Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LVIII) 04/08/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

Warren W. Wiersbe (1929-2019) points out that it is one thing to “know” something, but that is only the beginning of gaining intimate knowledge. For example, the verb “know” is used in Torah to describe the intimate union of husband and wife.[1] To know God means to be in an in-depth relationship with Him – to share His life and enjoy His agápe-love. This knowing is not simply a matter of understanding facts; it is perceiving truth.[2]

Wiersbe then offers this illustration: Someone stole a large quantity of radioactive material from a hospital. When the hospital administrator notified the police, he said, “Please warn the thief that he is carrying death with him and that the radioactive material cannot be successfully hidden. As long as he has it in his possession, it is affecting him disastrously!” A person who claims to know and be in union with God but continues to hate a fellow believer will be devastatingly affected by this relationship. A Christian ought to become what God is, and “God is love.” To argue otherwise is to prove that one is not serious about knowing God![3]

Simon J. Kistenmaker (1930-2017) says that verses seven and eight are among the treasured passages of the entire epistle. They speak of love that originates in God, describing the believer as someone who loves and knows God. By contrast, unbelievers do not love because they do not know God. When the Apostle John compares the believer with the unbeliever, he observes that knowledge of God is nonexistent when love is absent. The person who fails to commune with God in prayer and neglects to read the Bible cannot be the instrument through which God demonstrates His divine love. The unbeliever has not even begun to know God. Without knowledge of God, there is no love. Love and knowledge of God are two sides of the same coin.[4]

Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) mentions that Love cannot be the measure of knowing God; similarly, a lack of love does not prove that no relationship with God exists. But because God’s nature is Love, the knowledge of God should lead to love for others. The positive implication here is more important than the negative. The vital thing to keep in mind is that anyone who enters into a personal relationship with a loving God can be transformed into a caring person.[5]

Edward J. Malatesta (1932-1998) feels that the Apostle John wants to impress his readers that Love is not just some physical emotion or mental projection. Instead, it shows that they have a personal relationship with God, who is Love. And with Him now being present in their lives through the Spirit, Love is an act of the will in obedience to God’s command.[6] By contrast, says John, if you do not love your fellow man, especially God’s other children, you don’t have a personal relationship with God. Therefore, since it’s entirely about Love, it’s all about God.[7]

Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) notes that “God is Love”[8] is rightly recognized as one of the high peaks of divine revelation in this Epistle. Logically, the statement stands parallel with “God is Light”[9] and “God is Spirit”[10] as one of the three great Johannine expressions of the nature of God. Some theologians give the impression that the present statement is superior to the other two, but give no reason why. There is also no need to enter into a historical survey of the teaching of Scripture on this point. It would demonstrate that this statement is simply the most precise expression of a doctrine of the nature of God that is proven throughout its pages. Equally, it would show no similar picture of God outside the Scripture. God is all-loving and, equally, all-holy.[11] These two characteristics do not stand in opposition to one another but belong together and determine His actions. Consequently, it is not surprising that John does not stay on the level of abstract theological assertion, but proceeds directly to speak of the practical way God showed His agápe-love.[12]

Messianic writer David Stern (1935) notes that this simple sentence embodies the most profound religious truth. Yet, it can be perverted into a meaningless slogan, in which God is pictured as some sort of floating fuzz-ball of love, accepting everything and judging nothing. It is wrong for two reasons: (1) God’s agápe-love is not a mere feeling but action, as the familiar teaches:[13] (2) God is not only loving; He is also justice, pouring out wrath on those who reject His mercy.[14] Therefore, believers must proclaim God’s love and hatred for sin and His intolerance of human pride that presumes on God: God is not mocked.[15] [16]

Muncia Walls (1937) says that we should be aware that love alone does not define God for us. Nor can we express love in the same way we would explain our feelings toward our loved ones. It would not be proper to say that two people in love are manifesting God. Their passion may be strictly carnal, without any thought of God involved in their relationship. So, in this manner, we could say that love does not define for us what God is.[17] In other words, “GOD” is another way to spell “LOVE.”

Stanley L. Derickson (1940) points out that we must keep in mind that God is love: “Those who do not love do not know God because God is love.”[18] God’s very nature is that of love. He exudes love in all that He does for humanity. Even in judgment upon the earth after the fall, He left us a beautiful planet to behold. He gave us many things to enjoy in this life.

As a fellowship, we pledge to walk in Christian love, remember each other in prayer, aid one another in Christian living[19] and help those sick and in need.[20] There should be no gossip, backbiting, or anger, being slow to take offense and quick to reconcile, keeping unity and peace.[21] So loving one another was not a pet doctrine of the Apostle John. On the contrary, all the apostles emphasized it as a hallmark of Christians living in love.[22]

Michael Eaton (1942-2017) notes that the person who does not love may still be a Christian (for every Christian has had times when they have not shown love). John is not denying anyone’s Christian conversion. His point is rather that at that point in their life, knowledge of God was not functioning. John explicitly does not say that lack of love is proof of not having been born of God. He cannot say that would imply that it is impossible for the Christian not to love. John knows that some of His little children have fallen into lovelessness.[23] Yet he does not deny the reality of their first faith.[24] In truth, they have become like the Laodiceans; they are neither hot nor cold.[25] God tells them that, like water, He doesn’t mind if they are hot or cold, but lukewarm makes Him want to spit them out.

From what William Loader (1944) says about this verse, we can assume that the Apostle John did not mean that God had love, but that the God of love is loving.  And, more than that, John sees such loving as a manifestation of God’s being. He seems not to think of loving independently of God. Another way of saying this would describe every act of loving as a work of the Spirit. It is a theology of spiritual love. It calls to mind Jesus’ persistent tendency to address the issue of God, and God’s relationship with people, by telling stories about human love and generosity, the most famous instance being the parable of the prodigal son.[26] [27] I would agree with Loader that it illustrates a father loving his son. But for me, the Good Samaritan parable tells about loving a stranger, [[28] while the thief on the cross is an example of loving a sinner.[29]

Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) notes that of the eighteen Final Covenant occurrences of “the one who does not,” nearly half are on Jesus’s lips.[30] The Apostle Paul uses the phrase three times.[31] The other seven occurrences are in First John.[32] John has already spoken of “the one who” does not do what’s right and does not confess Jesus as having come from God. He has also spoken twice of “the one who” lacks love, in this case, brotherly love: such a person is not from God, and, worse, they “abide in death.”

In an age of increasing tolerance of the notion that all religions amount to the same thing, it is worth noting that John’s picture of God is part of a unique affirmation. Further, John does not say that love is God, a statement found nowhere in Scripture. To do so would replace a living, personal, and active God with an intellectual, ethical, purposeful, or emotional concept – the last thing that the language of John’s First Epistle or the graphic portrayal of God incarnate in the Gospels would permit.[33]

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[1] Genesis 4:1

[2] 1 John 2:3-5

[3] Wiersbe, Warren W., Be Real; Turning from Hypocrisy to Truth, (The BE Series Commentary) op. cit., pp. 139-140 

[4] Kistemaker, Simon J., New Testament Commentary, op. cit., pp. 330-331

[5] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, op. cit., p. 238

[6] See 1 John 4:21

[7] Malatesta, Edward J., Interiority and Covenant, op. cit., p. 295

[8] 1 John 4:8

[9] Ibid. 1:5

[10] John 4:24

[11] 1 John 1:5

[12] Marshall, I. Howard. The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 212-213

[13] John 3:16

[14] Romans 1:18–2:16, 3:19–20

[15] Galatians 6:7

[16] Stern, David H., Jewish New Testament Commentary, Kindle Edition.

[17] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John & Jude, op. cit., p. 73

[18] 1 John 4:8

[19] Ibid 4:7-8

[20] James 5:14

[21] Ephesians 4:31-2

[22] Derickson, Stanley L., Notes on Theology, op. cit., pp. 255, 1160

[23] Revelation 2:4

[24] Eaton, Michael: Focus on the Bible, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., p. 142

[25] Revelation 3:15-16

[26] See Luke 15:11-32

[27] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, op. cit., p. 52

[28] Luke 10:25-37

[29] Ibid. 23:32-43

[30] Matthew 12: 30^x2; Luke 11: 23^x2; 22: 36; John 5: 23; 10: 1; 14: 24

[31] Romans 14: 6, 22; 1 Corinthians 7: 38

[32] 1 John 3: 10^x2, 14; 4: 3, 8; 5: 10, 12

[33] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., p. 236-237

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LVII) 04/07/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951) tells an interesting story about the theme of verse eight. He says, years ago, a lady who prided herself on belonging to the intelligentsia said to him, “I have no use for the Bible, nor for Christian superstition and religious dogma. It is enough for me to know that God is love.” “Well,” said Ironside, “do you know it?” “Why, of course, I do,” she said; “we all know that, and it is religion enough for me. I do not need the doctrines of the Bible.” “How did you find out that God is love?” Ironside asked. “Why,” she exclaimed, “everybody knows that!”

