Down an Unfamiliar Road

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.

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[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

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXIII) 08/01/22

^4:18         Where God’s love is, there is no fear because God’s perfect love takes it away. On the contrary, it is His punishment that makes a person afraid.

Congregational minister and author John Ossian Davies (1851-1916) says the greater of the two is love out of fear and love. 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. Practicing loving others may seem like a Christian’s duty, but it is mandatory in escaping punishment. The one attracts us to God, but the other 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.[1]

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

EXPOSITION

John wants his readers to know that agápē between God and man did not start with humanity.  When we read the ancient documents of other civilizations and the First Covenant, we find that for a long-time, people did not love those they could see, let alone love someone they could not see. Jesus told His disciples, “You didn’t choose me! I chose you!”[2]

That’s because Jesus told them earlier that they did not choose Him because only those the Father could choose who to send Him so He could reject or accept them.  So that means every true believer has been twice chosen.  But John is not finished.  He has more to say just in case some think that all they must do is love God and everything will be okay.

Now we see that love has accomplished something. Christians do not look to the Judgment Seat of the Anointed One with nervousness because they understand God’s agápē. Not only does love look forward to meeting the Lord, but it presently gets rid of alarm so that love is free from angst. Anxiety and love are as contrary to each other as oil and water.  Apprehension and love can coexist, but perfect love and despair cannot coexist. Dismay, in varying degrees, exists in every believer’s life. This will not be the case if God’s perfect love has gripped their soul. There is no room for dread in God’s economy of love. We cannot simultaneously approach God in love and hide from Him in horror. We overcome having to tremble before God with terror by understanding His perfect love for us. Love is the most important manifestation of fellowship with the Lord.

The love that erects confidence also expels uneasiness. God’s agápē is amiable toward the believer because of the Anointed One. The believer’s love should be amicable toward fellow Christians because of their filial relation to the Anointed One.  Other Christians are worthy of being loved because of the Anointed One. If a person dreads the thought of judgment day, his life is not marked by the perfected God’s agápē that expresses itself in concrete action.  In other words, he has no basis for assurance concerning his welfare when the Judgment Seat of the Anointed One comes. “Love” here also has the additional thought of “acceptance.” Love conquers fear.

God’s initiative in love for us stamped love in our spirits. Our ability to love with divine love comes from God, not us.  We love because God taught us how to love with divine love.  The source of the believer’s love is prior love.  We do not love with our feeble love. The word “Him” does not occur in the oldest manuscripts, so the emphasis is on love generically, “We love because He first loved us.” Thus, this speaks of loving any object, whether God or human beings. 

The word “first” bears the emphasis of this phrase. This word allows us to see the connection to the preceding verses. Distress finds no place in the Christian who matures in God’s agápē. 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 of love. Since God loved us once [aorist tense] at the cross, we can go on loving Christians (present tense). No exercise of love on our part is possible without God loving 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.]”[3] 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 John has said. First, God’s initiative in loving us stamped 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 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 this phrase. The Greek adjective protos allows 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 love. 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.[4]

The omission of love on the human level indicates the absence of agápē on the divine level. God’s agápē makes divine 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 divine 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 perturbed with obnoxious Christians. God loved us when we were unlovable, so we should love the unlovely. 

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

[2] John 15:16

[3] From the New International Version

[4] 2 Thessalonians 3:5

SKEPTICS may ask, why don’t people follow the advice of numerous proverbs and maxims of forethought available for centuries? Instead, they conclude that these apply only after some rightful venture has gone “horribly wrong.” When, for instance, a person gambles and loses all they have, including their house, why did they not remember the old Scottish proverb which declares “willful waste leads to woeful want?” But didn’t the gambler know this well-worn saying from earlier years? However, what good, then, did it do? Are the maxims of morality useless because people disregard them? For Christians and Jews, the Book of Proverbs is a great example. Yet, what about other religions and philosophers?

Here is one to consider by 6th century Sanskrit Indian poet Bhāravi, the author of the classical Sanskrit epics classified as a mahakavya (“great poem”)

“Being friends with the godless is like lounging in the shade of a crumbling overhanging cliff, which falls and buries those who stand beneath.”

