1 John 4 Verses 19 to 21 Human Dignity and Loving One Another

1 John 4 Verses 19 to 21 Human Dignity and Loving One Another

October 27, 2024, Lesson 5 Sacred Life Series Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scriptures:

· Psalm 8:4-5 (NASB) 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

· Matthew 25:31-46 (NASB) 31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me somethingto drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Maid Idea:

· The sanctity of human life means the dignity of human life.

Study Aim:

· To understand that because human life is sacred, it must also be treated with dignity.

Create Interest:

· Many adults struggle to understand God’s love. Some deny God and His love. Some believe in God, but doubt He is truly the God of love. They see Him either as indifferent or harsh. Others sentimentalize God by making Him into an indulgent “grandfather in heaven,” who tolerates any human behavior.

· In the biblical worldview, faith in God and His love is central. Christians believe in God’s love because they have experienced it through faith in Jesus Christ. Further, they have seen God’s love in believers’ love toward one another; and inspired by such love, they seek to do the same.

· This lesson seeks to help clarify the biblical teachings about God’s love and about Christians’ love for one another. Loving one another is an expression of believers’ experience of the God who is love. God’s love was revealed in Jesus Christ and is now revealed in the love Christians have for one another. Experiencing God’s love overcomes any fear of condemnation on the day of judgment. We need to treat others with dignity because of God’s love for them.

· For believers to claim to love God without loving one another is a lie because the God of love has commanded us to love one another.[1]

Lesson in Historical Context:

· The author of 1 John does not give his name nor give himself a title. But the author is easily identifiable. The style, vocabulary, and content point to the same author writing the Gospel of John and the Epistles of 1, 2, and 3 John.

· John Stott points out that all three epistles are found in the earliest Greek manuscripts. It should be mentioned, however, that some say there were two Johns: John the Apostle and John the Elder, who is said to have been a member or minister of the church at Ephesus. But the weight of evidence points directly to John the Apostle as the author of all four books.

· The writing of 1 John is uncertain. Probably A.D. 85–90. There is no mention of the persecution under the Emperor Domitian in A.D. 95, so the letter most likely was written before that date.

· Thus, written by John “To the church at large”, there is no greeting, farewell, or personal references that would reveal the recipients. This means a most wonderful thing: each local church can look upon First John as though the letter has been personally written to it.

· Tradition says that all three epistles were written from Ephesus where John pastored during the latter years of his life.

· John said, “These things have I written … that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). However, John also wrote to defend the faith and to strengthen the church against false teachers and heretical doctrine.[2]

· Our focus in this lesson on 1 John 4:19-21, I think should be better labeled “God is Love”. I will develop that thought that helps us better understand how He is love and we should be like him in treating others…with dignity.

Bible Study: Let’s digress and learn about love in preceding Scriptures.

THE PROOF THAT ONE REALLY LOVES GOD: SIX TESTS, 3:1–4:21

· Test 1: Experiencing God’s Incredible Love, 3:1–3

· Test 2: Turning Away from Sin and Its Enslavement, 3:4–9

· Test 3: Being Marked by Righteousness and Love, 3:10–17

· Test 4: Having a Clean Heart, 3:18–24

· Test 5: Testing the Spirits of False Teachers, 4:1–6

Note: As we don’t have the band width to cover all those proofs, in our class time, I submit them for your introspective private study. I would also suggest this for discussion centered on the concept that to love God, as John is teaching, we would be treating others with dignity in the process.

· In the latter half of his letter, John deals primarily with sonship—our being “born of God.” How can a person really know he is a child of God? Well, says John, sonship is revealed by obedience (1 John 3), love (1 John 4), and truth (1 John 5).

· Obedience—love—truth. Why did John use these particular tests of fellowship and sonship? For a very practical reason.

· When God made us, He made us in His own image (Gen. 1:26–27).

o This means that we have a personality patterned after God’s.

§ We have a mind to think with,

§ We have a heart to feel with, and

§ We have a will with which to make decisions.

📷 We sometimes refer to these aspects of our personality as intellect, emotion, and will.

· The life that is real must involve all the elements of the personality. Most people are dissatisfied today because their total personality has never been controlled by something real and meaningful.

o When a person is born of God through faith in Christ, God’s Spirit comes into his life to live there forever.

o As a person has fellowship with God in reading and studying the Bible and in prayer, the Holy Spirit is able to control his mind, heart, and will. And what happens then?

§ A Spirit-controlled mind knows and understands truth.

§ A Spirit-controlled heart feels love.

§ A Spirit-controlled will inclines us to obedience.[3]

Let’s focus on “love” as that is the essence of God in us.

1 John 4:7-18 (NASB) Setting the stage for our focus in 19-21 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so 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.

