God is Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.[1]

Some topics are so vast that they terrify the conscientious minister of the Word. The concept promoted by the title of this particular message, to say nothing of the text, presents one such overwhelming topic. I recognise, and I have often acknowledged, that God’s love is the stuff of contemporary caricature for those wishing to ridicule the Faith. Nevertheless, the Word of God presents this aspect of God’s character so that no individual need miss the motivating force of salvation.

In John’s writings, three great truths are stated concerning God. John tells us that God is Spirit [John 4:24]. Likewise, it is through John’s writing that we are informed that God is light [1 John 1:5]. In the text before us, John reveals that God is love [1 John 4:8], as he will again teach us in a few verses [1 John 4:16]. The Apostle John does all Christians a great service in revealing the character of God, and no more vital revelation of our God is given us than this one defining characteristic of love.

God is Spirit, and thus spirit, not matter, is the essence of His being. Because God is Spirit, Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that mankind can worship God anywhere. Worship is not a matter of time or place or form. Worship is rather a matter of spirit and of truth. Likewise, God is light as opposed to darkness. There is no hint of evil in Him. He is perfect moral goodness. Therefore, we must be pure in heart and be cleansed from sin as we walk with Him in daily fellowship.[2]

God is also love. Love is the essence of His being. There is nothing deeper in the nature of God than sacrificial love, love that bears and suffers for the good of the one loved. This is the nature of God revealed to us in Christ the Lord. This is the God to whom we look in our study this day, seeking to understand Him and especially seeking to experience His glorious and divine love.

The Character of God Defined — God is love. This simple statement is memorised by multitudes of Sunday School children. Perhaps you, also, once memorised this verse as a child. However, when you hear that statement, what do you think of? Love is one such word which has been stolen from our vocabulary in recent days. What is love?

John Mitchell has provided wise instruction concerning the love of God. In an excellent little survey of this letter, he writes: People come to me and say, “Mr. Mitchell, I am not a pagan. I believe in God. I have my God and you have yours.” Then I ask them, “What kind of a God do you have?” They will say that their God is a God of love. Then I ask them, “How do you know that your God is love?” You see, my friend, apart from the Scriptures, apart from the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, there is no revelation that God is love. We do not find love in nature. One animal preys on another, and one fish feeds on another fish. No, we do not find love displayed in nature.[3]

There is nothing more important in any religion than the character of its God. Allah, the god of Islam is a fierce, even a vicious creature. He instructs his followers to immolate themselves in the hope of smiting even a handful of his enemies and rewards male adherents with sexual favours. He teaches hatred and excuses tyranny through condemning success in those outside his faith. He promises peace through the sword.

The God of the Christian Faith is otherwise. He lovingly calls all who will listen, warning them of the consequence of exiting this life without a transformation of the soul. He longs to see the rebels lay down their arms in order to be adopted into His Family. He is gracious and good, even toward those who are bent on hostility toward Him.

If I examine this God of love who is revealed through the Bible, I should be able to discover something of what is meant by the term love. Perusing the Word, I quickly discover that God reveals through His Word that divine love is active rather than passive. Love is not defined by how one feels about the object loved, but love is demonstrated through action. Here is a marvellous example of the love God commands.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes [Deuteronomy 6:4-8].

Divine love is demonstrated by man through diligent instruction in the home, through meditating on the commands of God, through exalting His will. Love stimulates one to action instead of permitting passive contemplation. The reason this is so is because God Himself actively calls us to life and actively provides for our benefit. What other meaning can that familiar verse hold which teaches us, God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life [John 3:16]? God’s love led Him to give. That is active and not passive.

God’s love is aggressive in pursuing the object of love. God’s love does not permit Him to passively wait for those who are the focus of His love to one day wake up and cease their rebellion, but instead, God pursues the wanderer. One of the most comforting passages in the whole of Scripture is that found in Romans 8:28-30.

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

I am reminded of the old Scots lady who spoke when the parson solicited testimonies of God’s grace. “I worked hard to be saved,” the old woman said. Of course, her words shocked those who listened. Salvation is not of works, but it is all of grace and her words seemed odd in their seeming opposition to grace.

“Yes,” she continued, “I found it necessary to run fast in order to stay ahead of the Saviour who pursued me.”

That is the story precisely. We ran from grace, but in love, God pursued us. Looking back, my testimony is that God called me from my mother’s womb, made provision for my salvation before the world began, and knew me before I was born. This is persistent and aggressive love.

