1 John 4:17

We love God and we Christians love each other. We live in God. God lives in us. This gives us confidence for that future day when God is the judge.

Love is complete in us when we love God. This is the confidence that we have in him.

As we love God and each other, love achieves its purpose. It will develop in us. And we will be more mature in love. This is what God intended it to do for us.

The day is coming when God will be the judge of all people. That day will be the end of the world, as we know it. We can be confident that God will decide for us. This is not because of what we have done. It is because we have the life of Christ. He has taken away all our *sins because he loves us.

We have confidence because we are like Christ. As Christ lives in God, so by him we also live in God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. By him, we are children of God. As God loves the Son, so he also loves us. Jesus lived here on earth in the *Father’s love. And we live in the *Father’s love too.

We are on this earth. Christ is not on this earth now. We are here to be his agents and to bring other people to God.

Verse 18

We are not afraid, because of God’s love

Fear is in contrast to the confidence that love brings. There can be no fear in perfect love. Love gives confidence in God. So as love grows in a person, the fears will disappear.

Perfect love is the love that God has for us. It is the love between God and the Christian. Because we love, we do not fear. Because God loves us, we have nothing to fear. Love is perfect when it is complete and mature.

Fear has to do with the future and the unknown. (The ‘unknown’ means future events that we do not expect.) There is the fear of death. The love of Christ overcomes this fear. Christ brings us the promise of new life. There is the fear of punishment for all that we have done wrong. But Christ has taken all the punishment for our *sins. His perfect love takes away all that would make us afraid. In love, we can be certain about the future. The unknown is in the control of God, who loves us.

Those who do not love God are right to be afraid. The day is coming when God will be their judge.

Verse 19

We love other people because God loved us first

We Christians love God and we love each other. But our love is a grateful reaction to God’s love. We love because he loved us first. We could not love if God had not loved us first. He has given us his love. So, we are able to love. He has provided us with the power to love by his love.

The love with which we love is not our own. We do not create it, nor do we have the power to express it.

It is always the love of God. It is his love in us. We live in the *Father. And we live in Jesus the Son. So this love also becomes our own love. With this love, we can love God. We also love each other with the same love.

Verse 20

Someone who hates other people does not love God

Some people said that they loved God. But they did not really love the Christians. What they said was false. They were not telling the truth. If we love God, we will love other people. If we do not love our Christian *brothers and sisters, we do not love God. Our love for other Christians shows that we love God.

We love because God loves us. God’s love in us makes us able to love each other. This is the test of our love for God. We may say that we love God. However, if we fail to love each other, we do not really love God. We can see each other but we cannot see God. It is easier to love those whom we can see. It is not so easy to love God whom we have not seen. If we fail to love each other, we have failed to love God.

To John, either we love or we hate. To hate here means anything less than pure love. And love will always show itself in actions.