When Bryan Chapell was eight years old, his father took him out in the woods behind his house to teach him how to use one of those old-timey two-person saws. They practiced using the saw by cutting through some fallen trees. They happened to cut into a small log that had a rotten core. When the saw finished going through it, the round piece of wood fell off. That’s when Bryan noticed that the rotten part inside looked like a horse’s head. Inspiration struck! He had a great idea for a gift for his dad. So, when his father wasn’t looking, Bryan grabbed that round piece of wood and stuffed it inside his jacket.
When Bryan got home, he took the rotten log that looked like a horse’s head, and attached it to a short piece of two-by-four. Thus, he now had a horse head and horse body! He then went out in his yard and found some sticks, which he glued on either end of the two-by-four. He now had a horse head, body, and four legs. Bryan then found some twine and glued it onto the end of the two-by-four opposite the head. He now had a horse head, body, four legs, and tail. Oh, but he wasn’t done yet!
Bryan then found a dozen or so nails and hammered them partway, two inches apart, into the side two-by-four. Also, as an eight-year-old kid, you have to imagine that they were all crooked. Bryan then wrapped the whole thing in butcher block paper and went to give it to his father. When Bryan’s dad took off the wrapping, he smiled and did what any good parent would do. He said, “Oh wow, Buddy! Thank you so much! This is really great! Uh, what is it?” “It’s a horse-head tie rack!” Bryan exclaimed, “A tie rack that looks like a horse!” “Of course, it is!” his father said as he gave him a big hug. He then hung the tie rack up on his closet wall, where he used it for years and years.
When Bryan first gave that rotten-log-horse-head tie rack to his father, he believed it was a beautiful and helpful thing. In his mind, it was a work of art worthy of being displayed in the Louvre in Paris. But as Bryan got older, he realized that his tie rack was not the fantastic piece of art that he had originally imagined. From being objectively beautiful and objectively practical, it was, in fact, ugly and barely usable. Of the ten or so nails sticking out of it, only a few were at an angle that they could support a tie without it falling off. However, his father received and used that gift not because of its inherent goodness, but out of love for his child.
It’s often hard to wrap our minds around God’s love of all people: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ted Bundy, Mother Theresa and Vladimir Putin, You and the jerk that cut you off on your way home from work. Yes, it’s hard to comprehend the fact that while you’re doing your best to live right, to help others, to make our world a better, more habitable place for all of God’s children, God’s love can feel less like the gift that it truly is, and more like payment for services rendered.
But if we, like Bryan, step back, and take a hard look at all the things we do that made us more deserving of God’s love than others, we begin to recognize how imperfect our actions are. And yet, like a good father, God receives those imperfect gifts of ours and uses them as building blocks for the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Which is to say, God’s love is not something that we earn by virtue of the majestically carved teak-wood stallions that we lay at God’s feet in the form of worship and service. Rather, God’s love is a gift to us that works in and through our lives despite the decaying, rotten wooden horse-head tie racks we keep pitching God’s way. Thank God for that!
4:10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
William Kelly (1822-1888) points to the fact that, first of all, God is love. It is the entire motive in His goodness. Humanity, however, has a reverse nature. The believer receives grace as a lost sinner in all its sovereignty as its object, and having life eternal in the Anointed One has it flowing constantly. It is, therefore, of the Spirit acting on the new nature, as being born of God. Therefore, believers are entitled to boast in God[1] and God’s agápē without any motive but the good He is, which He delights to communicate to others. Such Christians are filled by faith, firstly with being loved of His agápē, and secondly, carried out in the exercise of that love to their brethren by the Spirit of God. Kelly exposes an understated distinction by saying that we were “first loved by His agápē” instead of “He loved us first.” Seeing it in this latter tone may mistakenly cause someone to believe that our love for God is because He loved us first. But taking in the former sense, it is better seen as God’s first putting His agápē in us so that we were capable of loving Him with that same agápē in return.
But the principle is very apparent, says Kelly: to love is inseparable from being born of God; so, that love proves by this very fact that they are children of God. It has nothing to do with natural affections, which everybody ought to know may be strong in the most wicked men and women. Deadly enemies of God, given up to base lusts and passions, yet they may have much natural sweetness and warm benevolence. None of these things is God’s agápē, nor anything but that which excelled in the Lord Jesus. “Agápē,” says the Apostle John, “comes from God.” Whatever is of ourselves is not of God. But this agápē is not of ourselves, even in a believer. They derive it entirely from above; they are born of the Spirit, and what is so born is spirit, and not flesh is born of God, and God is love.[2]
Kelly also emphasizes what joy we have that God does not separate but unites life and satisfies God’s demand for justice against sin through our Lord and His work! No one should try and contradict what John says here. Let no one split apart what God has joined together.[3] He has given the same Anointed One who is life to settle our account with God because of our sins. Such is the teaching of verses nine and ten, both being the display of God’s agápē, and in contrast with Law, which had no life to give and could only judge but not be able to put away sin.[4]
Daniel Steele (1824-1914) says that “real love,” or agápē as I call it, in its origin, is not human but divine. Its source is not a blind impulse but an intelligent movement of God’s free will, having compassion on a sinful race and approving those who trust in His Son, whom He sent into a fallen world. In this act, God’s agápē reached its climax. Human love, at best, is only responsive; it is never original and spontaneous. It is never strictly unbiased, as God’s agápē is. The theology that requires of humanity such love is too high for the holiest believers and angels to reach. The great secret of God’s method with people is that He loves them into loving. There is no other force so mighty as love, and nothing else so contagious. It is the royal law of the Christian life because it has been the majestic force in God’s dealing with His children. Having been won to the Father by the Father’s agápē, the child is bound by the very nature of the new life to show the same agápē to others.[5]
Brooke F. Westcott (1825-1901) mentions that since we didn’t know anything about agápē until God introduced us to it, it helps us see the true nature of agápē. The source of agápē is the free will of God. He loved us “because.” Consequently, if we are going to love others with this same agápē, it must be done of our free will. He is love and in virtue of that love sent His Son. So, the origin of agápē lies beyond the reaches of humanity.[6]
Charles Montgomery Merry (1826-1876) points out that when the Apostle John wrote that God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, His only begotten Son, so that we who were spiritually dead in sin, become born again alive through Him. Just think! – this agápē has been shown to us! God did all this to prove Himself gracious, loving, and kind to us – to you and me. So, why is it that the most ungrateful and hard-hearted today do not and will not love Him in return? Not even after learning that He loved them first, before they heard or knew about Him.