“Do they know it over in India?” Ironside asked. “That poor mother in her distress throwing her little babe into the holy Ganges to be eaten by filthy and repulsive crocodiles as a sacrifice for her sins – does she know that God is love?” “Oh, well, she is ignorant and superstitious,” the lady replied. “Those poor wretched natives in the jungles of Africa, bowing down to gods of wood and stone, and in constant fear of their images, the poor heathen in other countries, do they know that God is love?” “Perhaps not,” she said, “but in a civilized land, we all know it.” “But how is it that we know it? Who told us so? Where did we find it out?” inquired Ironside. “I do not understand what you mean,” she said, “for I’ve always known it.” “Let me tell you this,” Ironside answered; “no one in the world ever knew it until it was revealed from heaven and recorded in the Word of God. It is here and nowhere else. It is not found in all the literature of the ancients.”[1]

Charles H. Dodd (1884-1973) states that the Apostle John adds a theological statement of the utmost importance in this eighth verse, which justifies his teaching: for God is love. In this form, this statement might appear to identify God with an abstract principle and imply an impersonal conception of Deity. But it is clear that this is not John’s intention, for, in the context, he speaks of the agápe-love of God and says that love belongs to God and that God loved us. God, therefore, is presented as the personal Subject of the act of love. Yet, the proposition, “God is love,” is intended to go further than the proposal, “God loves us.”

What is its meaning, asks Dodd? Christianity always assumed the Hebrew conception of Deity as the “living God.” In the First Covenant, there is little or no speculation about the nature of God as He is in Himself. In His actions, people recognize God as the Creator of the world, Ruler of mankind, and the Saving King of His people. History is the canvas of His self-revelation, and communion with Him is conditioned by obedience to His commands. Accordingly, the Word of God is not primarily the communication of knowledge about the divine nature; it is the active energy by which the world was made and sustained, by which believers are called into active fellowship with God in carrying out His purpose.

If therefore, notes Dodd, we ask what God is, the answer must speak in terms of what He does. He creates and sustains the universe; He judges the world in righteousness; He helps those in distress; He guides those who submit to His will; He forgives the repentant. Now Christianity takes over this Hebrew conception of the “living God.” It is an idea in the Gospel teaching about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is essentially dynamic, not static. The Kingdom is something that comes as an event in history. Its coming means that God has acted to fulfill His purpose. The Kingdom of God came with the Anointed One. Consequently, the character of His action is to be discovered from the life, teaching, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Anointed One. If this is to be put in terms defined in the First Covenant as the “Word of God.” Thus, it may be expressed based on “the Word was made flesh” in Jesus the Anointed One. [2]

Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) notes that when it is said of “love” that “it is of God,” then “to be of” characterizes the origin and thus the nature of love, as elsewhere; it is the “way of God.” We can say that the ones loving “are born of God,” corresponding with other expressions.[3] It is told so that love is emphasized as the mark of having been born of God. Again, “and knows God” corresponds to phrases in earlier passages[4] keeping the commandments serves as the mark of knowledge of God; here, it is “love,” which, together with “belief,” is the content of the commandments (or commandment).[5] [6]

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993) reminds us (a) that Love here is not merely an attribute of God but defines His nature in a practical rather than philosophical sense. God’s nature is not exhausted by the quality of love, but love governs all its aspects and expressions. (b) The Greek term used here for love – agápe – is God’s creation in Christians. Greek-speaking Jews no longer used pagan phrases for love to translate Hebrew words expressing the agápe-love of God and the love of neighbor. Then the church transformed it with meanings understood in the Christian experience, (c) The present verse requires a personal light or spirit, as used in pagan religious teaching. Thus, emphasizing the significance of God, not only for nature and history but for personal religion and ethics, was revolutionary.[7]

But when God revealed this masterpiece of grace – His only begotten Son – it was in a stable smelling of manure in Bethlehem amidst the surroundings of poverty. But the question is, who has believed that love? Many have heard about it, but it makes a vast difference when believed. Rainsford then tells us that one day he stood by the death bed of a young man; his wife was beside him, and some friends were in the adjoining room. Rainsford was there speaking with them. And one earnest young man said, “Sir, can you understand why God allows such sorrow as that?” And Rainsford said, “Honestly, I don’t understand it either; but I know that God loves us and knows what is best for us.” Then Rainsford asks, supposing you have a friend in trouble, and you loan him £20,000. Do you think you should watch him starve for the lack of a sandwich? Well, then, if God loves us so much that He gives His Son, let us trust Him for the rest, though we cannot understand it.[8]

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) points out that love is one of the things emphasized more than anything else in the Final Covenant. At the end of His ministry, our blessed Lord Himself kept repeating this same thing – “love one another.” He constantly told them that the world would be against them and that they would have tribulation. “But,” he kept saying, “love one another, and that is how the world will know that you are my disciples.”[9] It is how You can demonstrate more clearly than anything else that you are God’s faithful followers and that you are God’s children. You will find this standing out in an exceptional way if you read John’s Gospel, chapters 13-17. But it is indeed a great theme running right through the Gospels and the Epistles.[10] So, why then is there so much emphasis on loving God and not loving each other?

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) notes that verses seven and eight should be read as one. It completes the Apostle John’s thought on the pros and cons of love. Not only is God the source of all true love; He is love in His innermost being. There are three other statements in the Final Covenant concerning what God is in substance and nature: He is “spirit,”[11] He is “light,”[12] and He is “a consuming fire.”[13] The Gnostics believed that God is immaterial spirit and light, but they never taught that God is love.[14]

John Phillips (1927-2010) says that the Apostle John tells us why we should love in verse eight. At last, the ultimate revelation about God – “God is love!” The truth has always been there, woven into the tapestry of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. The Mosaic Law, for all its great principles, precepts, and penalties, is quite unable to hide the loving-kindness of God. Throughout the Psalms and prophecies, the dark skies of judgment are unable to conceal His love’s rainbow. It was manifest in the flesh in everything Jesus was and did and said, shining out in the Epistles in many a pragmatic demand that we love the Lord and love the lost and love the Lord’s people. Now John writes it down without quibble or qualification – “God is love.”

Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) reminds us of the other two Johannine descriptions, God is Spirit, [15] God is Light, [16] and now, God is love.[17] The Apostle John does not simply say, “God loves,” loving is not just another act of God, like reproduction. Instead, all God’s activity is love in action. Nor does John say, “Love is God,” for he is interested in a visible person’s loving activity, not some abstract image they only imagine because He is invisible. This verse requires a personal view of God we see in others.[18]

In verse eight, David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) points out that the Apostle John presents the opposite picture of what he said in verse seven. The negative with the present tense views one who is unloving in attitude and practice. The absence of love in their life proves that they “do not know God” and that they have never come to know what God is like personally. Because John uses the aorist tense in “does not,” he has them looking back to the time of their professed conversion. Not knowing love shows that they are still a stranger to God. As Bible scholar Edward McDowell remarks, “Ignorance of God and, we may deduce, misinterpretations and misrepresentations of God, are traceable to the absence of love in men’s hearts.”[19] The reason for this is that it’s God’s agápe-love.[20]

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[1] Ironside, Harry A., The Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., pp. 137-138

[2] Dodd, Charles H., Moffett Commentary, Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp.107-108

[3] 1 John 2:29; 3:9

[4] Ibid. 2:3ff

[5] Ibid. 1 John 4:21; 2:10; 3:23

[6] Bultmann, Rudolf: Hermeneia, Critical and Historical Commentary, op. cit., pp. 66-67

[7] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, pp. 279-280

[8] Rainsford, Marcus: The Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., 1 John 4, p. 69

[9] John 13:35

[10] Lloyd-Jones, Martyn: Life in the Anointed One, op. cit., p. 420

[11] John 4:24

[12] 1 John 1:5

[13] Hebrews 12:29, cf. Deuteronomy 4:24

[14] Stott, John. The Letters of John (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries), op. cit., p. 161

[15] John 4:24

[16] 1 John 1:5

[17] Ibid. 4:8

[18] Brown, Raymond E., The Anchor Bible, op. cit., Vol. 30, p. 515

[19] McDowell, Edward A., 1-2-3 John, in The Broadman Bible Commentary, Broadman Press, Nashville 12:216

[20] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., January-March 1990, p. 72

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LVI) 04/06/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

John Morlais Jones (1843-1905) states that God’s agápe-love makes believing possible. It would be impossible to think if we did not know that “God is love.” Most people accept the Bible as a marvelous, historical book full of psalms and proverbs. But when you speak of the Cross, of the “Lamb of God,” upon whom the world’s sins laid, of eternal punishment if His offer of grace is not accepted, people begin to hesitate and stammer. “No, no; that is incredible; that can never be,” they say. But the agápe-love of God makes every item of the Anointed One’s story believable. We have all seen the miracles that love works. The Cross will be forever the symbol of love’s perfect triumph, not shame, humiliation, grief, and embarrassment. It was love that did it. “God’s agápe-love” for a lost and dying world full of hopeless, hostile sinners.[1] And then we have difficulty loving our neighbors or fellow believers!