This idea of not associating with those with godless attitudes and lifestyles has long been prominent in the Holy Scriptures. No doubt it influenced Bhāravi’s thinking. For instance:

King David stated clearly, “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil the advice of skeptics, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God.” (Psalm 1:1)

Then David’s son King Solomon added his wisdom, “Be friends with those who are wise, and you will become wise. Choose fools to be your friends, and you will be guilty of foolishness.” (Proverbs 13:20)

And the Apostle Paul advised, “Don’t let yourself be misled. If you listen to fools, you will start acting like a fool.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

I read this story about Renelene Jay S. Camba recently; I hope it brings you more faith as it did me. She wrote – in English with a strong Filipino influence – I would love to share a bit about myself. I am a Filipina, age 27, who experienced a Miracle from above. In 2016 I felt like a lost sinner. Though I already knew about Jesus, I disregarded it until December 2016. I was preparing at that time for a competition then something happened. That was the second and maybe the most frightening moment of my life. I started having difficulty breathing. I felt that could be the end of my life.

So we went to the hospital, where a nurse gave me oxygen. I thought it would pass, and I would be back to normal. Then the second day came, but it was worse. When we went to another hospital for an X-ray and EKG purposes, suddenly, everything went black as though I had been knocked out. I was unconscious for a while. Then I became conscious that I was already in the emergency room and stayed there until the end of December. Then January of 2017 came. I was still sick. Then they find out I have Pneumonia and Acute Gastritis.

February came, and they found out I also have Potassium deficiency. I felt so hopeless that I was in bed the whole day, then the whole week, and then a whole month. I can’t get out of bed when I need to get to the comfort room. My family were always there to accompany me in standing up. But that was not all the sickness I had. We found out later in April that I also have Hyperthyroidism. Imagine me at that time. I can’t even walk on my own. I felt so hopeless that I always asked my father these: “When will it stop?” and “When will He take me?” He said, “If He really wanted to take you now, He would have done it in December to April when you had your worst attacks.”

I just cried. I ask help from the Lord. I was crying a lot and every day I prayed a lot that He will heal me someday. Every day was very challenging because it was really difficult to breathe. I was wondering, “Why am I still alive?”  So, when May came, I had the worst attacks. I felt my heart was pounding so heavily that I couldn’t make any move other than lying in bed all day at home. I already said my goodbyes to my mom and dad. I told them that I was and will always be glad that they are my parents. Their prayers have not been in vain because God heard it all. And the very special thing that we could impart to our family is FAITH. And that was the things I see in my parents. Having faith to God. So, I thanked them.

Finally, my father said to me, “What do you want us to do for you? Shouldn’t we fight for life? Let’s push forward.” So, I decided it was time to go back to the hospital. We went there. And that night, May 9, 2017, something amazing happened. I had a visitor named Gabrielle. She had with her a friend named “Almera”. After Gabrielle had already introduced Almera, she went out of the room immediately. So, Almera is a worship leader. I had a feeling that God delivered them to me. I felt happiness, even though I’m in an oxygen tent and bedridden. I felt hope was coming inside of the room. The joy in me started whispering. So, everything she said, I immediately believe. She had something of a product with her that also ended her 2-year abdomen suffering. She got healed using it, but she felt it was God that led her to this product. It was introduced to her by a Pastor. So, she also endorsed it to me.

I remember her saying, “Don’t give up cause God is not giving up on you.” I was having tears of joy hearing those from her. Overjoyed that I couldn’t contain my happiness showing in my very face. My father was looking at me those times and he immediately bought me those they have endorsed.

On the third day in the hospital, I got out. Amazing. They have been praying for me. And they looked after me every single week. Every day they texted me if I was alright. I was very thankful that God used their lives to bring glory in His name. Now I am already healed. With all those sicknesses, there is nothing impossible with God. As long as you believe in His plans. If your life is still on a mission to accomplish, God will set forth a road for you to keep up. I hope my story could help your site. To God be the glory!

We learn from Renelene’s story that God doesn’t always do things in the way that we pray for or expect. The one constant thing is FAITH which works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. So, as her father told her, “Let’s push forward.” In other words, God has worked out His plan for us so let’s start living as though the healing has already started.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXII) 07/29/22

^4:18         Where God’s love is, there is no fear because God’s perfect love takes it away. On the contrary, it is His punishment that makes a person afraid.

