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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
4:7-21 The Assurance of God through the Love of God. John's teaching in these verses bears comparison with the apostle Paul's "love chapter," 1 Corinthians 13.
4:7-12 The Perfecting of God's Love. The closing words of this section, "his love is perfected in us" (v. 12), capture the direction of John's claims and exhortation.
4:7 whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. This does not rule out the need for faithful confession of Christ (2:23; 4:2) and ethical integrity (3:16). But love completes the picture of a life in fellowship with God. Love is presented here as a consequence of, not a precondition for, being born of God. Unbelievers can love others to some degree, but not in the way that God's indwelling presence enables Christians to love (cf. 4:8-11).
4:8 does not know God, because God is love. The person who lacks love shows himself to be unchanged at the core of his being by the gospel message. John is not saying that God is only love (he has numerous other attributes), nor that love is God (a statement for which there is no scriptural support). "God is love" means that God continually gives of himself to others and seeks their benefit. There was eternal love between the persons of the Trinity even before the world was created (John 17:24), and God's love is the ultimate source of any love that Christians are able to display (1 John 4:11, 12, 19).
4:9 God's love is not an abstract principle or sentiment but was made manifest in the sending of his only Son into the world, so that sinful humanity might live, i.e., receive eternal life.
4:10 not that we have loved God. God's love sets the standard for the love Christians are called to embody. propitiation. See note on 2:2. Sin brings divine wrath. On the cross, Jesus bore that wrath for our sins (see 2 Cor. 5:21).
