John’s writings (72
times).2
By his prominent use of these two words for love, the apostle set out to describe his unique under-
standing of the nature of God’s love and the importance of Christ’s followers to practice love. The late New
Testament scholar Leon Morris aptly defined the importance of John placed upon love: “Clearly love matters
a good deal to this author.”3
Love Expressed
John’s direct and powerful affirmation “God is love” (1 John 4:8) forms the foundation for everything else
the apostle had to say about love. For John, love was an attribute that helped define God’s essential nature.
Because God is love, He expressed that love in tangible ways. Two of these expressions are prominent in
John’s writings.
First, God has expressed His love by sending His only begotten Son into the world for the purpose of offer-
ing salvation to every person (John 3:16). In John’s understanding, the Lord loves all people simply because
love is the heart of His character. God’s love for people is based on His own nature, not on people’s worthi-
ness. In fact, God loves all people in spite of our unworthiness, which is the basic idea of agape love.
Consequently, God’s love for people finds its highest expression in the gift of His Son; more specifically,
Jesus’ death on the cross. John declared that love consists of this major truth—that the Father demonstrated
His love for the world by sending His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for every person’s sins (1 John 4:10).

Indeed, the reason why anyone has come to know love is because Christ laid down His life for us all (3:16).
We can thus love because God first loved us (4:19) with a love so great that the end goal of that love is mak-
ing us God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ (3:1). In this sense, then, the Son mediated God’s love by
bringing this heavenly reality into the world.
Second, John did not focus exclusively on God’s love for the world; the apostle also declared that God loves
His Son (John 3:35). While the Father’s love for His Son existed before the world’s foundation, the mani-
festation of this love to the world came through the Son’s obedient death on the cross and His subsequent
glorification (10:17; 17:24).
Interestingly, John declared the Son’s love for the Father only once (14:31). Instead, the apostle emphasized
the Son’s love for those the Father had given to Him (15:9). Emphatically, John declared that Jesus had
loved His own all the way to the end of His earthly ministry (13:1). Jesus wanted His followers to abide in
His love for them (15:9-10), while understanding also that His love for the disciples was an extension of the
Father’s love for them (17:23).
Love Commanded.
A unique emphasis John placed on love was the commandment to love. John expressed this truth through
Christ’s powerful declaration to His disciples to love one another in a manner similar to His love for them
(13:34). This “new commandment” was new primarily because of the distinctive emphasis Jesus placed on
it. The phrase “as I have loved you” provided both the norm for this love and the reason for it. The context
for Jesus’ command was His statement to the disciples that He was about to leave them (v. 33). Therefore,
Jesus called on His followers to do to one another after His departure that which He had done to them while
He was with them. Furthermore, this new commandment took on a level of prominence over the other
commandments through Jesus’ startling declaration that all people would know that the disciples were His
true followers as they observed believers practicing this brotherly love (v. 35). Consequently, the command
to love one another is more than just a moral demand, for it expresses a call for action that forms an essential
part of the Christian community.
This emphasis on brotherly love carries over into the Book of 1 John, where the apostle linked it closely with
Christian fellowship. John saw Christians as bound to God and to one another. For example, John declared
that Christians have fellowship with one another when they walk in the light (1 John 1:7). So, the believer
who walks in the light will also love his brother (2:9-11). For John this was the proof that a person had
passed from darkness into the light. As a result, God’s children love one another because love had become
part of their character (3:14). Christ’s followers project the genuineness of their new birth salvation by prac-
ticing brotherly love (4:7). In contrast, those who do not love their brothers give indication they do not
know God in saving faith (v. 8). Furthermore, practicing brotherly love among Christ’s disciples demon-
strates that God’s love has been perfected, or matured, in His children (v. 12). Nevertheless, John saw the
necessity to urge His readers to love one another (3:11,18), and to do so according to Jesus’ commandment.

