1 John 4:19

We love him, because he first loved us. HIM. Omitted in A B: 'Aleph (') has 'God.' 'We (emphatic, on our part) love (in general, Him, the brethren, and our fellowmen), because He (emphatic: answering to 'WE;' because it was He who) first loved us, in sending His Son (aorist of a definite act at one time). He was the first to love us: this thought ought to create in us love casting out fear ()....

19_We love him _The verb ἀγαπῶμεν may be either in the indicative or imperative mood; but the former is the more suitable here, for the Apostle, as I think, repeats the preceding sentence, that as God has anticipated us by his free love, we ought to return to render love to him, for he immediately infers that he ought to be loved in men, or that the love we have for him ought to be manifested towards men. If, however, the imperative mood be preferred, the meaning would be nearly the same, that as God has freely loved us, we also ought now to love him....

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 19. _WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US._] This is the foundation of our love to God. 1. We love him because we find he has loved us. 2. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude. 3. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts, our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs. The verse might be rendered, _Let us therefore love him, because he first loved us_: thus the _Syriac_ and _Vulgate_....

WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US - This passage is susceptible of two explanations; either. (1)That the fact that he first loved us is the “ground” or “reason” why we love him, or. (2)That as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellency of his own character. If the former be the meaning, and if that were the only ground of love, then it would be mere selfishness, (compare Matthew 5:46); and it cannot be believed that John meant to teach that that is the “only” reason of our love to God. It is true, indeed, that that is a proper ground of love, or that we are bound to love God in p

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...

WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. Lest love to God, and so to one another, should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much be ascribed unto it, the apostle observes, that God's love to us is prior to our love to him; his love is from everlasting, as well as to everlasting; for he loves his people as he does his Son, and he loved him before the foundation of the world; his choosing them in Christ as early, and blessing them then with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in him before the world began, and the promise of eternal life to them so soon, show the antiquity and priority of his love: his love shown in the mission and gift of his Son was before theirs, and when they had none to him; and his love in regeneration and conversion is previous to theirs, and is the cause of it; his grace in regeneration bri...

1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirit whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ This is an unction of which there is great need in the present day, when so many accept anything that they hear from a «priest» or from a pastor without searching the Scriptures to see whether what they hear is in accordance with the inspired Word. 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._ Some say that Jesus Christ was not God, others say that he was not man, while some talk as if everything about him was a mystery; but they who are truly sent by God declare plainly that Jesus Christ did literally come in the flesh, and such teachers are «of God.

1 JOHN 4:19 avgapw/men {A} The reading that best explains the origin of the others is avgapw/men, which is adequately supported by A B 5 322 323 424c 945 1241 1739 1881 itr vid vg _al_. Feeling the need of an accusative object after the verb, especially when it was (wrongly) taken to be the hortatory subjunctive, some copyists added to.n qeo,n (a 33 81 614 syrp, h copbo _al_) and others auvto,n (K L Y most minuscules)....

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 .