Clarity about God and Love

Introduction:

We want to be genuine, and we want to know that we are genuine in our claims to love God, to believe the truth, and to trust Christ.

Look at what our generation tries to compel us to do all in the name of practicing Christian love:

Deny the deity of Jesus.

As a result of (a.), to say all religions are equal.

To say all modes of behavior and lifestyle are equal.

Within Christianity, to accept all doctrines and practice as equal.

This (d.) to look at their heart and their claims rather than their practices.

These are all forms of a bait and switch.

It is replacing truth with acceptance.

It is exchanging godly love for human acceptance.

God’s love compels us to love one another not accept and celebrate evil as good.

Assurance and Imitation

John makes another bold claim about the “we.”

“We are loving,” he says.

This statement can be taken in reference to God (some texts).

It could be understood as loving God and one another (the context).

John wants to keep before his readers the steady reminder that they should live in assurance.

He knows “we are loving,” that is our practice.

Our practice of love is caused by God’s own prior love for us.

It is in our practice of love that “we walk in the light as he is in the light.”

God’s own love calls us to love one another. Among one another, we have all come to know God, to believe His love, so that our love for one another rests upon our mutual knowledge of Him and His love for us.

We practice, therefore, an internal love. It cannot exist outside the defining parameter of a shared knowledge of God’s own character manifested by His love for us.

This practice exposes all other claims to be false.

Claims Do not Supersede Practice.

1 John 4:20, John revisits a phrase he sometimes uses in this letter (“if someone might.”)

1 John 2:15 “Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ·”

1 John 2:1 “Τεκνία μου, ταῦτα γράφω ὑμῖν ἵνα μὴ ἁμάρτητε. καὶ ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον·”

1 John 5:16 “Ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον. ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον· οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ.”

He has also referred to someone who claims.

1 John 2:4 “ὁ λέγων ὅτι ἔγνωκα αὐτὸν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ μὴ τηρῶν ψεύστης ἐστίν, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἔστιν·”

1 John 2:6 “ὁ λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ μένειν ὀφείλει, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος περιεπάτησεν, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως περιπατεῖν.”

1 John 2:9 “Ὁ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῶν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι.”

Here the claim is “I am loving God.”

John then uses “and” to fill in the consistent practice.

Their practice exposes whether they are telling the truth in their claim to love God.

“He is a liar” echoes 1 John 2:4 making this statement most closely resemble it.

John, no doubt, has in mind the false teachers.

After this explanation, John offers supporting evidence or reasons.

Note 1 John 4:11.

Note loving the visible brother exposes the impossibility of loving the invisible God.

Obedience: the Final Test of Genuiness.

In addition to God’s prior love for us, we also have the assuring practice of keeping His commandments.

“Commandment” here may be taken loosely, as “instruction,” but it is probably another reference to John 13:34.

Those who love God keep His commandments.

He has commanded that those who love Him love the brethren.

Our love should be internal. It begins internally. We are beginning to see in our own generation the exposure of false teachers if we know where to look. Love is strictly external, in their eyes. And, it takes the form of an unchallenging acceptance. We must be very careful not to get lured into the deceitful doctrine that Christian love compels us to accept and to call evil good.