God is love
1 John 4v7-9
23rd June 2023
Some might say that in 1 John 4v7-21, John's summarising what he's already taught, but it's much more that. In this wonderful passage, John teaches about the nature of God and the nature of love in what I think is the most beautiful and precise way we find anywhere in the Bible. First he says:
1 John 4v7-8
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
We've seen before in this series that the word translated "love" here, agape, means the sacrificial, heartfelt love of God. It's love that sees the infinite value of the other person. John says that agape love comes from God. It's not something we humans have within us, except by the Holy Spirit. All those, and only those, who have been born of God, those whom Jesus describes as "born again", have agape love. Some may find that statement outrageous, but that's what John is saying.
I've spoken about this idea before in this series. Humans who are not born of God genuinely love each other, but not with agape love. John is saying that the quality of God's love is higher than natural, fallen human love, and he's also saying that Christians have God's love in their hearts, because they've been born again. It's not that we're any better or more deserving than anybody else, but that we've been given this gift.
Agape love is love from the heart, love that wants to sacrifice, love that wants to prefer the needs of others above our own, even when we don't particularly like or respect the other person.
To be born of God, to be born again, is to become what Paul calls "a new creation" in 2 Corinthians 5v17. In John Chapter 3, Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus "no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again". Nicodemus didn't understand, so Jesus explained, "Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit". Before we knew Jesus, we were physically alive but spiritually dead. Now we've put our faith in Jesus and in his redeeming sacrifice, we're spiritually alive - born again of the spirit. Everybody who has been born again has received the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit enables us to love with God's agape love - the love of God.
As I've also said before, even the most miserable selfish, moody Christian has agape love in him, and even the kindest, noblest, friendliest non-Christian doesn't. This is because agape love comes from God. It's a gift God gives to believers by the Holy Spirit, although we can neglect it woefully.
John says, "God is love". He's providing a part of the definition of the nature of God. In the same way, in John 4v24, Jesus said "God is spirit" and in 1 John 1v5, John said "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." God the Father is pure spirit. There's no part of the Father that is not spirit. He is spirit by his very nature. There is no part of God that is not light. He is light by his very nature. There's no part of God that isn't love. He is love by his very nature. This is the God we serve, the only true God. God is spirit, God is light, God is love, by His very nature. That's who He is.
God is love. Love is not God. God is not the same thing as love. We're not to worship love, we're to worship God.
When John says "God is love", "love" is a noun, not an adjective. He's saying more than "God is loving"; he's saying "love is the nature of God". The best illustration I can come up with is "Lego is plastic". Lego is not just plastic-y, its very nature is plastic. It's made of plastic. There's no part of it that isn't plastic. God is love by His very nature. God made the universe because He is love. He invented humans because He is love. He gave us free will because He is love, and He died on the cross to redeem us because He is love.
1 John 4v9
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into
the world that we might live through him.
Jesus is the second Person of the Holy Trinity. He existed with God the Father before time began. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit lived together in perfect harmony in heaven, until the Father sent the Son into the world. He did this because he loves us, because we were spiritually dead, and sending Jesus was the only way to offer us spiritual life. God the Father loved us so much that He was willing to send His Son to us, and God the Son loved us so much that He came.
Ephesians 4v3b-5
… Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by
grace you have been saved.
How could God love us so much? Why would He make such a sacrifice for people like us? We can't really understand it, but we know it's true. Truly, God is love.