So, the Apostle is talking here about “life,” a happy existence in an unhappy world. God required a ransom for freeing us from sin’s dungeon. We couldn’t pay it; all the riches in the world would not cover the cost. He knew that someone, some human, had to die on our behalf to set us free. But no such human could be found on earth. So, He sent His only begotten Son to pay the price, so we could have life and live it to the fullest. It was to be a life whose vigor and vitality no power of disease could undermine, whose actions are superior to waste and fatigue, whose duration is as lasting as Yahweh. Oh! How can we measure the love which provided the Anointed One to acquire for us such a benefit as this? What excuse, then, does anyone have for not loving Him in return?[7]
John James Lias (1834-1923) takes the Apostle John’s words here and paraphrases them this way, “The love to which I am exhorting you consists not in our having in the first instance loved God, but in this; that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” It does not seem that some have observed that this is the Apostle Paul’s doctrine in another form.[8] For John, to do righteousness, keep God’s commandments, and love are equivalent to each other.[9] In other words, the initiative in the work of salvation comes from God and Him alone.[10]
This truth, says Lias, means that no one can attain salvation by themselves. Being spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, how could we find the power to break free? Alienated from God by wicked works, how can we learn to love Him? The impulse must come from without, from above. We must feel that God’s Fatherly heart yearns for us, even in the depths of sin and sorrow. We must become sensible of its warmth in the icy outer darkness of godlessness. We must see the Eternal Son descending from His heavenly home to seek and save what was lost. Thus stirred, our hearts may warm to Him once more.[11]
Augustus H. Strong (1836-1921) states that while the atonement exalts the holiness of God, it surpasses every other view in its moving exhibition of God’s agápē. This love is not satisfied with suffering in and with the sinner, or with making that suffering a demonstration of God’s regard for the law. On the contrary, love dissolves the sinner’s guilt and bears their penalty, comes down so low as to make itself one with them in all but their depravity. It makes every sacrifice but the sacrifice of God’s holiness – a sacrifice which God could not make without ceasing to be God, as the Apostle John explains here in verse ten.[12]
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) commented that God loved us before we ever thought of loving Him. And so, long before we ever thought of God, we were in His thoughts. What brought the prodigal son home? It was the thought that his father loved him. Suppose the news had reached him that his father did not care for him anymore, would he have gone back? Never! But the thought dawned on him that his father still loved him: so, he got up and returned home. Dear friends, says Moody, the love of the Father ought to bring us back to Him. It was Adam’s calamity and his sin that revealed God’s agápē. When Adam fell, God came down and dealt in mercy with him. If anyone is lost, it will not be because God does not love them: it will be because they resisted God’s agápē.[13]
Clement Clemance (1845-1886) says that none of us should think or imagine that there is any higher manifestation of love than what we find here in verse ten. It is not in any love of humanity to their Maker, but their Maker’s love for them. That manifestation is how the fundamental nature of love was perceived. Note the change from perfect tense in verse nine (showed His agápē) to the imperfect tense (His agápē for us) in verse ten – shows His agápē expresses the permanent results of the mission. The words here “and sent” state the mission a fait accompli.[14]
William Sinclair (1850-1917) states that as God bestowed His undeserved affection on us, we benefitted to an inconceivable degree. Thus, we can give Him nothing equal in return, but only pay the debt we owe by showing that same love to our fellowmen. Therefore, although our happiness depends strictly on God, still He has allowed us to be His stewards to some small degree for the enjoyment of those around us.[15] In other words, we can do for them what God did for us, even though it is of a lesser degree in terms of Love. Still, we can reckon it came from God to us, so we can give it to them.
James B. Morgan (1850-1942) looks at verses nine and ten and calls it a blessed revelation. It removes every difficulty out of the sinner’s way. It assures them that not only may they be saved, but that in no way can they effectually honor God than by becoming a subject of His grace. They can plead for their salvation and that of others on the high ground, of which the Psalmist says, “The nations will revere the name of Adonai and all the kings on earth Your glory when Adonai has rebuilt Tziyon and shows Himself in His glory.”[16] May we heartily and gratefully agree with the whole testimony that the Apostle John conveys to God’s agápē, “By this was manifested the agápē of God.”[17]
4:10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dr. Hodge explains that the Greek text in verse ten is clear, there are still some who “do not believe testimony which God testified concerning His Son.” God is saying that He offered us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.[1] There could hardly be a more straightforward statement of the Scriptural doctrine as to the nature of faith. Its object is what God has revealed. Its ground is God’s testimony, and receiving that witness seals our belief that God is faithful. To reject it is to make God a liar. We find this teaching in the Holy Scriptures. The basis on which we are authorized and commanded to believe is not conforming to the truth revealed for our understanding, nor its effect upon our feelings, nor it’s meeting the necessities of our nature and condition, but simply, “Thus saith the Lord.”[2]
William Lincoln (1825-1888) observes that when anyone invents a religion or cult, which links them to Jesus because He took on human nature, they forget that He was a holy human and humankind are not born holy but as wretched sinners. In verse ten, the Holy Spirit says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the remedy for our sins.” In other words, God created us, so He could love us. Here we see love in its descending scale; it will reach us, no matter how low we are. Lincoln said that he often observed that when Christians discuss these things, the truth is so strong, so extreme, they frowned at it. He also listened as Christians spoke of the Anointed One hanging on “the accursed tree.”
This is not the language of Scripture; Scripture does not say the tree was cursed, but He who hung upon it was cursed; not the tree, but the holy, blessed, pure One, was made a curse for us; the Holy Spirit says it. He was not only accused but was “made a curse.”[3] It is strong language, which everyone would hesitate to use unless the Holy Spirit said so, as if all our curse fell upon Him. Oh, Lord! Your love is great, stooping down until He could not get any lower. “The Anointed One was made sin for us,”[4] there is the agápe of God “completed.” If we are Christians at all, it is because His agápe reached down as far as it could to save us.[5]
Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) again picks up on how “Herein” refers to what follows: Love in its complete perfection is seen, not in man’s love for God, but His to humanity, which reached a climax in His sending His Son to save us from our sins. The superiority of God’s agápe does not lie merely in its being Divine. It is first in order of time and therefore necessarily spontaneous: ours is at best only love in return for love. His agápe is unbiased; ours cannot easily be so.[6] To be “the propitiation” is literally “as a propitiation (atoning for).” In verse nine, it is parallel to “that we might live through Him.” But at the same time is an expansion of it. It states how eternal life is won for us.[7]
Robert Smith Candlish (1806-1873) states that we are to love as God loves, and because God loved the world that He sent His Son to save all who believed. Therefore, we are to love one another like God’s longing and yearning for someone’s salvation, that all may turn and live; and with what passion to delight in all who are really in the Anointed One, who “live through Him,” and live to be indeed our brothers and sisters because they are His![8]
William E. Jelf (1811-1875) points out that love spoken of here is more certainly and truly conceived when we don’t think of our loving God, but of His loving us. Love has its origin not in human nature, but in God and His Divine nature. It is not a chief attribute of human nature or human excellence, with God being the object whereby we honor Him and His deeds, which forces Him to love us in return. Still, the most authentic and highest conception of agápe existed before human love and was exhibited to us, so we are motivated to love God. This then being the perfect type of love, human love must be reformed in like manner. As God’s agápe exhibited itself chiefly in love towards those He has redeemed by His Son, so must our love be directed towards and displayed in the same objects. Hence, the love of brothers and sisters – proper love only for those in whom it is interested – is not to be some type of Christian love, but the Divine agápe towards the redeemed.[9] Agápe also refers to the past instances of God’s agápe to us rather than its present impact. In verse nine, the Greek verb apostellō (“sent”) expresses the continued and permanent effect of God’s past acts of agápe -love.[10]
John Stock (1817-1884) makes a good point. He says if we conclude that we can make it without God’s grace, then grace would cease to be grace. A poster read: “Grace is getting something you don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what you deserve.” On the second Sunday in Lent, the Anglican Church has the priest pray, “Almighty God, who sees that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus the Anointed One our Lord. Amen.” The problem is, we are in love with that which will destroy us. “All that hate Me,” says God, “love death.”[11] As soon as we are born, we go astray and begin lying, says Stock. As such, we are voluntarily sinners and alienated from the life of God due to the ignorance that is in us, [12] and we should get all the punishment we deserve as a result of our immoral deeds.
