MONDAY – 1 John 4:12-16, “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” As we come to the next several verses and Part – 2 Of “The Truth About Perfect Love”, we find that John now moves from talking about the Character of God (Love) to point out that the Christian’s claim to be a child of God, must include love for other believers. God who is unseen and has revealed Himself through His Son is now made visible in the love of believers by His people. Charles Spurgeon comments, “No man is a Christian who does not love Christians. He who, being in the church, is yet not of it heart and soul, is but an intruder in the family. But since love to our brothers springs out of love to our one common Father, it is plain that we must have love to that Father, or else we shall fail in one of the indispensable marks of the children of God. “We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers” (1 John 3:14). But we cannot truly love the brothers unless we love the Father. Therefore, lacking love to God, we lack love to the church, which is an essential mark of grace.”
(Meditate, Apply & Pray) As we study this week, ask yourself if you in fact, love other Christians. How is it shown? Do you need to repent and work on this area in your life? Father, help me to see from Your Word the importance loving my brothers. Forgive me for the times I do not love them as You have loved us.
TUESDAY – 1 John 4:12, “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” John begins by saying; No one has seen God at any time. John will go on in verse 20 to explain what he means, in the broader context, when he writes, “…he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” We are able to see other people but we cannot see God. So even if we say we love God, our words are meaningless unless there is a visible expression of proof through our showing love to one another. It is in loving others that we fulfill the command to love God and our neighbor and it is when we do this that our love is proved to be genuine. We declare God to people and they can’t see Him. So how are we to persuade them that an invisible God really exists? How do they see? They see if we love one another. This is so very important for effective evangelism. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. John here reaffirms again what he has said earlier in his letter that if we obey God’s commands, He lives in us and we in Him. “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24). One last comment on the word perfected. This Greek word means “to make perfect, complete, to accomplish, to bring to an end”. It is from the same word group that contains Jesus cry from the cross, “It is finished” (paid in full, complete). Jesus completely paid our debt with His sacrifice and God’s love is complete in us when we love others.
(Meditate, Apply & Pray) Can people see God when they look at how you love others? What do your words about others tell the people who can hear you talk? Father, help me to show that my love for You is genuine by loving others as You have loved me. Forgive me for the times I so often love myself before You and my neighbor.
WEDNESDAY – 1 John 4: 13-14, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” Remember Beloved that the letter of 1 John is written primarily to give assurance to believers to the fact they are genuine Christians. We have seen these tests and warnings of false professions of faith and professors of faith throughout. We are now in a section where we are seeing one of the tests that assure us we are saved is our love. The words by this refer to the preceding context where John tells us that if we love one another, God abides (lives) in us. This is the backdrop for the confidence that, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us.” From experiencing the presence of God in our lives we know that God lives in us. How do we know? …because He has given us of His Spirit. He is saying that blessings from God such as love, flow to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit pours out God’s love to us (Romans 5:5) and reveals that God is living within us but here we see John explain that the Holy Spirit Himself is God’s gift to us. The Holy Spirit does not work alone. It is all three members of the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that take part in the work of salvation. In these two verses John mentions the work of them all. John then tells us that he along with the other Apostles, have seen and testify to the truth of the gospel. From the baptism of Jesus till his ascension, they were eyewitnesses of Jesus mission and ministry as Savior of the world. Jesus proclaimed the message as well. When He visited Sychar, the Samaritans said, “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). The apostles preached that Jesus is Savior. They said, “God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel” (Acts 5:31, 13:23). We see Scripture proclaims Jesus, the Savior, was given authority as Lord to save not only the Jews but also the Gentiles as the work of salvation then, is worldwide in scope (John 3:16).
(Meditate, Apply & Pray) Do I see evidence of The Holy Spirit in my life. Do I enjoy love for God and joy and peace from God which are evidences of The Spirit’s work? Do I proclaim to others that Jesus is the Savior of the World? Father, help me to enjoy You, fellowship with the Holy Spirit and preach Jesus.
THURSDAY – 1 John 4:15: “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” John just told us that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. We mentioned yesterday that the Apostles teach us that the scope of the gospel message was and is for the whole world; meaning both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 1:16, John 3:16). This does not mean that every single person in the world will be saved. We know that is clear from the warnings and teachings of Scripture. So who are the people of the world Jesus has come to save? They are the ones who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God. In fact, only if the believer confesses that Jesus is the Son of God will God abide in him, and he in God. These words are not merely a confessional statement such as the statement that Jesus is Lord from 1 Corinthians 12:3. John is teaching a theological truth. The word Jesus embodies the entire history of Jesus from his birth to his ascension and session at the right hand of God. Son of God has its roots in Old Testament prophecies (2 Samuel 7:14, Psalm 2:7) that were fulfilled when Jesus came (Hebrews 1:5). The confession Jesus is the Son of God proclaims one understands who He is both as the human substitute for sin and the divine Savior from it. This confession excludes everyone who denies Jesus is the Son of God (2:23, 5:10, 12) as one who has no fellowship with God.
(Meditate, Apply & Pray) Think about the fact that God has chosen you as one from this world to shew You His Salvation and give you faith to believe and obey. Take some time to confess Jesus The Son and praise God The Father.
FRIDAY– 1 John 4:16: “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” John here uses the personal pronoun we, including all the readers of his letter. He tells you Christian that we by experience have come to know the love of God and we have put our trust in it. The two verbs know and believe go together. A. E. Brooke comments that, “The growth of knowledge and the growth of faith act and react on each other.” Then John again repeats the statement from verse 8, God is love. He has already defined what love is, where it originates, and how it develops but here in our text he begins to tell us the purpose of God’s love living within the believer. To give us confidence, expel fear, and encourages us to be like Christ (2:6). He closes by telling us that he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Those who live in this divine love live in God and God in them. C. H. Dodd calls this passage “the high-water mark of the thought of this epistle.” In closing we as believers have assurance God abides in us and therefore we will love the Father and the Son, love righteousness and that which God loves. We will love fellow believers and even love our enemies. In short, we will more and more love the way God loves (Matthew 5:48, 22:37–40, 2 Corinthians 3:18).
(Meditate, Apply & Pray) Father, help us to love, not a mere feeling, but care, compassion, sacrifice, service, selflessness. May we be like Jesus, who humbled Himself and loved the undeserving and unworthy. Help us to be humble like You which is the only way we can truly love others. It is when we truly love like this we have the assurance of The Spirit we are Your children. In Jesus name, Amen.