Judith M. Lieu (1951) states that based on what the Apostle John says here, in this short section is hidden an unasked question: How does God’s agápē relate to God’s judgment? The issue is widely discussed in Jewish and Christian circles, often regarding God’s mercy and justice. But does one imperil the other? It appears that John’s horizon of concern is almost entirely restricted to the community of those who confess and who have responded to God. It is particularly so because the dual framework of past and future prophesies does not deal with any painful sensitivity to the failings and inadequacies of those who belong to God. Despair and the prospect of an adverse outcome in judgment, says Lieu, belong to the realm of death and darkness that they have left behind. John would not use fear to persuade his readers into complete obedience or commitment. They must be convinced that their task is not to achieve the fulfillment of love on their own but to allow it to be enacted on and in them.[1]

As we have seen in the comments of others, they take a different viewpoint. Believers will not stand in the judgment of the unrighteous but will only be judged according to their works out of love in the name of the Anointed One. So, will Christians still be judged? Yes, all Christians will be judged. Every believer is subject to a three-fold judgment which covers their past, present, and future life:

            As a SINNER: this judgment is PAST – John 5:24

                As a SON: this judgment is PRESENT – 1 Corinthians 11:28,31,32

                AS a STEWARD: this judgment is FUTURE – Romans 14:1

The question is, what is your attitude toward sin? A Christian abhors sin and refuses to stay a sinner. “Dear children, don’t let anyone lead you the wrong way. The Anointed One always did what was right. So, to be good like the Anointed One, you must do what is right. The devil has been sinning since the beginning. Anyone who continues to sin belongs to the devil. The Son of God came for this: to destroy the devil’s work.”[2]

Ben Witherington III (1951) believed that verses seventeen and eighteen should be treated together because they deal with one basic idea: in contrasting apprehension and love, we see how love triumphs over any uneasiness over judgment. More specifically, God’s loving presence in Christians gives them relief from fear in the face of judgment.[3] The mutual abiding love referred to in verse sixteen leads to love’s indwelling in the devoted servant and the community, leading to the dread of judgment being driven out of the Anointed One’s followers. This amounts to perfecting or completing God’s mission of love.[4] The Greek verb teleioō is expressed as perfect passive, “having been perfected.” It may also be rendered as “has reached its goal” or “has come to completion.” It is better to translate “was brought to completion/fulfillment” or “was able to reach its goal in case someone might ask, was God’s love imperfect before it came into the lives of humans?”[5]

Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that the love of which the Apostle John speaks dispels fear because it has been “brought to completion” in Jesus, for Jesus is both its source and life-transforming, life-informing, and life-defining example.  It is confidence in the transformed believer who courageously loves on account of the promises of the One who loved us first. Thus, the believer exhibits a future “complete” love that is possible only because the Anointed One is the one who gives it and, sharing it, alters the life of the beloved for time and eternity. In turn, the beloved is enlivened and empowered, defined, directed, and assured by Him, who was first to love. He has no misgivings in loving us, so why should we be afraid to love Him? Eternal punishment is for the wicked, not the redeemed.[6]

Marianne Meye Thompson (1964) says that the aged Apostle John further underscores the point when he writes, “in this world, we are like Him.” Here is an analogy between the children of God and the Son of God fellowshipping with the Father.[7] As the Son has free access to and confidence with God, the believer has courage with God.[8] And since boldness and cowardice are opposites of each other, John writes that in love – the hallmark of our relationship to God and Jesus’ relationship to God – there is only confidence: not uncertainty. And so, John writes, there is no panic in agápē. But perfect love drives out horror. As the context shows, [fear means the terror of punishment by God when judgment comes.[9]

Peter Pett (1966) says that the one who is safe in God’s agápē cannot be afraid, for there is no alarm in agápē. To be within God’s agápē in the Anointed One is to be free from angst. Agápē removes all anxiety, especially faultless love, which can only signify God’s agápē reaches its pinnacle in us.[10] The one with God’s agápē completed in them will not be apprehensive. Only those who are to be punished need to be concerned. The prospect of punishment carries despair, and the love of those afraid is not mature. This may suggest that those who dread punishment are the false teachers whose end is destruction. They have cause to be frightened because their end is inevitable. But some are dismayed because they cannot trust. They are afraid of punishment when what they should be doing is being assured in love. They need to dwell more in His presence and absorb His agápē, especially as it is revealed through the cross.[11]

