God is Love

1 John 4:7–21 (ESV)

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. 

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his 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 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for 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. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone 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. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Questions/Observations

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.

What does it mean to love?

Love is from God

We are to love one another. Who is the one another?

Only those born of God can love. Can people who are unsaved not love?

God is love

If we love it shows we’ve been born of God and know God.

If I don’t love it’s because I don’t know God.

Commentary

1, 2, 3 John (1) Love Others Because God Loves You (4:7–10)

John’s exhortation is for Christians to love Christians, although the importance of loving non-Christians is not to be excluded. The basis for this love is God and his love; in fact, it is because love is from God. Love flows from or out of (ek) God and has God as its spring or source. Not only is this true of God, but all who love have been born of God. Plummer argues that this refers to everyone, Christian or non-Christian. In other words, inasmuch as anyone has even the smallest capacity to love, this comes by the grace of God.103 Marshall tends to agree and claims that it is because all men are created in the image of God that they have the capacity to love, and it is the result of “common grace” that even nonbelievers can demonstrate even an incomplete kind of love. But John’s claim that everyone who loves is born of God and knows (ginōskei) God does not include these incomplete expressions of love. He is referring to a particular kind of love that is found only in those who have been regenerated by Christ. The perfect tense of “born” would include the initial rebirth of the individual and the continuing effects this would have in their life, and the present tense of “know” emphasizes that the individual is continuing to grow in knowledge of God. In other words, it is not the person’s ability to love that causes the new birth, but his ability to love flows from his regeneration in Christ.

Therefore you can’t truly love unless you’ve been born of God and know God because you can’t point people to their highest good unless you know their highest good. Jesus.

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.

What does manifest mean? -made clear or obvious - displayed or demonstrated

God’s love was most clearly demonstrated through the giving of His Son.

What does it mean to live through him?

Life comes from love

God gave his only Son. There was nothing more that he could give.

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.

God love us before we loved God.

He was sent to look for us before we looked for others.

What does propitiation mean? - a wrath appeasing sacrifice

Jesus sacrificed his life to secure our highest good without expecting anything in return.

Love means that we don’t wait for the other person to love us. Love comes first.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Implication: If/then If God loved us than we 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. 

No one has seen God. - This seems random. Why is it there? If they have seen Jesus have they not seen God?

The more we love God the more he abides in us. What does that mean?

Commentary

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

This verse is striking both in its affirmation and order. Literally, the verse begins, “God no one ever has beheld.” Hiebert notes: “The verb used here is not that used in

Life Lesson

Look for a warning, a command, a promise, or an implication.

Command: Love one another

Implication: If I don’t love one another I don’t know God.

Is there an example to follow or not to follow?

Love the way God loved us.

What is the main truth or principle of the passage?

God is love and we ought to love others.

What does the passage reveal about the character of God?

God is love

Write down the lessons/truths that you find in the passage.

Application

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.

Every time someone sins against you it’s an opportunity to point them to the love of Jesus. What if we lived like that???????

What if Jesus said, “Well they did this… They did that…..

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.

Am I pouring life into people by the way i love them

Do I expect people to give me something in return when I love them?

oh a better way to say that. How do i expect people to give me something in return when I love them?

Can people see God by the way I love others? Why not? Where am I coming up short?