Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXXI) 08/11/22

^4:20If anyone says “I love God” but keeps hating their brother or sister, they are lying; if they don’t love their brother or sister who is right in front of them, how can they love God whom they have never seen?

It makes little difference what a person claims about loving God. The fact is, they are lying about loving God if they do not love others. It is irresistible logic. The greater implies, the lesser. Conversely, avoidance of the lesser denotes the impossibility of the greater. One side of the coin cannot be a valid currency if the other side is false. We do not love God if we do not love Christians.

The word “liar” occurs five times in John’s epistle,[1] more than in any other book in the Bible. A “liar” is someone who attempts to deceive by conveying disinformation. Calling someone a “liar” is a harsh term intended to get attention. To claim fellowship with the Light and walk in darkness is a lie.[2] To claim belief in the Father and yet deny the Son is a lie.[3] Finally, it is also a lie if they claim to love God and do not love Christians. These three lies constitute a spiritual lie, a doctrinal lie, and a relational lie. Notice that John uses “brother” twice in this verse and ten other times in this epistle.[4] 

COMMENTARY

Cyprian (210-258 AD), bishop of Carthage, again addresses the Jews by pointing out what their Scriptures say about their falling under God’s severe wrath because they have forsaken Him to worship idols. He recalls what he told the Jews earlier about God’s children and the devil’s brood. He then quotes John: “Everyone who hates their brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life.”[5] Again Cyprian repeats what he said to the Jews before about those who say they love God but hate their brother are liars. If you can’t love the one you see, how can you love the one you can’t see?[6] This will only label them liars who think they are walking in the Light of truth but instead are stumbling around in the darkness of deceit.[7]

It brings up a pertinent question, one asked by Augustine (354-430): “Why does man not see God?” He chooses to answer right away instead of going into a long discourse. He says: “Because he has no love.”  And the proof that he has no love and cannot see God is because “He does not love his spiritual brothers and sisters.”   Since God not only lives in you but also lives in your spiritual brother and sister, not to love them is therefore not to love God. So, there is no use in wanting to see God, to love Him when we can’t even love our spiritual brother or sister who we do see.[8]

Someone asked Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) whether or not the ten commandments were placed in proper order because loving one’s neighbor came before receiving God’s agápē. Is it because our neighbor is better known to us than God? According to the Apostle John, “If we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”[9] Consequently, in the ten commandments, the first three belong to our love for God, while the other seven pertain to our love of neighbor. Therefore, the precepts of the decalogue are not set in proper order.

Aquinas says, “I totally disagree!” The Ten Commandments are as sufficient as the mind is ready to grasp what they say. Hence, the commandments needed to direct people to God; since to do the opposite is confusing. Thus also, in an army that is as committed to the commander as to the objective, it is first necessary for the soldier to be subject to the commander. Secondly, they must be in coordination with the other soldiers.[10] The same goes for our loyalty to God and His commandments.

John Trapp (1601-1669) tells us that if a person says, I love God, they don’t need to say it out loud as though they were bragging. The Apostle Paul clarified this when he wrote, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful, or proud.”[11] The Anointed One loves it when we do things privately.[12] Those who love Him are not ashamed to show it in their actions. Trapp tells that when Master Bartlet Green (1529-1556),[13] after being beaten and afflicted with rods by Bishop Edmund Bonner (1500-1569),[14] greatly rejoiced. Yet he would never mention anything about it lest he perceived it as glorifying himself too much.[15]

Trapp then quotes Plato, who stated that ““An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”[16] This pokes at those who brag about their external Christianity but have little inside. Trapp also takes a saying from the Roman poet Juvenal,[17] who wondered how he could love someone he’d never seen. So, how can he love God? That is, says Dr. John Rainolds (or Reynolds) (1549-1607),[18] they who cannot endure taking a glimpse and ray of holiness in a Christian brother or sister will much less be able to abide the Light of the Sun of righteousness, and the most ornate, spotless, and vast holiness that is in Him?[19]

John Owen (1616-1682) tells us what John says here in verse twenty; as he sees it, God has endowed our nature with a faculty and ability to concentrate on ourselves. Therefore, many understand nothing of love but the obedience of their minds and souls to things visible and sensible, capable of present natural enjoyment. For things unseen, especially those that are eternal and infinite, they supposedly worship with respect and adoration. Still, they cannot understand the purpose. And John does grant that there is more difficulty in loving things invisible than those that are always visibly present.[20] However, this divine love has more attention and prevalence in the minds of humankind than any other kind of love whatsoever.

Matthew Poole (1624-1679) states that knowing God is the love fountain, ours is but a stream: His agápē is the stimulus, the pattern, and the practical resource for our love: His is the first love, ours is out of respect and reverence for Him. But, says Poole, the great difficulty implied here is that our present dependence upon our sense of a loving and invisible God must be just as significant as those we see and converse with daily. Therefore, let us consider the comprehensiveness of these two things, God’s agápē and our fellow believers, that they are the roots of all that service we owe to God and humanity, which fulfills the whole law.[21] He helps us see the falsehood and absurdity of so-called believers with their pretending to have reached the renowned level of devotion and sanctity, who neglect the duties of others.[22]

John Howe (1630-1705)  says that the Apostle John’s purpose at present is not to use words in verse twenty, either of love to God, or our brethren, either together or one at a time: but comparatively only, according to that connection which they have with one another; and the difference of the one from the other respecting their objects, as the object of the one is somewhat visible, and of the other relatively invisible.

Nevertheless, there is one thing necessary to be introduced in this intended discourse concerning the acceptance of love here, and it is this; that the Apostle John, in this little account about love, as this epistle may do, for the most part, be the Epistle of Love. It is not designed to treat love as a philosopher, that is, to give us a precise formal notion of it, but to speak of it with a sense of freedom. We should not exclude the traditional idea of love as it is seated in the inner person but comprehend its apt expressions and characterizations. And therefore, speaking of love for God, John tells us, “Anyone obeys His word, love for God is truly made complete in them.”[23] [24]

Daniel Whitby (1638-1726) states that if we have more opportunities to share God’s agápē, and perform it with little difficulty, then how will we perform what is more difficult? Now let’s look at our Christian brothers and sisters. Since they are the object of our senses, we daily converse with them; their wants and miseries being apparent, it should naturally move us to compassion. But, on the other hand, it is less challenging to express their love to them we see than to God. Who else can be present in our minds to motivate us to be more involved, something that does not naturally occur to us and which we cannot endure that makes it more difficult to love Him than to love our fellow believers?[25]

William Burkitt (1650-1703) says that the Apostle John, in these words, prevents an objection. Some might be ready to ask, “Who is it that does not love God? Is there any living who do not love Him?” The apostle replies, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar.” It is impossible to love God and not to do what God commands: and if we do not exercise love to our brethren, whom we daily see and converse with, how can it be imagined that we love God, whom we never saw?[26]

Leonard Howard (1699-1767) says convincingly, let no one pretend to love God and the Anointed One but will have nothing to do with their fellow Christians. Those who neglect such opportunities to express their love to others and those whose communication with those they see is based on just trying to be nice are far from discharging their obligation to God, whom they cannot see. This is the greatest pretention of love. Those who continue to do so are not only unkind but insincere.[27]    

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[1] Ibid. 1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10

[2] Ibid. 1:6; 2:4

[3] Ibid. 2:22, 23

[4] Ibid. 2:9, 10, 11; 3:10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 21; 5:16

[5] Ibid. 3:15

[6] Ibid. 4:20

[7] Cyprian: Treatise XII, Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Bk. III ⁋3

[8] Augustine: Ten Homilies on 1 John Homily 9, 1 John 4:17

[9] 1 John 4:20

[10] Aquinas, Thomas: Summa Theologica, op. cit., Part 2, Question 100, Article 6, pp. 1126-1127

[11] 1 Corinthians 13:4

[12] See Song of Solomon 2:14

[13] Bartholomew [Bartlet] Green was a wealthy Roman Catholic who converted to Protestantism

[14] Edmund Bonner was the bishop of London who supported King Henry VIII’s antipapal measures but rejected the imposition of Protestant doctrine and worship during the reigns of King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. For centuries Bonner was characterized as a monster who enjoyed burning Protestants at the stake during the reign of the Roman Catholic Mary I.

[15] See Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, published by the John C. Winston Co., (no date), Ch. XIII, p. 235

[16] One of Plato’s quotes, no part of his writings

[17] Juvenal, Satires

[18] John Rainolds was president of Corpus Christi College, and dean of Lincoln College, Oxford

[19] Trapp, John: Commentary upon all books of New Testament (1647), op. cit., p. 478

[20] 1 John 1:20

[21] Matthew 22:37-39

[22] Poole, Matthew: op. cit., loc. cit.

[23] 1 John 2:5

[24] Howe, John: op. cit., (Kindle Locations 19-27)

[25] Whitby, Daniel: op. cit., p. 468

[26] Burkitt, William: Notes on N.T., op. cit., p. 733

[27] Howard, Leonard: The Royal Bible, op. cit., loc. cit.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXX) 08/10/22

^4:19We love because God first loved us.

Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that with the verb “love,” the Apostle John refers to that historical point when God’s love was manifested in Jesus. Christian confidence is found not in our love for God but God’s love for us. Thus, knowing that our sins are forgiven, that we were loved without deserving it, saved by His mercy, and destined for fellowship with God because He was willing to pay any price to save us. Knowing this is a perfect love that drives fear away. It is not because of what we have done that gives us such confidence before God, but because of what God has done for us.

And so, if grace is theology, then ethics is gratitude. John certainly provides us here with the idea that Christians love one another partly because they are grateful that God loves them. The first step in loving is that God made an effort to start setting the process in motion so that His love for us would go on to our loving others.[1]

Ken Johnson (1965) hears the Apostle John say that true love is only obtained by those who believe Jesus is God’s only begotten Son. Those who think this guarantees a place in heaven may speak boldly about it.[2]

Peter Pett (1966) asks, “What then does this passage tell us about God’s agápē and what our love should be in a relationship?” Pett then offers several things to answer that question:

a) Agápē is of God. He is its source and producer.[3]

b) We love because, by His gracious goodness, we are born of God and know God.[4]

c) God is agápē to those in the light.[5]

d) God’s agápē was made fully known in sending His unique Son into the world that we might live through Him.[6]

e) God revealed His agápē by sending His Son to remedy our sins, that is, to be the means of turning away from God’s disgust and hatred of immorality.[7]

f) God so loved us that this agápē should make us love one another.

g) God continually abides within us so that His agápē might be perfected in us as we grow from one degree of glory to another.[8]

h) We know that He abides within us because He has given us of His Spirit.[9]

i) Because of His agápē, we have beheld and witnessed that the Father sent the Son to be the world’s Savior. His agápē for us has brought this truth home to our hearts.[10]

j) It is God abiding within us in His agápē which results in our confessing Jesus to be the Son of God.[11]

k) Our contemplating of Him brings to our hearts His great agápē so that we know He is continuing love to all who are in the light. Thus, through His agápē, we know and believe that He abides in us and we in Him.[12]

l) His agápē being made perfect within us, coming home to us and possessing our hearts, and making us more aware of the truths about Him, and what He has done for us and of what He is, gives us boldness in the day of judgment.[13]

m) His making us perfect in love, His guaranteed purpose in the Anointed One, drives out all fear. Once we have His assurance of love within us because we have been made His through the Anointed One, we will no longer fear His judgment – how then can we not love both Him and those on whom He has placed His agápē?

David Guzik (1984) believes that the phrase, “We love Him,” is a great statement; thus, John declares the heart of every faithful follower of Jesus the Anointed One. It cannot be put more boldly than, “we love Him.” But that’s not all. He loved us first. It declares our love for Jesus and tells us when He loved us. Some people imagine that Jesus loved us because He knew we would love Him. 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.

Furthermore, this verse tells us from where our love for Jesus came. It comes from Him. Our love for God is always in response to His love for us; He initiates, and we respond. We never have to draw God to us; instead, He draws us to Himself. So, we love Him because He first loved us: This tells us why we love Jesus and how we can love Him more by loving others more.[14]

^4:20 If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in His family, we are making that up.  Because if we can’t love someone we see, how can we love God, who we have never seen?

EXPOSITION

We go back to what John said here in this epistle in 2:4: “If we say we know God but do not obey His commands, we are lying. The truth is not in us,” and then in 2:9: “Anyone who says He is walking in the light of the Anointed One but dislikes his fellow man is still in darkness.”  Put that together with what he writes in verse twelve in this chapter, “If we love each other, it proves that God is living in us.  By loving each other, God’s agápē has completed the circle, being made perfect through us,” and you can’t help but get the whole picture.

Few things make God any more joyful than when He sees His children loving one another because He knows His agápē is making it possible.  That’s what made David burst out in song on his way to the tabernacle, “Oh, how wonderful, how pleasing it is when God’s people all come together as one.  It is like the sweet-smelling oil poured over the high priest’s head, running down his beard and flowing over his robes. It is like the gentle rain from Mount Hermon falling on Mount Zion. It is there that the Lord has promised His blessing of eternal life.”[15]  Therefore, this is more than just a suggestion or John’s opinion; it is something John states emphatically.

In chapters one and two, we saw several false claims about spirituality.[16] For example, here in verse twenty is a false claim to love. This person professes to love God; however, claiming to love God and simultaneously hate Christians is entirely inconsistent. John’s problem with the false teachers was they disconnected the application of truth from the principles of God’s Word. They were great at talking but short on walking.  They claimed to love God, but they hated God’s people. 

It makes little difference what a person claims about loving God; they lie about loving God if they do not love Christians.  This is irresistible logic.  The greater implies, the lesser.  Conversely, default in the lesser denotes the impossibility of the greater.  One side of the coin cannot be genuine, and the other is counterfeit.  We do not love God if we do not love Christians.

The word “liar” occurs five times in 1 John (more than in any other book).  A “liar” is someone who attempts to deceive by conveying misinformation.  This insulting term is intended to get attention.  To claim to fellowship with God and walk in darkness is a lie.[17]  Those who claim to believe in the Father and deny the Son are lying.[18]  The claim to love God and not love Christians is also a lie.  These three lies constitute a spiritual lie, a doctrinal lie, and a relational lie.

Notice that John uses “brother” twice in this verse.  His reference is to love fellow Christians.  He uses “brother” twelve times in this epistle.  Both “brother” and “brethren” occur seventeen times. Here is a tricky question. How can we love God whom we have not seen if we do not love believers who we can see? Love for the unseen God always manifests as visible love for God’s children. One must always accompany the other. There is an inviolable relation between God’s agápē and human love. 

Some scholars say that a new section begins in verse twenty, but verses twenty-one and twenty-two are closely associated with what precedes. What is this love of which the Apostle has been speaking? Is it love for God or our fellow man? Both; love for our brethren is organically connected with love for God. To love God and hate one’s brother or sister is impossible. Seeing assists it; therefore, it is easier to love people than God. If a person fails in the more manageable, will they succeed in the more difficult?

Moreover, to hate one’s brother or sister is to hate God. Jesus made it clear,  “The one who listens to you listens to Me. The one who rejects you rejects Me. And rejecting Me is the same as rejecting God, who sent Me.”[19] Note the negative tone. John has no definite person in view but anyone who may be of such foolish character. In chapters one and two, we find several false claims about spirituality.[20]  Here in our verse is a false claim to love. This person professes to love God; however, claiming to love God and simultaneously hate Christians is inconsistent. John’s problem with the false teachers was their refusal to apply the truth of God’s principles in His Word.  They were great at talking but short on walking. They claimed to love God, but they hated God’s people.

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[1] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, op. cit., p. 491

[2] Johnson, Ken. Ancient Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 79

[3] 1 John 4:7

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid. 4:8

[6] Ibid. 4:9

[7] Ibid. 4:12

[8] 2 Corinthians 3:18

[9] 1 John 4:13

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid. 4:15

[12] Ibid. 4:16

[13] Ibid. 4:17; Ephesians 1:4

[14] Guzik, David: Enduring Word, op. cit., loc. cit.

[15] Psalm 133

[16] 1 John 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 6, 9, 22; 5:10

[17] Ibid. 1:6; 2:4

[18] Ibid. 2:22-23

[19] Luke 10:16

[20] 1 John 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 6, 9, 22; 5:10

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXVIX) 08/09/22

^4:19We love because God first loved us.

John Phillips (1927-2010) feels that the Apostle John could not say it enough; “We love because He loved us first.” He loved us with a causeless and ceaseless love. Moses reminded the children of Israel that God loved them simply because He loved them.[1] There was no other explanation. Centuries later, Jeremiah reminded the Israelites that God loved them with a timeless love.[2] When it comes to love and to “the love that drew salvation’s plan.”[3] All the initiative was and is with God. God is love! That is the driving force behind the divine plan to provide redemption for the fallen ones of Adam’s ruined race. John could not have said it any better than he did in his Gospel.[4] [5]

David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) believes that the opening line to verse nineteen could still be in line with the original if translated as: “Let us be loving because He loved us first.” It reveals the remarkable fact that God’s agápē in the Anointed One is the basis of inspiration for all the love that stirs believers’ hearts. The words “because He loved us first” explain the operation of love in Christians. The adverb “first” stresses that God took the initiative to start this agápē affair. He revealed His agápē for humanity to awaken love in them.[6]

Warren W. Wiersbe (1929-2019) notes that two new words came into John’s vocabulary here: fear and torment. And this is written to believers! So, is it possible that Christians can live with distress and terror? Unfortunately, many professed believers experience apprehension and impending danger daily. And the reason is that they are not growing in God’s agápē.