John reminded his readers that the command to brotherly love was not new in the sense that they had heard
it “from the beginning” (v. 11), probably meaning from the beginning of their Christians experience. But in
another sense, brotherly love was the beginning point for their expression of Christ-like love. If a person
could not love his brother, one he could see with his own eyes, he certainly could not love God, the One he
could not see (4:20). In fact, John pointedly said a person is a liar if he says he loves God but hates his
brother (v. 20).
John’s emphasis on brotherly love constitutes a revolutionary new understanding of love Christians are to
manifest in the world. Through God’s love, and in spite of our unworthiness, believers in Christ express
love to one another because Christ has transformed us and made us loving people. In brotherly love, then,
the followers of Christ reflect a fellowship that is not of this world. This is the law of love, and it is possible
only because God first loved us (v. 19).
1 John Commentary, Daily Bible Studies Series by William Barclay.
LOVE HUMAN AND DIVINE (1 John 4:7-21)
4:7-21 Beloved, let us love one another, because love has its source in God, and everyone who loves
has God as the source of his birth and knows God. He who does not love has not come to know God.
In this God's love is displayed within us, that God sent his only Son into the world that through him
we might live. In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Brothers, if God so loved us, we too ought to love each other. No one
has ever seen God. If we love each other God dwells in us and his love is perfected in us. It is by this
that we know that we dwell in him and he in us, because he has given us a share of his Spirit. We
have seen and we testify that the Father sent the Son as the Saviour of the world. Whoever openly
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. We have come to know
and to put our trust in the love that God has within us. God is love and he who dwells in love dwells
in God and God dwells in him. With us love finds its peak in this, that we should have confidence in
the day of judgment because, even as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear, for fear is connected with punishment and he who fears has not reached
love's perfect state. We love because he first loved us. If any one says, "I love God" and hates his
brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom
he has not seen. It is this command that we have from him, that he who loves God, loves his brother
also.
This passage is so closely interwoven that we are better to read it as a whole and then bit by bit to draw out
its teaching. First of all, then, let us look at its teaching on love.
(i) Love has its origin in God (1 John 4:7). It is from the God who is love that all love takes its source. As A.
E. Brooke puts it: "Human love is a reflection of something in the divine nature itself." We are never nearer
to God than when we love. Clement of Alexandria said in a startling phrase that the real Christian "practices

being God." He who dwells in love dwells in God (1 John 4:16). Man is made in the image and the likeness
of God (Genesis 1:26). God is love and, therefore, to be like God and be what he was meant to be, man must
also love.
(ii) Love has a double relationship to God. It is only by knowing God that we learn to love and it is only by
loving that we learn to know God (1 John 4:7-8). Love comes from God, and love leads to God.
(iii) It is by love that God is known (1 John 4:12). We cannot see God, because he is spirit; what we can see
is his effect. We cannot see the wind, but we can see what it can do. We cannot see electricity, but we can see
the effect it produces. The effect of God is love. It is when God comes into a man that he is clothed with the
love of God and the love of men. God is known by his effect on that man. It has been said, "A saint is a man
in whom Christ lives again" and the best demonstration of God comes not from argument but from a life of
love.
(iv) God's love is demonstrated in Jesus Christ (1 John 4:9). When we look at Jesus we see two things about
the love of God. (a) It is a love which holds nothing back. God was prepared to give his only Son and make
a sacrifice beyond which no sacrifice can possibly go in his love for men. (b) It is a totally undeserved love.
It would be no wonder if we loved God, when we remember all the gifts he has given to us, even apart from
Jesus Christ; the wonder is that he loves poor and disobedient creatures like us.
How thou canst think so well of us,
And be the God thou art,
Is darkness to my intellect,
But sunshine to my heart.
(v) Human love is a response to divine love (1 John 1:19). We love because God loved us. It is the sight of
his love which wakens in us the desire to love him as he first loved us and to love our fellow-men as he
loves them.
(vi) When love comes, fear goes (1 John 4:17-18). Fear is the characteristic emotion of someone who ex-
pects to be punished. So long as we regard God as the Judge, the King, the Law-giver, there can be nothing
in our heart but fear for in face of such a God we can expect nothing but punishment. But once we know
God's true nature, fear is swallowed up in love. The fear that remains is the fear of grieving his love for us.
(vii) Love of God and love of man are indissolubly connected (1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:11; 1 John 4:20-21). As
C. H. Dodd finely puts it: "The energy of love discharges itself along lines which form a triangle, whose
points are God, self, and neighbour." If God loves us, we are bound to love each other, because it is our des-
tiny to reproduce the life of God in humanity and the life of eternity in time. John says, with almost crude
bluntness, that a man who claims to love God and hates his brother is nothing other than a liar. The only way
to prove that we love God is to love the men whom God loves. The only way to prove that God is within our
hearts is constantly to show the love of men within our lives.
GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:7-21 continued)

