LOVE THE CHILDREN OF GOD - 1 JOHN 5:1-3

Verses 1–3: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

These first three verses of chapter five is John’s summarization of his discussion of the believers’ love for God and fellow brothers in Christ.

The Christ

John’s opening assertion is a statement of unequivocal truth, but its significance is often missed by casual reading. The important aspect of what a person believes about Jesus is that He is the Christ—the Jewish Messiah. For He came to earth to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and accomplished His mission. By this it should be noted that John and the 1^st Century Jews had not given up hope for their Messiah Who would restore the nation and fulfill the Davidic Covenant as their eternal King. In a few years from having written this epistle, John would be given the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), a vision which will provide believers for all generations with the fulfillment of God’s plan for His peoples, Israel and the Church: Israel will receive the Promised Land and kingdom; the Church a heavenly eternity.

John adds that the one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. This is the rebirth which Our Lord told Nicodemus: “You must be born again” (John 3:7). When Jesus proclaimed this new birth He was alluding to Ezekiel 36:25–27 and the promised spiritual regeneration necessary to prepare the Jewish nation for the fulfillment of their covenant blessings still to come. Yet it must be clearly stated: the Church today does not replace Israel but instead shares in this blessing of spiritual regeneration by faith in Jesus Christ.

Loves the Father

Those who love the Father love their brothers, who are also born of God. But as previously discussed in 4:20, love of the Father is not merely saying “I love the Father.” Instead, it is demonstrated by the believer who resides in the love relationship with the Father, evidenced by their decision to consistently study and accurately apply of Scripture in their life. This is how personal love for God is exhibited; motivating and enabling the believer to function effectively in serving Him.

Hence, John declares a simple fact that whoever loves the Father loves fellow believers who are born of the Father—the children of God. This John stressed in 4:11, that we “ought to love one another.” To imagine the opposite is to imagine the impossible.1 It would imply that a believer is spiritually disconnected from the reality of his relationship with God.

However, we are not able to love all believers in an intimate personal way, for this is virtually impossible; nor are we to pretend to love them in a superficial manner. Scripture asserts that our love is to be genuine and sincere (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22). Instead, we can and should exhibit impersonal love towards all believers. This type of love is not sentimental or emotional; neither does it demand that we tolerate or condone bad behavior. R.B. Thieme, Jr. provided a valuable example of impersonal love that we can emulate:

Impersonal love is a relaxed and objective mental attitude toward everyone—friend or enemy, worthy or unworthy, pleasant or obnoxious. Impersonal love solves problems in personal relationships. The believer with impersonal love is able to accept all people as they are, without demands for reciprocation, without reaction or retaliation, without incurring mental attitude sins.2

His Commandment

John doesn’t miss the opportunity to remind us of our obligation to keep His commandments. He assures us that we can know that we sincerely love the brethren without any hint of hypocrisy, when (assuming that) we love God and comply with His commandments.  Vincent aptly concludes that,

Our perception of the existence of love to our brethren is developed on every occasion when we exercise love and obedience toward God.3   

Observing God’s commandments places the believer in a right relationship with the Father and therefore enabling him to exhibit impersonal love towards other believers.

John further clarifies his argument in verse 3 by declaring that the demonstration of the believers’ love for God is evidenced explicitly when we consistently keep His commandments. In particular, the one commandment of love that Our Lord gave on numerous occasions: towards our neighbor (Matthew 19:19b; 22:39) and towards other believers (John 13:34; 15:12, 17). John has reiterated our obligation to keep His commandments throughout his epistle (2:3–4; 3:22, 24). But on this issue of love for fellow believers he specifically charged that we are not to “love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (3:18).

Therefore this love that we are commanded to carry out has a divine origin, from God the Father, Who first loved us (4:19). It follows that in order for us to love others or even to love God we must understand the essence and extent of His love for us:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Never forget that Christ was willing to accomplish this on our behalf even while we were His enemies (Romans 5:10), while we were sinners in open rebellion to our Creator.

We must get this straight in our thinking, exactly how we exhibit our love towards God: by a right response to the love He demonstrated toward us, determinedly resolving to abide in His love relationship and consistently studying His Word, making application of His truth in our moment-by-moment walk of faith. This is the advance to spiritual maturity; enabling us to obey His commandments and exhibit love towards all fellow believers, regardless of those who are obnoxious or unpleasant.

No Burden to Bear

John concludes his analysis of the biblical principle of love with an encouraging footnote: His commandments are not burdensome.

The core meaning of this word burden implies a great physical weight, something that is heavy. But commands have no physical weight; instead John is referring to the psychological stress of constraining and challenging mandates. He is most likely drawing from his memory of how Our Lord reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees who “weigh men down with burdens hard to bear” (Luke 11:46), referring to the oppressive rules they had devised for the Jews to comply with.