Duncan Heaster (1967) reports that psychologists suggest that something within the human psyche needs to fear and wants to be afraid. Just look at the massive success of horror stories, movies, images, and Stephen King novels and how the media realizes that their global audience laps up distress and sensationalism about terror. One common thread throughout all the pagan forerunners of the “Satanic persona” idea is that the pagan concepts are all involved in generating nightmares and intimidation.

True Christianity, says the Apostle John, aims to “expel” such forbidding through its revelation of the ultimate love of God. Unfortunately, so many control systems have played upon unwarranted concern over the devil – to bring children into subdued obedience, flocks into submission to pastors, etc. It’s time to realize that this is not how the true God works. “For fear has torment,” reads the KJV in verse eighteen, and this is precisely what proper understanding of the cross of the Anointed One saves us from. God isn’t a psychological manipulator; He doesn’t coax us into submission through trepidation. And yet it could be said that humanity is increasingly addicted to anxiety. People may mock being scared of the Loch Ness monster, werewolves, and funny sounds at night. But they still buy in ample time to uneasiness over a personal Devil. There’s something in us that wants to be afraid of something; that just loves the popular idea of a personal Satan. This is why it’s hard to budge this mentality.[12]

Karen H. Jobes (1968) makes a note that if God’s love for us is most clearly expressed in the atoning death of Jesus to cleanse us from our sins and free us from the fear of God’s judgment, then there is nothing left for us to be scared of once we have fully comprehended God’s agápē for us.[13]

David Legge (1969) says that if you’re in fellowship with God, you love those He loves. The doctrinal test is the apostolic message, which is the Anointed One. Hence, the social difficulty in loving our fellow believers. The Apostle John then speaks of the future manifestation of this love of God, which is why we should love one another. John stated that if God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without uneasiness on the day when God judges the world. We will be without an alarm because we are like Jesus in this world. Where God’s love is, there is no despair because God’s perfect love takes away suspicion. It is His punishment that makes a person afraid. So, His love is not made perfect in anyone with such dismay.

Legge goes on to say that this love brings peace into our hearts, peace straight from God – so that not you’re serving God fearful of being judged or punished in the future, but that you’re serving God out of love! We love Him because He first loved us – we’re not serving God to stay out of hell; His atonement keeps us out of hell. We do and love Him because He took that punishment away! That is the moral test that our righteousness will be displayed not out of the dread of punishment but out of love for Jesus because He loved first.[14] 

David Guzik (1984) states that we may know the greatness of Jesus’ salvation now, but will we be sure of it on Judgment Day? To have such confidence shows the greatness of God’s work in us. We might be satisfied to survive the day of judgment merely, but God wants to fill our lives with His love and His truth that we have assurance in the day of judgment to testify of our love for Him and others. The Bible says that one day, all of humanity will gather before God’s Great White Throne and face judgment.

Jesus warned us we would answer for all the wild things we’ve said. This will happen on the day of judgment. Your words will be used to judge you. What you have said will show whether you are right or whether you are guilty.[15] But our Lord was not through. He also said that when He comes again with His Father’s glory and with His angels, He will reward everyone for what they have done for Him.[16] And John, in his revelation, tells us that he saw those who had died, great and small, standing before the throne. Some books were opened. And another book was opened – the Book of Life. The people were judged by their actions written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. All these people were judged by what they had done.

So, says Guzik, this day is coming! The day of judgment is as fixed in God’s eternal timetable as any other day in history. Some may think they will go there and judge God. They will tell Him; I’ve got a few questions for You. But that is nonsense. The only way to have boldness on the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today.[17]

---

[1] Lieu, Judith: The New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 195

[2] 1 John 3:7-8

[3] See 1 John 2:28

[4] 1 John 4:12

[5] Ben Witherington III. Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: op. cit., loc. cit., (Kindle Locations 7257-7263)

[6] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, op. cit., p. 489

[7] Cf. John 17:21-23

[8] 1 John 2:1, 28; 3:19-22; 4:18; 5:14

[9] Thompson, Marianne M., The IVP New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 127

[10] Ibid. 4:12

[11] Pett, Peter: Commentary on the Bible, op. cit., PDF, loc. cit.