God’s love is focused on the object of love regardless of the response of the one loved. The testimony of every Christian is that God loves us in spite of and not because of. This is not a truth which we can explain, though every Christian has experienced this truth. We are objects of God’s love, and we were loved even when we were in rebellion. God did not choose us because of anything we might offer Him, but in love, He predestined us to receive His grace. I could never have understood the Ephesian letter whilst situated outside the precincts of divine love; but once brought into the love of God, I marvel at the words which the Apostle wrote in the introduction of that letter.

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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth [Ephesians 1:3-10].

God’s love requires no merit from within the one loved. Instead, we read that His love is extended to the rebel while the rebel is still rebelling! For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation [Romans 5:6-11].

This is a vital point which demands emphasis. The love of God is not dependent upon our strength or any feature we might present. What have you to offer which could induce God to love you? Compared to the omnipotent strength of God, what does your puny strength amount to? How can the transient majesty of the whole of the race, let alone the fleeting majesty of a mere mortal, compare to the infinite and enduring majesty of the Lord our God? God loved me when I was a sinner, and that love transformed me and led to adoption as His child. God loved me when I lived in rebellion against His grace, and His divine love is even now transforming me into the image of His dear Son. All this is a revelation of the essence of the true and living God—God who is love.

God’s love is not defined as emotion, though there may well be an emotional parameter arising from that love. As a pastor, I have witnessed many people come to faith in the Son of God. They received the love of God and were born again into His great kingdom. Some laughed. Some cried. Some seemed emotionally flat, treating the entire transaction in a matter-of-fact manner. The salvation of none was dependent upon what they felt, but was rather utterly dependent upon the love of God toward each one.

This point must be stressed precisely because so many people gauge the depth of their spirituality upon some ill-defined feeling. People identified with one of the major cults often speak of a burning in their breast as evidence that they are saved. Pepperoni pizza does that for me. Some emotional Christians speak of being “slain in the spirit,” a condition which leaves them with a particular feeling, as evidence that they have experienced the love of God. All such talk is foolishness. Divine love is not an emotion!

John exhorts Christians to love Christians. The basis for this type of love is God and His love. In fact, it is because [o{ti] love is from God [hJ ajgavph ejk tou` qeou` ejstin], that we are to love others. Love flows from or out of [ejk] God as its spring or source. Since love flows from God, those who are born into God’s Family will of necessity serve as conduits of that same love. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God refers to a particular kind of love that is found only in those who have been regenerated by Christ.[4]

When John speaks of those who are born of God, who are also said to know God, the construction of his sentence leads us to recognise that he has included the initial rebirth of the individual and the continuing effects this rebirth will have in their life. The individual born of God is born in love and grows in love as they grow in knowledge of God and of His character. It is not the individual’s ability to love that causes the new birth, but the new birth is the genesis of that individual’s love.[5]

There is a significant point arising from this knowledge. John states matter concisely in verse eight. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. The people of God must be warned that love for one another is not an option. If you do not love your fellow worshippers, you have no part in God. Jesus expressed the truth in His words to those who think themselves to be disciples. 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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another [John 13:34, 35].

It is necessary to raise this issue precisely because among the professed people of God are individuals who think they can pick-and-choose whom they will love. The love of God compels you to love those whom God loves, and first among those whom God loves are those whom He has chosen and who are identified as His people.

Those individuals who absent themselves from worship because they don’t like some among the saints reveal that they have no part in Christ precisely by their lack of love. Those who choose to ignore offensive behaviour, refusing to hold another accountable reveal that they know nothing of Christ by their lack of love! Those who are able to tolerate just “a little bit of error” demonstrate that they are loveless both for Christ and for the bairns who are injured by their fatal tolerance.

How unlike the ephemeral sensations which the world describes as “love” is the love of God! Those who have experienced that love find that their own love life is transformed. In fact, it is fair to say that we can never truly love another until we have experienced the love of God. That is the essence of the tenth verse, which verse must now occupy our attention.

The Character of God Revealed — 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’s love is revealed in His compassion for fallen man. God reconciled man to Himself through the sacrifice of His own Son. John is careful to avoid suggesting that the love which we hold for God can even be compared to that which we have received. At best, the love which we hold for God is responsive and not initiative. Similarly, as we fulfil the commands to love one another and to love those outside the Faith, we are only reflecting the divine love which we have already received.

Though many years have passed since my eldest child was herself a child, I recall a little game we used to play. She would climb up on my lap when I came home from the laboratory. She wanted to snuggle with Dad. I felt like “someone” when that little girl laid her head on my chest. She would pat me and say, “My big, strong daddy. He is so handsome.” My, but she was perceptive and intelligent… truly a precocious child.

I would say, “Honey, do you love daddy?”

She would respond by stretching out her little arms and saying, “I love you this much, Daddy.”