If we consider John’s guidelines for our responsibility to love as a great burden, then we need to do some soul searching to determine if we are in fellowship with Our Lord. Being indifferent towards His command to demonstrate impersonal love for all believers is sinful and rebellious. It indicates that we are not “of the truth” (3:19). However, this can be rectified by regaining fellowship when our sin is confessed. There in His love relationship we are able to avail ourselves of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to change our attitude towards this essential truth, and become dynamic witnesses before a lost and watching world.

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

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[1] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.518.

[2] Thieme, R.B., Jr. (2022). Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary, Houston, TX: R.B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, p. 136.

[3] Vincent, Marvin R. (n/d). Word Studies in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2.363.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi 

 

GOD FIRST LOVED US - 1 JOHN 4:19-21

Verses 19–21: We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

John begins by affirming exactly what makes it possible for the believer to exhibit personal love for God the Father: because He first loved us. God took the initiative, the first step in reaching out to man by providing redemption for sinful mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ. For “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8b). This is the evidence of His first loving us. Our response is not to beat our chest and proclaim “I found God!” The right response is to diligently seek Him (Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13) and to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation (Acts 16:31). The apostle Paul summarizes:

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18–19)

Duplicity of Love

It should be noted that the brother mentioned in verse 20 is not a sibling but specifically a fellow believer in Christ. John, the master of forthrightness, previously told us that the deceptive believer who hates his brother is in the darkness (2:9) and that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (3:15). And now here, he clearly states that the one who claims to love God and hates his brother is an unequivocal liar. Darkness, murderer, liar is quite an indictment for the hating believer.

He follows with a logical conclusion to this indictment. Simply stated, if you hate your brother who you see, you cannot love God Who you have not seen. It is noteworthy that John points out that seeing someone becomes the basis of loving another. Often, someone’s visual characteristics will initiate attraction towards another, whether it is their face, hair style or the way they walk. For it stands to reason that it is more natural to love a real live human being that can be seen. How can there be genuine love expressed with someone met and conversed with on the internet that has never been actually seen? In our times, they may not even be a real live human; they could be an AI entity. Therefore, mankind was designed to have physical, tangible relationships with other people.

But in contrast, John is attempting to demonstrate that the most important relationship that man can have is with his Creator. That it may not be physical or observable with the human eye, yet this is far more real and authentic than a physical relationship because of the spiritual union the believer possesses with God. This is the abiding relationship that John has been discussing (4:16); it is an eternal relationship that is knowable because God has revealed Himself through His Word. And by learning and obeying the principles and directives in His Word we gain this intimate relationship with God that the unbeliever cannot. The Apostle Paul explains why this is so:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14–16)

Paul develops this further, that the Holy Spirit assists the believer in comprehending His Word.

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16–19)

By being “filled up to all the fullness of God” the believer experiences a relationship with the God Who “first loved us.”

This Commandment

There is a commandment given by God that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). But John is referring to a specific commandment when he says this commandment, one that Our Lord personally gave to His disciples prior to His death, to “love one another, just as He commanded us” (3:23):

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)

This is a reciprocal love that produces a harmonious relationship within the community of believers so that consequently “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

This presupposes the obedience of “the one who loves God” and corresponds with the mandate Our Lord described as “the great and foremost commandment” (Matthew 22:38): “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

But here John integrates this great and foremost command with the directive Our Lord gave to the disciples during His Upper Room Discourse (John 14–17): “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Love for His Brother

 To what degree are we to love fellow believers? It is worth quoting again the late Bible teacher Chester McCalley (1935-2000) and his concise summary of this type of love:

Love directed towards man is the mental attitude that demands that we do what is best for another in the light of eternity no matter what it costs us.1

This is in accordance with what Our Lord told His disciples:

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

And it is exactly what Our Lord did, having mentioned it 4 times in his discussion of the Good Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep (John 10: 11–18).

The apostle Paul succinctly outlined how Jesus Christ demonstrated His greater love for His sheep:

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8)

When we consider the enormity of His command to love our brother in Christ, are we willing and able to follow His example, no matter what it costs us?

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[1] McCalley, Chester. http://wordoftruthkc.org/sites/default/files/file/Philippians%20Commentary.pdf, p. 4. [Retrieved April 19, 2025]

 

© David M. Rossi 

 

WHEN FEAR STRIKES OUT - 1 JOHN 4:18

Verse 18: 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.

