The Incarnation and Knowing God (2)

Introduction:

Human beings seem to understand that we ought, at some level to love one another.

Loving one another gives believers assurance that we have eternal life and that we know God.

We have recently learned that we can live with assurance that we are God’s children through:

Purity of life

Consistent, righteous behavior, ie behavior consistent with God’s own nature.

Obedience

Knowledge of the truth and thus knowledge that our belief and behavior align with the truth.

The practice of love in imitation of God’s love for us.

As the thoughts progress today, we should be able to see with clarity that at stake in the message of the incarnation of Jesus is our knowledge of God’s own character.

Think of John’s world, where humans lived in fear of their gods.

John claims we can know God, and knowledge of Him shows that He is love, not just wrath.

Love: What God is Really Like

Note the parallel statements in 1 John 4:8 “ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν θεόν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν.” ἐστε” and 1 John 4:16 Ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν

John is explaining God’ s nature.

God is the source of love (1 John 4:7) because love is one of his identifying qualities.

Knowing God is more than a metaphor for salvation here.

It is grasping his nature, knowing His person.

In 1 John 4:7-10, John describes God’s love for us, and he describes how He showed (manifested) His love for us.

John is reasserting a statement of assurance.

We are out from God.

The apostles are out from God.

Those who hear the apostles are those who know God.

Those who know God are listening to the apostles.

Apparently, the false teachers who have gone out from the truth do not listen to the message of the apostles.

They do not speak from God or His spirit.

They are from the world, and it is for this reason they speak from the world and the world is hearing them.

The false teachers:

Are not from God, they are from the world.

Do not speak from his spirit.

Speak from the world, from the spirit of antichrist, then.

They deny that Jesus has come in the flesh.

They do not preach love. They preach the pursuit of pleasure.

The world, not believers, hears them.

Because the message of the false teachers is a disavowal of the apostolic message of Jesus:

We have a clear, dividing line between the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Love: Evidence of Understanding God Without Seeing Him

How has John structured the development of thought?

Through sending his son as propitiation for our sins, God has loved us (1 John 4:10).

This is love, and in this is love.

God, whom no one has ever seen, is thus known by us despite never having physically encountered him (1 John 4:12).

We have assurance, indeed even evidence, that God, whom we have not seen, abides in us, if we are loving one another.

Furthermore, if we are loving one another, God’s love has been completed in us. There is a maturity.

When we practice love for one another, as a matter of habit, God’s love has been completed in us.

God’s love through Christ had as its intended aim the transformation of our lives from selfish, pleasure seeking individuals, to those who practice love for one another.

When we practice love for one another, as a matter of habit, God’s love has been completed in us.

Eph. 2:10 “αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεός, ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν.”

The indispensible part of all of this is Jesus Christ.

Our practice of love does not happen apart from believing in Jesus Christ.

We have arrived at practicing love for one another only through first understanding God.

Yet, that is without physically seeing Him.

Assurance: The Work of the Spirit

There is a second proof or body of evidence that allows us to know that we are abiding in him and he in us, namely, “he has given us from his spirit.”

The phrase “out from his spirit” appears to wear many hats now.

In the context, John has referred to the work of the spirit in the truth, the message of God. 1 John 4:14 also corresponds with this.

John also appears to have in mind the thought from chapters 2 and 3, especially chapter 3, that genuine believers have the “seed of God” in us, and thus we live in a manner consistent with his own nature.

A case could be made that one cannot separate out the work of the spirit that enables us to practice love for one another and its work in the truthful message of the apostles.

While it may be true that no one has ever seen God, John makes the clear statement that “we ourselves have seen and are witnessing that the Father has sent the son as savior of the world.

This is quite the reality when the weight of “the world” is considered.

The world is the domain of Satan.

It is the domain of human beings naturally.

We are of the world. We are drawn to the world. We are attracted to the world’s message.

Despite the world’s hostility to God, God has sent his Son as its savior.

We face the judgment of God. As part of the world and its system, we have every reason to fear God’s judgment.

Ancient people lived in fear of angering their gods. They wanted to propitiate them.

God propitiated himself.

Conclusion

While we may be capable of living in as many ways as their are people, the inescapable reality is there is one way we ought to live.

God has enabled us to live in that way through the incarnation and substitutionary death of Jesus. He has also demonstrated what that is. We know Him and love.