Again, notes Stock, here is what the priest prays on the fourth Sunday of Lent: “Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Your grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed One. Amen.” A carnal mind has hatred against God, for it is not subject to God’s law, nor can it be.[13] People’s mouths are compared to an open grave – out of which come infections – and they are off and running to where they can wound, assault, and even kill.[14] They lack peace and are full of ingratitude filled with sinful tendencies, without understanding, unmerciful, a sinner, and having pleasure in those like themselves.[15] The Methodist Articles of Faith read: “We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed One, by faith, and not for our works or expected merits.”[16]
Stock concludes. To oppose the agápe of God, as presented by grace in the Gospel with unbelief, is to be insensible of it; refuse its offered benefits; leave unnoticed the outstretched hand of God, pleading with us to be reconciled to Him; live, as if no such revelation existed; push salvation away from us without any let-up, is to resist the Holy Spirit.[17] We are being as wicked as we can be by disobeying more than Satan, to whom no such offer of salvation was ever made, and plunge headlong into an incomprehensible pit of endless misery and be a partaker of a deserved damnation.[18]
Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1818-1888) sees John emphasizing the truth that love consists in this – not that we love God, but that He loved us. First, we must inquire what the words mean and how they are construed; then, their impact. Agápe is expressed here in the widest generality, and it is wrong and illogical to explain it here by “God’s agápe to us.” The expression, “The agápe of God to us, consists not in our love to God, but in His agápe to us,” would have been no better than a meaningless platitude.
So, to what end could the Apostle have so formally stated what was so plainly understood? He speaks quite generally of the nature of love universally, and expresses a thought of much importance in itself. All love consists – that is, has its root – not that we love God, but, that He loved us. According to its essence, love has its source in God’s agápe to us, not in our love for God. It is not by nature, striving upward towards God which proceeds from mankind, but a flame which proceeds from God, that kindles agápe – love in the human heart. Therefore, it is divine and flows from the essence of God. So, our love is nothing but the production and copy of the perfect agápe of God.[19]
Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) asks, “What is any kind of love worth which does not show itself in action; which does not show itself in passion, in the true sense of that word, namely, in suffering?” On the Cross of Calvary, God the Father showed His character and the character of His co-equal and co-eternal Son and the Spirit that proceeds from both. The comfortable, prosperous individual shrinks from the thought of the Anointed One on His Cross. It tells them that those better than them have had to suffer, and that God’s Son had to suffer. But they do not like suffering; they prefer ease and luxury.
Yes, says Kingsley, many say too often, as long as the fine weather lasts and all is smooth and bright, they’ll do what they can. But when setbacks come with losses, affliction, shame, sickness, grief, bereavement, and still more, Passion week begins to mean something to them; and just because everything is going bad, the cross looks the brightest of all time. It’s then that the Cross of the Anointed One brings a message such as no other thing or being on earth can bring. It says – God does understand your situation. The Anointed One understands what you are going through. According to the whole world, the entire universe, sun, moon, and stars, proves the law that nothing lives merely for itself; God ordains everything to help the surrounding things, even at its own expense.[20]
4:10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Isaac Barrow (1630-1677) repeats the Apostle John’s words here, “This is how God showed His agápe-love to us: He sent His only Son into the world to give us life through Him. True love is God’s agápe-love for us, not our love for God. He sent His Son as the way to take away our sins.”[1] Can we imagine, asks Barrow, any equal, any such expression of kindness, of mercy, of humbleness, of goodness, like the King of the Universe, perfectly glorious and free to offer His most dearly beloved Son to suffer abusive grievous torments, for the welfare of His declared enemies, traitors, and rebels – sinners like you and me? God expressed such goodness to us. Therefore, it is only fitting that we show our gratitude to Him.[2]
Daniel Whitby (1638-1726) says that here, in this verse, the Apostle John expresses the freedom and the greatness of the agápe-love of God with great energy. As for its privilege, He loved us first when there was nothing in us to deserve or move people to pity our miserable state. But there were many things that both deserved and might have provoked God to implement His anger, since by our wicked ways we were His enemies. Yet, see its greatness: First, the great God of heaven sending someone who humbled Himself even in addition to what was, and He did in heaven. Therefore, shouldn’t we be fully aware of His presence? Second, the person God sent was His only-begotten Son, His legitimate Son.[3] For if we call God His approving Father, it makes Him equal to God, [4]
By His Father calling Him His only Son, says Whitby, we must equally exalt Him. Even Episcopius[5] declares Him to be called such because He received His essence from the Father, His source. For it is certain that the John is here praising the agápe-love of God to the highest pitch and therefore must use this phrase, the only-begotten Son of God, in the most inspiring sense in which that word is used in Scripture. Third, the world to which He was sent was full of wickedness. Fourth, the errand on which He was sent: One, to give Himself up as a sacrifice for the ransom payment for our sins: Two, to procure for us, who were dead in trespasses and sins, eternal life.[6]
William Burkitt (1650-1703) observes that the wisdom and power of God did not act to the fullest of their effectiveness in the work of creation; He could have framed a more glorious world had it pleased Him to do so. But God’s agápe-love in our redemption by the Anointed One could not be expressed or presented to a higher degree. Therefore, when Almighty God wanted us to give the most excellent demonstration of His favor, He gave us His eternal Son, the Son of His agápe-love. In fact, the giving of heaven itself, with all its joys and glory, is not as full and perfect a demonstration of the agápe-love of God as the giving of His Son to die on our behalf. That’s what we call unconditional love.[7]
Thomas Pyle (1674-1756) feels that we should be awestruck by the fact that by an act of divine love, God procured a pardon and salvation for a sinful world by sending His Son to become human for our sake, which must be amplified beyond comparison, that it began on God’s part, was voluntary and free, without the least merit or obligation on our part to persuade Him to do it.[8]
John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) say that the Apostle John shows us here that God’s agápe-love was manifested toward us by sending His only begotten and eternally beloved Son to assume our nature; and by obeying and dying on our behalf to atone for the sins of such worthless worms, enemies, and ungodly wretches – that He might thereby purchase eternal salvation and everlasting joy for us, and successfully bestow it on us.[9] It raises the question, “And what have we done for Him lately?”
Charles Simeon (1759-1836) says that some might ask, couldn’t God find another way of accomplishing His plan of salvation other than sending His only Son? But when you stop to think about it, it is reasonable to believe that nothing less than the incarnation of His only-begotten Son could make it happen. And how wonderful it is that He adopted such a marvelous measure as that! Yet, no matter how much He might desire our rescue from sin, it is still incredible that He should ever condescend to use such means to effect it: yet we are told that He did so. That’s why, says Simeon, He didn’t send an angel, nor an Archangel, nor all the hosts of angels, but “His only-begotten Son, into the world, that we might live through Him.”[10][11]
There is no other religion on earth that can make this claim. It is in Christianity alone that God sends His only Son to die for sinners so that He might have millions of sons and daughters in His royal family. Why worship any god who is only imaginary when you can serve an unimaginable God like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Edward Dorr Griffin (1770-1837) tells the touching story of Cleopatra (the Younger), the wife of Armenian King Tigranes the Great. On a particular weekday when Cyrus, the conqueror of Asia, was reviewing his troops, the captives pressed forward to see the conqueror. Tigranes, who served in Cyrus’ army, saw that His father, mother, sisters, brothers, and even his wife were among the prisoners; he presented himself before Cyrus and offered a thousand talents for the redemption of his wife. Among the observations made afterward respecting the appearance and glory of the conqueror, this noble lady was asked what she thought of Cyrus. On what was your attention fixed? Her answer was, “On the man who offered a thousand talents for my redemption.”[12][13]
So, says Griffin, on whom should the attention of Christians be chiefly fixed, but on Him who gave, not a thousand talents, but His most precious life, for their redemption? For instance, when we watch Judah, we admire his generosity and concern for the sorrows of an aged parent, offering himself to servitude in for favorite son, Benjamin, of the deceased Rachel.[14] But what was this compared with Him who took the sinner’s place under the law, so to speak, received the full punishment of Divine wrath? Let all the archives of antiquity be explored; bring forward all the generous sacrifices of Greece and Rome, and how they compare to God’s amazing love displayed here? The love which we celebrate stands alone and without a challenger. It is the most profitable subject of contemplation that can occupy the mind. It carries you up to those views of God, which are the most sublime, the most transforming, and the most joyful.[15]
Adam Clarke (1772-1832) tells us that in the principles of the Christian religion, we have, therefore, three great gifts, for which we should incessantly magnify God: First, His Son, the Anointed One Jesus. Second, The influence of His Holy Spirit. And, Third, His holy Word, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”[16][17]
Augustus Neander (1789-1850) says that regarding the revelation made in humanity that God is Love, the Apostle John then refers in the succeeding words. “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death. In this act [herein], we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but His agápe-love for us when he sent His Son to reconcile us with God.”[18] When you think of the word “reconcile,” it infers a previously good relationship – like the case of the Prodigal Son.[19] So, when did we have a favorable relationship with God? It was through Adam and Eve before their fall. Now, the only way to reconcile humanity with the Father is through His Son, who took the punishment for sin on Himself and died on our behalf to pay the ransom price.