The idea that “the opposite of fear is love”1 has been proclaimed by many in the community of believers.2 But unfortunately it is an inaccurate summary of this passage. For the context establishes that fear is the opposite of confidence (v.17) and as simply stated by R.C.H. Lenski: “where the one is, the other is not.”3

No Fear in Love

John begins with this declarative statement of absolute truth: there is no fear in love. There are two things to consider at the outset: the meaning of fear and the significance of the phrase in love. First, various degrees of the word fear are designated in Scripture depending upon its usage—“fear, dread, terror...reverential fear.”4 The fact is, fear does not always indicate terror or the frightfulness designated as “fear with trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5; Philippians 2:12). For here, John is referring to an anxious dread5 in anticipation of the day of judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10-11) and loss of reward (1 Corinthian 3:14-15) as was discussed in the previous verse.

Secondly, in love again refers to the believer’s ideal place of spiritual residence—in the sphere of God’s divine love. This was discussed in verse 16, that “the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Thus, while the faithful believer resides consistently in this unique and intimate fellowship with God it is impossible for there to be any dread or fear present.

Fear and Punishment

In contrast, perfect love casts out fear. The emphasis is on the word perfect which derives its meaning from the Greek to be “complete, full, wanting in nothing,”6 in the sense of having matured and of being excellent in quality. Fear and dread is evidence of an immature believer, impeding their ability to think and therefore hindering their growth to maturity. It also means that the believer is no longer in fellowship and is residing outside of the sphere of God’s love. Whereas, perfect love is characterized by the confident believer who is in fellowship and is producing good works. Mind you, this perfect love does not originate from the believer, for it is God’s love, and the believer replicates it when empowered by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Thus dread of the judgement of the believers’ works is literally thrown out by an active decision by the believer to endeavor that this perfecting process of His love be accomplished together with us (v.17).

Note also the consequences of fear and dread: it involves punishment. Bishop Trench asserts that this word punishment implies disciplining with “reference to the correction and bettering of the offender.”7 The writer of Hebrews declares:

“For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:6–7; cf. Job 5:17-18)

The question one might pose is how exactly can a believer avert His discipline? The answer is not quite as forthcoming as one may anticipate, yet John continually reminds us to keep His commandments (2:3; 3:22, 24; 5:3; cf. John 14:15) implying our need to search Scripture for these commands.

However, within the context of chapter 4, John is emphasizing the love relationships of the faithful believer: to love one another (v.7, 20-21) and to consistently abide in God in the sphere of His divine relationship of love (v.15-16). Thus, the believer who is not intent upon pleasing the Lord may well expect to undergo the dread of impending discipline for their failure to walk in the light, because all of their works while they are in the state of sin will be judged as “wood, hay, and straw” and burned up as inadequate for reward (1 Corinthians 3:12-14). These works are considered human good, “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1), performed in the power of the flesh (Romans 7:18), instead of divine good, accomplished while empowered by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 22).

Our Discipline

The writer of Hebrews affirms God’s objective for our discipline: “But He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10b). Sharing in His holiness is when the believer is sinless and able to fulfill His desire that we “bear more fruit” (John 15:2) in the production of divine good works. This is to assure that the quality of our works will be acceptable to God, enduring the testing of fire so that we “will receive a reward” (1 Corinthians 3:13-14) on the day of judgment. Thus, discipline “is designed so that a good man may become a better man.”8 The Apostle Paul outlines the essential need of the believer to achieve spiritual maturity and to avoid discipline:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

John concludes with this fact: the one who still dreads impending discipline has not been made perfect in love—they have not become a mature believer in the sphere of God’s divine love relationship. Unfortunately, the immature believer may be totally unaware of God’s discipline for their sinful condition and will lose out on all the benefits of an abiding fellowship in Christ (John 15:5) inside the sphere of God’s divine love relationship.

A Final Thought

Therefore, it is a necessity for all believers to objectively analyze every instance of spiritual testing to determine if it is meant as a forewarning for them to return to fellowship (1 John 1:9), or if it is a “testing of your faith” in order to develop spiritual endurance to become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3-4) in our life of faith, while residing in the sphere of God’s love.

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[1] Schneider, J. (1964–). κόλασις. In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich, Eds.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 3.817.

[2] Yunuen Trujillo, (lay minister): https://uscatholic.org/articles/202309/the-opposite-of-love-is-fear/; Robert O’Neill (Episcopalian Bishop): https://medium.com/@TEC_CO/the-opposite-of-love-fear-d38508f943d2; Judith E. Lipson, (Licensed Professional Counselor): https://www.spiralwisdom.com/the-opposite-of-love-is-not-hate-it-is-fear/; J.D. Walt: https://seedbed.com/1john-the-opposite-of-love-is-fear-not-hate/  [Retrieved June 2025]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

[3] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.513.

[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.230.

[5] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Peabody: Hendrickson, p. 2452.

[6] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G5046.

[7] Trench, Richard (1975). Synonyms of the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, p. 24.

