Love God, Love Othersعينة

Two Sides Of The Same Coin 

This reading in 1 John 4 is chock full of tightly argued definitions and descriptions of love. We’ll highlight a few. Here goes:

• God is love (v8). He IS love. And that loves is activated through His other character traits.
• God manifests His loves by giving His Son (v9). This is an act of sacrifice and generosity. 
• If we live in love, we live in God (v16). Following v9, we live in sacrifice and generosity… 
• Love for others proves love for God (v20). Really, it is the outworking of our God-love. 
• Without love for others it is impossible to love God (v20). You can’t have one without the other.
• We who love God are commanded to love others (v21). Which, following v20, seems unnecessary as a command, since it is essential, in that, if you love God, you love others, and if you love others, you love God. 

And in the middle of the passage is this mind teaser: 

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love (NIV).

We once came across this perspective on that verse: 

God is judge. But if you only know God as judge, if you don’t know for sure that your sins are forgiven, then you will fear the consequences of sin when judgement comes.

But if you fear God and His judgement, you cannot completely love Him. Conversely, if you love Him completely, there is no judgement to fear. This is v17, 18 in NASB: 

“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

Loving God and loving others? Two sides of the same coin. And as we immerse ourselves in the love of God, as it is perfected, or completed in us, fear dissipates.