Down an Unfamiliar Road

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]

---

[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]

---

[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.

---

[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]

---

[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]

---

[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.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson LI) 03/30/22

^4:7 Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God, and those who are loving and kind show that they are God’s children and are getting to know Him better.

John Painter (1935) sees that the obligation to love is grounded in “as I have loved you.”[1] The Greek adverb kathōs (“as”) has a double sense. First, it means “in the same manner,” “just as,” and “to the same degree.” Secondly, kathōs can also be the relevant element for our discussion here based on the love command in Jesus’ words, “because I have loved you.” That is both the moral ground of the obligation and the affective source to move the person so loved to love others. The foundation and affective basis point to God in verses seven to twelve. So, the ground, here in verse eight, for loving one another is “because[NIV] God is Love.” That is, God is the ultimate source of love.

This means, says Painter, that the person who loves draws from the divine source of love – being born of God. Human love is not the cause but the manifestation of being birthed by God. From the human side, believing that Jesus the Anointed One is come in the flesh is the foundation belief that puts the believer in a relationship with the divine source of love. Those who love that relationship reveal the divine origin of the life of the one who loves. Divine origin is understood in the metaphor “to be born of God.” Simply to love is the evidence, and God defines love from whom this love comes. Because the divine love here describes itself, it does not need any other qualification except to love “one another.”[2]

Muncia Walls (1937) notes that the Apostle John locates the origin of the love he is talking about here as being “of God” It is not in human nature to manifest this agápe-love. Humans cannot learn this love through any school of higher learning. This love only comes from God. If God does not give this love to us, and, if this love is not manifested through our life by the Spirit of God, then we do not possess this love.[3] This is because, for some Christians, there are three loves at work in their lives. There is Philautia: self-love; Storge: familial love; and Agápe: God’s love. The first two are from nature; the last is purely divine. The problem is that the two natural passions get in the way of agápe-love. So, even if a person shows love for God by loving their family and other believers, they still find it impossible to get over the resentment they are harboring over some treatment they received from certain individuals. So, the question is, “If you can’t show God’s love to someone, do any of your other acts of love count as loving God?”[4]

Michael Eaton (1942-2017) points out that the Apostle John again urges love, building on what he has just said. First and foremost, “the God of the Bible is the only source of love.” After all, since God is the Love we need, where else could we find it except in God?[5] Then secondly, John writes that “love requires the new birth.” No one can genuinely exhibit this kind of love except being “born again.” Now, John continues: Thirdly, “love is essential to fellowship with God.” Love not only shows to others that the person is born of God, but it also means that the Christian’s knowledge of God is currently being enjoyed. John distinguishes the two. His readers are born of God. Yet, he writes to restore fellowship with the Father and the Son. The two are not unavoidably intertwined; otherwise, there would be no need for this epistle. Love arises from and demonstrates two things: new birth and its development, and fellowship with God.[6]

William Loader (1944) says that this command to love one another is not a directive to live in isolation but flows from a relationship. We would love one another because the source of love is God. It is more than an exhortation to follow God’s example of love. The Apostle John immediately expresses this connection by saying that everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Again, this is more than a matter of identification. We are not still dealing with the need for criteria about who is not a child of God. Rather, John is assuming the connection between our love and God’s agápe-love is within a dynamic system, where agápe-love produces our love.[7] There, too, John expressed it by identifying the believer as a child of God and arguing that this relationship enables the Christian to love. To do so means that the person loving knows God personally.[8]

Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) states that the Apostle John now points to the effect of God’s love. It gives rise to love in those to whom God grants spiritual rebirth. To love as John counsels is to be confirmed in the faith he is explaining. It means that “love alone … is not a sign of being born of God” when we take the broader context of John’s letter into account. Further, love is a means of “knowing God.” John has just advised how his readers can “recognize the Spirit of God” in Christological doctrine in verse two. But now, in verse seven, he implies that doctrine is not the entire issue. An agápe-love reality comes into play for spiritual discernment to occur. A key component in effective discernment is Love. And so, John has urged his readers to love. He links that love directly to God. But John realizes that to persuade often requires more than mere assertion. John can imagine that there will be those who do not heed his counsel. So, he prepares to clarify things for them.[9]