Gottfried C. F. Lücke (1791-1855) says that in verse ten, the Apostle John makes the greatness of God’s agápe-love the sending of the Anointed One more apparent by showing that this agápe-love was not God’s return for our love to Him, or, as it were, love of the second rank; but rather a pure love of mercy and because of this agápe-love He sent His Son as satisfaction for our sins.[20] Therefore, even without considering the redemption through the Anointed One, man’s love to God is only love in return, and God is always the first to love; in this respect, too, agápe-love is always God’s love.[21][22]
Charles Hodge (1797-1878) sees the goodness of God in the form of generosity as revealed in the whole constitution of nature. As the universe abounds with life, it also overflows with enjoyment. There are no devices in nature to promote pain for its sake, whereas the manifestations of design for the production of happiness are beyond counting. The expression of God’s kindness in the form of love, especially love to the undeserving, is the great end of the work of redemption as John wrote in his Gospel, [23] and here in verse ten, he spells out how God displayed His compassion on earth. Therefore, the Apostle prays that believers might be able to comprehend the height and depth, the length and breadth, of that love which passes knowledge.[24][25]
[5] Episcopius, Simon: (1583-1643), was a Dutch theologian and systematized Arminianism, a liberal reaction to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. He studied theology at Leiden and in 1610 became a pastor at Bleiswyk, Holland
4:9God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death.
The keyword for the work of the Anointed One on the cross by which sin’s death penalty was removed for those who believe in Him is translated in the KJV as “propitiation.” In Hebrew, the word is “kapparah,” which means “atonement.” Such atonement is wrought vicariously by sacrificing an animal who dies in the sinner’s place. The Greek word used by John here is “hilasmos,” which means “appease,” which carries the idea of satisfying someone by giving in to their demands. So, the Anointed One brought about the atonement by pleasing God with the required sacrifice, which was His life for our punishment.
God took the initiative to reach out in love to us. This model for our love is a model of creativity in sacrifice. It is not our nature to spontaneously love God or others. We do not love God in an unsolicited manner. We did not take the initiative in love; God did. Love begets love. God’s agápe-love causes a reply of love in us. The word “but” shows a strong contrast. The word “us” is emphatic and contrasts with another decisive term, “He.” Love for God never originates in man, but always in God. God sought us; we did not seek Him.
God took action in loving us. He sent His Son to die on the cross. His agápe-love was not in response to man’s love, but was initiated wholly within Himself. It was His plan from eternity to do this. The only two instances of “propitiation” are in this verse and 2:2. There is another word for propitiation, “expiation.” On occasion, it means satisfaction or mercy seat. The First Covenant presents the idea of “expiation” in atonement or covering of sins by sacrifice to free a person from sin. God transferred the penalty of sins to animal sacrifice. God removes our guilt by sacrifice. The judgment of God on the Anointed One at the cross appeases His wrath against the one who accepts the Anointed One’s suffering for sin. Jesus was the only one who could satisfy the demands of a perfect God. Jesus satisfied God by dying in our place and taking our eternal punishment on the cross. Divine love takes the initiative to love others.
Therefore, don’t let anyone think that any higher manifestation of love than this can be offered. It is not in any love humanity can show to their Creator. But in their Maker’s love for them, the fundamental nature of love can be perceived. Note the change from perfect to aorist tense in verse nine expresses the permanent results of the Anointed One’s mission. The Greek verb apostellō (“sent” KJV; “sending” NLT) implies that the assignment is an accomplished fact. Some Bible scholars say that Jesus was the substitute sacrifice for our sins. But this is a conflicting statement because He was not a substitute. No other suitable, required ransom could be found in heaven or on earth. Therefore, the only replacement form was that He died on our behalf, since we did not qualify as an acceptable sacrifice to God. As Dr. Grant Richison says, “Jesus took our hell that we might have His heaven.”[1][2]
COMMENTARY
John Cassian (360-432 AD) tells us that the perfect love with which God first loved us will come into our hearts, for our faith promises us that this prayer of our Savior will not be in vain.[3]
And Bede the Venerable (672-735 AD) states that we come to God not by our own merits but by the bestowal of His grace alone, as John bears witness when he says that we did not love God; instead, He loved us. Therefore, this is the most significant sign of God’s agápe-love for us. For when we could not seek Him because of our many sins, He sent His Son to us so that through Him, forgiveness will be extended to all who believe in Him and call us back into the fellowship of His fatherly glory.[4]
John Calvin (1509-1564) amplifies God’s agápe-love by noting that He gave us His only Son when we were still His enemies.[5] But the Apostle John employs other words that God loved humanity without any effort on their part to love Him and loved them unconditionally. He meant by these words to teach us that God’s agápe-love towards us has been so full of grace. Therefore, although it was John’s object to present God as an example to be imitated by us, the doctrine of faith that he intermingles ought not be overlooked. God willingly loved us. How so because He loved us before we were born and also when, through immoral living, we turned our hearts away from Him.
Calvin says that here some appearance of inconsistency arises. If God loved us before the Anointed One offered Himself to die on our behalf, what need was there for reconciliation? Thus, the death of the Anointed One may seem to be unnecessary. To this, Calvin answers, that when the Anointed reconciled us with the Father, this is to quiet our apprehensions. For since we are conscious of being guilty, we cannot conceive of God being anything other than displeased and angry with us. So, until the Anointed one absolves us from sin’s guilt, we will have no peace of mind. Wherever sin appears, God’s wrath could be expected and impose the judgment of eternal death. Hence, we would undoubtedly be terrified by the prospect of death until the Anointed One by His death abolishes sin and delivers us by His blood from hell. Further, God’s agápe-love requires righteousness; we may then be persuaded that we are loved; we must of necessity come to the Anointed One, in whom righteousness alone is found.[6]
In his institutes, Calvin says that God’s free favor is as fitly opposed to our attempt at salvation by works as is obedience to the Anointed One. The Anointed One could not merit anything save by the good pleasure of God, but only since He was destined to appease the wrath of God by His sacrifice and wipe away our transgressions by His obedience. On the other hand, since the merit of the Anointed One depends entirely on God’s grace, compliance is no less appropriately opposed to all self-righteousness. We find this distinction in numerous Scriptures.[7] The first place is assigned to God’s agápe-love as the chief cause or origin, and faith in the Anointed One follows. Should anyone object that the Anointed One is only the formal cause, it lessens their energy than the word justify. If we obtain justification by faith that leans on Him, we must seek the groundwork for our salvation in Him. Several passages prove this: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”[8][9]
John Trapp (1601-1669) points out that it is not that we loved, but that He loved us. So, it reads in the Latin Vulgate, “He first loved us so much, so free, so small, etc.” God greatly loved us first and freely, though we were sinners and worthless. “He loved us because He loves us,” said Moses, [[10] which is the ground of His agápe-love being His alone. He works for His name’s sake[11] four times, notwithstanding His word and oath.[12][13]
John Owen (1616-1683) says several things differ between the mutual love of the Father and the saints by which they have communion. First, the agápe-love of God is a love of bounty; our love unto Him is a love of duty. Second, the love of the Father came first; our love unto Him came later. Thirdly, the agápe-love of God is like Himself – equal, constant, not capable of augmentation or diminution; our love is like ourselves – unequal, increasing, waning, growing, declining.
