If you think that a good number of blog posts recently have been on the topic of love, blame John! We are studying 1 John in our Bible studies, and this theme is one he returns to over and over again. Last night, we looked at 1 John 4:12-21 and again, the theme of God’s love and how it is manifested in the lives of believers is developed.
God lives in us and His love is made complete in us, John says in 1 John 4:12. He goes on to look at how God lives in us by His Spirit (1 John 4:13) and how our acknowledgment of Jesus as the Son of God is required (expressing positively the truths told us about liars and the antichrist in 1 John 2:22-23.) The key point of remaining in Christ (dwelling, abiding, as expounded in John 15:1-8 and already expressed 7 times in 1 John 2 and 5 times in 1 John 3) is highlighted as the way we access God’s love. This abiding gives us confidence so that we can not only know but rely on God’s love for us. Love is such an important part of the life that God gives us because ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8, 16). If we are united to God through faith in Christ, then we share His divine nature (see 2 Pet 1:3-4) and we need to understand that despite our sinful nature, positionally we are right now as God is (‘in this world we are like Jesus’ 1 John 4:17). This same truth is expressed in Eph 2:6, when Paul reminds us that God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. We may not always feel we are like Jesus, but the truth remains that because He has taken our sins, we are now accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:4-6, NKJV) and given confidence to approach God as beloved children, not as slaves cowering before a Judge.
John deals with the subject of fear in 1 John 4:18. This is not the healthy respect and reverence due to God (see Heb 5:7), but the nagging fear that cripples us: ‘a fearful life, fear of death, fear of judgment’ as the Message version puts it. Christ was sacrificed one to take away the sins of many (Heb 9:27-28) and so those who believe are given assurance that we have eternal life and have crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24) Because of this, there is now no condemnation (Rom 8:1-2) and God’s perfect love banishes (casts out, flings out of the door) all fear of punishment or torment. God’s Spirit dwelling in us testifies that we are children of God and we do not live in fear as slaves (Rom 8:14-16, see also Rom 8:35-39).
This love fills us with confidence and security, and therefore enables us to love not only God but all people. We may find it easier to profess love for God than to practise love for people, but John is adamant that God’s nature living in us must result in practical demonstrations of love towards others. Instead of fear dominating and causing us to hide and pretend (as with Adam and Eve after that first sin, Gen 3:10), our hearts are confident and there is no need to pretend, to God or to other people. Love for others grows only as we remain in God, however, allowing His love to flourish in us.