Clement Clemance (1845-1886) says the Apostle John once again varies his thinking. Instead of “Love is of God, [2] we have “God is Love” – a far deeper thought; and instead of “knows not God,” we “never knew God.” A person not loving their spiritual brother or sister shows that in no real sense have they ever in the past known God; they are of the world, [3] not of God. We must beware of watering down “God is Love” to “God is loving,” or even “God not only loves you, but He’s also in love with you.” Love is not merely a Godly attribute; it is His very nature. As “God as Light” sums up “being of God” on the knowledge side, so “God is Love” adds up the same on the moral side. Only when we apply this strong meaning to the statement does John’s argument hold, that “they that don’t know love don’t know God.”[4]

Aaron M. Hills (1848-1911) addressed that redemption and salvation are gifts of God’s agápe-love tells us that the Scriptures point out that there are two sorts of spiritual love: One Created, the other Uncreated. Love uncreated is God Himself, and the Third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. As the Apostle John says, “God is love.”[5] That is the Holy Spirit. Love created is the affection of the soul produced by the Holy Spirit out of sight and with the knowledge that God stirred it up and placed it in the heart. This agápe-love is created, for the Holy Spirit makes it. Agápe-love is not God, for it is made: but it is the love of the soul felt by the sight of Jesus and came alive in Him.

Now, says Hills, may you see that created love is not the cause why a soul comes into the spiritual Light of Jesus. And some may think that they could love God so fervently, as it were by their strength, that they might be worthy to know Him spiritually. No, it is not so, but love uncreated, God Himself, is the cause for gaining this knowledge. A blind wretched soul is so far from the clear knowing and the blessed feeling of His agápe-love, through sin and frailty of its human nature, that it could never exist were not for the infinite greatness of God’s agápe-love. But because He loves us so much, He gives us His agápe-love, the Holy Spirit. He is both the giver and the gift, and makes us then by that gift to know and love Him.[6]

James B. Morgan (1850-1942) says that “speaking the truth in love” is the Final Covenant’s rule for the Christian. God’s uncompromising faithfulness is not inconsistent with His extraordinary tenderness. Our Lord is known as “the faithful and true witness,” yet He was the embodiment of love. He spoke more plainly and severely, yet more affectionately, than any other public teacher. In these traits of character, the Apostle John, most resembles Him. And we do not need to go beyond the passage before us, says Morgan. Two duties, implying severity, are joined in verses seven and eight. First, he calls upon the members of the Church to exercise a strict vigilance over the faithfulness of its ministers, charging them to “try the Spirits.” Then he demands that they will be no less rigorous in judging themselves, whether they are profitable hearers of the word. They should determine whether they are guided by “the spirit of truth, or the spirit of error.” But having thus faithfully called them to these urgent duties, John returns to his favorite theme of love, on which he had been previously speaking. He pours out the tender address of the text, “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and everyone that loves are born of God and knows God. Those that do not love do not know God, for God is love.”

Morgan asks: “Is this the Christian’s model?” Yes. “They know God who is born of God.” What manner of conversation then must this blessed individual exhibit? They are “of God,” created by Him, dependent on Him, who is Love.” They are “born of God,” born anew by the grace of His Spirit – who is love. “They know God,” are acquainted with Him as a friend, live in communion with Him – who is love. What must they be? The ray of light that radiates from the sun is light. The beam of love that sparkles from the eye is love. Any child of God, a companion of His Son, and the temple of His Spirit must also love as He loves. Oh! How natural for such a one to say – “Beloved, let us love one another; love is of God, and everyone who loves is born and knows God.” They that don’t love don’t know God: for God is Love.[7]

William Sinclair (1850-1917) says that this may be considered the central portion of the second half of the Apostle John’s First Epistle. Nothing could be more significant than his teaching. Here many trains of thought which have occurred before are gathered together in one grand treatise on love, divine and human – the complement of the thirteenth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians.

In the early part of the Epistle, John defined God as Light, and his thoughts grouped around and with that central idea. But, of course, it would be impossible to exhaust all the definitions of God. And just as we might classify our human nature as intellectual and moral, mind and heart, thought and emotion, so, when we consider God to be Light (embracing all such divine attributes like truth, knowledge, purity, power, and justice), we will not have an outline listing all that we can know of God’s Divine nature or all that we should understand until we have also considered Him to be Love. God is the Author and Source of all Divine kindness, compassion, friendliness, and rejoicing in creating eternal life for everlasting happiness. This way, God offers timeless bliss to all His human family, eternally surrounded by inexhaustible artworks of the joy and glory of perfection.[8]

Reverend William F. Harper (1854-1930) notes that the Apostle John did not address his Epistle to any local Church. He was by now an elderly servant of God. The Apostles Peter, James, and Paul had all gone “to be with the Anointed One”[9] to await the resurrection, and he survived them all. The phrase “God is love” is one of the golden sentences only to be found in the Book of God. It is “an ocean of thought in a droplet of language.” Even during the short amount of time, it took to write this letter, it came from the pen of someone who laid his head on his Master’s shoulder at the Last Supper.

Therefore, John is more than qualified to share these insights. First, here is the source of salvation. (a) God sent His Son. That was love. (b) The Anointed One came. That was love. (c) The Holy Spirit distributes God’s agápe-love in our hearts.[10] That is love. (d) So, every saved soul is saved, sanctified, and maintained by love.

Secondly, here is the fountain of comfort. How refreshing to be able to fall back upon this truth in a world giving us a welcome basket filled with – tears, difficulties, anxieties, burdens, clouds, heart-aches, heart-breaks, sick-beds, death-beds, graves, etc., – but “God is love.”’ Every believer may say, “Not a single love arrow can hit until the God of Love sees fit.”[11] Thirdly, here is our hope for the future. (a) In heaven, there is rest. (b) In heaven, there is light. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”[12] (c) But above all, there is love in heaven, for “God is Love.”[13]

Alonzo R. Cocke (1858-1901) says that love indicates the presence of God’s life in the heart, but it is also essential to any proper knowledge of God. By participating in the divine life, we are born of God and have the capacity for knowing God through love. By love, we know God, for we participate by loving in that which is the very nature of God. The unregenerate person cannot know God and commune with Him in His divine plans and purposes, for they do not have God’s nature. Those that do not love lack Christian love that flows from the eternal fountain of God’s agápe-love, and it is along the channel of its flow alone that we can come to the great sea of His being and fathom its infinite depths. Love is not only a mark of that higher life which proceeds from God, but it is the door of entrance into the treasure-house of his nature. It is a ray from the eternal source of divine life shining in the face of all His children, and it is also the light that guides them to their home in God’s heart and reveals all its wealth of affection.[14]

Albert Barnes (1872-1951) says that never was a more critical declaration made than this nor more meaning crowded into a few words than in these – “God is love.” In the darkness of this world of sin – all the sorrows that blanket the human race and will come and inflict the wicked hereafter – we have the assurance that a God of infinite kindness rules overall. However, we may not be able to reconcile all that occurs with this declaration or see how the things which God has permitted to take place are consistent with it. Yet, in the exercise of faith in His testimony, we find consolation in “believing” that it is so. We may also look forward to a period when all His universe will see it to be so. In the midst of all that occurs on the earth of sadness, sin, and sorrow, there is abundant evidence that God is love.[15]

In the arrangements made to alleviate sin and sorrow, notes Barnes, a Savior was prepared to offer eternal life on terms simple and easy to accept. In all these things, which are the mere expressions of love, we see illustrations of the sublime and glorious sentiment before us that “God is love.” Even in this world of confusion, disorder, and darkness, we have evidence sufficient to prove that He is kindhearted. But the full glory and meaning of that truth will be seen only in heaven. Meantime, let us hold on to the reality that He is love. Let us believe that He sincerely desires our good and that what seems dark to us may be designed for our welfare, and amidst all the sorrows and disappointments of the present life, let us feel that our interests and our destiny are in the hands of the God of love.[16] [17]