Wiersbe notes that we have adopted the Greek word for angst into our English vocabulary: phobia. Phobias of all sorts are found in psychology books; for instance, is fear of Acrophobia – “heights;” Belonephobia – “pins and needles;” Catagelophobia – “being ridiculed;” Dystychiphobia – “accidents;” and one that many parents suffer from, Ephebiphobia – “their children becoming teenagers,” etc. But there is no Greek phobia for what the Apostle John was writing about – “anxiety over being judged,” so Wiersbe calls it “Krisisphobia.” John already mentioned this solemn truth,[7] and now he deals with it again. If people are afraid, it is because of something in the past that haunts them, something in the present that upsets them, or something in the future that threatens them. Or it may be a combination of all three. A believer in Jesus the Anointed One does not have to be afraid of the past, present, or future,[8] for he has experienced God’s agápē, and this agápē is being perfected in him day by day.[9]

Stephen Sl. Smalley (1931-2018) says that the opening of this verse that “we love” is fortified because “He loved us first.” Not only can we love because of God’s prior and primary love, but also, we must love Him and others in return. God’s agápē for His children and in them may result in the exercise of love “even towards those who do not seem to invite it.”[10] Love then starts with God, goes through us to others, and returns to God. That is what the Apostle John was talking about when he said the “perfected love” removes all doubt so that we have confidence on judgment day.[11] [12]

William Loader (1944) says that verse nineteen reasserts this principle: We love because He loved us first. The one action follows the other not only as an obligation. God’s agápē in the first place also enables us to love others. Following this stream of God’s agápē along its line of fulfillment from God through to human loving, John reasserts that claims to love God by people who harbor hate towards their fellow Christians are an exercise in fraudulence. At best, such a response may be sincere and devout religion, but it has not grasped that the God to be loved is the one whose existence and energy is to love all people. It is worshipping, in effect, another god, even if it calls it the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One. At worst, it may even justify hate and discrimination based on its wrong understanding of God.[13]

David Jackman (1947) says that theological knowledge and convictions are proven and deepened by experience. Our experience of God’s love is very much the same. Because it is grounded in His unchanging character (God is love), as we are in a daily relationship of trust and obedience with Him, we are constantly in touch with that divine love and learn to rely on it more and more. The bottom line is that the God who is Love wants His children to have confidence.[14] We can have complete faith in Jesus, God’s Son, because He shed His blood for our forgiveness. Now we can call God “Father” and know that He accepts us without question for the sake of His beloved Son.

Meanwhile, says Jackman, punishment is entirely foreign to someone who is forgiven and loved. So, as the Amplified New Testament beautifully expresses it, “The perfect love of God in the Anointed One throws fear out the door and expels every kind of terror.” When we are in union with the Anointed One, we are as He is. Does the Lord Jesus cringe in terror before the Father? Of course not. Then, we may share His boldness, confidence, and freedom of speech. He has loved us with an everlasting love that will never let us down or go. If we are always afraid of what Father may do to us, we do not love Him, and if we do not love Him, it is because we do not believe He loves us.[15]

Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) says that the gloom of judgment is now dispersed by the light of love, which “is fully perfected with us.” Love is perfected not at some remote distance but by the impact of the God who in His Son lives “up close and personal” with His people. Love “is Jesus’ image in us.” If God, the consummate manifestation of love, is with people in such an intimate and ongoing way, then that perfecting activity may be termed “full.” God’s direct and transformative presence is the active agent in the voice of the verb “perfected.”

Since fear of death, hinted at regarding “the day of judgment” in verse seventeen, is so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that the Apostle John now addresses it in greater detail in verse eighteen. The first clause, “there is no fear in love” (“perfect love drives out fear”), speaks of that fear as a phobia. These cautions against leaping to the conclusion that “fear [of God]” is something that John rejects categorically when other biblical writers regard it positively. John is more likely to have in mind the fear of the coming judgment (so most commentators). In verse seventeen, John has just ruled that out based on the love that God perfects among His people. The biblical commendation of a healthy fear of God is therefore not mitigated here in verse eighteen. Also, we should not interpret John’s statement as suggesting that fearlessness is a sure sign of confidence before God. He would hardly be making a virtue of shameless arrogance.

Now, in verse nineteen, the Apostle John concludes his affirmation of the triumph of divine love. Any lack of assurance caused by fear of judgment is thereby overcome. John restates a point he expressed slightly differently in verse ten (and that the Apostle Paul states in Romans.[16] The “we” here in verse nineteen contrasts with the “the one who fears” in verse eighteen. That person lacks the full assurance of God’s love, while “we” possess that assurance based on God’s initiative; they have discovered that “God made the first move in expressing love.” This detection has made a difference in how they regard one another: they love.[17]

Gary M. Burge (1952) advises that in verse seventeen, John makes the remarkable statement that a life inspired by God, a life shaped by this quality of Christian discipleship, exhibits a love that is made complete.[18] However, the NIV misses an important connective with the preceding verses: “This is how love is made complete among us.”[19] That is, by everything said thus far, by the principles outlined above, God’s agápē is perfected among us. Now a different emphasis is apparent. God’s agápē is perfected not through our perception of it or our experience but our expression of it.[20] God’s agápē reaches completion by the degree to which it is shared among us.

[1] Deuteronomy 7:7-8

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] From the hymn “At Calvary,” by William R. Newell 1895, Stanza 4

[4] John 3:16

[5] Phillips, John: Exploring the First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 154

[6] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., January-March 1990, p. 86

[7] 1 John 2:28

[8] Hebrews 13:8

[9] Wiersbe, Warren W., Be Real: Turning from Hypocrisy to Truth (The BE Series Commentary), op. cit., pp. 154-155

[10] Cf. Romans 5:6-8

[11] 1 John 4:17

[12] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, op. cit., p. 262

[13] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, op. cit., p. 57

[14] Cf. 1 John 3:1-2

[15] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., pp. 128-130

[16] Romans 5:8

[17] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 258-262

[18] Cf. 1 John 4:12, 18

[19] Ibid. 4:17

[20] Ibid. 4:12

[21] Burge, Gary M., The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary), op. cit., pp. 189-190

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NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXVIII) 08/08/22

^4:19We love because God loved us first.

The enjoyment of God in us is a different matter, says Gäbelein. If it is not factual to us and we do not enjoy it, there is something that keeps it from happening. For instance, would we not recognize the honor and privilege bestowed upon us if the Queen of England or the King of Spain should pay a visit to our home? If we did not take the time and effort to show our appreciation, we would have no enjoyment of their presence. In the same way, to have the reality and enjoy the wonderful truth that God permanently resides in us and we in Him, we must practice what the King of Heaven said, “All who love Me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”[1] We must dwell in love, the very nature of God, and display it towards Him and our brothers and sisters. John makes it very clear here in his Epistle, “If we love each other, God lives in us, which brings His agápē to full expression in us,”[2] and, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”[3]

“That’s why,” states Gäbelein, “God’s agápē is made perfect in us; we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear because we are like Jesus in this world. It has nothing to do with our love, nor with seeking an experience of being ‘perfect in love.’” It is His agápē that drives out fear. If we believe and know what God has made us in His infinite grace, what the Anointed One is, that as He is, so are we, how can we fear anything! The coming day of judgment we await not only without any fear but with boldness, for the day will only bring the full display of what the Anointed One is and what we are in Him and with Him – the knowledge of His perfect love.^[4]

John Neville Figgis (1866-1919), a British historian, political philosopher, and Anglican priest, offers us an illustration. You know how it is when you don’t care about a particular relative getting married and feel obligated to give them a wedding present. It would seem to you like a waste of money. So, cannot we be more open-minded in our gifts to the God we love and who loves us? We’re not talking about money, though that is an excellent reality test for many people. But every day, every hour almost, we can be giving something to Jesus. Therefore, give Him a present – some personal item you decide not to buy to support a missionary effort; some sorrow or humiliation you can turn into joy and strength for His sake; some evil thought put away to concentrate on Him; sell some complex piece of artwork we own to serve Him, or some revengeful act or nasty fight we’re about to get into because we are His friends.

God does not expect us always to win just to impress Him with successful accomplishments. We are all only called on to please Him with our best effort. Perhaps we can only say, “Lord, I failed, but I did my best; I gave it a good try. I have not succeeded this time, but I tried to do it for You.” So don’t brag about success, even if it comes to you through great sacrifice and results. But, on the other hand, if your extreme efforts result in scorn, humiliation, grief, and self-contempt because others thought you were a religious fool, you can still give Him that. What Jesus gave His Father on Calvary was it a failure or success? Some of His disciples thought He had failed. But they knew it was a success when they saw Him after the resurrection.[5]

For Albert Barnes (1872-1951), this passage is open to two explanations; either (1) that the fact that He first loved us is the ground or reason why we love Him, or (2) that, as a matter of fact, we were persuaded to love Him because of the love He manifested towards us through the fundamental foundation of our love may be the excellency of His character. If the former is what it means, and if that were the only basis for love, it would be mere selfishness,[6] and it cannot be believed that the Apostle John meant to teach it is the only reason for our love for God. It is true, indeed, that it is a proper ground of love, or that we are bound to love God in proportion to the benefits which we have received from His hand; but still, genuine love to God is something which the mere fact cannot explain that we have received favors from Him.