Colin G. Kruse (1950) notes that the expression “born of God” is best explained by reference to the Apostle John’s Gospel.[10] It emphasizes that people become children of God, not by natural birth, but by being born of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born “from above,” which is equivalent to being “born of the Spirit.”[11] Then, being born of God is quite distinct from natural human procreation. It is brought about by God through His Spirit, in conjunction with faith in the Anointed One on the part of those concerned. When John says that “God is love,” he is not making a philosophical statement describing what God is in His essence. Instead, John is speaking about the loving nature of God revealed in His saving action on behalf of humankind.[12] [13]

Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) Sees parallelisms here, much like in the Psalms:

            Let us love one another,

                        Because love is of God.

Like the realities of the truth of light and life, love comes from above, as does the gift of the only-begotten One and the gift of our being birthed by God. The logic is that those who belong to God are born of God or know God, will love. With the form of direct address “beloved,” the reasonably exceptional instance of a command, “let us love,” also helps to mark the beginning of the passage. An abba pattern begins here.

            (a) – Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. – 1 John 4:8

                        (b) – This is how God showed His love among us:

(b) He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.1 John

4:9

            (a) – This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1 John 4:10

But for John, love is not merely one among many things, finding distinctive rootage in God. Rather, love is an informing principal attribute of God that necessarily defines the believer if the believer is to belong to God. Thus, John describes “a non-negotiable necessity in the household of faith.” Because love is from God and belongs to God, John instructs his hearers to live from and for it in the lives of those in the Christian community.[14]

Duncan Heaster (1967) offers another proof of having been born of God through the Spirit[15] is whether we love one another. The love in view is not of a secular nature but the love of the new commandment, to love as the Lord loved us, by His death on a cross. To be born “of God” is to have the love which is “of God,” the love which came to its ultimate term in the gift of His Son for the sins of the world.[16] Although John’s audience was all born of God, they still had to be encouraged to “love one another.” The love between us is not as the Spirit imposed it against our will; the work of the Spirit requires our willing partnership. Knowing God means living in the sacrificial love of the Father and Son. We do not “know” God simply by perceiving the orthodox theologies about Him and placing and making a mental note of disagreement with them.[17]

Karen H. Jobes (1968) says that the Apostle John’s thinking for the agápe-love command is that it is a defining characteristic of God. Therefore, those born of God are defined by their love for others. As the old saying goes, “like father, like son.” In fact, exhibiting the love characteristic of the Father evidences personal knowledge of God. Not everyone loves in whatever way pleases them or has been born of God, but everyone who loves as God defines love.[18]

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) admits that he does not find it necessary to have unbreakable sympathy for all his relatives. Nevertheless, Browne is hopeful that this attitude does not break the fifth commandment.[19] He wonders what people would say if he loved a fellow Christian more than his nearest relative, even his father or mother. It is hard for him to conceive how God loves all humanity the same. Oh, what happiness there is in the love of God.[20]

---

[1] John 13:34; cf. 1 John 4:17

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

[3] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John & Jude, op. cit., pp. 70-71

[4] Cf. Mark 11:25; 1 Corinthians 13:5; Ephesians 4:31; James 5:16

[5] Cf. Psalm 121:1

[6] Eaton, Michael: Focus on the Bible, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., pp. 141-142

[7] 1 John 3:7-10

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

[9] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) op. cit., pp. 235-236

[10] John 1:12-13

[11] Ibid 3:1-8

[12] See Ibid. 4:9-10

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

[14] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, op. cit., p. 443

[15] John 1:13; 3:5

[16] Ibid. 3:16

[17] Heaster, Duncan: New European Commentary, op. cit., 1 John, p. 31

[18] Jobes, Karen H., 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament, Book 18), p. 190

[19] Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10

[20] Browne, Thomas: Religio Medici, op. cit., Part 1, Section 5

This is my promise to you, that my wife and I will be that someone praying for you.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson L) 03/29/22

^4:7 Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God, and those who are loving and kind show that they are God’s children and are getting to know Him better.