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[1] Jones, John Morlais, The Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., 1 John 4, pp. 54-55

[2] 1 John 4:7

[3] 1 John 3:1

[4] Clemance, Clement: First Epistle of John, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Exposition, op. cit., p. 103

[5] 1 John 4:8

[6] Hills, Aaron M., The Scale of Perfection, Bk. 1, Part 3, p. 179

[7] Morgan, James B., An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture XXXI, p. 314

[8] Sinclair, William: A New Testament for English Readers, Ed. Charles J. Ellicott, op. cit., p. 488

[9] 2 Corinthians 5:8

[10] Romans 5:5

[11] Sovereign Ruler of the Skies, by John Ryland (1753-1825), inspired by Psalm 103:19

[12] 1 Corinthians 13:12

[13] Harper, William F., The Church Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., Vol. 12, pp. 292-293

[14] Cocke, Alonzo R., Studies in the Epistles of John, op. cit., loc., cit., Logos

[15] Barnes, Albert: Notes on N.T., op. cit., p. 4864

[16] 2 Corinthians 13:11; 1 John 4:16

[17] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., p. 4864

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LV) 04/05/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

Daniel Steele (1824-1914) points out that “God is love” is more than saying God is friendly. Only if He is love in His essential being is the statement true that to have no personal, experimental knowledge of love is to have no fundamental understanding of God. The Gnostics were doubtless, in John’s mind, who knew much about God. Still, they did not know God by experience, for instead of loving those humble brethren who were not their equals in intellectual attainments, they treated them with arrogant and heartless contempt. The heathens regarded God as terrible, whose fierce anger is soothed with sacrificial offerings. The Jews believed He was just and jealous and, possibly, merciful, whose inmost being a mystery beyond what His name Yahweh revealed, “I am that I am.” To the regenerate believer alone is He known as Love.[1]

In verse eight, William Lincoln (1825-1888) asks us to look at the first stage in the descending scale of God’s agápe-love, “God is love.” If we are His children, we must have His nature. In chapter one, we are told that “God is light;” “God is love.” Truth is two-sided; we must not lean on one side and ignore the other; that is the cause of all error. Heresy is just a selection of truth. The statement “God is love” refers to God’s agápe-love coming to meet us; it introduces the descending scale of God’s agápe-love. In other words, if John says that God is love, then he must prove it somehow. So, in verse nine, John says, God’s agápe-love is “manifested” in a spectacular way.[2]

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) lets us know that a Christians’ distinguishing mark is their confidence in the love of the Anointed One and the yielding of their affections to the Anointed One in return. First, faith sets her seal upon the individual by enabling the soul to say with the Apostle John, “the Anointed One loved me and gave Himself for me.”[3] Then love gives its endorsement and stamps upon the heart gratitude and love to Jesus in return. “We love Him because He first loved us.”[4]

In those grand old ages and heroic periods of the Christian religion, remarks Spurgeon, this double mark of mutual love could be seen in all of Jesus’ believers. They were people who knew the love of the Anointed One and rested upon it as a person leans on a staff whose trustworthiness they have proven. The love they felt towards the Lord was not a quiet emotion that they hid within themselves in the secret chamber of their souls. Nor was it something they only spoke of in their private assemblies when they met on the first day of the week and sang hymns in honor of the Anointed One, Jesus the crucified. Instead, it was a passion with them of such all-consuming energy, visible in all their actions. People heard in their everyday talk and looked out their eyes even in a casual glance. Love to Jesus was a flame that fed upon the core and heart of their being. Therefore, its force burned its way into the outer man and shone there. Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal and mark of all genuine Christians. Because of their dependence upon the Anointed One’s love, they dared to do much because of their love for Him.

Why is it no longer the same, asks Spurgeon? God’s children are ruled in their innermost being by love. The love of the Anointed One compels them; they rejoice that divine love given to them, they feel it in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and then by force of gratitude, they love the Savior with a sincere and pure heart. Then Spurgeon has a question for those who read this devotion, do you love Him? Before you go to sleep, give an honest answer to this weighty question about your love for your Savior.[5]

John James Lias (1834-1923) states that this root truth of the Gospel is as important an article of faith as any Christian creed. It would solve most of life’s difficulties and most of the problems that affect Christian theology if firmly grasped. No doctrine, it may be safely affirmed, which is contrary to this fundamental principle, can be true. Many parts of the Christian creed may seem opposed to this proposition. Yet, in reality, they are not so. Whatever appears to conflict with it must be explained so that  this essential doctrine is not put out of sight. It is to be lamented that this doctrine, standing as it does in the forefront of the Gospel, is attested not only by its double repetition here but by the language of the Savior. In the Apostle John’s Gospel, [6] what we find about love has been allowed to fall into the background. It’s plain and simple; If you don’t love, you don’t know God because God IS love.[7]

Marvin R. Vincent (1834-1922) says we see that God is light[8] and the truth;[9] also, God is spirit.[10] Spirit and light are expressions of God’s essential nature. Love is the expression of His personality, corresponding to His nature. Truth and love stand related to each other. Loving is the condition of knowing.[11]

Augustus H. Strong (1836-1921) discusses that getting to know ourselves is a way of knowing if God is in us. First, there are many passages representing the Anointed One as the Image of God.[12] Therefore, the Anointed One is the perfect image of God.[13] The Anointed One, therefore, has consciousness and will. He possesses all the attributes and powers of God. The word “Image” suggests the perfect equality with God, which the title “Son” might at first seem to deny. The living Image of God, which is equal to Himself and is the object of His infinite love, can be nothing less than personal. The Image is not precisely the repetition of the original. The stamp from the seal is not precisely the reproduction of the seal. The letters on the seal run backward and can be easily read when the impression is before us. So, the Anointed One is the only interpretation and revelation of the hidden Godhead. As only in love do we come to know the depths of our being, so it is only in the Son that “God is love.”[14]

Strong goes on to say that the Unitarian idea of a solitary God profoundly affects our conception of God, reduces it to mere power, and identifies God with abstract cause and thought. Love is grounded in power, not power grounded in love. The Father is the embodiment of the omniscient and omnipotent genius of the universe. That’s why whoever denies the Son denies the Father.[15] Charles Frederick D’Arcy (1859-1938) says, “If God is simply one great person, then we have to think of Him as waiting until the whole creation process has been accomplished before His love can find an object upon which to bestow itself.”[16] His agápe-love belongs, in that case, not to his innermost essence but his relation to some of His creatures. The words “God is love”[17] become a rhetorical exaggeration, rather than the expression of truth about the divine nature.

Erich Haupt (1841-1910) says that if we take “God is Light” and “God is Love” together, we reach the result that no action of God is conceivable that does not have for its aim the demonstration of love. Furthermore, there is no evidence of a love that does not have for its substance the communication of the divine natures of Light and Glory. Suppose this self-communication of perfect love has an absolute sense of perfection, as a ray of light passing unbroken from one point to another. In that case, we have the eternal brightness and character of God’s glory in His Son. Thus, it is plain how not only the Anointed One but the Church, the perfected kingdom of God, with its body, the earthly creation, may be called the fullness of God. If, then, Light and Love are as inseparably as form and matter make up any material thing, then it follows that everyone born of God must be a partaker of this Light and this agápe-love.[18]

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) proposes that if no previous religion, not even the Jewish, achieved the level of truth that “God is Light,”[19] still less have any reached the level of enlightenment that “God is love.” For the heathen world, God is a powerful, terrible, and often a cruel being, one whose fierce wrath needs to be denounced and whose ill-will needs to be appeased, rather than one on whose love people may rely. The Jews felt, He was a just and a jealous, if also a merciful God, of whose inmost being all that was known was I AM THAT I AM. To the Christian alone, He is known as LOVE.[20]

Methodist preacher Mark Guy Pearse (1842-1930), from Cornwall, [21] says I’ve heard that God is Almighty, but what does it mean? I judge strength by my arm, the winds, and angry seas, or the power of human mechanisms. In all these, I can see only matter overcoming matter. I have nothing by which to know the Omnipotent. I hear of Self-existence, Independence. What is that? I see all things depending on their source and their sustenance upon others. What can I know of Him whose name is “I AM?”[22] And if I turn from these aspects to the moral character of God, I am yet more bewildered. Sin has put out the spiritual eyes by which I can see true righteousness, and perhaps as much in mercy as in punishment.