However, the original reason for loving God is separate from the question of whether we are to be benefited or not. There is that in the Divine nature which a Holy Being will love, apart from the benefits they are to receive, and from any thought even of their destiny. It seems to me, says Barnes, that John must have meant here that the fact that we love God is traceable to the grace He used to bring us to Himself, but without saying that this is the sole or even the main reason why we love Him. It was His agápē manifested to us by sending His Son to redeem us, which will explain the fact that we now love Him, but still, the actual ground or reason why we love Him is the infinite excellence of His character.[7] [8]

Harry A. Ironside (1875-1951) points out that we come to the practical side in verse nineteen. If you consult the Greek manuscripts, you will find that the word “Him” does not appear. It is omitted in all the older manuscripts. Correctly it reads, “We love because He loved us first.” Some may feel there is a mistake; it should read, “We love Him because He loved us first.” But take it just as the Spirit of God originally wrote, “We love because He loved us first.” If it was meant only to love God, then we would not need to love anyone else. Think it over, and you will see how precious it is just to know how to love.

Many will talk about loving Him but not His other children! It is easy to talk about loving the Anointed One and loving God yet be cold, unkind, and discourteous toward those for whom Jesus died. The test of whether we love Him is found in how we behave toward all His sons and daughters, and that is a test! You say you love Him, but you do not love Him a bit more than you love God’s child of whom you think the least. Just try to guess who that is, that argumentative, cross-grained person who always seems to upset you, and yet you know they belong to the Lord Jesus the Anointed One, that they are a member of the Anointed One’s Body. You do not love the Anointed One any more than His members, so the correct translation is, “We [know how to] love only because He loved us first.”[9]

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993) agrees that if you can’t love your brother or sister whom you’ve seen, how can you love God whom you haven’t seen? This follows from the fact that “God is love” and that all love is “of God.” Wilder takes issue with how the KJV translated the Greek text here “How can he love God?” is probably to be rejected. The NIV & NASB reads: “cannot love God,” and Young’s Literal Translation renders it, “God – whom he has not seen.” The Greek manuscript has: “how is he able to love?” The theme here reminds us of Jesus’ words that loving others is like loving Him.[10] It cast a dark shadow over all religious groups that do not fellowship with particular Christian churches. In the Christian sense, the proof that love is real lies in the apparent action to which it leads.[11] Real love for God shows itself in obedience to His commandments. In support of the test, the great double commandment[12] is invoked in verse twenty below.[13]

Paul W. Hoon (1910-2000) says this verse cites the act of divine revelation in which Christians believe, express, and define the character of the love they practice. The priority of God’s agápē to humanity (He first loved us) means that this original universal love is the ground of human love. The word first has the idea of “from the beginning” and suggests the eternal, unconditional character of God’s agápē. While God loves us in a decisive act in His Son’s Incarnation and Atonement, He has always been loving. This existence and nature have never been anything other than love. But His agápē is not a general feeling of compassion offered to all creation; it is the personal love of a personal God on an individual basis: Yes, love is a personal thing, put into action by persons and exercised by persons. That’s why nothing but a unique Incarnation, and the self-sacrifice of the Anointed One, could either sufficiently reveal God’s agápē for humankind or call on all humanity to love God.”[14] All this is considered personal because God, who is Love, lives in us through His Spirit and brings all of this with Him.[15]

Dr. John Neville Figgis (1866-1919) was an English historian, political philosopher, Anglican priest, and monk of the Community of the Resurrection. He comments on God’s agápē and man’s response. That, says Figgis, is the meaning of our life as Christians. God’s agápē, His kindness as our Savior comes first. That allows us to become surrounded by God’s agápē. It is so near; it envelops us completely. However, for some, it takes too long to discern it. When they do, it comes with all the force of a fresh discovery. In the words of an English poem, it was “Closer is He than breathing, nearer than hands or feet.”[16]

Yet, for many, He seems so far above us, and we are so tiny that we cannot believe it. Then one day, you discover that He actually cares for you. There is nothing that individualizes like love. That is a wonderful thing, says Figgis. It makes one jump for joy to know that not only does God let us love Him, but He will let us help Him and give Him the best we have; all made better by giving not only what we have but what we are, “ourselves, our souls and bodies, a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice,”[17] and so make God rejoice. Has it ever occurred to you that you can make God, make Jesus, rejoice? We are often told that our sins, pride, and willfulness make Him miserable once more; we renew for Him Gethsemane and dig those nails deeper. We do. But also, we can make Him glad, assist Him, and make it easier for Him to do His work in our lives and others, His never-ceasing work of saving the world, and bring a fresh note of joy even among the angels in heaven.[18] [19]

[1] John 14:23

[2] 1 John 4:12

[3] Ibid. 4:16

[4] Gäbelein, Arno C., The Annotative Bible, op. cit., pp. 156-157

[5] Figgis, John Neville: The Church Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., Vol. 12, God’s Love and Man’s Response, pp. 304-306

[6] Cf. Matthew 5:46-47

[7] See John 15:16

[8] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., pp. 4869-4870

[9] Ironside, Harry A., The Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., pp. 178-179

[10] Matthew 25:40

[11] See 1 John 3:17

[12] Matthew 22:37-39

[13] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, p. 288

[14] Hoon, Paul W., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exegesis, p. 287

[15] Romans 5:5

[16] Alfred, Lord Tennyson: The Higher Pantheism

[17] Romans 12:1

[18] Luke 15:10

[19] Figgis, John Neville: The Church Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., Vol. 12, pp. 303-306

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I read this article by Australian writer Kate Windle, and it surprised me that there would be such a thing as powerful psychology behind cleanliness. She stated that a tidy and well-organized living space could give you a sense of comfort and happiness. Cleanliness not only enhances the look of your living space but also helps in alleviating stress and anxiety. It leaves a powerful impact on your mind and soul. But, on the other hand, a messy and dirty room invites lethal germs and viruses that can lead to harmful diseases.

World-renowned psychologists say cleanliness is related to your physical and mental health. An organized home increases your concentration power, brings positivity, and reduces your stress level. Removing dust, changing bed sheets, and clearing the mess regularly can relax you. That is why hiring end-of-lease cleaners in Sydney at the end of your rental contract is imperative. Landlords inspect every nook and cranny to ensure the property is neat and flawless.

In addition, Dr. Ralph Ryback, Medical Director with Mindful Health Foundation, also commented on the powerful psychology behind cleanliness. He reports that researchers at Princeton University found that clutter can make it more challenging to focus on a particular task. Specifically, they found that the visual cortex can be overwhelmed by task-irrelevant objects, making it harder to allocate attention and complete tasks efficiently.

Furthermore, a survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that people who make their beds every morning are nineteen percent more likely to report regularly getting a good night’s sleep. People surveyed also reported benefits from having clean sheets – specifically, seventy-five percent of people said they get a better night’s rest when their sheets are fresh and clean because they feel more comfortable.

Therefore, maintaining an organized schedule and a list of short-term goals can help you stay in shape. A study in the Journal of Obesity found that people who carefully plan their exercise regimen, set goals, and regularly record their progress are likelier to keep up an exercise program than those who show up at the gym without a clear plan.

Also, on GuardIT Blogs, in an article about the powerful psychology of cleanliness, Billy Jean wrote: What is it about looking at an organized room that is so satisfying? Why is a show all about organization one of the most-watched on Netflix? Why do people spend hours of their life looking at blogs that teach them how to organize and re-arrange their closets? The fact is, keeping your workspace and living space clean and organized is extremely powerful, and it is good for you. It is something proven by science that cleaning or hiring a commercial cleaning company will benefit your mental state.

A study showcased that people with clean houses were much healthier than those with messy houses – this study was led by NiCole R. Keith, Ph.D. from Indiana University. The study tracked the physical health of 998 African Americans between 49 and 65. It was a demographic well known to be at a heightened risk of developing heart disease. The participants in the study who ended up keeping their homes cleaner were found to be much more healthy and active than those who didn’t spend the time to do so. In the study, the cleanliness of a house was a more accurate predictor of health than the walkability of the neighborhood where they lived.

Then, Annie Murphy Paul, an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, and The Best American ScienceWriting, among many other publications, wrote how Cleanliness is Next to Sanity. She exclaimed that you would think it was 1950. Experts are singing the praises of housework and its possibilities for excellence. But this new take on Domestic Drudgery has a contemporary twist; this is cleaning as a refuge from hectic and hassled lives, even as a substitute for Prozac. “Simple household tasks such as ironing or doing the laundry can offer drug-free ways of coping with stress,” says Vivien Wolsk, Ph.D., a New York psychologist who counsels her clients to turn daily chores into a kind of therapy.

While washing windows, she tells them, imagine that your perceptions are becoming as clear as the glass; while ironing, imagine “smoothing out the wrinkles in your life” (or straightening out an irritating
Coworker). “Something is relaxing, even meditative, about these chores,” says Wolsk. “When we clean, we have a visible impact on what we do: something is dirty, and you make it clean.”

She’s echoed by Margaret Horsfield, a journalist, and author of Biting the Dust: The Joys of Housework. “Housework can be used to work out frustration and even grief,” says Horsfield, who calls this activity
“heartbreak cleaning.” Even if you’ve only washed a load of laundry or a sinkful of dishes, “you can feel that you’ve accomplished something in this uncontrollable world.”