Owen then explains the second difference in light of what the Apostle John says here in verse ten about God’s agápe-love came first, ours, second. In other words, His agápe-love came before ours. When the child doesn’t know their father, how much less do they love him? Yes, we are by nature what the Greeks call theostygēs (“haters”), haters of God. And God, by His supernatural nature, is called filantropos (“philanthropically”) – a lover of people. Surely, all mutual love between God and us begins with Him.[14]
Owen goes on to say that we should remember the remarkable result of being elected by God to be one of His children. As the Apostle Paul says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in the Anointed One to be holy and without fault in His eyes.”[15] The prophet Isaiah speaks of the Jews left in Jerusalem being called “Holy.”[16] God’s aim and design in choosing us were that we should stand holy and unblameable before Him in love. He is the one to accomplish and bring about in them that are His. The message is this: God chose you to be the first fruit of His Gospel and saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and belief in the truth.[17] This the Father designed as the first and immediate end of electing love and proposes we consider that love as a motive for holiness.[18][19]
John Flavel (1627-1691) asks, “Why does the Apostle John magnify this gift by saying, ‘Herein is love,’ as if there were nothing else!” To have our life carried so many years like a candle in the hand of Providence, through so many dangers, and yet not extinguished into obscurity, that is love? To have food and suitable clothing, beds to sleep on, relatives to comfort us, in all these are love? Yes, but if you speak comparatively, in all these, there is no love like the love expressed by God in sending or sacrificing the Anointed One for us. These are great mercies in themselves, but compared to this mercy, they are all swallowed up, like the light of candles when brought out into the sunshine. No, herein is love that God let the Anointed One die on our behalf. And it is remarkable that when the Apostle Paul showed us the noblest fruit that most commends to us the root of divine love that bears it, [20] he then offered this fruit; “But God showed His great love for us by sending the Anointed to die on our behalf while we were still sinners.”[21] It is the very flower of that love.[22]
[1] See John 15:13; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Galatians 1:3-5; 3:10-14; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18
[2] Richison, Grant C: Verse by Verse Commentary, A Practical in-depth and Applicable Commentary for Church Leaders, op. cit., loc. cit.
[13] Trapp, John: Commentary upon all books of New Testament (1647), op. cit., p. 477
[14] Owen, John: On Communion with God, Ch. 3, op. cit., p. 38; Also see: “A Vindication of Some Passage in a Discourse Concerning Communion with God,” p. 49
4:9God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death.
Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) notes that the Apostle John now demonstrates that God’s character as love is determined and understood by His self-disclosure in Jesus the Son. It’s not what we think of Him, but what He says about Himself. In so doing, John thoroughly explains his statement in the previous verse that “God is love” and recalls the traditional formulation, “He surrendered His life on our behalf.”[1] Moreover, John develops the thought in verses nine and ten together and links them to knowledge and love.[2] The true child of God knows God who is love, and that knowledge of God is experienced through the divine activity in the Anointed One.[3]
Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) says it would be hard to find a better illustration of the Apostle John’s point about the manifestation of God’s agápe-love through His Son than one of a fallen tree. Rings appear on the cut face in a cross-section of lines that run right up the trunk but are hidden from view by the bark.[4] So likewise, the cross of Jesus is the visual appearance in this world of love that stretches back beyond our vision into the depths of eternity. God sent His only Son into this world so that we might obtain life through Him. Here we see the two factors which determine the nature of love: on the one hand, self-sacrifice and, on the other, action done for the benefit of others.[5]
John Painter (1935) points out that God sent His only Son into the world to save the world and, as the Apostle John says, that “we” might live through Him. Does this mean that the purpose of life giving was from the beginning intended only for the group included in this “we?” Of course, this depends on how the “we” is understood. There is nothing John says to suggest that there is a foreordained group selected “to live through Him.” Nevertheless, the purpose and the consequence are “that we may live through Him.” The key is to understand the scope of the “we.”[6]
Michael Eaton (1942-2017) asks, “How do you measure love?” One way, he says, is to consider whether it shows itself or takes any action. That’s how God manifested His agápe-love. It is not simply a theory or a hidden feeling in God. It has revealed itself in what He has done for us. Another way is to consider how much it is willing to do? How committed will it be? How great a sacrifice is it ready to make? Also, in a situation of dispute and quarrel, love is measured by asking which side takes the first step to bring about reconciliation and harmony.[7] With this analysis, we can see that God’s agápe-love for us met all these requirements.
William Loader (1944) states that the Apostle John’s love theology is centered on his understanding of Jesus. What is Love? Love is an act by one good person for another person’s good. Supremely, the Apostle John identifies such action in God’s initiative: this is how “He showed His agápe-love among us: He sent His only Son into the world that we might be saved through Him.” In this formulation, John draws upon a tradition that also found its way into the Gospel in the famous verse: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that everyone who has faith in Him may not perish but have eternal life.”[8] It appears in one of its earliest forms in the Apostle Paul’s letters.[9] In some forms of this tradition, only the expression “only Son” takes the form of “beloved”[10] or “His own.”[11][12]
Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) says that we might understand verse nine as a statement of means rather than a goal: God reveals Himself by sending His Son. But it is possible to see the actual point in the final clause: “So that through Him, we might live.” In the love-laden context of verses seven through fourteen, we are to “live” to the fullest God-enabled sense, to love as God demands and deserves. So, what the Apostle John says here may be taken, accordingly, as an affirmation in support of verse seven’s imperative to love each other. Such love is a possibility because God’s purpose in sending His Son into the world was to bring about the God-given life of regeneration. In both his Gospel and in this epistle, John makes it abundantly clear that to “live” in this sense is also to love.[13]
Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that the Apostle John makes all the more explicit the love that the secessionists have refused. The love that is “of God” and “is God” was made “manifest” among us. Thus, John speaks of the love of God not in general but in specific terms. Particularly important is the fact that God has taken the initiative. The Greek verb phaneroō (“manifested”) connotes the divine activity in the incarnation. To the very community that owes its existence to God’s love, He made His love known “in this way” in sending of His.[14] We must not miss the underlying implications of phaneroō, which also denotes making “the invisible, visible” and the “the unknown, known.”
Ken Johnson (1965) proposes that since God’s love was manifested by Jesus’ coming in the flesh as the “only begotten Son,” then a person cannot be born of God and have eternal life without confessing Jesus as God’s only Son. But, of course, this means a believer must also be a Trinitarian Christian.[15] Nevertheless, like the Jews who rejected Jesus despite His teachings and miracles, we now have the Unitarians and “Jesus Only” movement, plus others like the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc. The only thing is that when Jesus returns a second time, He will make it clear that He, the Father, and the Spirit are three-in-one.