[12] Heaster, Duncan: New European Commentary, op. cit., 1 John, p. 36

[13] Jobes, Karen H., 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Book 18), p. 205

[14] Legge, David: 1,2,3, John, Preach the Word, op. cit., “Christian Love: Its Source and Sign,” Part 13

[15] Matthew 12:36-37

[16] Ibid. 16:27

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

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXXI) 07/28/22

^4:18         Where God’s love is, there is no fear because God’s perfect love takes it away. On the contrary, it is His punishment that makes a person afraid.

A gifted young lady named Charlotte was a portrait artist and writer of humorous verse. Then, in her early thirties, she suddenly became ill with a debilitating disease that left her an invalid. It not only affected her physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Being confined to a nursing home at the early age of forty-five, her ill health often brought the horror of having a useless life while the circle of friends around her was full of untiring service for God.

During her illness, a well-known preacher, Cesar Malan of Switzerland, came to visit her. He asked her if she had peace with God. She faced many inner struggles because she felt worthless and resented the question. She refused to talk about it because she was convinced it was of little value. But a few days later, she called Dr. Malan and apologized. She said she wanted to clean up her life before becoming a Christian. Malan answered, “Come just as you are.” That day she gave her life to the Anointed One and penned these stirring words: 

Just as I am – without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
– O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am – though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
– O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am – Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
-O Lamb of God, I come![1]

That’s how God viewed lost humanity. But His agápē drove Him to send His son to tell us it was alright. We did not need to clean up our lives for Him to love us. Instead, we could come to Him, just as we are.

Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) notes that the Apostle John goes on in verse eighteen to explain more fully what happens when the experience of mutual love is completed by the fact that we “can have confidence on judgment day.” John does so by negatively stating the truth that we can share the Anointed One’s confidence before God, here and hereafter. Real love, he claims, results in spiritual boldness that “flings fear out of the door.” The train of thought which began in verse sixteen is thus achieved. God is love; the person who lives in love remains in God, and God in them; in this mutual indwelling, love finds its complete expression; and, as the believer imitates Jesus more closely, their angst, at last, is banished.[2]

Edward J. Malatesta (1932-1998) points out that verses seventeen and eighteen describe two characteristics that accompany perfect love in believers: (1) confidence on Judgment Day and (2) freedom from anxiety. The last two lines of each verse give the reasons for the respective affirmations. That is, “to be like Jesus completed in love” and “fear of punishment makes that impossible.” The only remedy is that when love is perfected in us, it evicts apprehension.[3]

John Painter (1935) points us to what the prophet Zephaniah had to say about the great and terrible day of the LORD.

            “

“That terrible day of the Lord is near.
                    Swiftly it comes—
                A day of bitter tears,
                    A day when even strong men will cry out.
                 It will be a day when the Lord’s anger is poured out—
                    A day of terrible distress and anguish,
                A day of ruin and desolation,
                   A day of darkness and gloom,
                A day of clouds and blackness

                    A day the trumpet calls and battle cries.

                Down go the walled cities

                    A day of trumpet calls and battle cries.
                Down go the walled cities
                   And the strongest battlements!

                “Because you have sinned against the Lord,
                    I will make you grope around like the blind.
                Your blood will be poured into the dust,
                    And your bodies will lie rotting on the ground.”

                Your silver and gold will not save you
                    On that day of the Lord’s anger.
                For the whole land will be devoured
                    By the fire of his jealousy.
                He will make a terrifying end
                    Of all the people on earth.[1]

---

[1] Zephaniah 1:14-18

[4]

                   

The fact that the Apostle John should deal with despair in the face of judgment day is natural, given the tradition in the First Covenant[5] and beyond in Judaism and the Hellenistic world. However, the issues have become somewhat weightier with the mention of the day of judgment.[6] The dismay mentioned here seems to be more than dread of being shamed. The noun and the verb used can express awesome reverence or raw terror. The imagery of the day of judgment suggests the latter.[7]