But let’s think, says Pearse, if I know all this about God, does it still mean I can’t know Him personally? His vastness, immensity, knowledge, and power leave me an utter stranger to God. But tell me that He is love –what love is, is God – then I know Him. I know now how He feels and thinks and acts. I know now how to come to Him and speak to Him. Now, do I know Him when I know that He is love? Those that love know God – look at this faculty within us by which we know God. Love is ours, as nothing else is ours. The slow and irksome toil of learning is not needful for love. The dullest scholar may be a very master of this art, and the most unlettered may rightly translate the signs and mysteries of love.[23]

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[1] Steele, Daniel, Half-Hour, op. cit., pp. 103-104

[2] Lincoln, William: Lectures on 1 John, op. cit., Lecture VII, p. 114

[3] Galatians 2:20

[4] 1 John 4:19

[5] Spurgeon, Charles H., Morning and Evening Daily Readings, op. cit., June 5 PM

[6] John 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:23, 31; 15:9-10

[7] Lias, James John: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 308-309

[8] 1 John 1:5

[9] Ibid. 1:6

[10] John 4:24

[11] Vincent, Marvin R., Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. II., op. cit., p. 357

[12] 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3

[13] See Genesis 1:26-27

[14] Strong, Augustus H., Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, op. cit., pp. 608-609

[15] 1 John 2:23

[16] D’Arcy, Charles Frederick: Idealism and Theology, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1899, Lecture VI, p. 204

[17] 1 John 4:8

[18] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 258-259

[19] To those under the First Covenant, God’s light came through His Word. However, in Psalm 27:1 David did talk about the LORD being his light. However, the Hebrew noun there is (‘ôr) which means, light that comes from the daylight or a lamp or instruction.

[20] Plummer, Alfred: Cambridge Commentary, op. cit., p. 147

[21] Cornwall is a county on England’s rugged southwestern tip. It forms a peninsula encompassing wild moorland and hundreds of sandy beaches, culminating at the Land’s cape.

[22] Exodus 3:14

[23] Pearse, Mark Guy, Biblical Illustrator, First Epistle of John, Vol. 22, op. cit., p. 51

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LIV) 04/04/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

Albert Barnes (1798-1870) says that never was a more important declaration made than this nor more meaning crowded into a few words than in these – “God is love.” In the darkness of this world of sin – all the sorrows that blanket the human race and will come and inflict the wicked hereafter – we have the assurance that a God of infinite kindness rules overall. However, we may not be able to reconcile all that occurs with this declaration or see how the things which God has permitted to take place are consistent with it. Yet, in the exercise of faith on His testimony, we find consolation in “believing” that it is so. We may also look forward to a period when all His universe will see it to be so. In the midst of all that occurs on the earth of sadness, sin, and sorrow, there is abundant evidence that God is love.[1]

Henry Alford (1810-1871) states that when we treat “God is Love” as “God is loving,” we form a misconception of what the Apostle John said first, “Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.” What comes next? Even though God is loving, this person never knew Him that way. They may have known Him as far as He is for fairness or power. But taking that “God is love,” it is an essential part of His being – just as an exact definition of God requires a strict argument: They who’ve never known such love, and since God is love, therefore, they who’ve never loved like this never knew God.[2] In other words, to love a loving God, He must first put that love in our hearts.[3]

William E. Jelf (1811-1875) proposes no reason why agápe-love should be limited to Christians. Those whose hearts see love as a stranger are not only hostile to God but utterly ignorant of Him. They have never gotten to know God. We cannot extinguish Love’s light where it once shined bright. The person whose principle of thought, feeling, and action is sheer selfishness, uninfluenced by God’s agápe-love or others, is barely ahead of the animal world. They, of course, have no idea or notion of God.

As an instance of such a being, one might take some of the African kings described by English explorer Sir Samuel W. Baker.[4] The Apostle John seems to present the divine nature and excellence of love in general, rather than stating any peculiar privileges of Christians, so he immediately applies what he has been saying to the particular agápe-love that Christians have towards each other. Although differing in kind and degree from the ordinary emotion of fondness in general, John says we should appreciate each other with agápe-love because it comes from God. Therefore, if you love God, you can talk about loving each other with greater emphasis.[5]

John Stock (1817-1884) laments the condition of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in his day. He regrets that ignorance of God’s Word is not the parent of devotion but the foster parent of superstition because it is empty of God’s agápe-love. If it is not removed it is fatal, involving eternal punishment.[6] They who love to keep people in ignorance, hunt them as prey, are offenders in no small degree; and are not of or with God, who complains that His people perish for lack of knowledge.[7] To know God as their Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer in and through the Anointed One Jesus the Lord, and continually meditate on this awareness, is the believer’s first duty.[8]

Stock says that in this knowledge of the Anointed One is life and, consequently, to be lacking it is death. The words, “This is eternal life: that people know you, the only true God, and that they know Jesus the Anointed One, the One you sent,”[9] show this to be the case beyond all controversy. The workers of iniquity do not know. “The way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes.”[10] The spiritual condition of such is, unfortunately. Believers must have such heartbreak for them that it will motivate a combined effort on the part of those blessed with the Light to seek to remove the destructive darkness of their ignorant hearts. This knowledge of God produces love in return and a union with God, and its absence proves the ignorance of God.[11]

Charles Ellicott (1819-1904) says it is significant that we have these words not from Jesus but from John. Jesus did not say exactly, “God is love.” He taught by the inductive method. He said, “Those who’ve seen me have seen the Father.”[12] John looked at Him, leaned on His breast, stood beside His cross, gazed into His empty tomb, listened to His words after He rose from the dead, and said, “God is love.” So, how did John know that God is love because he saw the Anointed One? This knowledge of the Anointed One’s character is the primary source of John’s knowledge of God. He sought a description of the Anointed One’s character, and there was no name good enough.

No doubt John thought of Jesus, who went about doing good.[13] His self-denial and poverty for humanity’s sake; His compassion on the multitudes; His sympathy for the bereaved; His kindness towards the outcast; His tears at Lazarus’ grave; His message of forgiveness to the sin-stricken; His words such as no man has ever uttered; His washing His disciples’ feet; His death in pity for human sin; and His resurrection into immortality and glory. All this is the manifestation of the life of God in its fundamental meanings. He knew what Spirit was in Jesus; he knew by what word to characterize His life. He knew that whatever of God’s life was manifest through Jesus of Nazareth was eternally true of the Almighty Father, and he told it all in three sublime and immortal words, “God is love.”

According to Ellicott, we should also consider that John defines God as light in the early part of this Epistle. It would be impossible to exhaust all the definitions of God. However, we may roughly classify our human nature as intellectual and moral, mind and heart, thought and emotion. So, when we consider God as the Light (embracing all His attributes such as truth, knowledge, purity, health, power, and justice), we still have not comprehended all we can know about His nature.  Nor do we appreciate all that concerns us to know until we have also considered Him to be Love. He is the author and source of all genuine affection – kindness, compassion, friendliness, etc. As a result, we rejoice in the creation of infinite life for its endless happiness and offer eternal bliss to all His human family that surrounds us with inexhaustible illustrations of the joy and glory of perfection – godly perfection.[14]

Irish pastor and Evangelist Dwight L. Moody’s (1830-1899) good friend, Marcus Rainsford (1820-1897), speaks about the manifestation of God’s agápe-love. He stays that it was demonstrated ten thousand ways. If we look at it without prejudice, everything in Nature is the embodiment of God’s agápe-love. Every day, the sun shines, it expresses God’s agápe-love in warm rays. But oh, the display of God’s agápe-love in nature is not enough to make us spiritually alive. When great artists illustrate their skills in a painting or portrait, brought into being by their genius, it is exhibited in carpeted museums, amid grandeur and splendor, and within mansions, its walls draped with huge paintings.[15] But we can see it at work on dirty streets, in filthy neighborhoods in some of the world’s largest slums. It’s like spotting a brilliant diamond sticking out of a mud puddle.

