1 John 4:7-21

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. 1 John 3:14, 1 John 5:11; John 3:16.

1 John 4:12. Though we have no direct proof of God's existence and indwelling, we can know of His presence within us by the brotherly love which it creates (cf. 1 John 4:16; 1 John 3:24; Galatians 5:22). This is the inward, as Jesus was the outward (John 1:18), manifestation of the invisible God. his love: probably the love which He seeks to create within us. That love attains full development.

1 John 4:14. With love to the brethren John links belief in the reality of the Incarnation as evidence of God's indwelling in the soul.

1 John 4:16 a. in us: i.e. towards us (cf. 1 John 4:9). We in 1 John 4:14; 1 John 4:16 refers primarily to the apostle and his circle of witnesses. They are convinced of the reality of God's love, because they are convinced of the reality of the Incarnation.

1 John 4:17. Herein: i.e. by the mutual indwelling of God and the believer. made perfect: reaches perfect expression. that. judgement: judgment was always associated with the return of Christ (Matthew 25:31). Hence the thought here is parallel to that in 1 John 2:28.

1 John 4:17 b. Christ is with the Father, whilst we are in this world. With that difference love makes Him and us akin.

1 John 4:18. fear hath punishment: the idea that fear itself is a form of punishment may be present, but the context (day of judgement) requires the interpretation that fear implies a consciousness of shortcoming and a consequent expectation of punishment. Where love is perfected, no such expectation can exist.

1 John 4:20. hateth his brother: love to God and hatred of our fellow-Christians cannot coexist. The latter disproves the former.

1 John 4:21. this commandment: cf. 1 John 3:23.