William Loader (1944) says that while the Apostle John focuses on our relationship with God, his observations about uneasiness and love invite application to all human relationships. Love builds trust. Where trust grows, terror diminishes. Where worry diminishes, there is more room for love and life. Love gives life. Distress brings death. Trepidation has its place in the face of danger. It alerts us. But for John, the ultimate human misgivings of not being loved, not being of value, not belonging, and being lost, both in this life and beyond, are met with a gospel of hope. We are loved and valued; we belong; we are not lost. We need no longer choose faintheartedness and the rigidities and depression that flow from it. Instead, we may choose to believe that God is love and begin a process of letting go of fearfulness and allowing love to reach its fulfillment in us.[8]

Colin G. Kruse (1950) says that when people are anxious about God’s punishment, it signifies they are not yet perfected in love. Perfection in love here involves a love for God, which is based upon our sense of God’s love for us, and this love relationship with Him and other believers is what removes our anxiety as we face the day of judgment. The author has already underlined the greatness of God’s love for believers in several places in this letter. In 1 John 3:1, he wrote: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are;” in 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus the Anointed One laid down His life for us;” and in 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.” When the realization of God’s love for us in the Anointed One penetrates our minds and spirits, then we are perfected in love so that apprehension of God’s judgment is removed.[9]

Since perfected love means our love has gone through the process of yielding to God’s agápē so that we can love others as He loved us, why are so many of our songs and sermons focused on loving God instead of loving others with God’s love for us? Believe it or not, there are some 160 such hymns. However, few, if any, are well-known to regular churchgoers. For example, one such song has lyrics like this:

            Father, make us loving, gentle, thoughtful, kind;
                Fill us with Thy Spirit, make us of Thy mind.
                Help us love each other more and more each day,
                Help us follow Jesus in the narrow way.

Refrain

                We would learn of Jesus,
                Help us here below,
                Follow in His footsteps,
                Who hath loved us so.

                Father, we would ever, live as in Thy sight;
                Thou dost know our longings after what is right.
                Fill our hearts with kindness as we onward go,
                Teach us to be loving; Thou hast loved us so.

                Help us to remember, Thou art ever near;
                Teach us lovingkindness, tenderness, and cheer.
                There is much sorrow in this world below;
                Father, make us loving; Thou hast loved us so.[10]

---

[1] “Just as I Am” written by Charlotte Elliott in 1835, with music by William B. Bradbury (1816-1868), first appearing in the Christian Remembrancer, of which Elliott she became the editor in 1836. The final verse is from Elliott’s Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836).

[2] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, op. cit., pp. 259-260

[3] Malatesta, Edward J., Interiority and Covenant, op cit., p. 296

[4] Zephaniah 1:14-18

[5] See Isaiah 2:12-22

[6] Cf., 1 John 2:28

[7] Painter, John. Sacra Pagina: 1, 2, and 3 John: Vol. 18, loc., cit.

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

[9] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC)), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[10] “Father, Make Us Loving,” Words by Flora Kirkland (1901); Music by Isaac H. Meredith (1872-1962)

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson CXX) 07/27/22

^4:18         Where God’s love is, there is no fear because God’s perfect love takes it away. On the contrary, it is His punishment that makes a person afraid.

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993): The elder Apostle John presents one after another all levels of Christian attainment: the secure conviction that God is Love and the only Love; unshaken confidence in the hora novissima[1] when “people will run into the caves in the mountainside, and into the tunnels in the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of His presence.”[2] Now perfect love drives out fear. And yet these ideals do not seem unreal or fanatical since they are firmly grounded in faith and the victorious life of the church. This epistle describes the moral character and human greatness that the perennial foes of mankind, in particular anxiety, are dwarfed or banished. Since apprehension shrinks away while love unites, there can be no despair in love; at least perfect love gets rid of it. Since it is the love and reverence for God which are chiefly in view, despair has to do with a person’s punishment as an aspect of His discipline. But as the preceding verse made clear, the uneasy one is the person who is not perfected in love and, therefore, the dread in them drives them away from God.[3]