BUT WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ABOUT CLEANLINESS? We begin with the story of the Syrian General who came to see the prophet Elijah based on the testimony of a captive Jewish maid. He felt insulted that Elijah sent out his servant to give him the word to dip seven times in the muddy Jordan River. Naaman became angry and left. He said, “I thought Elisha would at least come out and stand in front of me and call on the name of the Lord his God. I thought he would wave his hand over my body and heal my leprosy. Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than all the water in Israel. Why can’t I wash in those rivers in Damascus and become clean?” He was outraged and turned to leave. But Naaman’s servants went to him and talked to him. They said, “Father, if the prophet told you to do something great, you would do it, isn’t that right? All he said was, ‘Wash, and you will be pure and clean.’” So Naaman did what the man of God said. He went down and dipped in the Jordan River seven times, becoming pure and clean (2 Kings 5:11-14).

King David might have seen a spiritual lesson in Naaman’s experience when he cried to the LORD, “Remove my sin and make me pure. Wash me until I am whiter than snow! God, create a clean heart in me and strengthen my spirit again” (Psalm 51:7, 10). David’s son Solomon referenced that same thought when he asked, “Can anyone say their heart is clean? Who can say, ‘I am free from sin?’” (Proverbs 20:9).

The prophets also saw the value of cleanliness. So, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him to tell the people, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.” (Isaiah 1:16) And God told Ezekiel, “I will take you out of those nations, gather you together, and bring you back to your land. Then I will sprinkle pure water on you and make you clean. I will wash away all the filth from those nasty idols and make you clean” (Ezekiel 36:24-25).

Jesus was also not silent on cleanliness when He told the Pharisees, “You are blind! First, make the inside of the cup clean and good. Then the outside of the cup will also be clean” (Matthew 23:26). And on another occasion, He said to His followers, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch^[a] of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more. So you are already clean because of the teaching I have given you” (John 15:1-3).

The Apostle Paul was also a proponent of cleanliness. He told the Roman believers, “I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food is unclean, in and of itself. But if someone believes it is unclean, it is wrong for that person” (Romans 14:14). Then, to the Corinthian church, Paul wrote, “Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So we should make ourselves clean – free from anything that makes our body or soul unclean. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in our lives” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Finally, he urged the Ephesians “to love one another as the Anointed One loved the church and gave His life for it. He died to make the church holy. He used the telling of the Good News to make the church clean by washing it with water. The Anointed One died so He could give the church to Himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so the church could be holy and without fault, with no evil, sin, or anything wrong” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Also, the writer of Hebrews encouraged the believers with these words, “We have a great priest who rules the house of God. Sprinkled with the blood of the Anointed One, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in the Anointed One” (Hebrews 10:21-22). And the Apostle James joined in by telling his followers, “Come near to God, and He will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. So clean up your mind.”

And not to be left out, the Apostle John wrote that we should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean. If we say we have no sin, we fool ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7-9).

I read this story over fifty years ago, but I thought I’d share it with you so it could bless you with its message. It is about a wealthy man and his son who loved collecting rare inspirational artworks. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together, sharing stories about the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son joined the military and went to the war zone. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart, and he died instantly. While alive, he often talked about you and your love for inspirational art.”

The young man then held out his package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.” The father took the package inside and opened it. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at how the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the portrait. “Oh, no, Sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.”

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home, he took them to see his son’s picture before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected. The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the tremendous inspirational artwork and the opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat his son’s portrait.

The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this portrait of the son. Who will bid for this painting?” There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted. “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.” But the auctioneer persisted. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?” Another voice shouted angrily. “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!” But still, the auctioneer continued. “The son’s picture first! Who will bid on the son?”

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the long-time gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. “We have $10; who will bid $20?” “Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters, people shouted.” “$10 is the bid; won’t someone bid $20?”

The crowd was becoming agitated. The bidders didn’t want the son’s portrait. They wanted more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!” A man sitting in the second row shouted. “Now, let’s get on with the collection!”

Suddenly, the auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry,” he said, “the auction is over.” The crowd was stunned and dismayed. The auctioneer continued, “When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the inspirational paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!”

God gave His son over 2,000 years ago to save those wounded by sin. But He died on a cruel cross in doing so. So, much like the auctioneer, His message today is, “Only those who take My Son will inherit His entire estate. So, who will take the Son, who will take the Son?”

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXVII) 08/05/22

^4:19We love because God first loved us.

Lias goes on the say that two opposite mistakes have emerged on this point. On one side, salvation has been regarded as a person’s reward for work achieved with God’s help; on the other; it is a single act of faith that at once and forever decides a person’s future. The first error has resulted in the most painful efforts, the most rigid and cruel self-tortures, and the most wearing anxiety and uncertainty. The other imagines that since the works under the Law do not attain salvation; therefore, any effort to fulfill God’s will in that manner is dangerous and deadly, like teaching people to trust in themselves for their salvation.

The truth stands, as usual, between the two. Our salvation does not consist in the fulfillment of a covenant of works but in the reborn spirit transmitted to us from on high. That born anew spirit will lead us to crucify the flesh, encourage us to make every effort necessary to stay obedient to God’s Word, and finally bring our hearts into union with God. The whole work is His but accomplished in us. The first impulse comes from Him; every subsequent struggle of the regenerate person’s will against the works of the flesh is His work. The final result is not absorption but a perfect union with Him. And He is agápē. If He is in us, His agápē must be in us. Thus, it comes to pass that our love is but the stream of which He is the source. “We love because He loved us first.”[1]

American Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) states that God first made it possible for us to do everything we do. Everywhere God is first, and humanity, coming afterward, enters into Him and finds in God the setting and the background of life. There is no part of life in which this is not true. Humankind was never sent into the world as a microscopic organism and charged for evolving on its own in the conditions in which it found itself to advance into a higher form. Always something is before; always, there is a landscape in which humans, such as Adam, became conscious of his existence. The material is the background for the spiritual – the earth, then all its features. So, likewise, the body, before it became a living soul.[2] The same is true of a believer. First, flesh gives birth to the flesh before the Spirit gives birth to the spirit.[3] [4]

Robert Cameron (1839-1904) states that for the first time, the Apostle John ventures to mention our love. Until now, he has been absorbed with the more remarkable, nobler, divine love. Up to this point, all had turned on God’s agápē, manifested by Him, known and believed by us, communicated to us, present with us, and made perfect in our compliance, compassion, and confidence. Now he ventures to speak of our echo to God’s anthem, our reflection of God’s light, and our response to God’s agápē. “We love,” not Him, but we come to love, “because He loved us first.” He loved us not only before we loved Him but when we were still hateful and hating. His agápē came to us and fathered love for His children, all humanity, and even His and our enemies.

It is essential to see that John does not say we should love God. On the contrary, love is never once demanded of us toward Him in the Final Covenant. Love is a gift to us, and the fruit of this agápē is that we can offer His agápē to others. It is the first breathing into our souls of heaven’s sweetest affection. God first breathed life into Adam, and then Adam breathed out into the air. So he first pours His agápē into us, and then we pour out His agápē, which is now our own, into others.[5]

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) surmises that if we narrow the Apostle John’s statement that “we love Him because He loved us first,” we limit the scope of this to mean our love is in gratitude for His agápē. The term “first” is an important word and means much more. (1) Our love owes its very origin to God’s agápē, from which it springs. (2) Love is paralyzed by fear when it is doubtful it will ever be returned. Our love has no such monitoring, for it knows that God’s agápē is eternal and unconditional. After all, our Master said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”[6] [7]

Professor William Wallace (1843-1897) tells us that the religious idea of love is essentially not an individualist perception, not a single fact that stands separate and self-evident, but an organic and organizing principle, which binds believer to believer, and of which the Church is the embodiment and evidence. The Apostle John asks, “How can someone love God they can’t see if they don’t love a fellow believer they can see?” To this, it may be added, how can one see and realize God unless they see and realize the community and solidarity of humankind? Christianity depends on the consistency and coincidence of these two aspects. When it is not alive, it makes everything one-sided, for you feel it cannot be true for you unless it is true for others.[8]

James B. Morgan (1850-1942) urges us to ask ourselves, “Do we truly love God.” Think about the question Jesus asked His disciple Peter, “Do you have agápē for Me?”[9] The best Peter could come up with was, “You know Lord, I have phileō [10] for you.”[11]  And to every one of us, God asks the same. The evidence of love for Him is distinct, and we must consider whether we can give it to Him. Is God in all our thoughts? Are our prayers earnest and sincere, and do we act in harmony with “Blessed be Your Name?”[12] Do we act on the command of the Anointed One – “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven?”[13] Do we desire to practice self-denial on behalf of those we love? Do we deny ourselves that we may promote the cause and honor of God? Is it our great aim to come at last into the presence of God because “Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror? But then, we will see Him right before our eyes in the future?”[14] Do we long for the time when “we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is?”[15] Then may we say – “We love Him because He loved us first.”[16]

Congregational minister and author John Ossian Davies (1851-1916) says the top two aspects of love are out of fear and out of faith. We all agreed that love is the mightiest lever in the universe, but there is the possibility that we are not all of one mind as to the use of uneasiness in religion. And has it any legitimate use? Our answer is decidedly in the affirmative.

