- 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Often our lives are ruled subtly by fear. Phobias takes many forms: crowds, commitment, public speaking, rejection, insects…
Fear can be debilitating to our future, paralyzing us.
Covid has brought a new sort of fear to the old and young alike. Now there is the fear that our attempts to reach out, care for and love others will have disastrous unintended consequences causing illness and death. This seems the antithesis of this verse.
There is no fear in love?
This verse can also ring untrue if you have experienced broken, unhealthy relationships where you suffered either physical or emotional wounds that resulted in deep fear of a person who you loved and who you thought loved you. If this is the way you feel, you are not alone. Sadly, the love that most of us experience in this world is tainted with selfishness, lust and fear.
Perhaps you entertain fears like this:
Will he come home angry today?
Will she even see me, or be too consumed with herself?
Will my love be rebuffed or rejected again?
At times romantic love, familial love, even parental love can be demanding, painful and disappointing. I hope that is not your experience. But if it is, I want you to know that there is a selfless pure love that is not like that.
Jesus Christ’s perfect love drives out fear. His love is not demanding, it is an accepting love. God knows you completely, and loves you completely. There is nothing you can hide from Him, and nothing you need to hide from Him. There is a sinking fear that gradually becomes a mindset of anxiety when you are starkly faced with your many flaws and mistakes. Satan whispers in our ear: you’re a fraud, a poser, a charlatan. Even on our best day, we know that we are not truly GOOD. I may mostly do right, acceptable things, but my motives are often far from pure.
The fear of being exposed can keep us awake at night.
God sees you and gives you grace declaring that you are pure in his sight because of Jesus’ blood. Only God can save us from the fear that stems from a guilty conscience. Only forgiveness can ultimately break that cyclone of anxiety. I have found that truly understanding that I am fully accepted and completely forgiven by God is the antidote to fear.
- 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
Religious people can easily become prideful about their devotion to God. The religious leaders in Jesus day were like this. This verse reminds us that God initiated our relationship with Him. Our relationship with Him is a gift of His grace, not our doing at all. Ours is responsive love, His is initiating. It is a privilege when God allows us to play a part in introducing people to His love, certainly not a reason to look down upon them.
Here is Mic’s testimony of the impact of this verse:
“Today I’ve had one of the worst days at work I’ve ever had, and I’m still here till 5. I got angry today so I started praying and God showed me that compared to the pain he went through, why should I complain about my suffering? Why not use it to get a glimpse understanding the depth of his love: that he would be forced to carry His cross, be whipped, crucified, and have a crown of thorns placed on his head, all for people that disobey him, despise him, hate him? Even the very ones that did this to Him He prayed for their salvation?!? My point is I had the wrong attitude this morning about my situation and I’m thankful God is teaching me to love based on his example, because I could not be as calm as I am without him. God definitely helped me change my attitude, because of this verse.“
- 1 John 4:20 (DCB) If anyone should say, “I love God” but he hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one not loving his brother, whom he has seen, is not able to love God whom he has not seen.
This is my translation from the Greek. The first commandment is to love God. It is a big deal to realize that we can’t love God truly and still hate people. So many people on this earth live this lie. They hate their divorced spouse, they hate their selfish coworker, they hate their competition, or they hate their ethnic or racial enemy. It is really a strong statement to say that their professions of love to God are lies! To draw near to God we need to let go of the hate we have for people.
- 1 John 4:21 And he has given us this command: anyone who loves God must also love his brother.
We tend to confuse the emotion of “love” with the true meaning of love. Love is a series of selfless choices. The reality is that it is hard to “force” your feelings, but easy to choose to put another’s well being first. My experience is that my feelings always eventually follow my choices. Sometimes they are a leading indicator, sometimes they lag, but they are always correlated.