(to propitiate” means “to satisfy the wrath of God against sin,” “to turn away God's

wrath,” or “to offer a sacrifice that appeases God's just judgment and righteous

anger against us and our sin.” And note, Jesus is not simply “the propitiator” but the

“propitiation.” He is what satisfies the justice of God). 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 is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

· Vs. 7: Love has its origin in God. It is from the God who is love that all love takes its source.

o 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.

o Clement of Alexandria said in a startling phrase that the real Christian “practices being like God in his love characteristics.” He who dwells in love dwells in God (verse 16).

· Vs. 7-8: Love has a double relationship to God.

o It is only by knowing God that we learn to love, and it is only by loving that we learn to know God.

§ Love comes from God, and love leads to God.

· Vs. 9-10: God’s love is demonstrated in Jesus Christ. When we look at Jesus we see two things about the love of God.

o 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.

o 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.

o The wonder is that he loves poor and disobedient creatures like us.

· Vs. 11: God’s love has set us an example; we should copy it.’ If that’s how God loved us, we ought to love one another in the same way’. This is, if anything, an even stronger statement than many might imagine. You could hear it as simply saying, ‘That is true. But the next verse shows a greater depth. ‘Nobody has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is completed in us.’[4] Other see God in us…Hopefully😊

· Vs. 12: It is by love that God is known.

o 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.

o It is when God comes into a man(person) that he is clothed with the love of God and the love for all mankind. 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.

· Vs. 17-18: When love comes, fear goes. Fear is the characteristic emotion of someone who expects to be punished.

o 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.

o 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.

§ A reverential awe/respect/love for God is remaining.

Now moving on to our focus verse

1 John 4:19-21 (NASB) 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

· Vs. 19: Human love is a response to divine love. We love because God loved us first.

· Our love for God is based on God’s prior love for us and is thus the response of gratitude.

o The more we realize how much God loved us, the more we shall realize our obligation to love him in return. It is, therefore, good for us constantly to renew our knowledge of God’s love as we read of it in the Bible, as we hear it proclaimed in the worship of the church, and as we consider the ways in which our whole life has been molded by experiences of God’s love and care for us.[5]

o 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.

o Our love for God, expressed through obedience to Him, is to be a response to His love, not a means of trying to earn it. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Jesus said that love for God and love for one another essentially sum up all His commands (Matthew 22:36–40). Both our love for others and our love for God are prompted by His love for us.[6]

· Vs. 20, 21: Love of God and love of man are indissolubly connected.

o 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 neighbor.”

o If God loves us, we are bound to love each other, because it is our destiny 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. (Discuss how Human dignity fits in here)

o The only way to prove that God is within our hearts is constantly to show the love of men within our lives.[7]

· Verse 21 may be a reference to the summary of the Mosaic law as loving God with one’s whole heart and his neighbor as himself (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27). John thinks of the commandment as the commandment of love.

o Love, being of the very nature of God, contains its own motivation to self-expression toward others.

§ It is the nature of love to express itself.

o Yet, because man at his best is still human and fallible, the injunction to love his brethren in both word and deed must be set continually before him.

· John counters that hypocritical notion with a closing command: this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. Discuss what that looks like…….

o Brotherly love seeks nothing in return; instead, it unconditionally forgives (cf. Matt. 18:21–22), bears others’ burdens (Gal. 6:2), and sacrifices to meet their needs (Acts 20:35; Phil. 2:3–4). Yet it is also a righteous love that tolerates neither false doctrine nor habitual sin (1 Tim. 5:20; cf. 2 Thess. 3:15).

· God’s perfect love is a blessing for believers to know and a joy for them to manifest to others.[8]

Thought to Soak On

· The love of God perfected in one’s heart and life must find its expression in his love for others, “first, because it is only in loving our brother whom we see …

o First, that we can exercise the very love wherewith God has first loved us

o Second, because in loving our brother, we are obeying the

commandment of Him whom we profess to love …

o Third, because in loving our brother we love one who is begotten of God.[9]

Blessings to all who read this lesson…

Feel free to share it.

[1]Robert J. Dean, Family Bible Study, Fall 2000, Herschel Hobbs Commentary (LifeWay Christian Resources, 2000), 7. [2]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1 Peter–Jude, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996). [3]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 478–479. [4]Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 159. [5]I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), 225. [6]Jerry Bridges, Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey, ed. Thomas Womack (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2008), 144. [7]William Barclay, ed., The Letters of John and Jude, Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 97–98. [8]John MacArthur, 1, 2, 3 John, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007), 171. [9]Harvey J. S. Blaney, “The First Epistle of John,” in Beacon Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, vol. 10, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1967), 1 Jn 4:21.