Duncan Heaster (1967) highlights that the supreme manifestation of God’s love was the cross. We live through Him in that He gives us the gift of His life, His spirit, the kind of thinking He thinks, and the life He lives, breathing it into every open heart through God’s gift; the Comforter. As the Father sent the Son into the world, His Son sent us into the world in obedience to the great commission.[16] Our mission likewise is to manifest His love and to give others the gift of His life, acting as a channel for the gift of His life/Spirit.[17]
Karen H. Jobes (1968) makes the point that the uniqueness of Jesus the Anointed One is foundational in Christian theology. Christianity is not based on human or animal sacrifice, for God did not choose one of His human children or a lamb as Abel did to sacrifice on behalf of the others. God’s agápe-love, in that case, could be questioned. But God stepped into humanity in the person of Jesus, making Jesus a unique human being, uniquely qualified to pay the penalty for the fallen human race. God was willing to be sacrificed on the cross to experience human life and death; such is His agápe-love for us. Therefore, God’s agápe-love is not contingent on the circumstances of our lives. Good things may happen; bad things may happen; but God’s unchanging agápe-love remains unaltered because of the cross, which stands unchangeable throughout human history.[18]
Douglas Sean O’Donnell (1972) says that these lines from a sacred hymn explain what the Apostle John tells us here: “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”[19] Our relationship with God is not conditional on our initial love for God and His affirmative response to us. We did not first love God; rather, He loved us first. He is the “great initiator.” Love is not best demonstrated by God’s people’s heeding the Shema “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”[20] Instead, it is through God sending His Son to be “forsaken” by Him so that we might be forgiven through Him. God’s exceptional Son offered an extraordinary sacrifice for our sins. Through Jesus’ atoning death, He removed the guilt of our sins, appeased God’s wrath, and gave us eternal life. Now, “live through Him.”[21][22]
4:10a True love started with God’s agápe-love for us, not when we started loving Him. He proved this by sending His Son to take the penalty for our sins.
EXPOSITION
Moses knew that there had to be another reason why God chose to liberate His people from bondage. So, he says: “Why did the Lord love and choose you? It was not because you are such a large nation. You had the fewest of all people! But the Lord brought you out of Egypt with great power and made you free from slavery. He freed you from the control of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord did this because He loves you, and He wanted to keep the promise He made to your ancestors.”[23]
The natural ego killer for some believers, especially those ?who pretend to be holy to make an impression on God and others, is that their affection and adoration toward God is not love! Real love was expressed when God sent His son to die for those who hated Him. What then is that emotion we feel for God we refer to as love? Nothing more than the return signal of the love He sent, an echo of His mercy and grace. In each case where John speaks of our loving one another, it is more than just saying the word. He also says that the hallmark of a believer’s love for God is that they love their brother and sister in the Anointed One. It goes then without saying: if we can’t love one another, how can we say that we love the sinner?
When we think of the word “harmony,” it is often associated with music, orchestras, and singing. But it goes far beyond that because it is not just a sound; it is a passion.
One of India’s great statesmen, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, once said, “Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in character. When there is beauty in character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.”
In Montreal, Canada, Robert J. Vallerand of the Social Behavior Research Laboratory University of Quebec states that harmonious passion originates from an independent acceptance of the activity into one’s identity. In contrast, obsessive passion emanates from a controlled acceptance and comes to dominate the person. Through the experience of positive emotions during activity engagement that takes place on a regular and repeated basis, it is suggested that harmonious passion contributes to sustained psychological well-being while preventing the experience of negative affect, psychological conflict, and ill-being. On the other hand, obsessive desire is not expected to produce such positive effects and may even facilitate adverse effects, competition with other life activities, and psychological ill-being.
Psychologist Tom G. Stevens of California State University tells us that harmonious functioning creates peak learning, performance, and happiness. He explains that occasionally everything in our mind and body functions harmoniously. For instance, we might be playing tennis and seem to be at one with the court, the ball, and the movement. We feel confident in hitting the ball where we want. Our mind and body are highly energized, but not overly so. We are especially alert and can focus on the ball and where we want to hit it. When are we in this state because we are involved in and loving what we are doing, we are performing at our best.
But Stevens says this harmonious state occurs during tennis and other activities such as fellowshipping, conversing, solving a problem, having a special vacation experience, or appreciating a beautiful sunset. During these experiences, we feel as if every cell in our mind and body is functioning at some optimal level, doing what it was intended to do. This type of functioning is exceptionally healthy for our psychological and physical health. At the same time, its opposites–prolonged anxiety, anger, or depression–are unhealthy states. Evidence increases that too much time spent in these negative emotional states is detrimental to our mental and physical health.
Finally, these harmonious experiences may be similar to what American Psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to as “peak experiences.” He found that self-actualizing people–especially those who focused more on mental activities–tended to have many more peak experiences than most people. He characterized these peak experiences as a feeling of inner harmony and oneness with themselves and the universe.
Psychologist Tim Lomas asks, “What comes to your mind when you think of well-being?” Perhaps health and happiness, love and relationships, safety and security, prosperity and success, meaning and purpose, and so on. These are all valuable and often even necessary.
But what about balance and harmony? These are potentially less obvious, but may be among the most important qualities of all. As I’ve explored in a new article, balance, and harmony (B/H) are not merely relevant to well-being but a “golden thread” running through its myriad dimensions. As such, an overarching definition of well-being might be the dynamic attainment of optimal balance and harmony in any — and ideally all — aspects of life.
We also learn that harmony is described as “subjective well-being.” It was introduced as a combination of long-term levels of positive affect, lack of negative affect, and satisfaction with life. This concept presents three hallmarks: (1) it is subjective, that is, it depends on the individual experience, (2) it is not the mere absence of negative affect but also includes the measure of positive states, and (3) it includes a global assessment of one’s life rather than a specific domain. Since this initial concept, other approaches to well-being have been provided.
For instance, the theory of “psychological well-being” as a composite of six domains (self-acceptance, positive relations with others, individualism, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) has received extensive experimental support. In a similar vein, some divide well-being and mental health into three major categories: emotional well-being (described as the presence of positive feelings and absence of negative feelings about life), psychological well-being (private and personal evaluations of one’s positive functioning in life), and social well-being (public and social criteria of people’s functioning in life including dimensions such as social coherence, social actualization, social integration, social acceptance, and social contribution).
Then psychologists Paula Thomson and S. Victoria Jaque tell us about the dualistic model of passion delineates two opposing forms of passion, harmonious versus obsessional. Harmonious passion implies that people shape part of their identity around the activity they desire. For example, most performing artists will self-define as musicians, singers, dancers, or actors. They internalize the activity they love into their identity. The action is a significant part of their life, but they can also maintain and find meaning in other interests and relationships with others. Engaging in their passionate activity does not provoke conflict in their life; hence it is defined as harmonious passion. Obsessive passions indicate that the performer experiences an uncontrollable need to participate in the activity; however, their internalization and self-identity are also contingent on acceptance. Their self-esteem is diminished by negative emotions, reflection, physical and psychological tension, and difficulties maintaining relationships.
As we can see, all of this applies to other areas of our lives such as marriage, family, church, social gatherings, spiritual living, etc. So, what does the Bible say about harmony?