William Kelly (1822-1888) adds to what the Apostle John said in verse seven about knowing the value of one’s salvation. It does not matter what gifts an individual may have, how active they are in ministry, or what reputation and influence they possess; if they do not love others, they do not know God. The factor is full of self-deceit. Those born of God love their brothers and sisters because they know God’s character. Their new divine affections have a definite sphere, and they have that knowledge of God that our Lord Jesus said is to establish eternal life. In His prayer for His disciples, Jesus presented this to His Father in heaven: “This is the way to have eternal life – to know You, the only true God, and Jesus the Anointed One You sent to earth.”[16] John reproduced this in a brief dogmatic statement with its negative. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Where there is no love, there is no knowledge of God. The reason is as plain as it is decisive; “for God is love.”[17]

By speaking this way, notes Kelly, John illustrates how God has shown His agápe-love. He brings it out in three forms. First, there is the wondrous manifestation of God in the Anointed One, which is the foundation of the Gospel; second, it is manifested in the Anointed One as life, and third, as paying our ransom price. If we didn’t have the Anointed One’s life in us, we would never be able to understand God at all. Could we have understood Him by having the Anointed One as our life without knowing we were set free from sin’s punishment? No! His holiness and judgment would have been insulted; it would have only brought misery. Knowing what God is and what we are, and not having our sins carried away, must be like His dishonor and our everlasting shame and anguish. That’s why many touched by the Gospel are still ignorant of the efficiency of redemption, proves the point.[18]

William B. Pope (1822-1903) believes we must understand that this God-Love is absolutely love in itself, in its nature, and apart from any object because it is from the very being of God. Therefore, this out-of-this-world experience involves nothing but love and regeneration. This miracle presents evidence of new birth in the past continues, and in the present, we still know God with this same love, discerning and delighting in its source. His eternal essence is unfathomable, and the bond of the intercommunion of the Trinity is adorable, revealing His unchanging nature. Since His nature is in us, this agápe-love will continue as long as He is there.[19]

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[1] Barnes, Albert: Notes on N.T., op. cit., p. 4864

[2] Alford, Henry: Critical and Exegetical Commentary, op. cit., p. 488

[3] Romans 5:5

[4] See: The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia and the Sword Hunters of the Hamran Arabs (1868)

[5] Jelf, William E., First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 60

[6] Isaiah 28:11

[7] Hosea 4:6

[8] Ecclesiastes 12:1

[9] John 17:3

[10] Romans 3:17-18

[11] Stock, John: Exposition of First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 341, 343

[12] John 14:9

[13] Acts of the Apostles 10:38

[14] Ellicott, Charles: Ellicott’s Bible Commentary for English Readers, pp. 16255-16260

[15] Rainsford, Marcus: Biblical Illustrator, 1 John 4, op. cit., pp. 69-70

[16] John 17:3

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

[18] Ibid. Lectures on the Catholic Epistles, op. cit., pp. 325-326

[19] Pope, William B., Popular Commentary, op. cit., p. 315

Merriam-Webster dictionary describes enthusiasm as:

1a – “strong excitement of feeling,”

1b – “something inspiring zeal or fervor.”

2a – “belief in special revelations of the Holy Spirit,”

2b – “religious fanaticism.”

In other words, enthusiasm is having intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval in something or some cause. We see this demonstrated by the crowd at a college football game, support for a politician, a praise and worship team, etc.

Psychologists tell us that enthusiasm is one of the 24 strengths possessed by humanity. As a component of the virtue of courage, enthusiasm is defined as living life with a sense of excitement, anticipation, and energy.

Elaine Dundon, leader of the Meaning Movement, says that enthusiasm is about expressing our spirit, both individually and collectively. However, faking enthusiasm to please others can be a dangerous trap. As such, genuine enthusiasm is an expression of our true selves.

She says that a meaningful life depends on inner serenity, self-honesty, and engaging with the world with genuine enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is defined as strong excitement or a strong feeling of interest in something we like or enjoy. The word originated from two Greek words, en (meaning in) and theos (meaning God), and has evolved to mean “manifesting the spirit within.”

Rijn Vogelaar, research scientist and author of the Dynamics of Enthusiasm, writes that Scientific research into enthusiasm is hard to find. Positive psychology does pay attention to related themes such as flow and engagement, but enthusiasm still appears to be virgin territory in the academic world. He proposes the following definition of enthusiasm: “Enthusiasm is the positive excitement experienced when a person is affected by something or someone. It also creates a need to share and has a contagious effect on other people.” Enthusiasm, therefore, manifests itself explicitly at that moment and can also be observed in physical terms. There is alertness, an eagerness, a twinkle in the eye. It’s as if something is awakening.

The tendency to share enthusiasm is also striking, notes Vogelaar, which is very noticeable in children. If they have seen something that excites them, they are itching to share it. Adults who come home enthusiastic also feel this need. It even feels frustrating when no one is at home at that moment. On social media, it’s easy to see how strong the need is to share the enthusiasm. In fact, people share more positive messages online than negative ones. The final characteristic of enthusiasm, contained in the definition, is its contagious nature. Like positive and negative emotions, enthusiasm is infectious. An enthusiastic colleague can set the mood, and waves of enthusiasm can sweep through a crowd.

Psychologist Valeria Sabater offers seven tips to help awaken one’s enthusiasm. In addition, she lists simple mechanisms that allow us to rekindle our enthusiasm. Arousing our enthusiasm improves our well-being. In fact, if there’s one thing that’s magical about this emotion, it’s contagious. It’s like a light in the darkness that guides and inspires you. Indeed, so much so that the character strengths that most correlate with happiness are enthusiasm, curiosity, and hope.

So, first of all, get out of yourself; it’s time to explore other territories. Secondly, relax, and stop living in survival mode. Third, determine what you are passionate about. Fourth, align your values with your belief system and behaviors. Fifth, stay away from those who discourage you. Sixth, go beyond the apparent and ordinary in order to develop broader visions and deeper insights to spark your enthusiasm. And seventh, enthusiasm is an attitude; choose it every day.

And finally, Psychologist Hendrie Weisinger states that in today’s demanding work world, the pressure for doing more with less has become part of many organizational cultures. People are, in fact, working long hours and are often asked to take responsibility for tasks that go beyond their job description. Of course, we all know that more stress at work takes its toll mentally; but it also taxes us physically, and we end the day feeling exhausted.

Weisinger then goes on to tell us how we can learn how to create enthusiasm for the moment and throughout the day, but you need to know the nature of enthusiasm: Enthusiasm is an affective state. How do you feel when you are enthusiastic? Energized or excited is the standard response. Enthusiasm is a state of heightened arousal. Breathing rate, and heart rate, for example, are accelerated. Positive thoughts accompany enthusiasm. “I did it!” or “I love this!” are common enthusiastic thoughts. Enthusiasm is a behavior. Enthusiasm stimulates movement in the arms or legs, face, or eyes. Enthusiastic responses are universal across cultures. A smile, clapping – these are hardwired into us, so a crowd in Brazil cheers when their soccer team wins, just like American college students do when their basketball team wins.

Since we’ve learned that the origin of the word enthusiasm is “in God.” what does the Bible say about enthusiasm? First, the Apostle Paul told the Roman believers never to be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.[1] Then Paul reminded the Corinthians that when it comes to giving or volunteering, each person must decide in their heart how much to offer. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives with enthusiasm.”[2]

The Apostle also encouraged the Ephesians to work with enthusiasm, as though they were working for the Lord rather than for people.[3] And for the believers in Thessalonica, Paul’s message was always to be enthusiastic. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful. This is how God wants you to live in the Anointed One, Jesus.[4]

But perhaps nothing sounds more exciting and enthusiastic than David’s Psalm, where he says, “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in heaven, His strong fortress! Praise Him for the great things He does! Praise Him for all His greatness! Praise Him with trumpets and horns! Praise Him with harps and guitars! Praise Him with tambourines and dancing! Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals! Praise Him with crashing cymbals! Everything that breathes, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” And do it with enthusiasm.

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[1] Romans 12:11 – New Living Translation

[2] 2 Corinthians 9:7

[3] Ephesians 6:7 – New Living Translation; cf. Colossians 3:23

[4] 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

A believer in England was driving home and had his radio tuned to a Christian station. Then this song came on:

So in the middle of this season of Lent, have you met the man who will die for your sins on Calvary? If not, He is calling you. If you have met Him, then you can testify that what is said in this song is true and transforming.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LIII) 04/01/22

^4:8 If a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that they don’t know God – for God is love.