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) feels that since the Apostle John has just finished talking about having confidence when contemplating the coming day of judgment, he decided to expand on the cause for fear in that day. He shares an interesting story as an illustration to provide more clarity. He tells of a believer who was influential in his local church. But he and some other elders had a heated argument, and he felt uncomfortable worshipping with them. So, he decided to move and join a church elsewhere. After a good number of years, he became ill and was about to die. The members who quarreled with him back at his old church heard the sad news. So, they agreed that most of the trouble that started the argument years ago was their fault. They made plans to see him, offer their apologies, and ask forgiveness. They hoped it would cheer him up and make him feel better. But when his wife went to the bedroom and told him those men were there, he refused to see them. He said to his wife, “I could not do that! How could I go out and face God in eternity and refuse to forgive people who came to me with outstretched hands?” In other words, he settled the matter long ago, so there was no need to open the wounds again. Therefore, he would let himself off the hook by refusing to meet with them, accepting their apology, and offering forgiveness.

This is the irresponsible type of thinking that some people have of removing the fear of judgment day. Such reasoning does not pass the test of Scripture. Jesus said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that someone has something against you? Leave your gift there and make peace with that person. Then come and offer your gift.”[4] Even worse, while he thought he was letting himself off the hook, he left fellow believers on the hook to answer why they did not apologize and receive forgiveness? But our Lord has an answer for that too. He taught, “If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, go and tell them what they did wrong. Do this when you are alone with them. If they listen to you, you have helped them be your brother or sister again. But if they refuse to listen, go to them again and take one or two people with you. Then there will be two or three people who can tell what happened. If they refuse to listen to them, tell the church. And if they refuse to listen to the church, treat them as you would someone who does not know God.”[5] [6]

F. F. Bruce (1910-1990) says that the day of judgment need not frighten anyone who has appropriated the assurance of Jesus’ words, “Anyone who hears what I say and believes in the One who sent Me has eternal life. They will not be judged guilty. They have already left death and have entered into spiritual life.”[7] Also, “He has given Him authority to judge everyone because He is the Son of Man.”[8] All such terror is rejected by “perfect love” in which the members of God’s family live. “Fear has to do with punishment,”[9] But “punishment” is the portion of those who, through disobedience, is “condemned already,” not of those who, believing in the Son of God, are “not condemned.”[10] [11]

Rudolf Schnackenburg (1914-2002) believes we should do all we can to banish angst. But that is not because love has a higher value in religion than uncertainty. The Apostle John is not thinking about religious psychology; as Swiss Lutheran minister and psychoanalyst Oskar Pfister (1873-1956) said, what the Apostle John says here in verse eighteen is “worthy of the highest admiration.” He then declares: “So the gate to Christian belief is shut to tormenting fear for all time.”[12] Those, at last, are clear words, free of any misunderstanding, worthy of being quoted and repeated.[13]

Instead, according to Schnackenburg, for John, fear is the product of observing that Christians have not yet realized all the potential of their fellowship with God. There is still much of the unredeemed state about them. They show too little joy over being children of God[14] and too little confidence in the power that comes from God.[15] Anxiety is alien to the children of God and must be dismissed. But this does not mean the Gnostic’s theory of liberation from the material world and its hindrances. Nor is it a rationalistic desire for peace of mind. Rather, they should remove every impediment that hinders them from the perfect response of love and the fellowship God has given them.[16]

Donald W. Burdick (1917-1996) states that here such dismay exists, there can be no love, and vice versa, for “perfect love drives out fear.” This is true because of what being scared is and what love is. “Being afraid,” the most self-centered of all emotions, can be analyzed as a heightened awareness of self occasioned by what is deemed to be “a threat” to oneself. Love is quite the opposite. It is instead a diminishing of self-concern and a heightened awareness of others. Thus, the two emotions work contrary to each other. The more uneasiness there is, the less love there is; the more one is occupied with love, the smaller the panic.[17] So when you call on God to help relieve your terror, ask Him for more love.

