(REFLECTIONS ON 1 John 4:7-21 )

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Dear friends, let us love one another, not for our own reasons, not with our own love, not because we naturally love, but because love comes from God.

Love comes from God, and we who have been born of God,
and know God, are spiritually born because of love, for love.

God loved us, by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save the world, and so we that believe in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ are to love, because love comes from God. Love one another is not what we desire to do, because our desire is to love ourselves, and to be loved.

19 We love because he first loved us.

Love one another is not just loving the loveable, but loving because love comes from God, and because God first loved us. Love one another is a response to God’s love, so for us that desire to receive God’s love through Jesus Christ, must continue to battle against our own desires, and move towards loving one another.

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Again, John speaks in absolute terms to make sure that we listen, that we realize that we have all fallen short, and still have a long ways to go. We are liars, but the only way we can find healing and true change in Christ, is if we admit that we are liars, and not go on pretending that we are not.

That we are liars, is equivalent to what John wrote earlier about confessing our sins to the Lord. Yes, we are to love one another, because God is love, love comes from Him, and He loved us first. To love one another, we must first come back to 1 John 1:8-10,

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

God is not the liar, but we are the liar. However, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Thanks be to God the Father, the God of love, the God that first loved us, and the God that offers forgiveness and righteousness to us as we learn to love one another.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: 1 John 4