1 John 4:16

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. AND WE - John and his readers (not as 1 John 4:14, the apostles only). KNOWN AND BELIEVED. True faith is a faith of knowledge and experience: true knowledge is a knowledge of faith (Luecke). TO US, [ en (G1722) heemin (G2254)] - 'in our case' (note, 1 John 4:9). DWELLETH - `abideth' (cf. 1 John 4:7)....

16_And we have known and believed _It is the same as though he had said, “We have known by believing;” for such knowledge is not attained but by faith. But we hence learn how different, is an uncertain or doubtful opinion from faith. Besides, though he meant here, as I have already said, to accommodate the last sentence to his readers, yet he defines faith in various ways. He had said before, that it is to confess that Jesus is the Son of God; but, he now says, We know by faith God’s love towards us. It hence appears, that the paternal love of God is found in Christ, and that nothing certain is known of Christ, except by those who know themselves to be the children of God by his grace. For the Father sets his own Son daily before us for this end, that he may adopt us in him. _God is love _This is as it were the minor proposition in an argument; for from faith to love he reasons in this w...

14-21 The Father sent the Son, he willed his coming into this world. The apostle attests this. And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This confession includes faith in the heart as the foundation; makes acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, against the flatteries and frowns of the world. There must be a day of universal judgment. Happy those who shall have holy boldness before the Judge at that day; knowing he is their Friend and Advocate! Happy those who have holy boldness in the prospect of that day, who look and wait for it, and for the Judge's appearance! True love to God assures believers of God's love to them. Love teaches us to suffer for him and with him; therefore we may trust that we shall also be glorified with him, 2 Timothy 2:12. We must distinguish between...

Verse 16. _GOD IS LOVE_] See note on 1 John 4:8. _He that dwelleth in love_-he who is full of love to God and man is full of God, for God is love; and where such love is, there is God, for he is the fountain and maintainer of it....

AND WE HAVE KNOWN AND BELIEVED ... - We all have assurance that God has loved us, and the fullest belief in the great fact of redemption by which he has manifested his love to us. GOD IS LOVE - Notes, 1 John 4:8. It is not uncommon for John to repeat an important truth. He delights to dwell on such a truth as that which is here expressed; and who should not? What truth is there on which the mind can dwell with more pleasure; what is there that is better fitted to win the heart to holiness; what that will do more to sustain the soul in the sorrows and trials of this life? In our trials; in the darkness which is around us; in the perplexities which meet and embarrass us in regard to the divine administration; in all that seems to us incomprehensible in this world, and in the prospect of the next, let us learn to repeat this de

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 4:1 - 1 JOHN 5:12 (2) _The source of son-ship. _Possession of the Spirit. 1 JOHN 4:1 Confession of the Incarnation is the assurance that the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth, is working in us, and not the spirit of error. The passage seems clearly to teach that there are two rival influences contending for power over the spirits of men. We must test men's spirits to see whether they are organs of the Spirit of truth or of the spirit of error. 1 JOHN 4:1 BELOVED (as in...

AND WE HAVE KNOWN AND BELIEVED,.... Or have a full assurance and knowledge of, and faith in, THE LOVE THAT GOD HATH TO US; shown as in many instances, so more especially in sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the Saviour of us, and that we might live through him. GOD IS LOVE; 1 John 4:8: AND HE THAT DWELLETH IN LOVE; who dwells by faith upon the love of God as displayed in Christ, and abides in the exercise of love to God and to the saints: DWELLETH IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM; 1 John 4:13; the last clause, "and God in him", is left out in the Syriac version....

1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ If John had need to say that in the early morning of Christianity, I am sure we ought to say it with greater emphasis today. It is certainly true in these days that «many false prophets are gone out into the world,» therefore we also must «try the spirits whether they are of God.» 1 John 4:2. _Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:_ If the doctrine of the incarnation of God in Christ is denied, as it was by the first heretics, we may conclude that the Spirit of God is not in such teaching. Any doctrine which dishonours Christ,-whether in his person, or his

V. HEREBY WE KNOW Chapter S 3:19-5:13 _ 1. Hereby we know that we are of the truth (1 John 3:19)_ 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God (1 John 4:1) 3. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and of error (1 John 4:5) 4. The Love manifested toward us (1 John 4:7) 5. The final tests as to the possession of eternal life (1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:1) 1 John 3:19 .

John returns to the theme of 1 John 3:14 ff., be cause if the Church is the home of truth, still more is it the home of love. The evidence for our Divine sonship is that the love manifested by God in sending His Son for our redemption a fact to which the Church bears witness issues in love on our part to God and to our brethren; love, when mature, casts out fear. Moreover the proof that we love the unseen God is that we love our brother, as Christ commanded us. 1 JOHN 4:7. LOVE IS OF GOD: _ i.e._ is so peculiarly His product, answering to the deepest thing in His nature, that the lack of love proves that we have no real knowledge of God or kinship to Him. 1 John 4:9. that we might live through Him: cf....