Exploring 1 John: Perfect Love Casts out Fear
1 John 4:17-18 - Be filled with confidence before God by abiding in Him and having HIs Love perfected in you!
“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
1 John 4:17-18 NASB1995
John talks about how love is perfected in us “by this”, which refers back to God abiding in us and us in Him from the previous verse. We looked at the word perfect before (Strong’s G5048), but let’s look at the usages again. “Perfect” comes from the Greek word τελειόω or teleióō, with the following Biblical usages:
to make perfect, complete
to carry through completely, to accomplish, finish, bring to an end
to complete (perfect)
add what is yet wanting in order to render a thing full
to be found perfect
to bring to the end (goal) proposed
to accomplish
bring to a close or fulfilment by event
of the prophecies of the scriptures
So because true “perfection” is impossible in this life for humans, our love is completed or brought to a close or end through our relationship with Jesus. This gives us confidence in the day of judgment! Let’s look at confidence: This comes from the Greek word παῤῥησία or parrhēsía, with the following Biblical usages; Strong’s G3954 is used 31 times in the New Testament:
freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
openly, frankly, i.e without concealment
without ambiguity or circumlocution
without the use of figures and comparisons
free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance
the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity
Are you going to have that free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness and assurance when you are before the judgment throne of God? Or will you be standing there with your spiritual fingers crossed behind your back, hoping for the best? Remember, there are NO good works that you can do on your own to get you past this judgment. This judgment is also a certainty - it is referred to numerous times in the Bible and Jesus talked about hell (Gehenna) at least 11 times in the Gospels (some sources say more). God’s perfect justice, along with His perfect love, is absolutely necessary because of the evil of this world and of the enemy.
Once again, John Piper hits it out of the ballpark with a splendid sermon on these same verses in 1 John. Here is what he says about judgment and the horrors of hell:
One of the reasons I say I wonder if we really believe this is the public zeal with which so many Christians warn against the possibility of a nuclear holocaust and how earnestly they work to avert it. And I ask, “Does the coming holocaust of divine wrath at the final judgment startle us as deeply and mobilize us dramatically?”
The nuclear holocaust is only a possibility; but the holocaust of divine wrath is a biblical certainty. The nuclear holocaust would only snuff out life that is temporary and earthly; but the holocaust of divine wrath will snuff out eternal life and will bring a misery to unbelievers that is worse than any disease caused by nuclear radiation.
So I hope we all take the day of judgment as seriously as John did. I hope that when your heart recoils at the tragedy of a possible nuclear holocaust, you will let that legitimate concern overflow the limits of earthly considerations and take in the tragedy of eternal divine judgment as well. I hope that when you feel an impulse to save the world from the bomb, you will enlarge your heart to long for the eternal salvation of your neighbor and the millions of unreached peoples of the world.
The reality of hell and judgment is one of the big reasons for people shunning Christianity. Judgment is a certainty, whereas a nuclear war is only a possibility. It is a hard reality! People whine about the “unfairness” of hell for the nice (but agnostic) Grandmother who never harmed a fly or about judgment against those who were really just trying to make this world a “better place” by taking resources from some people involuntarily and handing it to others through various taxation programs (that used to be known as theft). Someone has a friend pass away and they mouth the platitudes that they are in a “better place” without any knowledge of what they believed. They may NOT be in a better place!
Many denominations are now also soft pedaling the idea of eternal judgment that leads multitudes away from God. In the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America), the denomination that we fled several years ago, their top Bishop Elizabeth Eaton had this to Say about hell:
When asked whether she believes there is a Hell, Eaton replied, "There may be, but I think it's empty."
The bishop explained that she thinks Hell is empty because Jesus had said that He will draw all men to Himself and that she does not believe that God would give up on people who reject him.
So Bishop Eaton knows better than Jesus about hell and judgment. Why should Jesus suffer and die for our sins if the plan is to bring “all people” to Himself anyway? The ELCA church positions can be found Here, if you are curious (do some searches on their website). If readers think I am “picking” on the ELCA, it is because we saw their dreadful march to apostasy with our own eyes at the church we attended for over 13 years. They are lost, but we pray for them every week anyway. They are not the only major denomination who is lost, by the way. You might check the latest pronouncements from your own church leadership to see if they align with God’s timeless truth or with the latest social fad.
