God Is Love - 1 John 4:7-12
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7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have 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 ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Introduction
These verses...are among the treasured passages of the entire epistle. They speak of love that originates in God and describe the believer as a person who loves and knows God. By contrast, the unbeliever does not love because he does not know God. Kistemaker
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1. Love and Knowledge v7-8
1. Love and Knowledge v7-8
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7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
He is not discussing the affection that family members have for each other. Rather, he writes the verb love, which means “divine love.” John indicates that God initiates love, showers it upon his people, and expects that in turn they express this same love to each other. Kistemaker
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a. Love One Another v7
a. Love One Another v7
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
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34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour.
9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
5 times in the 1st Letter of John.
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b. Born of God v7
b. Born of God v7
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
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c. Does Not Know God v8
c. Does Not Know God v8
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The person who is born of God (2:29; 3:9; 5:1) is a window through which the love of God shines into the world. The believer expresses his love to his fellow man by doing for his neighbour what he himself wishes that others do for him. In short, he shows his love by obeying the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31). His love is genuinely unselfish. Kistemaker
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2. God’s Love v9-10
2. God’s Love v9-10
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9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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a. Proof
a. Proof
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
God’s love emanates from his being and radiates to and in us who acknowledge him through Jesus Christ. The Son of God is the visible proof of God’s love toward his people. Therefore John writes, “This is how God showed his love among us.” God sent his Son into the world.
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14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
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18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
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16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
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b. Priority v10
b. Priority v10
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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propitiation — noun. the means of appeasing wrath and gaining the good will of an offended person; especially with respect to sacrifices for appeasing angered deities.
expiation - In the Bible both expiation and propitiation are part of God’s atoning work. Christ’s sacrifice both propitiates (turns away) the wrath of God and expiates (covers) human sin. God’s redemptive work is both personal, or relational, and objective.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” John describes the matter first negatively and then positively. He expresses negatively that we did not love God. John does not say, “God loves us because we are God’s loving children.” No, the opposite is true, for Paul tells us that we have a sinful mind that is hostile to God (Rom. 8:7). Kistemaker
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
God’s only Son covered our sins and set us free from guilt. Note that in this last part of verse 10 the contrast is between God’s Son and our sins. God took the initiative in showing his love to man when he sent his Son. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001).
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3. Mutual Love v11-12
3. Mutual Love v11-12
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11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
That is, God loved us to the extent of sending his own Son to die for us on Calvary’s cross. In rapt amazement Paul expresses his thanks when he writes, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15).
We are the recipients of God’s love and we, in turn, ought to love one another. John does not imply that we should neglect to love God, but rather, like Paul and James, he places the emphasis on the command to love our neighbour as ourselves. Kistemaker
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9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
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14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
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8 If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well.
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If God loved us before the creation of the world, why did he send his Son to a cruel death on the cross? Was the death of Christ necessary? The answer to these questions is that God was displeased and angry with us because of our sins and could not be reconciled to us until Christ removed our guilt. God expresses his love toward those in whom his demand for righteousness has been met. Christ has met this demand for his people. Therefore, God’s children, who are covered with his righteousness, may experience the fullness of God’s love. Kistemaker
Conclusion
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3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
