First John: 1 John 4:16-The Child of God Will Experience Fellowship with the Father and the Father with Them When They Live By Means of His Love Lesson # 182 (2)

1 John 4:16 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. (ESV)

“So we have come to know” corresponds to the previous two assertions in 1 John 4:15, which teaches that if anyone has confessed that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, then God the Father is living in fellowship with him and correspondingly, he himself is living in fellowship with God.

It asserts that John and each one of the recipients of First John know God the Father experientially or in other words, they have believed the love that God has demonstrated on behalf of each one of them since John is employing the figure of ellipsis which means “God” is implied though omitted.

“And to believe the love that God has for us” makes explicit what is implied by the previous assertion that John and each one of the recipients of First John knew experientially the love God demonstrated on behalf of each one of them.

“God is love” means that God the Father exists in the state of possessing inherently the characteristic of love or in other words, He “exists in the state of” being “characterized by” love.

“And whoever abides in love abides in God” presents the result of the previous declarative statement which asserts that God is love and speaks of the child of God experiencing fellowship with their heavenly Father as a result of obeying the Father’s command to love their fellow child of God.

“And God abides in him” corresponds to the previous assertion which states that the believer who does at any time live by means of God’s love does live in fellowship with the Father.

It is expressing the idea of the Father living in association with or in fellowship with the child of God as a result of the latter obeying His Spirit inspired command to love one another.

1 John 4:16 Correspondingly, each one of us knows God experientially. In other words, each one of us has believed that which constitutes divine-love, which God (the Father) has demonstrated because of each one of us. God (the Father) is love. Consequently, the one who at any time does live by means of this love does live in fellowship with God (the Father). Correspondingly, God (the Father) does live in fellowship with him. (My translation)

1 John 4:16 contains five declarative statements.

The first asserts that John and each one of the recipients of First John knows God the Father experientially.

The second asserts that each one of them has believed that which constitutes divine-love, which God the Father has demonstrated because of each one of them.

The third declares that God is love.

The fourth states that the one who at any time does live by means of God’s love does live in fellowship with the Father.

The fifth and final declarative statement asserts that the Father is living in fellowship with the believer who does live by means of God’s love.

When John speaks of knowing the Father experientially, he is referring to the child of God experiencing fellowship with God from the perspective that they are personally encountering the Father by obedience to His will, as this will, is revealed in the pages of Scripture and in prayer by God the Holy Spirit.

This also involves being affected by this encounter with the Father resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.

The second declarative statement in 1 John 4:16 makes explicit what is implied by the first in light of the assertions in 1 John 4:15.

It asserts that John and each one of the recipients of First John has believed that which constitutes divine-love, which God the Father has demonstrated because of each one of them.

To know God the Father experientially is equivalent to living in fellowship with the Father.

However, as 1 John 4:15 makes clear the sinner must confess that Jesus is God’s one and only Son to live in fellowship with Him, which required that they exercise faith in Jesus as their Savior.

Therefore, what is implied by the assertion that John and the recipients of First John knew God’s love for them experientially is that they trusted in Jesus as their Savior, which John describes as having confessed Him in verse 15.

Now, these first two assertions in verse 16 correspond with the two assertions contained in 1 John 4:15.

Therefore, the correspondence between verses 15 and 16 is that John and each one of the recipients of First John know experientially God.

In other words, each of them have believed the love God the Father demonstrated because of each one of them corresponds with each of them living in fellowship with the Father as a result of having confessed that Jesus is God’s one and only Son.

Thus, John is equating having believed the love which God the Father demonstrated because of each one of them with confessing that Jesus is God’s one and only Son implying the latter manifested God’s love at the cross.

The last three assertions in 1 John 4:16 are inextricably connected in that the second presents the result of the first and the third corresponds to the second.

Together, they stand in contrast to the first two assertions in the verse.

As we noted, the third declares that God is love.

The fourth states that the one who at any time does live by means of God’s love does live in fellowship with the Father.

The fifth and final declarative statement asserts that the Father is living in fellowship with the believer who does live by means of God’s love.

Therefore, the contrast is between experiencing fellowship with God as a result of being declared justified through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and experiencing fellowship with God as a result of practicing God’s love by obeying the command to love one another.

This harkens the reader back to 1 John 3:23.

1 John 3:23 Specifically, this is His command: First, that each and every one of us believed in the name, that is His Son, who is Jesus who is the Christ. Secondly that each one of us continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another just as He gave to each one of us this command. (Author’s translation)

The third declarative statement in 1 John 4:16 that God is love echoes the same assertion in 1 John 4:8.

1 John 4:8 The one who at any time does not practice divine-love never enters into knowing God (the Father) experientially because God (the Father) is divine-love. (Author’s translation)

It is very important that the reader understand that the assertion “God is love” is a subset proposition in Greek Grammar, which means that God is characterized by love and inherently possesses the attribute of love but is not identical with love.

If this were a convertible proposition, which indicates an identical exchange, it would affirm pantheism or in the least, panentheism.

This assertion that God is love in 1 John 4:16 is the fourth time the apostle John makes an assertion about God’s character and nature.

The first appears in 1 John 1:5 and the second in 1 John 2:29 and third appears in 1 John 4:8.

Now, as we noted the fourth assertion which appears in 1 John 4:16 maintains that the one who at any time does live by means of God’s love does live in fellowship with God the Father.

This declaration presents the result of the third, which states that God the Father is love.

Therefore, a comparison of these two declarations teaches that the believer must live their life by means of God’s love as a result of God Himself being love.

To live by means of God’s love is accomplished by the child of God obeying the command to love one another which will be the result of accepting by faith God’s love for them and which love was demonstrated by the Father sacrificing His Jesus Christ on the cross for them.

The fifth and final declarative statement which appears in 1 John 4:16 asserts that God the Father does live in fellowship with the believer who lives by means of love as a result of obeying the Father’s command to love one another.

It also corresponds to the fourth declarative statement which again asserts that the believer who does at any time live by means of God’s love does live in fellowship with the Father.

Therefore, the correspondence is between the believer living in fellowship with the Father and the Father living in fellowship with the believer or in other words, both ideas correspond to each other.

They are one in the same in that if you have one, you have the other.

This is the third time in 1 John that the apostle John speaks of the mutual fellowship between the child of God and the Father and the concept of reciprocal aspect of God’s love.

1 John 4:13 By means of this, each one of us can at any time confirm that we are living in fellowship with Him and correspondingly, He Himself is living in fellowship with us. Specifically, by means of His Spirit as a source who He has bestowed upon each one of us as a gift. (Author’s translation)

1 John 4:15 If anyone has confessed that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, then God (the Father) is living in fellowship with him. Correspondingly, he himself is living in fellowship with God (the Father). (Author’s translation)