God is Love (Part 4)

1 John 4:7-21

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade.

To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

Abiding Love Vs. 15-16

Vs. 15 Confession

Vs. 16 God is Love

Perfected Love Vs. 17-18

Vs. 17 Love is Perfected

Vs. 18 Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

Demonstrated Love Vs. 19-21

Source of Love (19)

Vs. 19 He Loved Us First

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

Plummer gives three reasons why this fact is significant:

1. Our love owes its origin to God’s love.

2. Love is characterized by fear when there is a doubt it will be returned. We have no fear of this since God’s love was prior to ours.

3. Affection can easily flow from a heart filled with gratitude for God’s initiation of love toward us.

False Love (20)

Vs. 20 Lying Love

1 Peter 1:8 NASB95

and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

One may possibly claim to love God and deceive others since God cannot be seen and others are not able to prove the truth of the declaration. The visible manifestation of an individual’s love for God, however, will eventually show up in his dealings with his brothers and sisters in Christ, who indeed are very visible.

Whom he can see

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1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

The unloved brother has been and continues to be in sight, while God has been and remains out of sight.

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

Love for God and hatred for a brother cannot coexist in the same heart

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

The words “God” and “brother” are juxtaposed to emphasize the fact that one must have the same love for both.

True Love (21)

Vs. 21 Obvious Love

John 13:34 NASB95

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

1 John 3:11 NASB95

For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

Loving one’s brother is not just a spiritual requirement; it also is a command. The reason that it is impossible for the inconsistency stated in 4:20 to remain is that the command to love God and the command to love one’s brother are two parts of one command. They are inseparable.

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From Him:

1, 2, 3 John (2) Love Others Because God Lives in You (4:11–21)

God the Father as the final source of the commandment. Disobedience to this commandment demonstrates a false love toward God that results in failure to love the brethren.

Galatians 5:14 NASB95

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Mark 12:29–31 NASB95

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”