Greville P. Lewis (1891-1976) notes that in the Apostle John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the phrase “He who sent Me” no fewer than twenty-six times. It must have been in John’s mind when he used “sent” here and in verses ten and fourteen. Martin Luther once said: “If I were as our Lord God, and had committed the government to my Son, as He to His Son, and these vile people were as disobedient as they are now, I would knock the world into pieces.”[1] But God did not abandon His “human experiment,” nor did He wait impassively in high heaven for sinners to grope their way up to His footstool, pleading for pardon and a second chance. The word “sent,” like the word “gave,”[2] stresses the astounding fact that God so loved us that He took the initiative and “sent” His Son on a redemptive Mission which could only be fulfilled at an awful cost to both the Father and the Son.[3]

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993) notes that the Gnostics might say that wisdom or power is of God but hardly love, whose involvements would not fit divine detachment. Pagan gods were thought of as the object of mystical desire rather than their subject. In verse ten, the Apostle John directly denies the general Hellenistic view that love is, first of all, an impulse that goes out from the material world to spiritual order. We would not otherwise have known what love is.[4] Therefore, those who love show they are born of God and know God. They are the true Gnostics! Because they have experiential knowledge of God, which disposes them to a deepening understanding of God’s action and revelation, it is far superior to any supposition or shadowy mysticism.[5]

Paul Waitman Hoon (1910-2000) states that certain oriental religions consider God to be somber, unmoved. Followers are so engaged in self-meditation, they have little concern about human life around them. Other pagan religions have defiled God by likening Him to the force behind fertility. Ancient and modern philosophies conceived God as a pure Mind, Wisdom, and Beauty. Moralistic religion envisions God as Righteousness. Ancient and contemporary science have imagined God as Energy. But the insight of the Apostle John surpasses these in defining God’s essential nature as Love, and represents the highest conception of the divine nature humankind can hold.

Therefore, says Hoon, one must believe that divine Love is eternal. It is “that which was from the beginning.” It requires one to think that love governs all other attributes in the Godhead. “God is Love” implies that all His activities are the result of love. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in Love; if He judges, He judges in Love. God’s agápe-love is dynamic; it acts decisively; because God is Love, He is not passionless. He manifested that by sending His only Son to lead us back to Him.

Robert S. Candlish (1806-1873) explains that the phrase “Love is of God” does not simply mean love comes from God, has its source in God, that He is the author or creator of it. All created things are of God, for by Him all things were made, [6] and on Him, they all depend. But love is not a created thing. It is a Divine characteristic, holy affection. And it is of its essence to be a cause which brings change, a communication that establishes contact, and, as it were, to reproduce itself in others. Love is also a good gift resulting from an act of the will. Wherewith God expresses Himself, wherever it is found, it is the very love. If it is seen in us, it is our loving with God’s agápe-love; it is in our loving with Divine love, a love that is thus emphatically and exclusively of God.[7]

Professor F. F. Bruce (1910-1990) points out that the love of which the Apostle John, like Paul, speaks is self-giving love, not giving-self. It is sometimes suggested that the Greek verb agapaō and the noun agapē, used here as in the Final Covenant, bear the same basic sense as the secular Greek noun erōs, [8] which denotes possessive love. But it is not a question of the inherent meaning of the words used but of the sense placed on them by speakers or writers.[9] No doubt that is why John used the Greek noun Philadelphia, “love for the brethren.”[10]

Rudolf Schnackenburg (1914-2002) agrees that everyone who loves is born of God insofar as they actually do so. Of course, this does not mean that being born of God consists in love but, as elsewhere, [11] that being born of God can be recognized by love. In other words, being born again comes first, not love. Next to being born of God comes our knowing Him. Love is the principle of such knowledge.[12] The idea itself is already a familiar refrain, confined only to mutual love or fulfilling the commandments.[13] If “being born of God” refers instead to the believers’ origin, “to know God” means most emphatically to have lasting fellowship with Him. Only those who prove themselves by loving with this “love-share” divine nature and have fellowship with God. John deliberately adopts these terms, for they define the common religious aspirations both of Christianity and other religions. It is to emphasize the requirement of love and, at the same time, crush the opposition.[14]

John Phillips (1927-2010) agrees that all true faith is built on the gold standard of love, and that’s the measure to which John always returns. The section of this epistle now opening up before us is the Apostle John’s hymn of love, comparable to Paul’s.[15] John begins with agápe love – where else could he begin? = telling us of the overflow of that love in our hearts and life. More specifically, he tells us who we should love: “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God.”[16] [17]

Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) says that the Apostle John speaks about love without specifying which type. It is not brotherly love, love for God, or the agápe-love of God for men, but love in itself. (You can see this illustrated in a well-known art piece by Jacques Charlier (1720-1790) called “Venus desarmant l’amour”). The Jewish world to which John belongs ignores any distinction between object and subject. In other words, it’s just “love.” However, if there is any specification of the love found here in verse seven, it would be in love for a “brother” rather than of agápe-love of God.[18] To say this another way, God planted His agápe-love in us when we were born again but did not target any specific group or person. In fact, Christians can love everybody. That marks them as being born of God.

David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) says that the Apostle John’s urging to practice loving others is grounded in doctrinal reality: “Love comes from God.” The use of the article “the”[19] with “love” centers attention on the kind of love John was urging, “the love” that has its source in God. It is not the natural love of the world for its own, [20] nor the love of tax collectors for fellow collectors, [21] but a self-sacrificing love motivated by goodwill and implemented in action.[22] The Greek preposition ek (“out of”) translated as “from” denotes that His agápe-love “flows from Him,” as the one spring, and the connection with the source remains unbroken. That’s why John used the Greek agápe for love. It is a special kind of love that only God can produce. The call to love is undergirded by its practice of being a sure revelation of character. Verse seven states the positive disclosure, while verse eight states the negative fact.[23]

Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) makes a good point here by observing that this verse contains two sentences that do not depend on each other. Here the Apostle John sets out the spiritual origins of Love and the one who loves in that both come from God. The use of “everyone (who is loving)” is characteristic of John’s style and emphasizes the need for love in every believer. He does not simply say “the one who is loving.” The reference is to love in all its forms. Although John supplies no object, [24] the words of Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel[25] speak about love in absolute terms: the love of one’s neighbor in the community and love in general, wherever and however that may be expressed.[26] Therefore, while Love comes from God, it isn’t until believers use Love can they claim that they know God as His children.

Edward J. Malatesta (1932-1998) sees the Apostle John now building a bridge between verses 1:5 to 2:28 and 4:7-5:13. This last section characterizes the threefold concentration on personal faith, mutual love, and reciprocal relationship between Christians and the Spirit, Jesus, and the Father. Here John begins with a consideration of love which corresponds to a parallel treatment.[27] John’s interest is to continue with his theme of faith and love and where he wants to treat them in their mutual relationship. That’s why the Apostle expresses his deepest thoughts about the mystery of communion with God and how it compares to our communion with our fellow believers. John has no intention of repeating himself, but constantly emphasizing the importance of these two factors can make his point more forcefully. They must keep in mind that love comes from God; everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God personally.[28]

---

[1] Luther, Martin: Table Talk, op. cit., CXI (111)

[2] John 3:16

[3] Lewis, Greville P., The Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p.98

[4] 1 John 4:19

[5] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, pp. 278-279

[6] Colossians 1:16

[7] Candlish, Robert S., The Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., 1 John 4, p. 28

[8] Erōs is the Greek god of erotic (sexual) love.

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

[10] Cf. 1 Peter 1:22 There are six main words for love in Greek: Eros, sexual passion; Philia, deep friendship; Ludus, playful love (“Puppy love”); Agápe, selfless divine love; Pragma, long standing love; and Philautia, self-love.

[11] See 1 John 2:29; 5:1

[12] Ibid. 4:8

[13] Ibid. 2:3ff

[14] Schnackenburg, Rudolf: The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 207

[15] 1 Corinthians 13

[16] 1 John 4:7 – The Message

[17] Phillips, John: Exploring the First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 135-136

[18] Brown, Raymond E., The Anchor Bible, op. cit., vol. 30, p. 514

[19] The Greek definite article ho (“the”) is not seen in the English translation. The Greek text reads: “that the love out of God.”

[20] John 15:19

[21] Matthew 5:46

[22] See 1 John 4:9-10

[23] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., January-March 1990, p. 71

[24] As in 1 John 3:11, 23

[25] John 13:34; 15:12, 17

[26] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, op. cit., p. 237

[27] See 1 John 2:3-11

[28] Malatesta, Edward J., Interiority and Covenant, op. cit., pp. 293-194