In one of King David’s favorite Psalms, he says, “How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! . . . Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.”[1]
Then the Apostle Peter wrote to his followers that their minds should be in harmony with each other. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.[2]
But the Apostle Paul was the most vocal about harmony. First, he told the Roman believers to “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”[3] Then later, he tells them, “Let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.”[4] And finally, he prayed, “May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.”[5]
Paul also said to churches,” I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Instead, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”[6] Furthermore, he spoke of the need for unity by telling them, “Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. But, above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.”[7]
And lastly, Paul urged them that “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. So then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together in harmony with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.”[8]
If you were on Jesus’ mind while He was suffering on the cross, how often is He on your mind when you go through hard times? Remember we celebrate Easter because it was a victory not a defeat. Of all the Kings, Presidents, and Emperors who have died, Jesus’s death and resurrection is the only one commemorated around the world. That’s why He should be on our minds every minute of every day. HAPPY EASTER!
4:9God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death.
William MacCallum Clow (1853-1930) tells us that Love, as the Apostle John tells us again and again, is to be seen and known only in what it does. Therefore, we should look at this Love of God disclosing itself in lovely deeds and rise step by step to see the supreme disclosure in the Cross of the Anointed One. There are six things that we can teach ourselves about Love to make it more meaningful and authentic:
The first and simplest thing about love is this – love is a social passion. There cannot be love
without at least two, one to love and one to be loved.
The second simple thing about love is this – love is creation. Love must create, and it must
create well-being. Love cannot be inactive.
The third simple thing about love is this – love is forethought. Love cannot be content with
creation. It must pass on to care, and God’s care is His providence.
The fourth and great thing about love is this – love is grace. It is where love makes its supreme
disclosure. Grace is love, dealing with wrongdoing.
The fifth thing to say about love is this – love is discipline. Love’s supreme disclosure is the
Cross, but love which redeems must pass on to discipline. Love’s redeeming work was not
finished when the Anointed One confronted the gates of hell.
The sixth thing to say about love is this – love is heaven. In Final Covenant teaching, that is the
issue of love’s work on the Cross and by the discipline of God. Love can never be satisfied
without the loved one’s constant presence and fellowship.[1]
David Smith (1866-1932) states that the Incarnation is a manifestation of God’s agápe-love because it reveals divine nature, and divine nature is love. When we receive God into our lives, we experience His divine love.[2] The Apostle John applies the term exclusively to Jesus. It carries the idea of preciousness.[3] Notice the phrase “my precious life” in the Psalms.[4] The Incarnation manifested the agápe-love of God, and the love was displayed that we might have everlasting life. Eternal Life is not the future, but the present.[5] It is important to remember to take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, and faithful in everything God gave Him to do.[6]
Harry Ironside (1876-1951) shows us a mathematical clue on finding that God is love. First John. 1+1=2; 2+2=4; 4+4=8; 8+8=16. Thus, “God is love” is found in 1 John 4:8 and 16. That is where you learn that “God is love.” Creation called out God’s omnipotent power and wisdom, but creation could not tell about His agápe-love. But when God looked down upon a world of people groaning under the death sentence of sin, He saw a world of humanity who were alive to the things of this life but utterly dead toward the things of God, dead in trespasses and sins. God found it in His heart to go down and find a means of quickening whosoever will come into newness of life. He said, “I will give them the greatest gift anyone can give, My only-begotten Son. I am going to send Him into that world that they may have everlasting life through Him.” “In this was manifested the agápe-love of God toward us, because God sent His Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”[7]
Charles H. Dodd (1884-1973) notices that here, in verse nine, the Apostle John restates the great declaration he made in his Gospel[8] about God’s agápe-love. It reminds us that in speaking of God’s agápe-love, we think of love in action, definite, concrete, and recognizable on the historical plane. Verse ten underlines one point in this declaration: the Christian religion starts not with mankind’s love for God but God’s agápe-love for humanity and with God’s agápe-love expressed in specific actions in history.
Dodd then helps remind us that Judaism and Christianity were not the only religious philosophy prevalent in the world at the Apostle John’s time. And as much as we may want to isolate Christian thought from anything except that breathed by God through the Holy Spirit, those who penned what the Spirit inspired them to write were, nevertheless, influenced by such thinking.[9] In one case, Aristotle turns this aesthetic and passionate mysticism into a metaphysical doctrine of the relation of God to the world. God is absolute Reality and therefore changeless and unmoved. Yet, He is the cause of all change and movement in the universe. But how? “He moves the world as the Object of its love (or desire).”[10]
Love, therefore, becomes a cosmic principle, says Dodd, and the mystical craving for union with the eternal receives its philosophical basis. The type of religion to which this language belongs is everywhere. In such beliefs, love is essentially the love of humans for God – that is to say, the unquenchable craving of limited, conditioned, and temporal beings for the Infinite, the Absolute, the Eternal. Love for humankind cannot be attributed to God, for the Absolute must be passionless and unmoved.[11] Perhaps this enlightenment will help us better understand why the Apostle John was so adamant in his argument that it is not a case of God having Love, but that God IS Love.
Let us note, Dodd points out, that the Greek verb agapaō appears seven times in this chapter, translated as “loved” three times. All three places, 4:10, 11, and 19, are in the aorist active tense. That means our love for Him (verse 10); His agápe-love for us (verses 11, 19) has no beginning nor end. In other words, God’s agápe-love has no expiration date, and neither should ours.[12] Swedish Lutheran theologian Anders T. S. Nygren (1890-1978) clearly states that: Plato’s “heavenly Eros” is wrong. It is a human love for the Divine, a love of man for God.[13] Nygren insists that “There is no room for the ‘love of friendship’ in a God-centered relationship to God, for that love presupposes an equality between Divine and human love which does not exist.”[14] Then Nygren writes, “Christian love is something other than ordinary human love.”[15] He follows that with, “Jesus draws a sharp distinction between human love and Divine. When measured by the standard of Divine love; therefore, human love is not loving at all.”[16] He adds, “Divine love can no longer be used for human love.”[17]
F. F. Bruce (1910-1990) says that the Apostle John has already pointed to the Anointed One’s laying down His life for His people as the perfect manifestation of love.[18] He returns to the sacrifice of the Anointed One and presents it from the Father’s point of view in words similar to those of the Gospel.[19] The supreme act of God’s love was His sending “His only begotten Son into the world.” The purpose of His sending His Son is our blessing – “that we should receive life through Him.” Here the initiative lies entirely with God. Before there was any possibility of our exercising such love, He first manifested it when He “loved us and sent His Son as a ransom for our sins.”[20][21]
Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) states that “He loved us” in verse ten refers to a specific action on God’s part in sending His Son. It distinguishes human love from perfected love.[22] Others think that the secessionist did not love their brothers and did not claim to love God. On the contrary, I would argue that both John and the antagonists claimed to love God and each other. John is arguing with the renegades not about a priority that they attribute to love for God, but about whether the atoning death of Jesus was a necessary part of God’s saving love.
David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) notes that the Apostle John announces the manifestation of redemptive love in the Incarnation here in verse nine. By using “in this” (“This is how” – NIV), it looks forward to and is interpreted by the following “because.” Thus, it clarifies that God’s agápe-love was revealed through the sending of His Son. It may also be understood as locative, [23] meaning that God’s agápe-love was embodied in sending His Son. Hiebert notes that Alfred Plummer (1746-1829) suggests that “for the sake of uniformity, [24] it would be preferable to render “herein” each time.”[25] Also, the verb “was manifested” is a favorite term with John. It means “to make visible, make clear, come out into the open.” This is contrary to the secular stories of romance, where “secret love” or “lovers” pursue their target until the right moment so that their suddenly revealed love will be a surprise. But verse nine implies that before the first coming of the Anointed One, “the agápe-love of God,” God’s agápe-love for humanity, had not been displayed in such a personal, dynamic manner. In Him, God’s message of love reached its climax.[26][27]
[1] Clow, William M: The Cross in Christian Experience, Hodder & Stoughton, New York, 1908, pp. 42-50
4:9God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this wicked world to bring us eternal life through His death.
