Exploring the Scripture
Today’s text comes from one of three short letters bearing the name of John. For centuries, the letter was assumed to have been written by the apostle who knew Jesus personally. However, scholars have decided 1 John was written around 100 CE by a follower of John and his teachings.
The central affirmation of this passage is that “God is love” (vv. 8, 16). God’s love defines the Divine relationship with creation, specifically humankind. Being defined as love, God cannot but love others, including every part of creation. God’s love is full, complete, unreserved—in a word, God’s love is perfect. That is who God is.
Other loves, such as our love for God and one another, are imperfect images of God’s love. Our love is dependent: it cannot exist before or without God first having loved us. As verse 7 states, “let us love one another because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” The author wants readers to love one another but affirms we cannot do this without accepting God as the source of genuine love.
Verse 8 expresses the inseparability of God and love: those who do not love do not know God. And in verse 20, we read, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” In the same way God and love are inseparable, loving God and loving others are two sides of the same coin. Jesus said as much in the Gospel accounts. He answered:
…[Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the greatest and first commandment.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.
The Matthew version of this passage ends with Jesus saying, “‘On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’” (22:40).
Verse 18 suggests the opposite of love is fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” So many people in today’s world live in fear. Some fear, from experience, what others will do or say to them; those who do not know God or God’s love often instill fear in others. Yet fear cannot influence the lives of those who are grounded in belovedness: that God loves them perfectly.
Those who are confident of God’s unconditional, never-failing love for them and all people will bear the fruits of love in all their interactions with others. Such is our calling: to “love one another” (v. 7) because God “first loved us” (v. 19). By loving others, we express our love for God. We show that we have not received and accepted God’s love by not loving others.
Project Zion Podcast
Co-hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.
Central Ideas
- Love comes from God; it is the essence of who God is.
- We are urged to love others and are empowered to do this by accepting God’s love for us.
- When we do not love others, we cannot love God.
Questions to Consider
- How have you experienced God’s love?
- What stands in the way of you loving others?
- How can you more authentically and consistently share God’s love with others?