God is love
1 John 4:16 - Are you living your life in such a way as to make it worthy of God’s continuing presence?
“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.”
1 John 4:16 NIV
God directed us back to the first Epistle of John today. Verse 16 begins with the words “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us”, acknowledging God’s love for us. It’s more than just saying “yeah, God loves me” — it’s having a deep and personal understanding of God’s love for you!
The Greek word γινώσκω (ginōskō) means more than just an offhand knowledge of something — the definition implies that one has learned or come to know, perceived, or felt God’s love. As we grow in faith as Christian believers, we begin to truly understand was His love means to us and to trust in that love. Particularly when we realize the significance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we come to know and feel His love.
In the early days of the Christian church, persecution was coming from all sides: the Jewish followers of Yahweh, the Romans (with their pantheon of gods and their cult-like worship of the emperor), and a number of other pagan religions. John’s reminder of God’s love was a strong way to provide strength and comfort to the persecuted.
Enduring Word had this to say about the first portion of 1 John 4:16:
This is the Christian’s proper response to who God is, and how He loves us. We are called to take the love and grace God gives, to know it by experience and to believe it. This is what fellowship with God is all about.
i. People respond to the love of God differently.
Some respond with a sense of self-superiority (“I’m so great, even God loves me!”).
Some respond with doubt (“Can God really love even me?”).
Some respond with wickedness (“God loves me, so I can do what I want”).
God wants us to respond by knowing (by experience) and believing the love God has for us.
ii. The Christian must know and believe the love God has for us. We should consider what would it take to make us stop believing God loves us. Paul knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God that was in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:35-39), and each Christian should have the same confidence.
iii. “To feel God’s love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest.” (Spurgeon)
The second part of this verse repeats a central message of Christianity: God is love. This says so much more than “God loves” — it shows that God IS love itself. Without God, love would not exist. From BibleHub:
The concept of God as love is unique to the Christian faith and is foundational to understanding the Trinity, where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in a perfect relationship of love. This truth is echoed in other scriptures, such as 1 Corinthians 13, which describes the characteristics of love, and in the life of Jesus, who perfectly embodied God's love.
What about that last phrase - “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them”? There’s a lot of meaning in those words. The ancient Greek word μένω (menō) has much more impact than “lives in” or “abides” — some of the definitions include “not to depart, to continue to be present”, “to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure”, and “to remain as one, not to become another or different”.
Abiding in love (and therefore living in God) is living in an enduring state of love, so John is calling believers to remain steadfast in their love for one another as a reflection of God’s nature. There is a second part of this — “and God in them.” We are to live in God, and he lives in us. This was what Jesus promised all of us in John 14:16-17, that the Holy Spirit would dwell within us, a beautiful union between God and His people!
Are you living your life in such a way as to make it worthy of God’s continuing presence? If not, there’s still time to change!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I thank You for the infinite variety of ways that You demonstrate Your love in my life. Remind me continuously that I should never take my relationship with my Creator for granted. Please place opportunities in my path to demonstrate Your love to others, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with as many people as I can. I ask this in Christ’s name, AMEN.
Steve, I particularly love your comment on the Greek translation of living or abiding in God being a lasting, enduring state of being, remaining as One. Thanks.