Monthly Archive for July, 2001

1 John 4:17b

Published on July 31, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”


that we may have boldness

The word “that” indicates purpose.  The person who engages in fellowship with the Lord by loving fellow Christians will have confidence at the Judgment Seat of Christ.  “Boldness” means confidence (2:28).  This believer will have freedom in the presence of God because he has nothing to hide nor does he have any shame.  The word “have” conveys present possession.  We have boldness now about the future judgment.  We can have “boldness” at the Judgment Seat of Christ if we trust God’s love for us. 

in the day of judgment;

The “day of judgment” is the Judgment Seat of Christ and not the Great White Throne judgment.  The Great White Throne judgment is for non-Christians.  The Judgment Seat of Christ is the place of evaluation of the effectiveness of the Christian life.  There is no punishment at this judgment because Jesus took all the punishment for every Christian. 

However, God will evaluate the works of Christians at the Judgment Seat of Christ for rewards.  If Christians walk in fellowship in time by manifesting love to other Christians, they can have confidence in the “day of judgment” that God will reward them. 


PRINCIPLE:  Confidence about reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ revolves around our fellowship with God in time. 


APPLICATION:  Spirit-filled Christians can have confidence at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Co. 3:12-15; 2 Co. 5:10).  The believer who does not walk in the Spirit consistently will receive no or little reward at the Judgment Seat. 

Thank God that the Christian will never go to court to be tried as a candidate for hell.  His case was settled out of court.  Jesus paid the price for his sin.  His case will never come before the Father.  The Christian has boldness for the future because he knows that his case will never come up at the Great White Throne judgment.  His case was settled on the cross once for all.  That is the good news of the gospel. 

Ro 8: 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”

The non-Christian will go on trial because he rejected God’s solution to his sin problem. 

Mt 11: 24 “But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

Mt 12: 36 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

Ro 2: 16 “…in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”

The non-Christian will receive judgment because since they rejected the punishment Christ took for their sins; they must bear the punishment themselves.  They will be cast into the Lake of Fire eternally. 

1 John 4:17

Published on July 30, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”


John now turns to the consequences of intimate fellowship with God (vv. 17-19).  He sets this forth in positive terms in verse 17 and in negative terms in verse 18. 

Love has been perfected among us in this:

God perfects His love among us.  Love reaches its intended goal when it engages in active love towards others.  God’s love finds fulfillment in reproducing itself in the conduct of His children.  We do not reach perfection in our love on earth but love can reach God’s intended goal for us.  This is then the love God produces in the process of abiding in the believer.  Through His love He moves the believer to love others. 


PRINCIPLE:  Christians who exercise love from the filling of the Spirit can have confidence at the Judgment Seat of Christ. 


APPLICATION:  When God sees His love completed in us by showing love to other Christians, He perceives a likeness to how His Son operated on earth in time.  He observes the character of Christ in us.  The Father said that He was well pleased with Jesus on earth. God calls on each member of His family to bear His family characteristic.  God expects us to love His people. 

God’s love can only be consummated in us as He works in company with or in association with us to extend love to others.  Fellowship with God causes us to abide in His love.  These kinds of Christians will hold nothing back out of shame at the Judgment Seat of Christ.  God’s love makes it possible for Christians to have boldness in the day of judgment. 

4: 9 “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

4: 12 “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”

Jn 13: 1 “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

1 John 4:16

Published on July 29, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”


This verse summarizes 3:24-4:16 — intimate fellowship with God is impossible without love for fellow Christians. 

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

Notice the order of “have known and believed.”  We must first hear the gospel before we can believe it.  By the same token, we must know God’s love before we can believe God’s love for us.  Those who experience God’s love come to have confidence in His love.  Confidence in God’s love comes from knowledge about His love. 

God is love,

John parlays his discourse of the doctrine of Christ into a discussion of God’s love and Christian love.  This is a logical deduction from the nature of God, from His orientation to love.  God is unconditional, incomprehensible, incomparable love.  We see this clearly in the sacrifice of His Son for our sins. 