The Bible speaks of two kinds of fear, says Davies – the brotherly and obligatory. First, we reverence God and dismiss the devil, or second, practicing loving others as a mandatory Christian duty in escaping punishment. The first attracts us to God, but the second drives us away from Him. So, terror thunders, unless followed by love’s enrapturing melodies, and has a devastating influence upon the human soul. Here are some points to consider:

For one, panic tends to produce a Moral Obligation Policy unless accompanied by Love. The terrified soul strives to be virtuous, not from any love for virtue per se, but fear of sin’s punishment. We must strive to hate sin as sin, and love virtue as virtue, regardless of any discipline or reward.

Another is Incessant Appeals. Fear has an exhausting influence on a person’s moral nature. Anxiety paralyzes the soul, deprives it of its moral vigor, and positively hinders effort. Despair weakens the physical frame and paves the way for any disease hovering around. And is not this true of the intellect? Dismay may drive the soul out of Egypt, but we need a more gracious power to lead it into the promised land.

Then we have Continuous Pleas for Mercy. Fear tends to promote unbelief. A dreaded God will eventually become a God despised, hated, and denied.

Now comes Ceaseless Petitions for Patience. Lack of confidence tends to make spiritual worship impossible. Love delights to commune with its object, but a scary thing will end all pleasurable communion. We cannot be heartily and devoutly worshipped a God we fear. You can no more love Him than you can caress a volcano!

And finally, we have Endless Calls for Understanding. Insecurity may lead to forced obedience, which is practically worthless. An old poetic saying goes this way: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Pharaoh forgot all his promises as soon as God removed the plagues. Forced obedience, generated by uneasiness, is little better than disobedience.

Someone may still be tempted to ask, “What role does fear have in religion? Has it any use at all?” We reply that apprehensiveness must be used to pave the way for something better than itself; in itself, it must be the herald and forerunner of love. Sinai must be the precursor of Calvary. It is so in the Bible, it is so in God’s Providence, and it must be so in the spiritual history of every believer.[17]

Arno C. Gäbelein (1861-1945) exclaims, how wonderful are the words: “This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”[18]  Can there be anything more excellent and exciting than dwelling in God and God in us? And this is true of every believer. If we confess that Jesus the Anointed One is the Son of God, if we rest in His finished work as well, knowing the Father sent Him to be the Savior, and our Savior, therefore, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and as a result, God dwelleth in us and we in God. There can be no question about it, for God says so.

---

[1] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Homiletical Treatment, op. cit., pp. 344-345

[2] Genesis 2:7

[3] John 3:6

[4] Brooks, Phillip: The Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., 1 John 4, p. 151

[5] Cameron, Robert: First Epistle of John, op. cit., loc. cit.

[6] John 15:16

[7] Plummer, Alfred: Cambridge Commentary, op. cit., p. 153

[8] Professor William Wallace (1843-1897), Gifford Lectures, pp. 47, 48

[9] John 21:15

[10] Phileō is used for friendship. In other words, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him with God’s love, and Peter replies, “Yes, Lord, you know we are good friends.”

[11] John 21:16

[12] Matthew 6:9

[13] Ibid. 5:16

[14] 1 Corinthians 13:12

[15] 1 John 3:2

[16] Morgan, James B., An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture XXXVII, p. 374

[17] Davies, John Ossian, Old Yet Ever New, 1904, p. 179

[18] 1 John 4:16

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXVI) 08/04/22

^4:19We love because God first loved us.

Richard Rothe (1799-1867) notes that verse nineteen gives us pause to think about this view-changing aspect of God’s agápē for us and our love for Him. First, we wouldn’t know anything, let alone possess our Heavenly Father’s agápē. But when we love Him in return, it isn’t human affection we express. In fact, we don’t generate any love at all. What do you get if you take a searchlight and shine it directly into a mirror? You get the same light reflected into your eyes. It’s the same with God’s agápē. The love we show Him is His agápē reflecting off the mirror of our hearts.

The same goes for the idea of being more like Jesus. The Apostle John mentions this in 1 John 2:6, and the Apostle Paul confesses that he is an imitator of the Anointed One.[1] To the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul makes this clear: So, all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.^[2] And just like any mirror, if you don’t keep it clean or end up breaking it, that image becomes blurred and distorted.[3]

Robert Smith Candlish (1806-1873) says the leading idea here is “boldness on Judgment Day.” Not future boldness, but present boldness in view of it now. It is much the same as in a previous section of the epistle,[4] assuring our hearts with confidence towards and before God. This boldness is linked with love’s perfection; “Herein is our love made perfect,” or as in the margin, “Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.”[5] Agápē then is perfected within us, and the perfecting of this agápē is associated with having boldness on Judgment Day. The bond or connecting link is our oneness with the Anointed One, our being like Him in this world.

Like the Apostle Paul says Candlish, “We have been sent to speak for the Anointed One. It is like God is calling to people through us. We speak for the Anointed One when we beg you to be at peace with God.”[6] It is a terrible thing to face punishment from the living God.[7] Hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne. Hide us from the anger of the Lamb.[8] The great day for their punishment will come. No one can stand against it when the great day of His wrath arrives?” Show that you are loyal to His son, or the Lord will be angry and destroy you. He is almost angry enough to do that now, but those who go to Him for protection will be blessed.[9] [10]

John Stock (1814-1884) offered a great thought when he said, “The candle does not light itself; it must be lit. Then, it can be of use to others. Furthermore, if our light shines bright enough for people to see,[11] we glorify our Father who makes the shining light: it is His act, not ours.”[12]

William Kelly (1822-1888) says there is immense comfort as God’s child, knowing that whatever the need, the sorrow, the shame, or the fear, He wants us to run to Him without delay to place all our care on Him, for He cares for us.[13] Do not let Satan sow seeds of distrust of Him in your heart, for it is a lie to injure us by dishonoring Him. Let us think then of the Anointed One and what this tells of His agápē to us, and the hateful spell is broken. No, we are not made perfect in love if we dread Him; the more we have been charmed, the more we need to confess it in His presence in the confidence of His agápē.

Kelly goes on. What then explains the root of the whole matter? In a few words, the Apostle John sums it all up in verse nineteen, “We love [Him] because He loved us first.” Short as it is, and shorter in the critical text, supported by the best authorities. It is a divine source of comfort to the believer. And it appears that the natural mind would have been more ready to insert “Him” than to leave it out. If “Him” were there originally, it would have been a daring act for any nominal Christian copyist to strike it out. Still, suppose the omission preferred now on sufficient external grounds be correct. In that case, we can easily understand a well-meaning scribe conceiving the first clause sounding rather lame for want of an object and venturing to insert “Him” because it is without doubt intrinsically true.[14]

William Lincoln (1825-1888) does not want to shock anyone, but he points out that never in this epistle does God say, “Love Me.” He does say so in the First Covenant but does not do it here; I suppose, says Lincoln, that we are sure to love God if we are born of Him. “We love Him because He loved us first.” In some believers, the divine life of the Anointed One is often feebly undeveloped, and we sometimes find it most challenging to love the Anointed One in them where there is still plenty of sinful tendencies at work. So, God gives the command to love the Anointed One that is in a believer; still, there is no command to love the Anointed One of God or to love God. Therefore, the Final Covenant command is not “Love Me;” but “Believe in My love for you.”[15] [16]

Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) notes that we don’t love Him out of fear or condemnation. The word “him” in the KJV should be omitted in verse nineteen,[17] as it is not found in the Greek text. The indicative agrees best with the emphatic “we.” Because He (God, verse ten) loved us first from eternity, He sent the Anointed One into the world to save us.[18] (verse nine). His agápē to us preceded our love to Him – His was the cause, ours the effect. In the Apostle John’s mind, it implies that His agápē furnished the model or type for ours. Our love is a thing rising from God’s agápē, and so is naturally like it. God’s agápē went out to all. Ours must go out to all to be whole and perfect, beginning with our brothers and sisters in the Anointed One.[19]

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)  reminds us that there is no natural light on this planet but that which comes from the sun, and there is no true love for Jesus in the heart but that which comes from the Lord Jesus. All our love for God must spring from this overflowing fountain of the infinite God’s agápē. It must always be a great and certain truth that we love Him for no other reason than because He loved us first. Our love for Him is a reflection of His agápē to us.

How great the wonder that such as we should ever have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvelous that after we rebelled against Him, by a display of such amazing love, He sought to draw us back. Love, then, has for its parent God’s agápē. But after it is divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. Agápē is unusual; it is not a plant that flourishes naturally in human soil; it must be watered from above. Love to Jesus is a flower of a delicate nature, and if it does not receive the nourishment drawn from the Rock of Ages for our hearts,[20] it will soon wither. Love must feed on love. The soul and life of our devotion to God is His agápē for us.[21] Spurgeon then shares the lyrics to this song:

I love my Lord, but with no love of mine,

For I have none to give;

I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine,

For by Thy life I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be

Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.[22]

In another place, Spurgeon says that verse nineteen tells us that the effect of the Gospel received in the heart is that it compels such a heart to love God. When the Gospel comes to us, it does not find us loving God, it does not expect anything of us, but coming with the divine application of the Holy Spirit, it simply assures us that God loves us. The after effect of this proclamation of love is that “we love Him because He loved us first.”