In this passage there occurs what is probably the greatest single statement about God in the whole Bible, that
God is love. It is amazing how many doors that single statement unlocks and how many questions it an-
swers.
(i) It is the explanation of creation. Sometimes we are bound to wonder why God created this world. The
disobedience, and the lack of response in men is a continual grief to him. Why should he create a world
which was to bring him nothing but trouble? The answer is that creation was essential to his very nature. If
God is love, he cannot exist in lonely isolation. Love must have someone to love and someone to love it.
(ii) It is the explanation of free-will. Unless love is a free response it is not love. Had God been only law he
could have created a world in which men moved like automata, having no more choice than a machine. But,
if God had made men like that, there would have been no possibility of a personal relationship between him
and them. Love is of necessity the free response of the heart; and, therefore, God, by a deliberate act of self-
limitation, had to endow men with free will.
(iii) It is the explanation of providence. Had God been simply mind and order and law, he might, so to speak,
have created the universe, wound it up, set it going and left it. There are articles and machines which we are
urged to buy because we can fit them and forget them; their most attractive quality is that they can be left to
run themselves. But, because God is love, his creating act is followed by his constant care.
(iv) It is the explanation of redemption. If God had been only law and justice, he would simply have left men
to the consequences of their sin. The moral law would operate; the soul that sinned would die; and the eter-
nal justice would inexorably hand out its punishments. But the very fact that God is love meant that he had
to seek and save that which was lost. He had to find a remedy for sin.
(v) It is the explanation of the life beyond. If God were simply creator, men might live their brief span and
die for ever. The life which ended early would be only another flower which the frost of death had withered
too soon. But the fact that God is love makes it certain that the chances and changes of life have not the last
word and that his love will readjust the balance of this life.
SON OF GOD AND SAVIOUR OF MEN (1 John 4:7-21 continued)
Before we leave this passage we must note that it has also great things to say about Jesus Christ.
(i) It tells us that Jesus is the bringer of life. God sent him that through him we might have life (1 John 4:9).
There is a world of difference between existence and life. All men have existence but all do not have life.
The very eagerness with which men seek pleasure shows that there is something missing in their lives. A fa-
mous doctor once said that men would find a cure for cancer more quickly than they would find a cure for
boredom. Jesus gives a man an object for which to live; he gives him strength by which to live; and he gives
him peace in which to live. Living with Christ turns mere existence into fullness of life.
(ii) It tells us that Jesus is the restorer of the lost relationship with God. God sent him to be the atoning sacri-

fice for sin (1 John 4:10). We do not move in a world of thought in which animal sacrifice is a reality. But
we can fully understand what sacrifice meant. When a man sinned, his relationship with God was broken;
and sacrifice was an expression of penitence, designed to restore the lost relationship. Jesus, by his life and
death, made it possible for man to enter into a new relationship of peace and friendship with God. He
bridged the awful gulf between man and God.
(iii) It tells us that Jesus is the Saviour of the world (1 John 4:14). When he came into the world, men were
conscious of nothing so much as their own weakness and helplessness. Men, said Seneca, were looking ad
salutem, for salvation. They were desperately conscious of "their weakness in necessary things." They want-
ed "a hand let down to lift them up." It would be quite inadequate to think of salvation as mere deliverance
from the punishment of hell. Men need to be saved from themselves; they need to be saved from the habits
which have become their fetters; they need to be saved from their temptations; they need to be saved from
their fears and their anxieties; they need to be saved from their follies and mistakes. In every case Jesus of-
fers men salvation; he brings that which enables them to face time and to meet eternity.
(iv) It tells us that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 4:15). Whatever that may mean, it certainly means that
Jesus Christ is in a relationship to God in which no other person ever stood or ever will stand. He alone can
show men what God is like; he alone can bring to men God's grace, love, forgiveness and strength.
One other thing emerges in this passage. It has taught us of God and it has taught us of Jesus; and it teaches
us of the Spirit. In 1 John 4:13 John says it is because we have a share of the Spirit that we know that we
dwell in God. It is the work of the Spirit that in the beginning makes us seek God at all; it is the work of the
Spirit that makes us aware of God's presence; and it is the work of the Spirit that gives us the certainty that
we are truly at peace with God. It is the Spirit in our hearts which makes us dare to address God as Father
(Romans 8:15-16). The Spirit is the inner witness who, as C. H. Dodd puts it, gives us the "immediate, spon-
taneous, unanalysable awareness of a divine presence in our lives."
"And his that gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even,
That checks each fault, that calms each fear,
And speaks of heaven.
And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness,
Are his alone."

06.08.14.god.loving.commentary.1.john.4

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