John previously used the phrase “God is love” in verse 8 to make a case for loving fellow Christians.  He reiterates the truth that “God is love” here to show the close connection between fellowship with God and loving fellow believers.  Only by abiding in God’s love can true fellowship with Him be made real.  Both verses connect to the idea that God sent His Son into the world (4:8,9 and 4:14,16).  God reveals His love through Jesus Christ.  God sending His Son is proof of His love for us and the execution of that love in us. 

and he who abides in love abides in God,

There is a close correlation between loving Christians and fellowship with God.  Since God in His essence is love, where God is, love is.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. 

and God in him

God’s love operates within the sphere of the believer.  John is confident that God’s love works in Christians, as they love one another.  If God dwells in a believer, love dwells there too.  The doctrine of God indwelling the believer also implies love indwelling the believer.  There is an indwelling love that God imparts to every believer. 


PRINCIPLE:  There is a great reciprocity between God’s love and the loving believer. 


APPLICATION:  Where God’s is, His love is.  Love always flows from fellowship with God.  God works in Christians as they love one another.  We cannot fellowship with God if we harbor malice toward fellow Christians. 

All Christians are indwelt by God so all believers are indwelt by love.  God indwelling the believer is tied inseparably to confession of Christ as God, as the Son of God.  A domino effect occurs from belief – belief results in God’s indwelling the believer and God’s indwelling produces dynamic love in the Christian. 

We must first know the love of God before we can believe the love of God.  This is another way of saying that when we experience the love of God, we know something of how to love others. 

It is possible by unbelief to block in advance, appreciation of God’s love.  Knowledge and belief act and react with each other.  Any truth not applied to experience is worthless.  God’s Word must both be known and believed to be effective.  Belief without knowledge is unadulterated gullibility. 

1 John 4:15b

Published on July 28, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”


and he in God

Those who meet the condition for abiding will abide in God and God in Him.  That one condition is the confession of personal trust in the Son of God and His finished work on the cross.  God only lives inside saved people.  He does not fellowship with those without Christ. 


PRINCIPLE:  God exclusively fellowships with saved people. 


APPLICATION:  We need to remind ourselves that we are children of the King.  We dwell in God.  We have right and prerogative with God.  We sit in the heavenlies with Christ.  We hold the same position as Jesus holds with the Father. 

Ep 1: 6 “…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”

God does not punish me for my sins.  He does not get even with me.  Jesus took the punishment for my sin so God does not condemn me (Ro 8:1).  I do not deserve this.  Jesus provided eternal credit for me before God.  Jesus took my eternal punishment for my sins. 

Since God abides in the believer, the believer is never alone.  This is great encouragement in time of sorrow.  He never forgets us or leaves us alone. 

1 John 4:15

Published on July 27, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”


Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,

Confession is one condition for abiding.  The basic idea of confession is agreement, to say the same thing.  “Confess” is made up of two Greek words: to say and same.  We agree or make a compact with God about His Son. 

Confession is a synonymous term with faith.  Confession that Jesus is “the Son of God” means acknowledgement that He is God.  The Greek tense in “confess” means that this person comes to a decisive moment when they acknowledge Him as the Son of God (aorist).  Confession of the deity of Christ implies surrender to His character and authority. 

There is a connection between confession in verse 2 and the confession here.  Confession in verse 2 has to do with the genuine humanity of Christ.  Confession of that differentiates true believers from the fakers.  Here confession has to do with the confession of His deity, the fact that He is the Son of God.  Confession in this verse serves to differentiate between those who give evidence of love and those who do not.  In each case, the Holy Spirit produces the confession. 

God abides in him,

1 John says six times that God abides in us.  Five times it says that we abide in Him.  Confession of Jesus as the Son of God and divine love operating in the believer has a clear relation.  Without the manifestation of the Son of God to the world, there would be no divine love in the world. 


PRINCIPLE:  Confession is more than proclamation of doctrine; it is a voucher of a life united with God.


APPLICATION:  There is a very close correlation between what we believe and what we do.  Confession is more than profession.  Many people confess Christ but they have never trusted Him as their personal Savior. 

Ro 10: 8 “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”

The implication of the confession that Christ is the Son of God is that He is the sovereign Lord over our lives.  He is God Almighty to us.  He imparts His life to us called eternal life.  The nature of that life changes the individual.  He abides in the believer and so changes his perspective on love.  Love finds its source in faith in the Son of God. 