Now, what do we say to this? Are we who live in these gentler times about to give up our Master when we are tried and tempted for Him? Oh, young man in the workplace, are you laughed at because you are a follower of the Savior; and will you turn back on the Anointed One because they make fun of you? Young woman! You are laughed at because you openly profess your faith in the Anointed One, will ridicule dissolve the link of love that knits your heart to Him? Remember, all the roar of hell could not divert His agápē from you. And you who are mistreated because you maintain a religious principle. If you are let go, will you not gladly be willing to have everything taken from you and get food from a food bank rather than dishonor your Lord? Will you not go out from this place, by the help of God’s Spirit, vowing and declaring that in life, come poverty, come wealth – in death, pain, or anything, you are and ever will be the Lord’s; for this is written on your heart, “We love Him because He loved us first.”[23]

John James Lias (1834-1923) says that the Apostle John clearly shows that we are not returning our affection to God but have no power to love at all except by God’s agápē. The next question is whether we should take “we love” as a command: “we ought to love.” The chief reason against it is the absence of any call for compliance in this passage. If we ask what the connection of thought between this verse and what precedes and follows is, it would seem to be this: There is no place for fear in those who are perfected in love because the love they have is from the source of love, namely, God. It gives us confidence when we reverence God and feel one with Him. But for that oneness to exist, there must be practical proofs of its existence. We must love or have no union with God, no ground for confidence. The practical consequence indicated here is further drawn out in verse twenty. If we do not love, the basis for our blessed assurance has disappeared.[24]

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:1

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:18

[3] Rothe, Richard: The Expository Times, op. cit., November 1894, p. 86

[4] 1 John 3:19-21

[5] Ibid. 4:17

[6] 2 Corinthians 5:20

[7] Hebrews 10:31

[8] Revelation 6:16-17

[9] Psalm 2:12

[10] Candlish, Robert S., First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 144-145, 160-161

[11] Cf. Matthew 5:16

[12] Stock, John: Exposition of First Epistle of John, op. cit., p. 384

[13] 1 Peter 5:7

[14] Kelly, William: An Exposition of the Epistles of John the Apostle, op. cit., Logos, loc. cit.

[15] Cf. 1 John 3:23

[16] Lincoln, William: Lectures on 1 John, op. cit., Lecture VI, pp. 103-105

[17] See 1 John 4:19 NIV

[18] Ibid. 4:9

[19] Sawtelle, Henry A., An American Commentary, Alvah Hovey Ed., op. cit., p. 53

[20] Cf. Numbers 20:8

[21] Spurgeon, Charles H., Morning and Evening Daily Readings, op. cit., June 11 AM

[22] I love my Lord, but with no love of mine, Lyrics by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon (1648-1717), leader of the Quietist movement in France, translated by English poet William Cowper (1731-1800)

[23] Spurgeon, Charles H., The Spurgeon Sermon Collection, Vol. 2, op. cit., Love, Sermon No. 229, Delivered on Sunday morning, December 19, 1858, at the Music Hall Royal Surrey Gardens, pp. 50-60

[24] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 342-343

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXV) 08/03/22

^4:19We love because God first loved us.

William Birch (1703-1756), in his sermon on “Love God and Humanity,” begins by saying that loving God is essential to the Christian life for the following reasons:

1. The Lord is not satisfied unless He obtains our love.

2. Unless we love the Lord, there cannot be complete personal union.

3. Love to Him makes our obedience sweet.

4. Love for God is an irresistible magnet to draw us from sin.

5. The mutual love between the Christian and his Lord is the heart music of life.

Therefore, God’s agápē is the great motivating power in the Christian life in the following respects:

1. God’s agápē is the fountain of our love for each other. To do good to those who need our active sympathy merely because it is our duty is swimming upstream, and the best of us would soon tire of it. But blessing others because we love them constrains us to be faithful in active goodness unto death.

2. God’s agápē is needful to inspire us to noble deeds. In olden times the maiden promised her hand to the knight if he did some valiant act of warfare; in our case, the Lord loves us first, and that love is the impulse of a noble life.

3. God’s agápē to us is a sure foundation for our faith.

4. God’s agápē to the world is an ever-present rainbow of hope to the Christian. Why? Because God will support your efforts. He loves them and therefore lets us hope for the worst of men.

All this is why God commands us to love our fellow brothers and sisters because:

1. This agápē oils the wheels of service.

2. Love for our fellowman is the motive of self-denial for his sake. Pure love is its own exceeding great reward.

This should remind us why we are to love God.

1. We love Him because He loved us first.

2. We also love Him because He laid down His life for us.

3. We love Him because His agápē is unchangeable.[1]

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) says that we should remember that our love for Him and His children is kindled by the fruit of His agápē for us, which is from eternity in His great salvation plan and was manifested at the appointed time by His gracious proclamations and works prior to, and the immediate cause of, all our love for Him by loving our fellow believers in the same way.[2]

Charles Simeon (1759-1836) states that there ought to be a tremendous and visible difference between the Lord’s children and worldly people. But no believer has any grounds for glorying in themselves. Everyone should be able to answer the questions: “Who made you so different? What spiritual gifts do you have that God did not give you?” Whatever achievement any Christian may have accomplished, they must say, with the Apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”[3] To this effect, the Apostle John speaks in the words here in verse nineteen, in which we are taught to trace the love which the saints bear to their God, not to any superior qualities in their nature, but to God’s free and sovereign grace: “We love Him, because He started loving us first.”[4]

There’s a fascinating story about the young British preacher and theologian Adam Clarke (1762-1832), born in Ireland, who was only twenty years old and had given talks before but only by reading a manuscript but never felt he was called to preach the Gospel. He did not want to go until God sent him. Methodist minister John Bredin, schoolmaster at New Buildings, near Londonderry, England, wrote Clarke and asked him to spend a week or two. Clarke had just been appointed by John Wesley to Bradford, Wiltshire, and had to walk thirty miles to New Buildings since there was no public transportation in that area.

Before starting his walk early on Monday, June 17, 1782, he opened his Bible and prayed, “Lord, direct me to some portion of Your Word that will give me something to meditate on while I’m on my way.” He opened his Bible, and the first words that jumped out at him were these: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you.”[5] He arrived on Tuesday evening, June eighteenth. Immediately, Minister Bredin asked him to take his place Wednesday night, the nineteenth of June, in the village of New Buildings, some five miles away. Clark agreed. Minister Bredin then said, “You must take a text and preach from it.” “Oh, no,” stammered Clarke, “that I cannot do.”

To make a long story shorter, Clarke finally selected a text, “We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”[6] Then, after he gave an introduction, he expounded on it this way:

1. The Apostle states that the whole world lies in wickedness.

• It is only by the power of God that people are saved from this state of corruption; those who are converted are influenced and employed by Him — We are of God.

• Those converted this way know it, not only from its outward effects in their lives but from the change made in their hearts – We know that we are of God.

The people were delighted; they gathered around him and begged him to preach to them again in a place just over a mile away at five in the morning before they went to work. He consented, and there he chose as his text. 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”[7] What a fantastic sequel to his first sermon about living in a wicked world but still holding on to the change in their lives that occurred through the hearing of the Gospel.

As a follow-up to this story, a Conference was being held in Bristol; Clarke had no thought of attending until a letter came on Friday, August 1, 1783, requiring him to attend: the next day, Saturday, he set off; and reached Bristol the same day. How he spent the next day, which was the Sabbath, may be seen in the following entry in his Journal. “Sunday, August 3, 1783. At five this morning, I heard a very useful sermon from Mr. Mather, at the chapel Broad Mead, On Isaiah 35:3, 4. I then went to Guinea Street chapel, where I heard Mr. Bradburn preach on Christian perfection, from 1 John 4:19. This was, without exception, the best sermon I had ever heard on the subject.”[8]

Albert Barnes (1798-1870) mentions that this passage is susceptible to two explanations; either (1) that the fact that He first loved us is the ground or reason why we love Him, or (2) that we have been moved to love Him as a consequence of the love He manifested towards us. If the former is the meaning, and if that were the only ground of love, then it would be mere selfishness,[9] and it cannot be believed that John meant to teach that this is the only reason for our love for God.

It is true, indeed, that that is a proper ground for love, or that we are bound to love God in proportion to the benefits which we have received from His hand; but still, genuine love for God is something which the mere fact cannot explain that we have received favors from Him. The actual, original ground of love to God is the excellence of His character, apart from the question of whether we are to be benefited or not. There is that in His Divine nature which a holy being will love, apart from the benefits they receive and any thought even of their destiny.

