The Origin of Love

Introduction: When a baby is born, we often ask about the origin of the child. The questions may fall into two categories. First, a Christian couple will give thanks in awe and wonder for God’s continuing miracles in creation. They receive this little one as having a body and soul that only God could furnish. But second, they not only identify the divine dimensions of this child, they also identify the human dimensions. Whose eyes does he have? Whose color of hair? Whose cute dimples? Our text today helps us identify the divine dimension of love: its origin is God. At the same time, it describes the human dimensions, the effects God’s love has on us as we relate to one another.

Know That Love Is Not From You

Natural man considers love to have originated with himself.

There is even a danger in exhorting us to love—it sounds as though we are capable of doing it on our own.

We may think that we have an obligation only to love certain people: family, friends, and perhaps some others who are particularly pitiful. If we do this, we have fulfilled our duty to love.

See God as the Source of Love

The supernatural Christian knows that true love does not stem from ourselves (v 10); rather, God is the origin of love (v 7).

God is love (v 8). The very nature of God is love. He created mankind in love, and when we fell into sin, instead of destroying us, he set about to redeem us.

The love of God has been revealed to us by God sending his only Son into the world to die on the cross as the expiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins (v 10), so that we might live through him (v 9). We have eternal life in his name.

Expect God’s Love to Change You

This love from God has a dramatic effect on us.

We are born of God (v 7). Through Holy Baptism we are born again of water and the Spirit as children of God (John 3:1–8). Our old, natural birth has been superseded by a new, supernatural birth.

We know God (vv 7–8). We possess a knowledge of God’s love for us that unbelievers do not have. We do not just know about God intellectually; we know God, personally and intimately, because we have received his love.

We love others because God first loved us (v 11). Our love for one another is in response to God’s infinite love for each and every one of us. We show the same sort of selfless, sacrificial love toward others, thereby witnessing to the love of God in Jesus Christ. The exhortation says it all: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Illustration: From time to time we hear of an individual who has performed a supernatural feat. There is the true story of a woman who was driving with her child. She swerved to avoid a dog and struck a tree. She was thrown clear, but the child was pinned under the car. She panicked, and with adrenaline pumping, she raised a corner of the car up enough for her child to escape. Normally, of course, she never would have been able to raise the car. But in her love for her child, she was able to do something superhuman. In the same way, by ourselves we are unable to love others as we ought. But empowered by the love of God, we are able to perform supernatural feats of love for others.

Conclusion: During many situations in life, it is important to distinguish between cause and effect. It is vitally important in our relationship with our Lord that we distinguish between spiritual cause and effect. The cause or origin of love is God. The effect is that we love others in the same manner that God has loved us. When we do so, we spread that love to the glory of God and the praise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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The little Greek word ek in v 7 identifies the source of love: God. He is the giver of love and the one who shows us what unconditional love is all about. For a fourth time, John exhorts his readers to love each other (3:11, 18, 23; cf. also 4:11, 21; 2 John 5). Further, John places love in a divine dimension: when one loves, one shows that he or she has been born of God and knows God. Love involves knowledge, comprehension, and understanding. Thus ours is a love that knows God, but a lack of love indicates not knowing God, because God is love (v 8). In all this, John is not discussing just any type of love humanly understood. In the preceding chapters of his epistle he has carefully defined agapē, “love,” as the love of God in Jesus Christ which is reflected in the lives of those who believe in him.

John consistently uses the definite article with God in this pericope, and usually elsewhere in his writings. He is directing the reader’s attention to the one true God, the one who has loved us in his Son, Jesus Christ. It is this particular God that needs to be revealed to a loveless world through the love of his children.