John Trapp (1601-1669) quotes Greek philosopher Plato, who said, “If moral virtue could be viewed with mortal eyes, it would draw all hearts to it.” So, if God were well known, He would certainly be the best beloved, and all that is His, for His sake. When it comes to saying that God is love, some scholars add that He is the “fountain of love,”[1] attracting all hearts who heard of Him.[2]

John Owen (1616-1683) states that we read “God is love” in verse eight. But he points out in the original Greek it reads: “God love is.”[3] He is the fountain and prototype of all love as eternal and necessary. All other acts of love are in God and released from Him and its effects. Since He does good because He is good, He loves because He is love. He is love eternally and necessarily in this agápe-love of the Son, and all other workings of love are but acts of His will, whereby somewhat of it is outwardly expressed. And all love in creation was introduced from this fountain and mirrored it.[4]

Then Owen talks about completing communion with the Father in love; two things are required of believers: (1) They accept it from Him. (2) They make suitable returns to Him that they obtained it. Communion consists in giving and receiving. Until the love of the Father is received, we have no communion with Him therein. How, then, is this agápe-love of the Father to be acknowledged and initiate fellowship with Him? I answer, says Owen, the receiving of it is believing it. God revealed His agápe-love so that it could be admitted to His family by faith. “You believe in God,” said Jesus, “so also believe in me.”[5] And what is to believe in Him? His agápe-love; for He is “love.”[6] [7]

George Swinnock (1627-1673) says that this unparalleled God calls for incomparable love, the top, the cream of our affections. “Good is the object of love,” according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, “The greater the good, the greater the love required.” Therefore, with God being the greatest good, He must have the greatest love for Him. This is the great first commandment, [8] and I might say the only commandment;[9] this is all the commandments in one.[10] The God of the greatest perfection must have the greatest affection. Therefore, the greatest love (for God is love)[11] calls for the incomparable God, who is the greatest love. He deserves the most understanding heart, soul, mind, strength; the greatest comprehensive heart, soul, mind, and all the strength.[12]

Isaac Barrow (1630-1677) follows the thinking of Job’s friend, Eliphaz, who asked: “Is a mere human worth anything to God?” Even the wisest are of value only to themselves. No, says Barrow. Goodness is offered freely and communicative; love is active and fruitful; such high excellence is void of envy, selfishness, and self-determination. The Apostle John says[13] that goodness is inherent to God’s nature, since He is love in his epistle. He is essentially loving and caring enough to bestow so much of His being, beauty, delight, and comfort on His creatures.[14] [15]

Daniel Whitby (1638-1726) thinks that the Apostle John did not intend to express, in this verse, what God is in His essence, or to say, as the Roman seminarians do, that He is occasionally love, as the cause; or object of His agápe-love. Instead, He is affectionate and shows great charity to mankind in all His communications with them, as in verses nine and ten.[16]

Thomas Pyle (1674-1756) says that when we claim to be the true children of God, let us take special care to give proof of it by imitating God’s unusual attribute of love and mercy, so abundantly displayed to all humanity and us Christians in particular. Without such love, we fail in the most critical moment of resembling Him, proving we are not one of His.[17]

James Macknight (1721-1800) is struck by the Apostle John’s words, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”[18] John is talking about the love of benevolence joined with God. Those who do not love their neighbor with loving compassion do not know God. They have no real knowledge of God’s character, whose generosity extends to all, even to the evil and unthankful. That’s why all who know Him should attempt to imitate Him. According to Estius, [19] God is love, even as He is essentially and adequately power, wisdom, and goodness. But it does not appear that John meant to declare God’s essence, but only to teach us that God delights in the exercise of goodwill and perhaps that His other perfections are exerted for accomplishing his compassionate purposes.[20]

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) says we should all concentrate on the main aim of this epistle, in that we all maintain, work hard to express, and project brotherly affection to one another. Those that live with the desire to be a good child of God, regenerated by His Spirit, and in possession of the proven, fascinating, and transforming knowledge of the blessings and will of God. On the other hand, those that are strangers to the exercise of love for the saints or their neighbors appear ignorant of the nature and will of God. For God is, in His very nature, infinite grace, mercy, and love. His thoughts, purpose, and patience have manifested Himself in an endless, glorious, and engaging pattern of kindness and goodwill.[21]

Richard Rothe (1799-1867) now puts a big exclamation mark on what he said in verse seven about how love is necessary to be God’s property and fellowshipping with God. Here he shouts out, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love!” Seeing that God is love, it naturally follows that no one can know God without knowing love is the only way love can be known. Experimentally through his own loving, John points here to the universal way of attaining knowledge of God.  Learning to love is a way to this knowledge that is open to all. This way must be navigated even by those who develop a concept of God in their mind. But until meeting God, there is no other way one can never attain insight into the fact that love is God’s characteristic being.[22]

Augustus Neander (1789-1850) believes that the apostolic age differed from later periods only in this: that as Christianity first made its appearance in the world, as the divine world-transforming power, there was a more significant predominance of that immediate religious impulse and inspiration; the appearing of prophets, and the various manifestations of the prophetic gift, belonged more to the ordinary phenomena of the church. But, from the very beginning, corrupt human nature mingled its disturbing and adulterating influence in all these divine manifestations. Thereby, this genuine inspiration connected itself to a false one. Sadly, it suggested that the Holy Spirit was in those of an undivine nature.[23]

Gottfried C. F. Lücke (1791-1855) proposes that the knowledge of divine characteristics achieves the family relationship. Since, concerning redemption, God’s most essential attribute is “agápe-love,” and agápe-love has no earthly origin but has its source in God. It naturally follows those who know God, and are born of God, love the brethren, and practice love. Consequently, says Lücke, verses seven and eight are founded on this reasoning.

The Apostle John places loving others before loving Him. This is John’s meaning in verse seven: in our loving one another, as those who truly are of God, and correctly know Him because brotherly love is not of this world but belongs to that life of God. The Alexandria Greek Manuscript reads, “agápe-love of God.” But both here and in verse eight is seen, both from the context and compared with verses eleven, twenty, and twenty-one, “agápe-love is used, and denotes brotherly love.” Thus, the Apostle Paul also uses agápe-love in the sense of brotherly love.[24] [25]

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) agrees that everyone is a sinner, justly chargeable with inexcusable godlessness and immorality. Thus, salvation is not possible by any effort or resource of theirs.[26] More than this, the Bible teaches us that a person may be outwardly religious, but their heart is the seat of pride, envy, or malice. In other words, they may be moral in their conduct and, because of inward evil passions, be immoral in their heart and mind as the chief of sinners, as was the case with Paul.[27] And more even than this, although a person is free from outward sins, this unproductive goodness would not suffice to remove the sins of the heart. Without holiness, “no one shall see the Lord.”[28]  And as the Apostle John says here in verse eight, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

Furthermore, we are not to love this world nor the things it offers us, for when we love the world, we do not have the Father’s love in us.[29] Who then can be saved? The Bible excludes from God’s kingdom all those who are immoral; hearts corrupted by pride, envy, malice, or covetousness; all who love the world; all who are not holy; all in whom the agápe-love of God. Is this not the supreme and controlling principle of action? Therefore, it is evident that salvation must be confined to very narrow limits so far as adults are concerned. It is also apparent that mere natural religion, the sheer objective power of general religious truth, is ineffective in preparing people for God’s presence.[30]

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[1] Song of Solomon 1:3

[2] Trapp, John: Commentary upon all books of New Testament (1647), op. cit., p. 476

[3] 1 John 4:8

[4] Owen, John: Christologia, Ch. 11, p. 194

[5] John 14:1

[6] 1 John 4:8

[7] Owen, John: Of Communion with God, op. cit., Ch. 3, p. 29

[8] Matthew 22:37

[9] Deuteronomy 10:12

[10] Romans 13:37

[11] 1 John 4:8

[12] Swinnock, George: op. cit., The Incomparableness of God, Ch. XXI, pp. 174-175

[13] 1 John 4:8, 16

[14] Psalm 33:5; 119:64

[15] Barrow, Isaac: An Exposition on the Creed, op. cit., p. 146

[16] Whitby, Daniel: op cit., p. 467

[17] Pyle, Thomas: Paraphrase, op. cit., p. 396

[18] 1 John 4:8

[19] Estius (1542-1613) was a famous Dutch commentator on the Pauline epistles. In 1580, he received his Th.D.

[20] Macknight, James: Literal Paraphrase, op. cit., p. 91

[21] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, op. cit., pp. 1327-1328

[22] Rothe, Richard: The Expository Times, op. cit., February 1894, p. 231

[23] Neander, Augustus: First Epistle of John, op. cit., Chapters IV, V, p. 237

[24] Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1; Philippians 2:2

[25] Lücke, Gottfried: Commentary on First Epistle of John, op. cit., Section Eight,  

[26] 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 5:5

[27] 1 Timothy 1:15

[28] Hebrews 12:14; John 3:3

[29] 1 John 2:15

[30] Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology, op.7 cit., Vol. I., pp. 42-43

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LII) 03/31/22

4:8       Those who do not love one another do not understand God because God is love.