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) says that the Apostle John now reveals that the love that spells confidence also banishes being afraid. There is no cowardness, that is, no submissive timidity in love. Consequently, as the New English Bible (NEB) puts it, “there is no room for fear in love.” The two are as incompatible as oil and water. We can love and reverence God simultaneously.[18] That is why we cannot instantaneously approach Him in love and hide from Him in angst.[19] Indeed, it is by love for God that a false cringing horror of God is overcome. The reason why perfect love cannot coexist with anxiety is now given: apprehension has to do with punishment. Interestingly, the Greek noun kolasis appears only twice in the Final Covenant, here by John in verse eighteen (“torment”) and by Jesus (“everlasting punishment”) in His parable of the Sheep and the Goats.[20]

That is to say, fear introduces the category of penalties, which is quite alien to God’s forgiven children who love Him. Or the phrase “brings bad with it;” may signify unfounded concern, sometimes the very punishment it is afraid of.[21] In other words, “despair has something of the nature of punishment;” to be scared is to begin to suffer chastisement already. Once assured, as we are in verse seventeen, that we are “like Him” as God’s beloved children, we cease to be afraid of Him. It is evident, therefore, that the one who has misgivings is not made perfect in love.[22]

David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) says that the words “and the one who be dismayed is not perfected in love” restate the Apostle John’s nonpersonal principle, “There is no fear in love,” in personal terms. The conjunction “and” implies that something further needs to be said about the believer whose life is harassed by terror. The phrase “the one who fears” pictures an individual whose life is habitually beset with uneasiness. Love “is not yet perfected” in them. So, they are unable to attain their intended goal in their life. Therefore, the believer is the sphere in which God’s agápē works. So, to remove all dread, the believer must be brought into an enduring fellowship with God.[23] This is so true! Sometimes we are our biggest obstacle in obtaining the level of spiritual living God is looking for in our lives. We may blame it on everything else, but as the Prophet, Nathan, told King David, “You are that person.”[24]

Simon J. Kistemaker (1930-2017) looks at verse seventeen for practical purposes. He notes that TV viewers can witness courtroom sessions almost daily. We have become accustomed to the judge, jury, defendant, plaintiff, and lawyers. We hear the verdict and the innocent acquitted and the guilty sentence. Often, we witness the expressions of uncontrolled emotions. These emotions depict, from time-to-time anxiety and fear. At other times joy and happiness. Every human will have to appear before the judgment throne of the Anointed One. Feelings of guilt and remorse will fill the hearts of all those who have refused to obey God’s commands, believe His Word, and accept the Anointed One as Savior. Their hearts will be filled with anguish,[25] for they realize that the Judge will sentence them to everlasting punishment because of their unforgiven sins. Those who have lived in fellowship with the Father and the Son have nothing to fear. Their hearts are filled with joy and love. And they will hear the word “acquitted” from the lips of Jesus. He will say to the Father, “I have paid it all.”[26]

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[1] Hora novissima: Latin term for “last hour.”

[2] Isaiah 2:19 – Authorized Revised Version (ARV)

[3] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, p. 286

[4] Matthew 5:23-24

[5] Ibid. 18:15-17

[6] Lloyd-Jones, Martyn: Life in the Anointed One, op. cit., pp. 541-542

[7] John 5:24

[8] Ibid. 5:22, 27

[9] A verbal parallel to this clause is provided by Philo where, speaking of the effects of shame and fear in one who has broken the eighth commandment, he says, “for it is only disgraceful actions which cause shame, and the other is a sign of his thinking it deserving of punishment.” Philo, The Special Laws, IV. I. (6)

[10] John 3:18

[11] Bruce, F. F., The Epistles of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition. Kingsley Books, Inc. Kindle Edition

[12] Pfister, Oskar: Das Christentum und die Angst. Eine religion psychologische, historishe und religion psychologische Untersuching, Published by Artemis Verlag, Zurich, 1944, 1,4888ff

[13] Hans-Josef Klauck (1948), Universitát Wurzburg, Deutschland

[14] Cf. 1 John 3:1

[15] See ibid. 2:13ff; 4:4; 5:4

[16] Schnackenburg, Rudolf: The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 224-225

[17] Burdick, Donald W., The Epistles of John, op. cit., p. 79

[18] Cf. Hebrews 5:7

[19] Cf. Romans 8:14-15; See 2 Timothy 1:7

[20] See Matthew 25:46

[21] Cf. Job 3:25

[22] Stott, John. The Letters of John (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries), op. cit., pp. 169-170

[23] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., January-March 1990, pp. 85-86

[24] 2 Samuel 12:7

[25] Revelation 6:15-17

[26] Kistemaker, Simon J., New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 341