i. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. Luke-Acts 2. Just as true as it is that we should abide in Him, it is true that He does abide in us. John 4 It was, more than any thing else, the glory of the land of Israel, that it was Emmanuel's land ( Isa 8 8 ), not only the place of his birth, but the scene of his preaching and miracles. The provision of the gospel, for the forgiveness . If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. c. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world: This means the Christian has no place for fear. a. Luke-Acts Because of this, the excuse I just cant love that person (or other such excuses) is invalid. Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. This land in our Saviour's time was divided into three parts: Judea in the south, Galilee in the north, and Samaria lying between them. ii. What about the many passages of Scripture, Old and New Testament (such as Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 1 Peter 2:17), which tell us we should fear God? God is more pleased when you get it right with your brother, than if you bring Him a sacrifice of praise or resources. They are of the world. Prophets i. i. It is never to be received just because it is dramatic or given by a certain person. (1 John 4:5-6) The contrast between those in the world and those who are of God. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:2-3) How to know when a false prophet speaks. a. Of course, this love is not perfected in the life of a Christian on this side of eternity. i. This is what we have heard. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 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. We come to love those better whom we love by knowing them better If you want to love Christ more, think more of him, think more of what you have received from him. (Spurgeon), e. He first loved us: This means that it is true that He loves us now. c. He who knows God hears us: Those who are of God enjoy fellowship with other believers; they speak the common language of fellowship with God and with each other, because one flows from the other (1 John 1:3). We need to appreciate this fully, and receive the Fatherly love God has to give us. It is something that every Christian should be unafraid to proclaim: I love Him; I love Jesus. Can you say that? The following comments draw much from Spurgeons work on this single verse. Structure. He would put honour upon his disciples, by employing them to baptize. Johannine Writings Historical Books And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Yet we must not try to make ourselves love our Lord, but look to Christs love first, for his love to us will beget in us love to him. All prophecy is to be judged by Scriptural standards. e. He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins: This shows the love of God. The world hears them: The Christian always wants to speak to the world, and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. e. There is no fear in love: The completeness of love means we do not cower in fear before God, dreading His judgment, either now or in the day of judgment. The Old Testament Marvellous, O Christ, is thy strange love! (Spurgeon). d. He who loves God must love his brother also: We can also learn how to love God by loving people. Minor Prophets I have sometimes noticed that, in addressing Sunday-school children, it is not uncommon to tell them that the way to be saved is to love Jesus, which is not true. Faith alone occupies that place. (Spurgeon). Cookie Notice: Those who are not Christians still can display acts of love. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. God abiding in us, as well as we abiding in Him, is essential to our having boldness as we anticipate the judgment seat of Christ (1 John 2:28; 1 John 4:17-18). It is the seed whence our love springs. (Clarke), ii. Pentateuch Links 1 John 4:20 Interlinear 1 John 4:20 Parallel Texts b. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. And in John 15:7, He said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you. d. He who is not of God does not hear us: Understanding just who hears what God has taught us through the apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, helps us to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. But He loved us before that, and even before the worlds were created, when our only existence was in the mind and heart of God, Jesus loved us. i. 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. Minor Prophets 4. That we might live through Him: The greatness of Gods love is shown not only in saving us from the judgment we deserved, but also in wanting us to live through Him. a. It is up to us to respond to His command with our will and whole being. 6. Love is by no means the root. Some respond with doubt (Can God really love even me?). This is not the only test, but it was the significant issue challenging the church in Johns immediate time. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. Instead, we know the holiness of God is loving, and the righteousness of God is loving, and the justice of God is loving. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. 1. No one who presents a false Jesus, or one untrue to the Scriptures, can be regarded as a true prophet. 1 John 4:18. After any sort of effort to communicate with Evelyn fails, a drunk . 1. The Gospels Some people think the greatest evidence of Gods presence or work is popularity. Though John has been writing much about love, he does not ignore the issue of truth. John knew that we would never find in ourselves the faithfulness God requires. This is about the Word of life. These academics present their baseless opinions as if they were scholarly facts. Why did Jesus leave "Judea" (John 4:3)? 