It seems to me, therefore, says Barnes, that what John must have meant here, by the second interpretation suggested above, the fact that we love God, is to be traced to the means which He used to draw us to Himself, but without saying that this is the sole or even the main reason why we love Him. It was His agápē manifested to us by sending His Son to redeem us, which will explain the fact that we now love Him, but still, the natural ground or reason why we love Him is the infinite excellence of His character. It should be added here, notes Barnes, that many suppose that the Greek pronoun and verb hēmeis agapaō rendered “we love” are not indicative[10] but in the subjunctive mood.[11] This is John’s appeal – “Let us love Him because He first loved us.”[12] 

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[1] Birch, William: Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., Vol. 22, pp. 162-163

[2] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, op. cit., p. 1328

[3] 1 Corinthians 15:10

[4] Simeon, Charles: Hor Homileticæ, op. cit., Discourse 2461, p. 513

[5] John 15:16

[6] 1 John 5:19

[7] Clarke, Adam: Life of Adam Clarke (1772-1832)  (1819), Trinity College, Cambridge, published in New York, 1833, Bk. 3, pp. 130-131

[8] Ibid. pp. 172-173

[9] Matthew 5:46-47

[10] An indicative mood is a verb form that makes a statement or asks a question

[11] The subjunctive mood is for expressing wishes, suggestions, or desires

[12] Barnes, Albert: Notes on the N.T., op. cit., pp. 4869-4870

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXIV) 08/02/22

^4:19 We learned to love because God loved us first.

Some commentators point out that “him” is an insertion and is not to be included. So, the rendering of verse nineteen reads: “We love because He first loved us [or “loved us first”]. [1] To take the Greek hēmeis agapaō, “we love,” as subjunctive, “let us love” is less forcible. John states as a fact what ought to be. We Christians do not fear; we love. Yet this is no credit to us. On the contrary, after God’s love in giving His Son for us, it would be monstrous not to love.

So let us review what has been said. First, God’s initiative in loving us infused His agápē in our spirits. Our ability to love with divine love comes from God, not us. We love because God taught us how to love. The source of the believer’s love is prior love.  We do not compare agápē with our lackluster love. That’s why the word “him” does not occur in the oldest Greek manuscripts, so the emphasis is on generic love. Thus, this speaks of loving any object, whether God or human beings.

Secondly, the word “first” bears the emphasis of the Greek adjective protos, allowing us to see the connection to verse eighteen. Faintheartedness finds no place in the Christian who matures in God’s love. Fear of God is incompatible with understanding God as the source and initiator of love. Our exercise of love is a product of God’s agápē. John emphasizes the continued pattern of love rather than isolated acts.  Since God loved us once [aorist tense] at the cross, we can go on loving Christians (present tense). Therefore, no exercise of love on our part is possible without God loving us first.

So, how do we apply this to everyday life? Our love for God and others originates in His agápē for us.  God’s agápē is the incentive for our passion. God loved us at the high cost of sacrificing His Son for us. God loved us first; we loved Him second. He took the initiative. His initiative enabled us to love because He put His agápē within us. He provided the loving apparatus. So don’t think you can love as God loved without God’s agápē in you.[2]

The omission of love on the human level indicates the absence of agápē on the divine level. God’s agápē makes Godly love on the mortal plane possible. All true love is a response to God’s initiative. Our love is not self-originated, for it has a heavenly origin. God gives us the desire to love others. God calls out our love in response to what God has given. Our capacity to love spiritually rests on something more significant than our power to love. It is the response to God’s agápē. That is why this kind of love always finds an object. 

Thus, our love for fellow Christians validates our love for God. Response to God’s agápē produces love for others. Think of how irritable and stubborn some Christians are. They will do almost anything to upset us. Yet God loves them as much as He loves us. When our hearts are occupied with His wonderful agápē, we do not become agitated with obnoxious Christians. God loved us when we were unlovable, so we should love the unlovely. 

COMMENTARY

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) discusses why we love God. It’s by God’s grace we love Him who first loved us to believe in Him, and by loving Him, we perform good works for others but have we done the good ones to glorify Him?[3]

And Andreas (circa 600-700) is sure that God understands us as we are. In fact, God loves us so much that He knows the number of hairs on our heads, as it says in the Gospels.[4] So it is not that God goes around numbering hairs but that He has a detailed understanding and complete foreknowledge of everything about us.[5] [6]

Christian scholar Bede the Venerable (672-735) asks, “From where would we get the power to love God if He had not loved us first?” Jesus says in the Gospel: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”[7] Therefore, we will be perfect in love if, following His example, we love Him for no other reason than He first loved us and sacrificed His life for us.[8]  In other words, if God never did another thing for us for the rest of our lives, we still have enough to love for the rest of our lives because of what He has already done.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) explores why we should love God and with what measure of love. He asks, do you want me to tell you why God is to be loved and how much? I answer that the reason for loving God is God, and the measure of love due to Him is immeasurable. Is this plain? Doubtless, to a thoughtful person, but a debtor to the unwise also. A word to the wise is sufficient, but I must consider simple folk too. Therefore, I set myself joyfully to explain in detail what is meant above. We are to love God because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.

When someone asks, why should I love God? they may mean, what is lovely in God? or what is there to gain by loving God? In either case, the same sufficient cause of love exists as God and His agápē to us. Could any title be more significant than this: He gave Himself for us unworthy wretches? And being God, what better gift could He offer than Himself? Hence, if one seeks God’s claim upon our love, here is number one – because He first loved us.[9]

John Calvin (1509-1564) shares that the Greek verb agapaō may be either in the indicative[10] or imperative[11] mood, but the indicative is most suitable here. The Apostle John, as I think, says Calvin, repeats the preceding sentence, that as God has anticipated us by His free love, we ought to return to render love to Him as He expects. John then infers that God ought to be loved because our love for Him should be directed toward those around us. If the imperative mood is preferred, the meaning would be nearly the same: God has freely loved us, so we should also freely love Him.[12]

John Trapp (1601-1669) explains why He loved us first. He says some writer in his day said, “Mary did not answer Rabboni[13] until the Anointed One first said to her, Mary. Our love is but the reflex of His. And as the reflected beams of the sun are weaker than the direct, so are our affections weaker than God’s.” That is a memorable saying of a modern writer, As an excellent brightness of the air at midnight reflects the shining of the moon, and that presumes its illumination by the sun because these depend on one another; so the diffusing of our kindness on our neighbors prove our love to God; and our affection for God presumes His agápē for us first, for the inseparable dependence they have on each other.[14] Trapp then gives us something to think about. Some Christians are a ray of sunshine to those around them, while others are a mere reflection of a believer who did something good for them. While the sun is always shining, look for someone to inspire you to love others even though acts of kindness may be sporadic or hard to find.

John Flavel tells us that this gift of the Anointed One was the highest and fullest manifestation of God’s agápē that ever the world saw: and this is evidenced when you consider how near and dear Jesus was to His Father; To what He gave His Son, be made a curse for us, even to death on the cross; To enhance God’s agápē in providing the Anointed One, and by giving Him He gave the wealthiest jewel in His jewelry box. Next, let us consider whom the Lord granted His Son: upon angels? No! Upon humans. On humans, who were His friends? No! Upon His enemies. And finally, let us also contemplate how freely this gift came from Him. Was it wrestled out of His hand? No! A gift is always free. We didn’t earn it, didn’t purchase it, didn’t merit it, didn’t barter for it, and didn’t steal it. Instead, Jesus bought it for His Father to give to us as a gift of grace and mercy.[15]

Daniel Whitby (1638-1726) comments that whoever loves God because He first loved them, and demonstrates it by loving their fellow believer, can brag of nothing since that love came from God. That’s because God’s sheltering love to the believer gave rise to all the love they owe to God or their fellow Christian for His sake. Suppose, therefore, any person feels held back by this agápē to doing things that offer evidence of their affection to God or to imitate His agápē by avid love for the brethren. In that case, Divine charity excited this affection in them. Or, if we do it out of submission, this is what it means: let the great God’s agápē mentioned in verses nine and ten provoke us to return love to Him and our brethren for His sake. However, don’t dishonestly pretend to love Him, do it with energy towards His children and our brethren.[16]

William Burkitt (1650-1703) tells us there is a double reading of these words according to the original Greek. First, it may read, “let us love Him because He first loved us,” by way of motive, signifying that believers have great reason to love God with their choicest and highest affections, forasmuch as He loved them, and first to love them.  They are often read by way of causality, “we do love Him because He first loved us,” implying that God’s agápē to us is the root and spring of our love for Him and one another. All our devotion to fellow saints is but a reflection of those beams of love that God first showed down upon us. If God’s agápē to us were a mere consequence of our love for Him, how uncertain would we be of its continuance? But His agápē to us was the original cause of our love for Him; we, therefore, love Him because He started the whole love affair with us.[17]

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[1] From the New International Version

[2] 2 Thessalonians 3:5

[3] Augustine: (Bray Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc. cit., Letters 186

[4] Luke 12:7

[5] Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; cf. Isaiah 44:24; Galatians 1:15

[6] Andreas: (Bray Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc., cit.

[7] John 15:16

[8] Bede the Venerable, Ancient Christian Commentary, Vol. XI, Bray, G. (Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John

[9] Bernard of Clairvaux: On Loving God, op. cit., Ch. 1, pp. 11-12

[10] Indicative mood is a verb form that makes a statement

[11] Imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command

[12] Calvin, John: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, op. cit., loc., cit.

[13] Rabboni means master, teacher —a Jewish title of respect applied especially to spiritual instructors and learned persons

[14] Trapp, John: Commentary upon all books of the New Testament (1647), op. cit., p. 478

[15] Flavel, John: The Fountain of Life, op. cit., pp.56-57

[16] Whitby, Daniel: op. cit., p. 468

[17] Burkitt, William: Notes on the N.T., op. cit., p. 733