John Stock (1817-1884) admires the beauties of nature that amaze us, but believes that God’s grace in our redemption surpasses His creative genius that defies description. In essence, wealth, power, goodness, perfection, wisdom, and unity are displayed everywhere in creation; but in the kingdom of God, added to all these excellencies are mercy, justice, and unspeakable love. God is incredible, and His works are done with grace and mercy. “Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?”[1] That God the Father is love is seen in the mission of His co-equal and co-eternal Son in this evil world for our common salvation; loving us “While we were still His enemies,”[2] “when lost.”[3] and incapable of delivering ourselves, and without a desire to do so, being dead in trespasses and sins.[4] What a mighty God we serve. [5]
William Kelly (1822-1888) exclaims that God still sent His only-begotten Son into the world in the face of humanity’s depravity. What a truth! The bare facts are incredible, especially as it was in nothing but love. It was not something done in heaven. His Only-begotten Son He willingly sent to give life in this world was characteristic of the God who sent Him. But no work done even by the Son on high could suit either God or humanity. So, the way of love was that the Son should become human to glorify God and give life to humanity’s dead faith in His highest nature.
Jews and other nations already existed, says Kelly, but they were spiritually dead in their offenses and sins and angry children by their Adamic nature. As a people, they were spiritually dead while claiming they lived. They expressed no hatred for sin, no love for grace; not one trait inwardly or outwardly was right in them.[6] The Gentile concept of circumcision and the Jewish thought of uncircumcision were hostilities against God. Despite that, God sent His Only-begotten Son, the delight of the Father through all eternity, into the world, that we should live through Him; and the life given was His life.[7]
Daniel Steele (1824-1914) takes issue with the shallow and weak Unitarian explanation of the “best-beloved Son.” In vain, extreme liberalism teaches that all humans are incarnations of God to a lower degree than Jesus. “Only-begotten” denotes unique sonship, an unshared existence grounded in God’s nature, while mankind’s reality is grounded in God’s will. It is the difference between the generation of the Son outside of time limits, “before the world was,” and the creation of the universe by His choice. “The Anointed One,” says Steele, “is the One only Son, the One to whom the title belongs in a sense unique and singular, as distinguished from that in which there are many children of God.”[8][9]
Brooke F. Westcott (1825-1901) states that God’s love is not simply “toward us,” but also “in us,” as to how it was revealed and effective “that we may live through Him.” The Christian shares the life of the Anointed One, and so becomes a secondary sign of God’s agápe-love. There is a sense in which creation shows God’s agápe-love, but this revelation becomes apparent through the new creation.[10] The manifestation of God’s agápe-love to humanity becomes a living power as they manifest His agápe-love to their fellow believers.[11]
William Lincoln (1825-1888) suggests that we look at three specific revelations mentioned in the Final Covenant. The first is here in verse nine – the manifestation of God’s agápe-love. The second is this – I will manifest myself to Him (speaking of the one who loves Him).[12] And the third is – when He will appear.[13]He begs us to remember that these three must be maintained in their divine order, their proper order. Otherwise, you may make mistakes. I have often heard people say, “I want a demonstration of the agápe-love of God,” but they forget that God not only does things, but He does them in order.
Lincoln adds that now we find that God’s phenomenon of His agápe-love[14] depends on our obedience. In this, the Anointed One is in unity with the Father. But here in verse nine, God sent His Son without any compliance on our part. That was in the past; the second is continually going on, and the third is in the future.[15] There is the divine order of the three expressions of God’s agápe-love, one past, one present, and one future. If anyone insists, “I still want a sign,” they must ask themselves, am I thoroughly established in God’s agápe-love as manifested? If someone wants a display before being saved. First, God has given them an overwhelming instance of His agápe-love by sending His Son. It would be a mocking of the revelation of Himself that He has already given. The second expression does not occur before the first. You must begin with the gift of God, the gift of His Son, His only Son. God DOES love us, and He HAS manifested that love.[16] What more do you need?[17]
Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) takes the words, “That we might live through Him” as the intention of the Anointed One’s mission – a dependable, not dependent, purpose regarding believers. The object of the task, referring to our greatest good, impresses us with God’s agápe-love, as does the self-sacrificing means to effect it. The giving up of the Son, the giving Him to come into such a world, and the thoughtful, merciful object of the mission combine to provide the believer with an impressive view of the extent and the quality of God’s agápe-love. The “living” is the true immortality reached in regeneration and resurrection through the mediation of the Anointed One. The whole verse condenses a volume of truth. It is a remarkable statement of the mission of the Anointed One and its spring in the eternal agápe-love of God. It demonstrates the love-nature asserted in the previous verse.[18]
John James Lias (1834-1923) remarks that this great subject of love occupies us as far as chapter 5:3; but, as usual with the Apostle John, the divisions of his subject overlap each other, and the conclusion of his teaching on love introduces the topic of Love’s source, namely, faith. Here the fact of the Anointed One’s coming and the results of that coming, the life we have by His provisions, is regarded as a demonstration of God’s agápe-love. In other places, the Anointed One is pointed out as the manifestation of the fullness of the Divine essence.[19] The Revised Version “in us” is to be preferred to the Authorized Version (KJV) “toward us,” which cannot be defended.[20] The agápe-love of God is manifested in us because the Anointed One, His Son, who is One with Him, [21] is sent into the world, and He “dwells in our hearts by faith.”[22][23] So, since the Son and Father are one, we become one with them when they come to dwell in us. How foolish, then, for anyone in union with God to even think of insulting Him by breaking His laws and grieving His will?
Lias then reminds us that the Anointed One’s coming was predicted from the beginning “at many times and in various ways.”[24] His method was expected.[25] A new covenant was to be made, not in the letter but the heart, including Gentiles. But, if Israel with Moses and the Prophets became grievously corrupt, how much more the rest of the world? Nor was there any remedy. Religion could not bring it, for religion was itself corrupt in every country of the world save one. Philosophy was unable to deliver it, for it did not rest on God’s testimony but men’s opinions. Even God’s painful judgments could not bring it. They pointed out the disease, but not the cure. Men knew that they were sinners, but they didn’t know how to forsake their sins.[26] The only thing that could bring a remedy was the Christian Gospel, telling about the Anointed One and His cross.
Erich Haupt (1841-1910) says that when we consider that all other acts of God in history and nature also manifest His agápe-love, though not in the same degree as this; but when we discern in these the tokens of love, our knowledge is at second hand: of all this, we might say that God’s agápe-love appears in us to the world. But it is otherwise in the mission of the Son. It had for its purpose and result that we might know God, for God is love – that is, we are to be transformed by it, the divine life is to be implanted in us, and thus most assuredly, the agápe-love of God is to be manifested in us because we are to be drawn into the fullness of this divine nature of love.
Therefore, says Haupt, agápe-love not only works with its energy for the world’s sake but for our very inner being. And under both aspects, His nature of love has been most perfectly revealed in the mission of His Son: by it, He has surrendered the whole fullness of His divine nature, all that He has; and so, surrendered it that He communicates it to us as a gift; it is not merely a power working for us and in us, but the power energizing within us has become part of our personality. Only when the Anointed One for us is the Anointed One in us do we exhaust the meaning of the words “God is Love.”[27]
One commentary suggests that the expression “in us” in verse nine may refer to an inward revelation of God’s agápe-love, because of the incarnation of the Son.[28] As such, it could be translated: “Therein the agápe-love of God made itself known in us.”[29]
Down an Unfamiliar Road 