Who Is God?

Scripture Passage

1 John 4:7–19 (NLT)

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.

Focus Statement

People often wonder who God is or if God even exists.

Each time we give, receive, or witness love, we get closer and closer to our answer.

Point of Relation

If you are prepared to be vulnerable, consider sharing about a time when you questioned God’s existence or who God is. Was there something (an experience, person, etc.) that helped clarify or assure you about God? If this is something you are currently dealing with, use your discernment about sharing. You might instead choose to share about a time when you experienced love in a powerful way that made you feel connected to something divine and transcendent.

Things to Consider

I assure you that it is normal and natural to have periods of questioning or doubt about who God is or if God even exists.

Perhaps they’ve lost a family member they were praying fervently for.

Perhaps they were never born in a religious household, but due to exposure from friends, they are questioning whether God exists or not.

Perhaps they’ve been on the margins, homeless, downtrodden, oppressed and wonder...

Where is God and why is God allowing this?

Over the millennia, people have attempted to answer these and other questions in many ways across cultures, places, and disciplines.

They have strived to come up with answers that all-too-often fall short of assuring or comforting us.

If there was one clear answer,

we would probably all believe the same thing,

and we would no longer need the kind of faith that belief requires.

Today’s passage offers one very helpful way to think about God’s existence and character (nature).

What Scripture Says

The passage names the obvious:

“No one has ever seen God,” (v. 12a).

Yet it makes a connection between knowing and experiencing love and knowing God.

It goes so far as to say, “God is love,”

and therefore the fact that we love means we are “born of God and know God” (v. 7).

But how do we know love is of God and not just a human emotion?

How does our experience of love connect us to a transcendent, divine source of love?

In verses 9-10, the passage points to the existence and life of Jesus as the way that God’s love is revealed (made known).

Of course, it is possible to love without believing in Jesus or even ever hearing the message that Jesus is God’s son.

But with Jesus, something completely new and transformative happened –

the creation of a new way of being human and a new community characterized by love –

something much deeper than an emotion.

The writer of 1 John links his experience of love to his experience of Jesus as God’s Son and “Savior of the world” (v. 14).

Just like we cannot prove God’s existence, we cannot prove Jesus is God’s son.

However, biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson discusses that after Jesus’ death on the cross, something happened. 1

It is historical fact that a new community of people started who lived differently (Acts 4:32-36)

and claimed to experience release from repressive powers, systems of law, lack of fear of death, freedom, peace, etc.

In short, they were a community born of love and characterized by love.

And the community itself (the early church) described the something that happened as the resurrection of Jesus,

God’s Son, from the dead.

This new community and new way of being human points to the reality and character of a loving God as revealed in Jesus.

1 Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Writings of the New Testament. Third Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press (2010), pp. 89-93.

That community (the church) and way of being human continues to this day.

The church’s continued existence and our participation in it, most especially our loving and being loved, are evidence of God’s existence.

God, who was revealed in Jesus, is now present with us by the Spirit (v. 13) to continue this transformation in and by love.

This does not mean the church always gets it right.

There are lots of people who like Jesus but do not like the church

because they have been hurt by people in it or have experienced the hypocrisy of people who claim to be Christian.

They have a sense that if there is a God,

God probably looks more like the love Jesus stood for

than what they see happening in churches at times.

As people who claim to be followers of Jesus,

we have a responsibility to be the evidence of God’s existence for others by loving them.

We are to be “as he [Jesus] is … in this world,” as we are shaped and perfected by the love that we receive from God in Jesus (v. 17).

The passage describes what this looks like in verse 18: “perfect love casts out fear…”.

What This Means for You

I want to invite you to reflect on times you’ve experienced love and if or how that has made you feel connected to God.

How might you share and show that love to others?

There is so much in the world that can make us feel jaded, depressed, cynical, angry, etc. –

what does it look like to instead “abide in love,” to choose love as our dwelling place and home?

How do we show love to people when they’ve hurt us?

How do we show publicly love for ALL in our community?

How do we show love to ourselves…as God has called us to care for and love ourselves too?

If we are huggers, we can give a hug?

We can actively and openly show people forgiveness.

We can raise up issues to our town council and advocate for justice for the poor, the addicts, the homeless, the hungry, the sick and the forgotten.

We can call people who we haven’t seen in a while…to tell them how much they are loved and missed.

There are so many practical, concrete things we can do to live in love.

What This Means for Us

It is okay to have questions about who God is and if God exists.

God is big enough to handle our doubts and questions.

What would it look like if we let our wondering drive us into

deeper experiences and expressions of love and looked for God there?

Let us be a people who see Christ in the faces of all we come across…and in seeing Christ…

Let us be reminded that when we love and care for the least of these…we are doing so for Jesus. Amen? Amen.