- 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
Jesus is the Messiah. Do you believe it? Everything rides on your faith in this one truth. Perhaps the English word believe doesn’t convey the whole meaning, because this “belief” is more than intellectual acknowledgement, or even cognitive recognition. To believe that Jesus is the Messiah is to trust him to be your personal savior.
The phrase “born of god” in English is the translation of a perfect tense verb in Greek that carries the meaning: “having been begotten in the past with lasting implications for the future”. This verb actually appears three times in this one verse in Greek. Rather than calling God “the Father” he is called “the one out of whom he was begotten” and rather than “the son” Jesus is called “the one who was begotten”. The effect of this repetition is a very strong emphasis on the importance of Jesus coming in the flesh, what we call the incarnation. This verse connects our being reborn in God through faith, to Jesus being born as a babe on earth in a powerful way.
If we love God how could we not love Jesus, God’s one and only Son, the man God chose for himself as his perfect representative?
- 1 John 5:2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
This “know” is “gnowsko” in Greek, which is experiential knowledge. (Mary says, “How can I have child since I have never “known” (gnowsko) a man?” Luke 1:34). It is a curious idea that we experience loving the children of God by loving God himself and keeping his commandments. We do not have to work at loving people if we are really seeking to love God, instead it is a natural consequence of loving God and loving his commands that we end up loving his children in tangible ways! To me this verse precludes the path of complete solitude and perpetual monastic living. Yes, these choices may be helpful for a season to focus on loving God and perhaps healing of our brokenness, but eventually if we seek Him, his love for his children will grip our hearts too.
To be clear, the point of this verse is definitely not to say that if we mess up and fail to keep his commands, which we inevitably will, that we do not love God nor love his children. We honor God and show our love for him by attempting to obey his commands, and by trying to live up to the standard that Jesus set for us, which is so different than society’s standards. When we focus on Jesus’ life and admire how he acted toward the least, the outcasts, the marginalized and the spiritually poor, it rubs off on us. Jesus showed us that all people are children of God, and thus beloved by the Father. In loving them, we love the Father.
- 1 John 5:3 In fact this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
Loving God is not just about accepting what he did for us and then continuing to live our lives in the same manner. Instead his grace captivates our hearts, wooing us to deepen our relationship with him by cherishing and ruminating on his words. When we act out of love and gratitude with the intent of building our relationship with Him, rather than out of obligation or guilt, it lifts the burden of his commands. His commands are not a law that brings condemnation, but the sweet voice of his Spirit that ushers us into his very presence, bringing life, comfort and hope. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of shalom, of peace and wholeness.
Wondering how to love God today? Think of the commandments and try to live one out! Honor you parents, love your neighbor, or sing a praise song. Because of Jesus there is no condemnation, or judgement. These actions bring us joy, as He lives his life in and through us.
- 1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
What does it mean to “overcome the world”? “Overcomes” is the verb form of the Greek word nikay the word translated “victory”. The word is used three times in this verse. First we need to recognize that there is evil in the world, and that there are some things that aren’t ok with God, no matter what our culture or our leaders currently say. In fact, we need to change our mindset to become the kind of people that seek after God and desire to understand his heart. Only then do we begin to recognize the true depravity of the world system around us and the lies of the enemy. We are taught that people’s worth is measured by their outward beauty, or their smarts, or their productivity, or their bank account. As we turn away from these godless philosophies we begin to desire God himself and begin to see the world through new eyes of faith. We see people not as they are today, but as they could be, radiant eternal beings redeemed for eternal glory by the blood of Christ.
The message is that true victory comes through faith. Not effort, not intellect, not strategy, not resources, but only faith in Jesus and his promise of something much better to come for everyone who loves Him.
- 1 John 5:5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Could victory in life really be that simple? We might be tempted to create all kinds of false goals. We conquer the spiritual forces arrayed against us by simply trusting that Jesus is the Son of God. His work is complete; his sacrifice was sufficient; and our forgiveness is permanent.
Thank you God for this indescribable gift!
Atheist to Elder 