[8] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 7.72.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi 

 

HIS LOVE PERFECTED WITH US - 1 JOHN 4:17

Verse 17: 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.

John continues his thought from the previous verse, signified with the phrase by this—by this which I have just explained. Specifically, that our continuous abiding relationship with God in the sphere of His divine love is the basis for what follows.

Perfected Love

Love is perfected with us is an amazing pronouncement, when we consider the unique identity of this love. Kenneth Wuest defines it in this way:

This is not primarily God’s love for us or our love for Him, but the love which God is in His nature, produced in our hearts by the Holy Spirit [emphasis added].1

The fact as stated that love is perfected implies that love exists in its divinely planned objective and is fully realized by the last phrase of verse 16: “the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” The believer residing in this love relationship with God now functions effectively in serving Him; and does so by being motivated by personal love for God, the Father (1 John 2:5) as demonstrated by the consistent study and accurate application Scripture. This is walking in the Light, His objective for us to reside in a stable, harmonious fellowship. However, the emphasis of the word perfected is not placed primarily on the believers’ existing status, but on the accomplished process carried out to achieve this existing status.2 And that process, by which love is perfected, is with us—that is, His love in accompaniment with us. It is just as if His “love walks arm in arm with us.”3

Therefore, we are the instruments He has intentionally chosen to employ, in order to show forth His love in the world. This accompaniment implies the necessity for an active fellowship between the believer and his Creator in expressing His love. This can never be attained by human effort, but by the believer’s total reliance upon the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:7).

Our Confidence

  Since the full intent of God’s love has been completed and has reached its intended goal, John states the reason for believers to continue in this sphere of love with God: that we may have confidence in the day of judgement. The Greek word for confidence means courage, boldness, fearlessness.4 Confidence is a characteristic of the mature believer being in fellowship with his Lord and guided by the Holy Spirit. John uses this word 4 times in this epistle: twice regarding confidence in our prayers (3:21f; 5:14) and here and in 3:28 pertaining to His coming at the Rapture event (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17); for at that time there will be a judgment for Church Age believers. It is important that we not confuse this judgment with the Great White Throne Judgment of the last day which is for unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-15; cf. John 3:18). Neither will this be a judgment for our sins, for they have already been judged, once and for all, when Christ “bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24; cf. Hebrews 9:28).

This day of judgment that John refers to is to evaluate the quality of the believers’ works, as described by the Apostle Paul:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

Paul explains further the basis for this assessment:

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

Gold, silver, precious stones refers to good works that were accomplished while in fellowship, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Whereas, wood, hay, straw describes the intended “good” works performed while the believer is out of fellowship and motivated in a carnal, sinful state (1 Corinthians 3:1–3). It should be obvious that fire will consume these intended “good” works performed while the believer is residing outside of the perfected sphere of love— walking in darkness, out of fellowship (1:6). Hence, we are able to understand John’s desire for us to have confidence that we receive our reward for faithfully functioning according to God’s intended plan for our lives.

As He Is, We Are

This final phrase is confusing as it stands and needs clarification as to what is He? and we are what? First, what is He? The context states God is love 4:8, 16, but previously John has also indicated that Christ is pure (3:3); without sin (3:5); righteous (3:7); and willing to be sacrificed (3:16). This substantiates Christ’s impeccable, faultless, and blameless character as deity.

Secondly, we are what? What we are not is love, for this is His divine essence. However, we are by design expected to habitually express His love in this world, just as He did. Van Ryn aptly observed that “this statement does not therefore have any reference to our personality, or to our conduct, but to our position as believers.”5 And our position is to be His representatives while we are in this world, following the example He left for us by reflecting His love, His humility and His righteous character to others (John 13:15). Note that in this world does not refer to Christ, for presently and at the time of John’s writing, He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 1:3, 8:1; Romans 8:34).

Something to Ponder

Are we always mindful of whether we are consistently residing in fellowship with God, in our personal sphere of His perfected love? Do we understand that any sins we might commit will fracture our abiding relationship with the Lord? If not, then all of our intended “good” works will be deemed by Our Lord in the day of judgment as fuel to be burned.

Therefore, in order to achieve our spiritual objective of walking in the Light that John advocates, we must resolve that Christ be central in our lives (Galatians 2:20), to be cleansed of our sins (1 John 1:9) and continually filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). By doing this, we will be able to have a spiritually productive life in the sphere of His perfected love and confidence in that day of judgment.

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[1] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English Reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 13.169.

[2] Dana, H.E. & Mantey, Julius R. (1957). A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Toronto, Ontario: Macmillan Co., p. 202-203.

[3] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.511.

[4] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 630.

[5] Van Ryn, August (1948). The Epistles of John, New York, NY: Loizeaux Brothers, p. 138.

 

© 2025 David M. Rossi