Something like that is true of God. We look to God and ask, “Father, do you love me?”

And our God responds by pointing to the Cross. There, His Son stretched out His arms; and though they were pinioned to the cross by cruel spikes, He embraced a world.

God’s love was a public affair, carried out among human beings.[6] Take special note of the words among us in verse nine. John’s emphasis upon the public nature of God’s love is calculated to take the perceptive reader back to words that he wrote in the Gospel which bears his name. Those words in question concern the revelation of God’s Son—the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [John 1:14]. Because His love was a public affair, all mankind is able to see and to appreciate the love of God.

The demonstration of God’s love was not a mere sending of His Son into the world as some sort of an ambassador or emissary of love, but it was rather that He sent His Son into the world so that we might live through Him. We, the believing community, live through Christ the Lord. That we live through Him is evidence of the love of God. The initiative for this event is God’s alone. This is not a matter of reciprocation in which God meets us halfway after we have begun to seek Him out.[7] He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin.

As redeemed individuals, we must confess that except for the nature of God, a nature revealed as love, we could expect no mercy, no grace, no hope, no forgiveness and no future. Because God is love, we have received all this and adoption as His sons.

The text I use translates the Greek word iJlasmov" as propitiation. Your text may speak of the atoning sacrifice [niv], of expiation [rsv], or even of the remedy for defilement [neb]. Scholars debate the best translation and the precise meaning of the Greek term iJlasmov". In classical Greek writings, the word speaks of soothing the anger of the gods. The use of the same word throughout the writings of the Old Testament referred to atonement [cf. Leviticus 25:9 where the word is used in reference to the Day of Atonement] to forgiveness [see Psalm 130:4] and even to the sin offering [Ezekiel 44:27].

The controversy swirls around whether God has acted as the subject to cover and forgive sins, or whether God is the object receiving the offering for sin which then pacifies His holy wrath. The New Testament reveals that Christ fulfilled the Old Testament system of sacrifices, replacing it with His own work on the cross. In the place of the continual sacrifices which were previously required, God has provided a perfect Sacrifice, that of His own Son. The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is sufficient to expiate all human sin, and because it is an infinite sacrifice, His sacrifice propitiates, or makes reconciliation possible between God and man.[8]

To understand the need for propitiation (to say nothing of expiation), we must remind ourselves that God is indeed love, but He is also holy. We must not neglect either aspect of His character. His holiness means that sin cannot be condoned. His love signifies that the sinner can be accepted if the claims of divine holiness are recognised. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, both satisfies the demands of His holy law and demonstrates His divine love—love which transcends the law.

This is the important issue which must be grasped. God’s love is active. Thus, because God is love, He could not wait to be propitiated. God condescended to meet us on our level to remedy our sinful condition. He provided the means of reconciliation and provided the One great sacrifice which forever expiates human sin—His own Son. The sacrifice Jesus provided on the cross wipes out the debt of sin which was against us and ensures that we need no longer concern ourselves with how to provide a means to draw near to God. What we could not do, God has done.

We worship God today, and the only sacrifice which we can find to offer are sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, which take the form of worship in spirit and in truth, and obedience as disciples. God calls us to demonstrate gratitude to Him for His glorious sacrifice by leading holy lives. Our lives as Christians, worshipping God and praising Him and giving Him thanks and revealing His holiness, serve as a sign to this dying world and witness of God’s great love for us in His Son.

We no longer sacrifice a lamb or a calf or a dove in order to worship God. Surely, surely, this is the meaning of the words authored by the writer of the Hebrew letter. When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [Hebrews 9:11-14, 24-10:10].

The Character of God Reproduced — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God… Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.

How can we know that we are in union with God? How can we know that we have inherited the eternal life which is promised in Christ the Lord? We know because the character of our Father is reproduced in us. John gives us three great tests by which we may gauge our relationship to the Father.

The first test which will give us confidence that we are born into the Family of God is that we will love God’s people [verse twelve]. Our relationship with God makes us right in our relationship with men. When I am in a right relationship with God, I will be in a right relationship with His people. Our love for God is displayed by our love for the brotherhood of believers.

The one in a right relationship with the Father and in a right relationship with the people of the Father will openly unite with those people. This is one great reason why I emphasise membership in the church. This is also one great reason I stress obedience to Christ beginning with baptism. What, save your own stubborn will, keeps you from obedience to the Saviour through baptism? What, except for your failure to love as the Father has loved you, keeps you from uniting with this church? Is any excuse worthy of the love which the Father has revealed toward us?