God’s love does not see others as obstacles or neutral objects but people worthy of His attention.  God’s proof of this is the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross for our sins.  True love shows itself in concrete action. 

1 John 4:14

Published on July 26, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”


And we have seen

John and the apostles saw and testified of the Son of God’s presence in time on earth.  The words “have seen” mean that the apostles steadfastly and deliberately contemplated the presence of the incarnate Christ on earth, the Son of God in incarnation.  It was not simply a moment in time but a process of seeing and testifying. 

and testify

The apostles gave continuing testimony to the incarnate Christ.

that the Father has sent the Son

John puts stress upon Jesus as the Son.  The Son was the Son before He came into the world.  He always was the eternal Son of God.  He did not become the Son at Bethlehem. 

as Savior of the world

Jesus was the Savior of the world, not merely the elect.  Jesus came to the world as “Savior”, not as a social worker. There are only two instances where the New Testament calls Jesus the “Savior” (here and John 4:42).  All people are savable (2:2). 

Jn 3: 17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

1 Jn 2: 2 “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

2 Pe 3: 9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

1 Jn 4: 15 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”


PRINCIPLE:  Salvation in Christ is the foundation to dynamic living in Christianity. 


APPLICATION:  Salvation in Christ is the foundation to dynamic living in Christianity.  Faith in Christ produces love to God and love to God ignites love for Christians.  As God showed His love toward us in Christ, we are to show love to those who love Him. 

Do you know the Son of God as your Savior?  I am not asking do you know Him as an example or moral teacher.  Do you know Jesus as the only One who can save you from your sins?  Before you meet God, you must have a Savior to save you from your sins. 

1 John 4:13

Published on July 25, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”


Dwelling in love means that a person is in fellowship with God (4:13-17).  John now turns from a warning against believing just any spirit (4:1-6) and the appeal to love one another (4:7-12) to personal application of living life by the power of the Spirit of God (4:13f). 

By this we know that we abide in Him,

The believer has assurance that he is in fellowship with the Lord [abides] because of the Spirit whom He gave us.  Abiding is synonymous with knowing Christ (2:24-25).   

and He in us,

There is a mutual indwelling.  We dwell or abide in God and He abides in us.  God fellowships with us when we allow Him to control our lives. 

because He has given us of His Spirit

The reference here is not to the gift of the indwelling Spirit at the instant we became Christians but rather to the manifestations of the Spirit in our lives.  The Greek for “of” in the phrase “of His Spirit” indicates the product of participation in the Spirit’s presence.  Love is a grace that flows from the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit assures us of our fellowship with God when we love one another.


PRINCIPLE:  Love is the authenticating test of the Holy Spirit producing fruit in us. 


APPLICATION: Spirit-fellowship producing divine love in us is evidence of fellowship with God.  The love we manifest to other Christians is an outcome of the gift of the Holy Spirit to us.  The Holy Spirit is the source of the believer’s love just as He is the source of our application of truth to experience (3:23-24). 

3: 24 “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

On the Day of Pentecost God poured out His Spirit on the church and on each individual believer.  He made the things of Jesus real to the believer.  He made the love of God real to us.

Ro 5: 5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

The outpouring of love from the Spirit assures us that we habitually abide in fellowship with God. 

1 John 4:12

Published on July 24, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”


No one has seen God at any time.

No one has ever seen God except through theophanes (physical manifestation of God).  Each theophany was a manifestation of Christ in pre-incarnate form.  No one can see God since God is a spirit (Jn 4:24; 1 Ti 1:17; 6:16).  No one can see His essential being.  We did not see the essence of God in the humanity of Christ. 

Jn 1: 18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

1 Ti 1: 17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Ti 6: 16 “…who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”

If we love one another, God abides in us,

When Christians meet their moral obligation to love other Christians, God the Father abides or dwells in them.  This is how we see God working in our day.  Others see God by our love. 

God’s love springs from fellowship with God.  When God takes up residence in the believer, everyone can see it.  Love is a manifestation of divine habitation.  It is the Holy Spirit demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit in the life of the believer.  God lives in the believer who loves other Christians. 

and His love has been perfected in us

Our love is imperfect but God’s love is perfect.  God sheds abroad His love in us when we believe (Ro 5:8).  It is not our love for God that God perfects but His love perfected in us.  His love answers to His nature.  God,s love can reach God’s goal for us in this life. 