2. His love for us initiates our relationship of love with Him, our love only responds to His love for us. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. Therefore we are given a command to love, that he who loves God must love his brother also. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: True prophecy, and true teaching, will present a true Jesus. Let us love one another, for love is of God: Johns emphasis on love among the people of God (shown in passages like 1 John 2:9-11 and 3:10-18) is powerful. Yet, he preached five remarkable sermons on these eight words alone.The following comments draw much from Spurgeon's work on this single verse. c. We love Him because He first loved us: This verse tells us where our love for Jesus comes from. i. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The only way to have boldness in the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today. We keep in the spirit of truth by clinging to Jesus, the One who said I am the truth (John 14:6). We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. God is more pleased when you get it right with your brother, than if you bring Him a sacrifice of praise or resources. Here, he shows why it is so important. (A.D. If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: By this crucial measure, Jesus said the world could measure our status as disciples by the measure of our love for one another. We are adopted sons and daughters of God, but we are not of the same essential nature and being as God we are human beings. Pentateuch We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:16-19 "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Now remember, we never make ourselves love Christ more by flogging ourselves for not loving him more. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. c. And knows God: There are several different words in the ancient Greek language translated know into English. There was nothing better God the Father could give to lost humanity than the gift of the Son of God Himself. But test the spirits: This is important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Pauline Epistles Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? 1. 2. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. In this wrong thinking, many imagine they prefer the nice and loving Jesus instead. It might have shown enough love that the Father sent the Son, and not some lower-grade angel; but He sent the Son, not on a fact-finding mission or merely a mission of compassion He sent the Son to die for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. They had a hard time believing that he was a real man. Wisdom Literature The Samaritan woman. God made love real and present by sending Jesus to live among us and to die for us. In my text he explains and enlarges that statement. It is the fear that is the opposite of boldness in the day of judgment. Sermon. But John rightly insists that our claim of loving God is false if we do not also love our brother, and that this love must be seen. He loved some of you when you were in the dancing saloon, when you were in the playhouse, ay, even when you were in the brothel. i. Major Prophets And we learn that Jesus' closest disciples are baptising the new followers. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. 1. 1 John 4:20 Vincent's Word Studies He that loveth not his brother, etc. God is love. Commentary on 1 John 4:7-13. This is a fact for every true follower of Jesus. ii. We use the term create to describe something that may come from someone, but isnt of the same essential nature or being. Look through all the pages of history, and put to the noblest men and women, who seem to still live, this question, Who loves Christ? and, at once, up from dark dungeons and cruel racks there rises the confessors cry, We love him; and from the fiery stake, where they clapped their hands as they were being burned to death, the same answer comes, We love him. If you could walk through the miles of catacombs at Rome, and if the holy dead, whose dust lies there, could suddenly wake up, they would all shout, We love him. The best and the bravest of men, the noblest and purest of women, have all been in this glorious company; so, surely, you are not ashamed to come forward and say, Put my name down among them. (Spurgeon), v. Be out-and-out for him; unfurl your colours, never hide them, but nail them to the mast, and say to all who ridicule the saints, If you have any ill words for the followers of Christ, pour them out upon me but know this ye shall hear it whether you like it or not, I love Christ. (Spurgeon). God is fundamentally and essentially LOVE: not merely is loving, for then John's argument would not stand; for the conclusion from the premises then would be this, This man is not loving: God is loving; therefore he knoweth not God IN SO FAR AS GOD IS LOVING; still he might know Him in His other attributes. i. You can check these in your browser security settings. We never have to draw God to us; instead, He draws us to Himself. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. This, with what follows, is said for the comfort of the saints, and to deliver them from the fears of being drawn aside by the delusions of the false prophets, and antichrists; since they belonged to God, were his elect, and therefore could not be finally and totally seduced; they were the children of God by adopting grace, and could not become If we are born of Him and are abiding in Him then the resources for love are there. Pentateuch 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. While her conversion is clearly implied, the apostle's focus centers on Jesus' declaration foretold in the . c. Test the spirits, whether they are of God: This is the responsibility of every Christian, but especially of congregational leadership. Because of this, the excuse I just cant love that person (or other such excuses) is invalid. Jesus loved you when you lived carelessly, when you neglected his Word, when the knee was unbent in prayer. This statement would be directed against some form of Docetism, the view that Christ was a spirit who only seemed to be a true man. (Boice). Thank you for registering. i. I know that some of you are greatly distressed because you cannot love Christ as much as you would like to do, and you keep on fretting because it is so. a. Oh sir, this is indeed a cowardly fear! (Spurgeon), iv. d. We love Him because He first loved us: This verse tells us why we love Jesus, and how we can love Him more. But the Father loves us too; and the love Jesus showed in His ministry was the same love God the Father has towards us. If we do not love one another, how can we say that we have received the love of God and have been born of Him? GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. He showed this life to us. If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This specific word for knows (ginosko) is the word for a knowledge by experience. When {1} therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (1) This balance is to be kept in doing our duty, that neither by fear are we terrified from going forward, and neither by rashness procure or bring dangers upon ourselves. John Piper Jun 2, 1985. ii. They knew the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world. No one has seen God at any time: John relates a basic principle about God the Father that no one, no one, has seen God at any time. But how can I love a God who is invisible? God would say to us, Learn to love Me, Whom you cannot see, by loving My children, whom you can see.. But it is there, and its presence is demonstrated by our love for one another and our agreement with Gods truth and that all serves to give us boldness. i. 2. Love was the constant, greatest evidence of the presence and work of God in Jesus Christ. 1. iii. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. Major Prophets This special term means Jesus has a Sonship that is unique (only) and begotten indicates that Jesus and the Father are of the same substance, the same essential Being. Poetical Books i. Can you say, I love Jesus? iii. And we have known and believed the love God has for us: This is the Christians proper response to who God is, and how He loves us. d. Love is of God: The love John speaks of comes from the ancient Greek word agape; it is the concept of a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment it is the God-kind of love. Johannine Writings Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. ii. b. If God had sent Jesus simply to be our example, that would have been good too and would have had some value But the wonderful thing is that God did not stop with these but rather sent His Son, not merely to teach or to be our example, but to die the death of a felon, that He might save us from sin. (Boice). Poetical Books 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. Phil curiously picks it up and carries it with him to his house. Some think they will go there and judge God (When I see God, theres a few questions I have for Him!), but that is nonsense. This job is to be done using the gifts of discernment God has given to Christians in general, especially the leadership of a congregation. It is up to us to respond to His command with our will and whole being. Exegetical Commentary on 1 John 4:1-6. According to 1 Corinthians 14:29 (let the others judge) and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (Test all things; hold fast what is good), testing the spirits is the work of the body of Christ. 3. But, apart from this truth, we have no hope at all. Pauline Epistles This pericope seems to be a review of what we have heard from 1 John over the previous two weeks. This means that there will be agreement and confirmation from the body of Christ, though perhaps (or probably) not everyone will agree or confirm. Facebook. i. It is something that every Christian should be unafraid to proclaim: I love Him; I love Jesus. Can you say that? (1 John 4:20-21) The commandment to love. i. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude. iv. Wisdom Literature Every human relationship is like a triangle. ii. Has anybody offended you? Ex-Broncos teammate Terrell Davis welcomes John Elway escaping the spotlight: 'Enjoy it, big man'. If we love one another, God abides in us: This is the greatest evidence of Gods presence and work among us love. Simply and boldly put, we love Him. The Word of life (1 John 1:1-4) v1 We declare this to you about the Word of life. We can receive the healing power in our Fathers love. Instead it is the community of sinful humanity that is united in rebellion against God. Jesus and the Samaritan woman - John 4:1-4. God determined that all who believe on Him would become His children and be covered in Christ's righteousness. return to 'Top of Page' Verses 1-3 That sense of being grounded in God only comes when we set aside our sin in the pursuit of the one true God. If someone says, I love God: It is often easier for someone to proclaim his love for God, because that regards a private relationship with an invisible God. Must love his brother also teammate Terrell Davis welcomes John Elway escaping the spotlight &! When I see God, theres a few questions I have for Him false prophet.! 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