Grace Baby, Grace

1 John 3:16-24

The passage in 1 John 4:7-21 talks about how important it is for people to love one another. It says that when we love each other, we are showing God's love. It starts by saying that God is love, and if we live in love, we live in God, and God lives in us. This is shown through what Jesus did for us - he lived, died, and came back to life. This shows us how much God loves us and gives us confidence through his Spirit.

The text explains that perfect love removes fear, especially the fear of judgment. It states that fear is linked to punishment, and perfect love removes this worry. It emphasizes the connection between loving God and loving others. It highlights that if someone claims to love God but does not love the people they can see, then their claim is undermined. The passage concludes by stressing that loving one another is not just recommended, but it is commanded by God. It also emphasizes that this mutual love is both a response to and a reflection of God’s love for us.

The passage encourages Christians to show God's love by having loving relationships with others. It emphasizes that love is both a characteristic of God and something that Christians must do. This love is a sign of genuine Christian faith and shows that God is present among His people.

Authorship

The First Epistle of John is traditionally attributed to John the Evangelist, who is also believed to be the author of the Gospel of John and the other two Johannine epistles. This attribution is based on early church traditions and these texts’ stylistic and thematic similarities. Scholars like Raymond E. Brown and Stephen S. Smalley support the traditional view, highlighting the internal evidence and linguistic patterns that align with the Johannine community’s characteristics (Brown 1052; Smalley 143).

Audience

John’s audience is believed to be a community of early Christians in or around Ephesus. This community was experiencing internal strife due to doctrinal disputes, particularly concerning the nature of Jesus and ethical living. These conflicts were likely fueled by incipient Gnostic beliefs, which posed a theological challenge to orthodox Christian teachings (Kostenberger and Kellum 672).

Key Themes

1 John 4 delves into several significant themes:

  • God as Love: The epistle emphasizes that love is not only an attribute of God but His very essence. This foundational premise encourages believers to love one another, reflecting God’s nature in their lives (1 John 4:7-12).
  • Testing the Spirits: John advises his readers to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. This instruction is a direct response to the proliferation of false prophets who were spreading heretical teachings about Jesus’ nature (1 John 4:1-6).
  • The Indwelling of God through Love: John asserts that God lives in those who confess Jesus as the Son of God and live out His command to love each other, providing a theological basis for ethical behavior and communal harmony (1 John 4:13-16).

Historical Context

Written around 85-95 AD, 1 John addresses the challenges facing a community torn by schism and heresy. The rise of Gnosticism, with its dualistic view of spirit and matter, led to conflicts over the interpretation of Jesus’ nature—whether He was divine, human, or a combination of both. John’s letters aim to reaffirm the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation and the ethical implications of living in a community founded on divine love (Coogan 1910).

Exegesis

1 John 4:7-8

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

  • Exegesis: These verses set the foundation that love is intrinsically linked to the nature of God. Since God is love, those who are His children must exhibit love. This concept is central in Johannine theology, emphasizing that the failure to love indicates a lack of genuine relationship with God (Brown 1051).

1 John 4:9-10

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

  • Exegesis: These verses highlight the sacrificial nature of God’s love, demonstrated through the incarnation and atonement of Christ. John underscores that divine love is proactive and sacrificial, setting a pattern that believers are called to emulate (Smalley 147).

1 John 4:11

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

  • Exegesis: Echoing the teachings of Jesus, John reiterates that the believers’ response to God’s love should be mirrored in their relationships. This mutual love among believers serves as a tangible expression of God’s love in the community (Kostenberger and Kellum 673).

1 John 4:12

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

  • Exegesis: John articulates a profound theological truth: while God Himself may be invisible, His presence is manifested through the love believers show one another. This mutual love is presented as both evidence and completion of God’s indwelling presence (Coogan 1912).

1 John 4:13-16

“By this we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

  • Exegesis: These verses connect the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with the confession of Christ’s divine sonship and the believer’s lived experience of love. John uses this theological framework to affirm the mutual abidance of God and the believer, which is the essence of Christian life (Brown 1052).

1 John 4:17-18

“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.”

  • Exegesis: John speaks to the eschatological confidence that comes from living in love. He contrasts the freedom found in love with the fear of judgment, suggesting that perfect love, exemplifying God’s nature, eliminates fear related to divine retribution (Smalley 149).

1 John 4:19-21

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

  • Exegesis: These concluding verses reinforce the inseparability of loving God and loving others. John argues that to claim love for God while failing to love others is contradictory and false. True divine love necessitates tangible expressions of love towards fellow human beings (Kostenberger and Kellum 675).

1 John 4:7-21 Through the Lens of Wesleyan/Methodist Theology

Examining 1 John 4:7-21 through the lens of Wesleyan/Methodist theology involves understanding how John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and his theological successors interpret these verses, focusing mainly on their emphasis on sanctification, Christian perfection, and the practical application of love in the life of believers. Here is a breakdown of the passage with Wesleyan insights:

1 John 4:7-8

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: Wesley would see these verses as foundational, asserting that love is essential for anyone who professes to be a Christian. His doctrine of Christian perfection involved loving God and neighbor perfectly, which he believed was achievable through God’s transforming grace (Collins 112).

1 John 4:9-10

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: Wesley emphasized the atoning sacrifice of Christ as the highest expression of divine love and the basis for salvation. He taught that our response should be one of equivalent self-giving love, reflecting God’s initiative and sacrificial nature (Wesley, Sermon 85).

1 John 4:11

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: Reflecting Wesley’s practical approach to theology, this verse would underscore the Methodist emphasis on social holiness—faith expressed in communal and social care (Outler 45).

1 John 4:12

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: Wesley would likely interpret this as an affirmation of the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit, who enables believers to live out a life of love. This completion of love in believers is a sign of living in sanctification (Heitzenrater 139).

1 John 4:13-16

“By this we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: These verses would be central to Wesley’s teaching on assurance, where the inward witness of the Spirit confirms to believers their status in God’s love and grace. The confession of Jesus as Son and the mutual indwelling speak to the relational dynamics of faith that Wesley so often highlighted (Maddox 87).

1 John 4:17-18

“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: Wesley would use these verses to discuss his doctrine of perfection, asserting that perfect love casts out fear, including the fear of judgment. This reflects his view that Christian assurance and perfection in love are attainable and desirable states in the Christian life (Wesley, Sermon 43).

1 John 4:19-21

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

  • Wesleyan Interpretation: For Wesley, these verses encapsulate the ethical and relational imperatives of Christianity. They align with his insistence that true Christian faith must manifest in concrete acts of love towards others, integrating the vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationships with others (Outler 49).

Works Cited