The enemy sows these seeds of doubt, false compassion, and cheap grace, leading many astray who were at one time solidly in line with Biblical truths (I recall my old Lutheran church many years ago being much more orthodox). In fact, these seeds can lead to resentment of God and His character! It’s not fair that God judges and wants us to perfect our love through Him. That’s too hard! People are all about fairness these days and getting what they believe they deserve just for breathing, not being repentant and doing His work. I like this commentary from Enduring Word:
That we may have boldness in the day of judgment: This shows the greatness of God’s work in us. We might be satisfied to merely survive the day of judgment, but God wants to so fill our lives with His love and His truth that we have boldness in the day of judgment.
The Bible says that one day, all of humanity will gather before God’s Great White Throne and face judgment. This day is coming! “The day of judgment is as fixed in God’s eternal timetable as any other day in world history.” (James Montgomery Boice)
Some think they will go there and judge God (“When I see God, there’s a few questions I have for Him!”), but that is nonsense. The only way to have boldness in the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today.
Boldness in the day of judgment: How can anyone have such boldness? We can imagine Jesus being bold before the throne of God, but us? Yet, if we abide in Him, and He in us (1 John 4:13), then our identity is bound up in Jesus: as He is, so are we in the world.
How is Jesus now? He is glorified, justified, forever righteous and bold, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Spiritually, we can have that same standing now, while we are in the world, because as He is, so are we in the world.
Certainly, this glory is in us now just in “seed” form; it has not yet fully developed into what it will be. But it is there, and its presence is demonstrated by our love for one another and our agreement with God’s truth – and that all serves to give us boldness.
When you are before the throne of the Almighty God, your Creator, I am anticipating that those little lectures about “unfairness” that you might have saved up to throw at Him will die on your lips. What you really need in that moment is confidence and boldness!
The main point of verse 18 is that perfect love casts out all fear, because the one who fears is not perfected in love. Back to that excellent sermon from John Piper; he has a great example in the life of David Livingstone:
Now for verse 18. It seems to me that exactly the same thing is at stake in verse 18 as in verse 17 — how to get rid of fear about the day of judgment. Verse 17 is positive: how to have confidence for the day of judgment. Verse 18 is negative: how not to have fear for the day of judgment. And both give the same answer: “perfect” or “perfected” love. Verse 18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.
THE NEGATIVE OF VERSE 17
Let’s look at the last part first: “He who fears is not perfected in love.” This is the exact negative of verse 17. Verse 17 says that when love is perfected with us, we have confidence. Verse 18 says that when we are not perfected in love, we don’t have confidence, we fear!
…
So the first part of the verse says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.” In other words, the reason there is no fear in love is that there is no threat of punishment for being a loving person. When you love someone with real practical deeds, you never hear a warning signal that says, “You’re going to get punished for this.” Fear is what you feel when you have done something that ought to be punished. But love is never threatened with punishment. So there is no fear in love.
On the contrary, when you love each other with “perfect love” (i.e., with the love of God overflowing and being completed in action) — when you love each other like this, it casts out fear! The way to boldness, the way to confidence and fearlessness, is to walk love not just talk love. Love is perfected not when it is sinlessly flawless, but when it passes from talk to walk.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE’S CHALLENGE
In 1857 when David Livingstone was home from Africa giving a challenge to the students at the University of Cambridge, he tried to convince them that a life of love in the service of others is no ultimate sacrifice. In doing so he gave a beautiful illustration of 1 John 4:17–18 (without realizing it, I suppose). He said,
Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter?
Notice the sequence of thought. He says that his labors of love on behalf of the lost have been healthful activity. He has the consciousness of doing good. This is “love perfected” — love in deed and truth, love reaching its goal, love completed in action.
And what was the result for David Livingstone? Peace of mind and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter! Or to use the words of John: confidence for the day of judgment and a mind without fear.
We can have peace of mind and confidence when we stand before God! We can have that perfect love that drives out all fear. We can know now about our glorious destiny!
My next devotional examines 1 John 4:19-21 - We love because He first loved us and we should love our brother. This will end chapter four of 1 John, with one more chapter of devotionals. After I finish 1 John, I am tackling a BIG one: The Book of Acts! Acts is one of my favorite books in the Bible, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, in the establishment of God’s church.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - May Your perfect love fill me and be perfected in me to drive out fear, so that I have bold confidence in my destiny with You today and all uncertainties disappear. 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 6/10/2024 to review the lexicon for perfected, confidence.
Commentary in Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.
In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included:
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org