EXPOSITION

Moses found this out when he pleaded with God to do something to help him understand more about Him. When God responded by passing in front of Moses, instead of appearing in brilliance, light, flashing, glory, magnificence, etc., God asked him to remember, “Yahweh, the Lord, is a kind, merciful God, slow to become angry, and full of great love. He can be trusted. He shows His faithful love to thousands of people, forgives people for their wrongdoings, but does not forget to punish the guilty.”[1]  David must have remembered this as he prayed: “My Lord, you are good and merciful. You love all those who call to you for help … My Lord, you are a kind and merciful God. You are patient, loyal, and full of love.”[2]

This phrase “manifested” refers to what follows. John shows how the nature of God’s agápe-love exhibits itself. In fact, God’s agápe-love was manifested [aorist tense – a continuing effect from the past] toward us, God’s agápe-love for His Son eternally existed, but He manifested His agápe-love for us by sending His Son as a Messenger of Good News. That’s how God demonstrated His agápe-love by sending His Son to die for our sins.  God’s agápe-love is not motivated by any worthiness in us, [3] but God “sent” His Son into the world in keeping with His character. The word “sent” carries the idea of being ordained for a mission. God dispatched His Son on a special assignment to pay for the world’s sins.[4] Therefore, God sending His Son into the world was no passing act of sentimentality. This phrase does not imply that Jesus was reluctant to come into the world to die. On the contrary, He was willing to come.[5] The standard of God’s agápe-love then is complete voluntary sacrifice.

John does not state the object of love but the fact of love’s existence. The issue is whether it’s Christian love or not. Lack of love shows that a believer does not have an intimate fellowship with God. This is the point where the believer is not in union with God. This person may be a Christian in name only because they are unconnected with the nature of God’s agápe-love. In other words, they are not filled with the Spirit. God accepts that anyone who knows Him will love. 

 “God is love” only occurs in the Bible here and in verse sixteen. This phrase affirms a condition about the nature of God; all that God does is love. If He provides, He provides in love; judges in love. Love is inherent in God’s nature; it is at the heart of all God is. It is impossible to reverse “God is love” to “love is God.”[6] Love cannot be God, as though His essence and character revolve around love. Agápe-love does not exist without God; it is His essence and nature. In addition to love, God is also truth, justice, righteousness, and patience. True love comes from capturing an understanding of the nature of God’s unilateral and unconditional love. Therefore, God loves us individually. The only way we can share God’s love is to be a part of the family of God. We receive God’s love by accepting God’s plan of salvation through Jesus the Anointed One. His death fully and sufficiently paid for our sins. 

COMMENTARY

Clement of Alexandria (150-216 AD) spoke about how love affects every aspect of our lives and how agápe-love transforms into goodness.[7] God’s agápe-love does not harm a neighbor, neither does it seek to do any injury nor revenge, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. Love is, then, the fulfilling of the law;[8] just like the Anointed One, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaches us and disciplines us according to the Anointed One’s words. By love, then, the commands not to commit adultery and not lust for a neighbor’s wife are fulfilled, [these sins being] formerly prohibited by fear.[9] 

Lactantius (260-325 AD) was an early church author who became an advisor to Roman Emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages, and a tutor to his son Crispus. But possibly, someone may ask us the same question Quintus Hortensius (BC 114-50AD)[10] asks in Cicero’s, On the Nature of the Gods: “If God is one only?”[11] At first glance, this might not have any relevance to verse eight. But when put into context, it should be no surprise that Christianity burst on the scene when Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and Pagan gods were lining the streets of cities and villages throughout the Middle East. But the one big difference between them and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was that YaHWeH said we must love others in order to worship Him. That’s why, says John, they don’t understand God.

Early Church preacher Chrysostom (347-407 AD) asks a crucial question: “What kind of love are we talking about here?” It is true love and not simply what people use it to mean. It comes from our attitude and knowledge and must proceed from a pure heart, for there is also a love of evil things. Robbers love other robbers, and murderers love each other too, not out of love which comes from a good conscience but from a bad one.[12]

And there are other voices from early church scholars who speak on this subject; Augustine (354-430 AD) states: “If God is love, it makes sense then that the more who join us in the faith through the new birth, in addition to ourselves, the more demonstrative will be the love in which we rejoice, since it is the possession of His agápe-love which is presented.”[13] But Augustine also says that love is so much the gift of God that it is called God.[14] Therefore, although your course of action is different from others, shared love has made both methods necessary for our brother’s and sister’s salvation; for one, God has done it all, and God is love.[15] So then, Isaac the Syrian (613-700 AD)[16] writes, “God is love. Wherefore, the man who lives in love reaps the fruit of life from God, and while yet in this world, he even now breathes the air of the resurrection.”[17] 

Bede the Venerable (672-735 AD) also joins in this concept of love by saying: “Let no one say that when they sin, they sin against other people but not against God, for how can you not be sinning against God when you are sinning against love?”[18] So it’s another way of saying that life flows out of love, and since God is love, and He is in us, then His life is in us; therefore, we are already breathing the life that goes beyond the grave. In fact, the Cabalistic Jews[19] refer to the Shekinah glory of God as “love.”[20]

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) says that he calls love undefined because it never keeps back anything of itself. When a man boasts of nothing as his own, surely all he has is God’s; and what is God’s cannot be unclean. The undefiled law of the Lord is that love which bids men seek not their own, but every man another’s wealth. It is the law of the Lord because they live in accordance with it. After all, no one has it except by gift from Him. Nor is it improper to say that even God lives by law when that law is the law of love. For what preserves the glorious and ineffable Unity of the blessed Trinity, except love? Charity, the law of the Lord, joins the Three Persons into the unity of the Godhead and unites the Holy Trinity in the bond of peace.

Do not suppose that I am implying that charity exists as an accidental quality of Deity, says Bernard, for whatever could be conceived of as wanting in the divine Nature is not God. No, it is the very substance of the Godhead; and my assertion is neither novel nor extraordinary, since the Apostle John says, “God is love.” Therefore, one may accurately say that love is at once God and the gift of God. It is the essence of love, imparting the quality of love. Where it refers to the Giver, it is the name of His very being; where the gift is meant, it is the name of quality. Love is the eternal law whereby the universe was created and is ruled. Since all things are ordered in measure and number and weight, and nothing is left outside the realm of law, that universal law cannot itself be without a law, which is itself. So, love, though it did not create itself, does indeed govern itself by its decree.[21]

John Calvin (1509-1564) sees the Apostle John emphasizing that there is no knowledge of God where there is no love. And he takes it for granted as a general principle or truth that God is love. That is, that His divine nature is to love people. I know that many analyze more logically, and that the ancients especially perverted this passage to prove the Spirit’s divinity. But the meaning of the Apostle is simply this: as God is the fountain of love, this flows from Him and is dispersed wherever he goes. That’s why John called Him Light at the beginning of this epistle. There is nothing dark in Him, but on the contrary, He illuminates all things by His brightness. Here, then, John does not speak of the essence of God but only shows what He is found to be.

But two things in the Apostle’s words ought to be noticed – that the proper knowledge of God is that which regenerates and renews us so that we become new creatures; and that it cannot be anything other than that it conforms us to the image of God. Away, then, with that foolish marginal thinking respecting formless faith. For when anyone tries to separate faith from love, it is the same as though they attempt to take away heat from the sun.[22]

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[1] Exodus 34:6-7

[2] Psalm 86:5, 15

[3] Romans 5:5-9

[4] John 3:17, 34; 5:36-37; 7:29; 8:42; 10:36; 17:3, 18; 20:21

[5] Romans 5:8; Galatians 5:22-23

[6] I saw “Love is God” on a taxi bumper sticker in Tamil Nadu, India. I pointed this out to my Indian pastor friend, Wellesley Solomon, and asked him if that was true. “No! No!” he said, “It’s the other way around.”

[7] 1 John 4:8

[8] Romans 13:10

[9] Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Bk. IV, Ch. 18

[10] Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Roman Orator and politician

[11] Lactantius Divine Institutes: On the Nature of the Gods, Ch. 7

[12] Chrysostom: Catena

[13] Sermons of Augustine, Sermon 260c.1

[14] Letters of Augustine, Letter 186

[15] Ibid. Letter 219

[16] Isaac the Syrian (aka Isaac of Nineveh), was a monk who became a bishop and theologian

[17] Isaac the Syrian: Ascetical Homilies 46

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

[19] Cabalistic Jews are those who look for mystical interpretations in Jewish theology, especially those pertaining to the Messiah

[20] Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah, folio 15a

[21] Bernard of Clairvaux: On Loving God, Eremitical Press, 2010, Ch. 12, pp. 81-82

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