Exploring 1 John: Love One Another
Exploring 1 John: Love One Another
1 John 4:7-8 - Our love that comes from God wants God’s best for others, spoken in truth.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:7-8 NASB1995
John returns once again to his emphasis on love for each other because when we love we are born of God, we know God and that love comes from God because God is love. Those who don’t know God do not love, at least not in the agape sense. We’ve done a study of this eternal love (agape), so let’s do a couple of other word studies!
“Born” comes from the Greek word γεννάω or gennáō, with the following Biblical usages; Strong’s G1080 is found 97 times in the New Testament:
of men who fathered children
to be born
to be begotten
of women giving birth to children
metaph.
to engender, cause to arise, excite
in a Jewish sense, of one who brings others over to his way of life, to convert someone
of God making Christ his son
of God making men his sons through faith in Christ's work
John is likely referring to the metaphorical “born” of God making men His sons (and women His daughters) through faith in Christ’s work.
“Know”, which we have studied before, comes from the Greek word γινώσκω or ginṓskō, with the following Strong’s definitions (as opposed to Biblical usages); Strong‘s G1097 is used 222 times in the New Testament:
a prolonged form of a primary verb; to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed):—allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) know(-ledge), perceived, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.
So those who love in the way of God’s love can be sure of God or can understand (at least in a limited way) Him and His love. I like what Charles Spurgeon says about this love (found in Precept Austin):
From the abundance of love which was in John’s heart, we might almost be startled at the very strong things that he writes against those who are in error, did we not remember that it is only a false charity which winks at error. He is the most loving man who has honesty enough to tell the truth, and to speak out boldly against falsehood. It is very easy to pass through this world believing and saying that everybody is right. That is the way to make a soft path for your own feet, and to show that you only have love to yourself; but sometimes to speak as John the Baptist spoke, or as Martin Luther spoke, is the way to prove that you have true love to others.
God is indeed Love, but He is also many other things (see this Article from Gotquestions.org for some of these): He is Good, He is Light, He is Eternal, He is Spirit, He is Triune, He is Holy, He is a Consuming Fire, He is Righteous, He is Just, He is Faithful, He is Merciful, He is Truth, He is Patient, He is All-Powerful, He is All-Knowing, He is a Provider, He is a Healer, He is the same God today as yesterday and tomorrow…the list is unending. Because God is so many of these things in all perfection and at the same time, His love that becomes the love we have for others should not be false charity or cheap compassion that leads us or others into a wrongful sense of security concerning their salvation.
Here is what Enduring Word says about God is Love, echoing some of my thoughts above:
For God is love: This is a glorious truth. Love describes the character and heart of God. He is so rich in love and compassion, that it can be used to describe His very being.
When we say God is love, we are not saying everything about God. Love is an essential aspect of His character, and colors every aspect of His nature. But it does not eliminate His holiness, His righteousness, or His perfect justice. Instead, we know the holiness of God is loving, and the righteousness of God is loving, and the justice of God is loving. Everything God does, in one way or another, expresses His love.
“He hates nothing he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for a fallen soul to find mercy. He has given the fullest proof of his love to the whole human race by the incarnation of his Son, who tasted death for every man. How can a decree of absolute, unconditional reprobation, of the greater part or any part of the human race, stand in the presence of such a text as this?” (Adam Clarke)
“Never let it be thought that any sinner is beyond the reach of divine mercy so long as he is in the land of the living. I stand here to preach illimitable love, unbounded grace, to the vilest of the vile, to those who have nothing in them that can deserve consideration from God, men who ought to be swept into the bottomless pit at once if justice meted out to them their deserts.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Great problems come when we try to say love is God. This is because love does not define everything in the character of God, and because when most people use the term love, they are not thinking of true love, the God-kind of love. Instead, they are thinking of a squishy, namby-pamby, have-a-nice-day kind of love that values being “nice” more than wanting what is really best for the other person. [my emphasis added].
The Bible also tells us that God is spirit (John 4:24), God is light (1 John 1:5), and that God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
God is love: There are few people who really know and really believe that God is love. For whatever reason, they won’t receive His love and let it transform their lives. It transforms our life to know the love of God in this way.
“There is love in many places, like wandering beams of light; but as for the sun, it is in one part of the heavens, and we look at it, and we say, ‘Herein is light.’… He did not look at the Church of God, and say of all the myriads who counted not their lives dear unto them, ‘Herein is love,’ for their love was only the reflected brightness of the great sun of love.” (Charles Spurgeon)
People reading our devotional site may think that Steve and I hate others for their “lifestyle choices”, especially during this month when “Pride” is taking center stage in so many places. We are broken-hearted for the lost and for those who don’t know the love of God or have rejected it. We want all of them to understand this love that came through Jesus and that they would repent (like we did and we both had very bad sins against God) and be part of God’s family. This desire to have others come back to God’s love extends to those in some of the mainstream denominations who think they are right by wanting to be nice and inclusive but do not want to speak the truth in love. As Spurgeon says in the Enduring Word quote, no sinner is beyond the reach of God’s divine mercy as long as he or she is still in the land of the living!
My next devotional examines 1 John 4:9-11 - The meaning of God’s love
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Help me to pray each day with love for those who do not know your love or choose to reject it. We want to reach as many as possible and know that no sinner is beyond Your mercy. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 6/3/2024 to review the lexicon for born and know.
Precept Austin was accessed on 6/3/2024 to review commentary for 1 John 4:7-8.
Enduring Word commentary by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Amen👆👆👆