The word “perfected” means to reach a goal, to accomplish a purpose.  God can complete His love in us in time.  When Christians reach out in love to each other, God’s love reaches its goal in their lives.  God’s kind of love can be fully expressed in our lives.  It reaches its fulfillment in us.  God’s love is visible through Christians.


PRINCIPLE:  Christians make the inscrutable God scrutable through loving one another. 


APPLICATION:  A direct result of our love for other Christians is a manifestation of God’s love. 

Matthew knew that the publicans were thieves.  If tax collectors can love people that love them, that is of no moment.  They love their mothers, wives and children.  However, to love those who do not reciprocate our love is divine love.  True love loves whether anyone returns love or not.  People with divine love have a capacity to love anyone. 

Mt 5: 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

We cannot manifest God by showing His essence to people because He is a spirit.  We see God best in the act of love.  Love will reach its final destination or end when it reaches out to others.  We see God’s love best in Jesus’ sacrifice and in our sacrificial love.  This sacrificial love makes God visible. 

1 John 4:11

Published on July 22, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”


Beloved,

This is the sixth and last time John uses “beloved” for his readers.  John loved his readers and God loved John’s readers as well. 

if God so loved us,

God’s example of love should set an example for the believer’s love for Christians.  The “if” in the Greek assumes that John’s readers agreed with the reality of God’s love for them.  This “if” or better, “since” refers back to verse ten. 

4: 10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The word “so” is just as broad as John 3:16.  How robust, how strong is God’s love in sending His Son to die for us?  There is no way to measure it.  Nothing men did or said about God changed God’s love for them. 


PRINCIPLE:  Christians stand under a moral necessity to love like they are loved. 


APPLICATION:  Nothing men did or said about God changed God’s love for them. Jesus cried out on the cross, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do!” (Lu 23:34).  This is not normal operating procedure for love; this is divine love. 

If we clearly see the extent of Jesus’ love on the cross for us, we cannot help but love fellow Christians.  Jesus loved us when we were not lovely so we should love Christians who are not lovely.  This is not an easy task because some Christians are jerks.  Jesus sacrificed Himself for sinners, not saints.  This is radical love.  It is easy to love attractive and likable people but not very easy to love unattractive people with human love; it requires divine love. 

Radical love requires the presence of God’s love in us.  We need to be born spiritually to have capacity to love like this.  Unless we possess God’s life, we cannot live like Him.  Unless we know something about God’s love, we cannot love like Him.  All other love falls short of divine self-sacrificing love.  We love with the attitude of a sinner saved by grace, “I do not deserve God’s love but He loved me anyway.  My fellow Christian does not deserve my love but I love him anyway.” 

This kind of love does not love on the surface.  It does not give the appearance of love but loves whether anyone sees our love or not.  This is a love beyond natural faculty.  This love does not cut people down but endures their idiosyncrasies.  People with God’s life can love with God’s love. 

All lame excuses for not loving others will not stand the scrutiny of God’s unconditional, unalterable, inimitable love for sinners.  Operating under this kind of love, we cannot say, “I can’t love that jerk.  If you knew him like I know him, you would see why I can’t love him.”  God loved us with all our sins, quirks, distortions and rationalization, so we should love those with the same failures.  Lame imitations cannot fake this kind of love. 

1 John 4:10b

Published on July 21, 2001 in 1 John. 0 Comments
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“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”


for our sins

Jesus is the substitute sacrifice for our sin. 


PRINCIPLE:  Jesus took our hell that we might have His heaven.


APPLICATION:  Jesus took our hell that we might have His heaven.  He personally paid the penalty for the sin we committed. 

Jn 15: 13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

1 Co 15: 3 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…”

Ga 1: 3 “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Pe 2: 24 “…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

1 Pe 3: 18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…”

God’s way of salvation pivots on the substitution of Christ’s death for our eternal death.  He took our eternal death that we might have His eternal life.  We receive His eternal life by trusting His death to forgive our sins.

Ga 3: 10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’ 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live by them.’ 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”