Note this great truth! God did not begin to love us when we accepted Jesus as Saviour; He loved us when we were sinners. He loved us when we hated Him, when we were dead in trespasses and sins, without hope and without God. He demonstrated His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son in our place. When we accept His Son as Saviour, that same love which gave His Son to die in our place is revealed through us to others. Love for my fellow Christians is not optional!

A second test by which we can know that we are born into the Family of God is that He has given to us His Spirit [verse thirteen]. There are many passages of Scripture which assure us that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within.

Jesus promised before leaving this earth, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you [John 14:16, 17].

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own [1 Corinthians 3:16].

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us [1 John 3:24].

By the love we have toward our fellow worshippers we know that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us [Romans 5:5].

There is an old saying which states that God sees my faith, but men experience my love. As we walk with God, His love is perfected and His character is revealed through us by our actions toward others. The very fact that we love the people of God is evidence that we are walking in fellowship with God. The ability to love (and some of God’s people are especially hard to love) must come from God Himself. That love is one of the fruits of the Spirit of God. Perhaps you will recall those fruits.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law [Galatians 5:22, 23].

A third great test which can serve as verification that we have been born into the Family of God is that we confess His Person [verse fourteen]. Really, we must include the following verse in order to ensure completeness concerning this particular point. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God [1 John 4:15].

The value of the cross of Christ is dependent upon who died on that cross. It was not just a man who died for us, but it was the Son of God. The very fact that we testify that it was God’s Son whom God sent into the world to be the Saviour of sinners is evidence of our union with God, displayed through our love of God and our love of the brotherhood of believers and our confession that Jesus is the Son of God. This gives us assurance.[9]

We measure our ministries by the number to whom we minister. Perhaps we are even prone to measure our worth in our own eyes by the number that heeds our words. Sunday School teachers think they have greater worth if they have a larger class. Pastors are not immune to this strange malady, for every pastor pays attention to the size of his congregation. God, however, does not evaluate as we do. It is not the size of the congregation, but the magnitude of their love which marks a great church. It is not the multitude which knows your name, but it is the magnitude of your love which makes you a great Christian. Results do not necessarily come by ministering to multitudes, but by building up the life of the individual.

In our relationships, we begin with friendship. People become friends because of some mutual interest such as a hobby or business. Then friendship should progress to fellowship, which is friendship that has taken on the additional dimension of Christ Jesus as Lord. Fellowship, in turn, lays the foundation for discipleship, which is the process of helping a fellow believer to mature in Christ. A congregation may mature by sitting together under the ministry of the Word of God, but a congregation will multiply when each individual disciples another.[10]

In the early days of radio in Britain, George Bernard Shaw was giving a talk about the peculiarities of the English language, in the course of which he mentioned that there are only two words in English which begin with the sound ‘sh’ but are not spelt ‘sh’. One listener wrote in to say that this seemed untrue. There was only one such word—‘sugar’. She received a postcard, in reply, on which there was just one sentence: ‘Madam, are you sure?’[11] Being sure is a perilous business and nowhere more so than in matters of spiritual life, and yet John insists that God wants us to know that we are His and that our Christian experience is real.

I would not shake you from your secure position. In fact, I cannot shake you from your secure position—if that position is in Christ. If, however, you examine yourself and discover that you are not marked by these great tests, listen to what I now say. Remember that God is love, and that in love He long ago provided for your salvation. Look to the sacrifice of His Son for life and be born into the Kingdom of God. This is the way in which that can be accomplished.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].

That is our invitation to you. Receive the love of God in Christ and be set free of all condemnation that you may begin to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Come, confessing Him as Lord of life. Come, seeking to identify with Him in baptism as He has commanded. Come, uniting with the church He blesses. Come, bringing your family and openly confessing Him before your friends. Come, even as we hold open the doors of the church. Step out of your seat and come down either of the aisles provided. May angels attend you as you come. Amen.

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[2] Walter T. Conner, The Epistles of John (Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1929) 148

[3] John G. Mitchell, Fellowship (Multnomah Press, Portland, OR, 1974) 121-2

[4] D. Edmond Hiebert, The Epistles of John: An Expositional Commentary (Bob Jones University Press, Greenville, SC, 1991) 196-7

[5] Daniel L. Akin, New American Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John, Vol. 38 (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN, 2001) 177-8

[6] Colin G. Kruse, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters of John (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 2000) 157

[7] David Jackman, The Message of John’s Letters (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1988) 120

[8] Donald G. Bloesch, Expiation, Propitiation (article) in Trent C. Butler (ed.), Holman Bible Dictionary (Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1991) 458-60

[9] The three tests are suggested by and elucidated by John G. Mitchell, op cit., 127-30

[10] J. Dwight Pentecost, The Joy of Fellowship (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1977) 110

[11] David Jackman, op cit., 124