1 John 4: 13-21….Living in a Perfect world!

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Comment: Dare I be honest with God? Dare I be dishonest with God, because He can and does see right through any sham which I throw up to Him! When I read this passage my first thought was, ‘I wish it were true!’ And then of course a whole lot of teaching from the past rose up saying something like ‘But surely you must recognize that this is the WORD OF GOD and it must therefore be correct! Because a doubt crossed my mind I wondered, ‘if maybe I’m not really a Christian.’

Verses 13-15 are sound theology so I gave that a tick with no problems. I read through v16 and until the first full stop I had no problem. But then I read ‘and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.’ And I remember that I know atheists who are very loving and caring, and I have met many Muslims (not of the Islamic Terrorist variety) who have seemed to me to be as those who have made an aim of their life to be as good, loving and caring for their neighbour as any Christian tries to live out his/her faith? So as I read the second half of the verse and continue on reading the passage what does the ‘opposition’ loving do differently in them for what it does in me, as a Christian? I note that John, the author keeps using the words ‘we’ and ‘us’, and I realize that this passage is based on the whole of the gospel being believed, which he has before written about. John is writing to those who have been made right with God because of their relationship with Jesus. And John is writing to those to whom Jesus has said so very much about His followers being loving! So I am delighted to realize that John is saying to us Christians ‘You are trying to fool yourselves if you don’t love your brother but claim to love God!’ And secondly John says ‘You have the right to be released from fear of judgement if you are sincerely walking in love – ‘Love’ of the ‘agape type’! This is a challenging passage!

I asked Wikipedia if “Is love paramount in the Christian faith?” and got the answer ‘Yes, love is considered the paramount, central, and defining virtue in the Christian faith” but in light of the scripture John 3 14-18 (edited – for brevity) – Jesus speaking ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.‘ This is followed by either Jesus or the author speaking ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Combining the two I am convinced that Loving is so, so important, but belief/trust in Jesus is the real core to life! But that to be practicing Agape type Love is the goal for me in living among my neighbours – I am to be a true neighbour! And my Prayer is that I might by God”s Grace be that sort of person!